text: [Themes: grimdark fantasy, grimdark, war]
  
  "Alright, you'll have your two Trog, I need to go back and speak with my people about which two though."
  
  Trog nods and you return to the group to explain the situation, it goes about as well as you expected.
  
  "You can't expect us to stay with these savages! They'll kill us!" one of the workers exclaims.
  "We're at war with these monsters!" a soldier remarks.
  "I'd have to agree that leaving anyone here is tantamount to leaving them to die." Jennifer adds.
  "Look, this is the ONLY way we're getting into Rask without a fight. And I guarantee we're in no position to be fighting hundreds of orcs." You remark and then point at the soldiers in the group. "Now you lot are soldiers which technically puts you under my command and if I order any of you to stay you better damn well do it or else you're going to have me to deal with and I assure you if that happens you'd rather have orcs."
  
  "That being said, I'd rather NOT leave any soldiers behind, because we're going to need every competent fighter we can get when we do get in Rask." You say and then point to the civvies in the group. "You lot on the other hand, I can afford to leave any one of you behind."
  
  This remark is met with more protest and exclamations of how which one of them is a valuable member of the group. You're unimpressed and simply say if there's any digging or carrying to be done, anyone can do that and if its for some intellectual purpose, Jennifer is still going to be the most knowledgeable one on whatever it is you do find in Rask, so again the rest are superfluous.
  
  This statement is met with more protests until Jennifer suddenly tells them all to shut up.
  
  "I don't like this, but he's right. I'll take volunteers first." Jennifer remarks.
  
  Predictably more begging, protests and threats follow, which Jennifer addresses that it's either stay with the orcs or try to head back to Nalin without any escort protection. Eventually one brave soul volunteers, muttering that if he's lucky maybe they won't eat him and he can learn more about their culture. The second one loses a lot draw. She's not happy about her bad luck and the situation, but resigns herself to her fate.
  
  "I'm glad you backed me up." You say.
  "I didn't really want to and I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of backlash from my workers, but the potential for this discovery is too important and I trust you. I just hope you trust this orc as much." Jennifer remarks.
  "I don't, but he's been reliable on matters much greater than this one. The worst that could happen is that he plans on killing us on the return trip when we're exhausted from the dangers of Rask, but we'll deal with that when the time comes." You answer.
  "Well I guess this is all worth it then."
  
  After the two "sacrificial lambs" are presented to Trog, he promises once again that no harm will come to them and the rest of you cautiously pass through Flogger territory, which actually overlaps partially into Rask. In fact you pass by an area where you believe Fort Destiny once stood. There's no evidence of it anymore though, it's just wilderness now. You wonder if was destroyed during the cataclysm or if it was time that ultimately took it over.
  
  Eventually you clear Flogger territory and you're in the true wilderness of Rask.
  
  You, Jennifer and a couple of others go over the maps deciding which way would be the best. Using your memory, you point out that despite the long passage of time, there are still evidence of old Empire roads and that you should use those as a basic guide to head north. If you're lucky, it may very well take you all the way to Fort Defiance, or at least where the fort used to stand.
  
  The journey north is as miserable as you remember when you first came to this unforgiving land. If anything it seems worse now that it's no longer tamed by the Empire. Still, you travel quite a distance before you catch sight of figures moving about in the surrounding forests.
  
  "Stop. We're being watched and we're going to be attacked soon. In fact, we're probably surrounded, I suggest everyone prepare themselves." You say.
  
  The group forms a protective circle as best they can while you try to keep an eye on all the possible directions of attack.
  
  Eventually a few orcs and ogres emerge from the trees. However, something doesn't look quite right about them. They're savage looking like you'd expect, but even for their kind they're moving a fashion that isn't typical. It's more like how an animal would move. They don't make any usual taunts or threats either, but you do hear some loud guttural growling sounds.
  
  It probably isn't surprising that some of the soldiers decide they aren't going to wait around to be attacked and go ahead and fire. Two or three of the attackers are wounded, but then the rest make a horrible wailing sound which causes everyone to clutch their ears in pain.
  
  Then they move in for the attack, but it's more like a loping gait rather than running. Ogres don't typically run either...
  
  "Oh shit, WENDIGOS!" you shout and start casting your mind shield spell, but before you can complete it a possessed orc is already upon you.
  
  "Meat!" the orc hisses with its fang filled mouth right in front of your face. You feel a claw dig through your armor and puncture your skin just before you stab the monster through the neck with your dagger. Blood spurts all over you before manage to get the thing off of you and stomp it repeatedly in the throat, crushing it completely.
  
  You then hear a voice in your mind.
  
  "Sssssss! I sense power...great power...you're an Eye! Hated Eye! Eyes! Away! Away my fellows! Before this they destroy us all!" the voice exclaims.
  
  Before you know it, the possessed orcs and ogres cease their attack and begin backing away. Everyone is a bit confused and quite frankly you are too.
  
  "Why'd they stop attacking?" Jennifer asks.
  "Because we were kicking their asses! Hah! So much for the dreaded wendigos!" a soldier remarks, several of the other soldiers cheer in agreement and press forward to attack the retreating wendigos.
  
  You aren't exactly sure what's going on, but apparently this wendigo knows you have the capability to destroy it. However, nobody else here can and if the wendigos figure that out, you're going to be in trouble when the spirits are released from their dead hosts.
  
  You're not about to give away the fact that everyone else is defenseless by shouting verbal commands to stop attacking, so the best thing you can do is cast your spell. Which is going to be a brand new experience for you since you've never actually cast a mind shield spell over other people before.
  
  Ignoring the sounds of gunshots and shouting around you, you concentrate on your spell and try to focus it on the group. It takes a lot more energy than you anticipated. Meanwhile you're getting questions on what you're doing.
  
  "Shut up! All of you! I'm trying to protect our lives and it's taking all my concentration! Now does anyone hear any voices? And I'm not taking about my own right now. I'm taking about raspy sounding voices going on about giving up or something similar."
  
  This question is followed by the group all-stating that they don't hear anything like that. You breathe a sigh of relief and while you still can't sense any wendigo spirits lurking about, you're not going to take your guard down yet.
  
  "Okay, good. Like I said before we got here, if anyone does hear voices let me know immediately. I heard one of them in my head and it thought we were eyes, or they thought I was. It got scared and told the rest to retreat before I destroyed them all."
  "An eye? What does that mean?" someone asks.
  "If I had to guess? They thought I was part of an elite military branch force of the old Empire." You say.
  "We've only found a bit of information on the Eyes, but I didn't know they actively hunted wendigos." Jennifer says.
  "They didn't. In fact other than some stealth operations during the Felkan War their primary function was internal security after the shadows were disposed of. They didn't have any magic abilities to destroy creatures like wendigos."
  "Something must've changed then."
  "I'll say. The only time I've ever heard fear in a wendigo's voice is just before I banished it. I'm guessing it sensed I had that ability and figured I was an eye, which leads me to believe that this mythical warrior's guild we're trying to find must be run by the eyes or decendents of them. Heh. Glad you held something together ol' friend." You say with a smile.
  "What's that?" Jennifer asks not knowing what you're thinking about.
  "Warrick. He was head of the Eyes. A Sightmaster. I can only imagine that if the Eyes did survive to this day, he must've had a hand in it somehow. Come on, I'm actually just as anxious as you to find this place now."
  
  After patching up some of the wounded you're soon on your way again. You hate dispelling the protection, but if you keep it going constantly, you'll be running out of stamina when you might need it for more physical foes. You just hope that the wendigos continue to believe that you're all Eyes.
  
  As it turns out, the rest of your journey is plagued by horrible weather conditions instead. There's also debate on which way to go when the remnants of the Empire roads disappear to wilderness and can no longer provide a base guideline of where to travel.
  
  Jennifer and most of her workers want to follow the maps, but you're convinced that you should continue in the direction of where you last remember Fort Defiance to stand.
  
  > follow your instinct
  Maybe things have somewhat since you were here last time, but the fact remains, you were actually in Rask once, nobody else here has and who knows if those maps are accurate. You're going to trust your gut and head towards where you remember Fort Defiance was located. Nobody in Jennifer's expedition crew is exactly pleased with that decision, but Jennifer calms them down and says she trusts you.
  
  You continue your journey and it's a miserable experience as a freezing ice storm hits hard within a couple of hours.
  
  What remaining horses and other pack animals you had left end up either panicking or outright collapse from the exhaustion. Your group ends up having to dig out a shelter and hunker down for the storm to pass. Food isn't much of a problem since you just butcher the animals that are dying any way. Fire isn't either since you can conjure it up. Still, it's not an ideal situation and others in the group are starting to experience minor frostbite and argue with one another.
  
  A couple more days of this and you're still not at your goal and the cold is even worse. Either you've gotten lost or Fort Defiance has long since fallen to the wilderness. More arguing occurs and blame is placed on you.
  
  "I told you we should've followed the maps!" one of Jennifer's crew remarks. "Why the hell are we listening this guy for? He's also the one that insisted on leaving two of our people with blood thirsty orcs!"
  "I'm also the guy that's keeping you alive, but that situation can be changed..." you answer.
  
  Surprisingly the man doesn't back down.
  
  "Oh sure, threaten me with violence, that's your solution to everything isn't it?"
  "It's worker pretty well so far and suggest you back off if you don't want a demonstration to see just how well."
  "Go ahead Mr. badass eternal! We're already fucking dead anyway now that you've gotten us lost! Of course you probably don't give a shit because you'll just survive by eating our bodies after we all..."
  
  You can't hold back any longer, you punch the man in the face breaking his nose. He falls to the ground in a daze. You step forward to give him more of a thrashing, but Jennifer gets in your way.
  
  "Alright that's enough! I think you've proven your point to Kevin. We're already fighting the elements and the hostile creatures that live here, we don't need to fight each other as well."
  "(Sigh) Fine, but this asshole better not step out of line again, otherwise I might not be as reasonable!" you remark and then gesture to your soldiers to help Kevin up.
  
  As they do so, it would seem that Kevin isn't quite through with you yet. He grabs a pistol from one of your soldiers and fires it right at you. He's not accurate enough to get a kill shot, but he's close enough that he doesn't miss. You feel a hot burning sensation go right through your stomach and pass through your back.
  
  "Shit! Fuck..." you utter and fall to the ground. While you're bleeding internally and externally, your soldiers make quick work of Kevin causing remainder of Jennifer's people to either look on in horror or scream and yell.
  
  Jennifer rushes to your aid, but she isn't quite sure what to do.
  
  "Damn it, should've...get off me!" you exclaim. Your body is partially in shock, but you manage to catch a breath long enough to gather your thoughts. You need to heal yourself quickly.
  
  With you attempting to concentrate, Jennifer's crew screaming, your soldiers threatening to subdue them and Jennifer trying to reason with everyone, nobody is paying attention to their surroundings. at least not until an ogre comes loping out from the trees and rips off one of your soldier's heads.
  
  More ogres come out of the trees as well and they aren't normal kind...
  
  "Fucking wendigos!" you shout.
  
  The wendigos must have been watching you and finally figured out you aren't Eyes at all and given that you're somewhat incapacitated now, they also figured now would be good time to strike and they were correct.
  
  You can't even get up, because the bullet ripped through your spine paralyzing you from the waist up, the bet you can do is wave your sword around in an attempt to slash at the wendigos nearby.
  
  It doesn't take long for them to easily kill Jennifer and her crew, followed by your soldiers and by the time they get to you, you're still weak from blood loss and having limited mobility.
  
  You manage to kill one of them before one puts its fist through your chest and rips off the top half of your torso for a feast.