NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 4102734" data-attributes="member: 3285">Herald of the Yellow King - Part 1e: Derek’s HoldingKham closed the door behind him.  The wind howled, whipping the snow into a blinding wall of whiteness.  He couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of him.Even though the wolves were easily the size of horses, they were all white.  The only part of them that contrasted at all was their crystal blue eyes, and even that was hard to make out until it was too late. Kham was looking for something else this time.A nearby howl told him they were coming. They weren’t trying to hide anymore.  The wolves knew they had their prey trapped.Kham crouched and eased back his coat so that he could have easy access to his pistols. When Kham had faced off against Zainat Zameri, he wasn’t ready.  Kham found it ironic that it was literal wolves he was dueling; he had much more experience with the kind that wore human clothing. There was another howl, off to his right.  Kham tried to concentrate on his breathing.  He had a split second to react once he saw the bloodstain from where he tagged the alpha wolf the first time.  One second too late and he would end up like Vlad…only this time they would shatter him like a fragile sculpture and eat the bloody chunks.Kham had been a statue before.  It wasn’t so bad. He spotted a flash of red through the blinding snow.  The damned thing was actually zig-zagging, completely unhindered by the knee-deep snowdrifts. They were a lot smarter than he thought.Another wolf howled behind him.  Kham would not be deterred.  He knew enough about wolves to understand that his standoff against the alpha wolf was all he had to worry about.  Snow churned up in short bursts as the alpha wolf closed the distance at maximum speed.  Kham kept his hands steady, fingers twitching over the holsters.  Steady…The alpha wolf stopped short, plowing up a furrow of snow.  Then it started padding slowly, confidently towards him.Steady…The wind was freezing Kham’s skin where it was exposed.  Some of it trickled down his back and under his coat.  Kham suppressed a chill.  The alpha wolf was challenging him.  He couldn’t look away. It came closer.Steady…The alpha wolf was mere feet away.  Its blue eyes gleamed with a feral intelligence.  The beast was gauging him, waiting to see what he would do next.  It knew the things he had at his hips could hurt it, as evidenced by the bright red blood that left a staccato pattern in the snow.The crack of gunfire echoed behind him.  Something yelped, nearly in Kham’s ear.Then everything happened at once. The alpha wolf’s features twisted into a snarl as it opened its mouth to unleash a hoary blast.  Kham’s gloved hands snatched at his pistols as lightly as if they were extension of his arms.  In one smooth motion, he lifted them and fired down the throat of the alpha wolf.The explosion practically blew it apart.  It reared up and backwards, spraying blood and ice.  Then its twitching body collapsed into the snow.  A grim halo of red spread out from around the corpse.Kham looked over his shoulder.  Another wolf lay dead, a bullet hole through the side of its skull.“Nice shot,” said Kham to Dril through the latticed window.  Dril pulled his rifle back from the opening.  “They were bluffing you.  While the alpha wolf kept you busy, another wolf was creeping up behind you.  I thought I should even the odds.”Kham reholstered his pistols, grateful that they had fired when he needed them most.Ilmarė opened the door. “That was foolish. Why would you do such a stupid thing?”Kham patted Fleshripper.  “To prove I still could,” he said.</blockquote>

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