The unnatural clatter of steel and iron-shod boots rang out like an alarm bell in my ears. They would not see me, so completely had I blended into the canopy, but the goal was not simply to avoid detection. The cursed duergar WarMaster Duggud and the fire giant Empress Kharg made no effort to disguise their path through the forest; instead she cast fireballs to set it alight. The anger rose in my veins, and I could feel the rise of the predator within. "This will take all I can bring, and perhaps even that will not be enough," I thought silently, but the call of the wild could not be ignored. These trespassers, these defilers, these abominations of Thar-Eris must be destroyed utterly for the blasphemy of coming to this place. Out of a sack made from the hide of a town guardsman I pulled scrolls of power, and used up precious charges from my most potent wands. The cry of the Huntress sounds out in my mind. The time to act is now. Shall I become the venomous cobra? Or perhaps a fearsome tiger to pounce upon my prey? No, this job will need speed. As my body shifts from its already feline form into that of the cheetah, the predator spirit overcomes me. I am Nefla no more, but a primal force of nature, and I shall drink of fire giant blood and feast on duergar flesh tonight!


Names have been change to protect the Prey!