A den of wolves

Thankful that Caderos isn't sending you in blind as you thought he might you pack a few belongings that might be helpful. The armor is heavy compared to the rags you've worn all your life, but wearing the breastplate and carrying the great hoplite shield and spear you are clearly a soldier of the army of Heliopolis. The memory of the crude map Caderos had drawn in red wine on the campaign table gives you some hope that you might find the bandits and back again to the city.

You walk off surprised by the words of encouragement of the men who have apparently heard that your trial is about to begin, which itself isn't surprising given the closeness of the unit; but that these rough characters would wish you well means your're finally fitting in. Once you leave the United Armies camp grounds you work your way East towards the river, twice you are stopped by patrols as you move away from the city walls, but each time the bronze sigil allows allows you to move on freely. Thankfully you don't run into anyone who might give you trouble; you can still hear sounds of fighting within the city when you pass the under the great walls but outside the besieged city the roadways are calm this late at night.

In all honesty you're surprised you made it past the checkpoints this easily, you wonder if using the bronze token of safe passage if you could bring Eudora away from the horrors of Athenapolis. The road you travel moves parallel to the river sometimes along its banks, at other times over 100 paces from the swampy banks of the slow moving body of brown water. As you move further from the doomed city you review in your mind the mission "Hunt down and eliminate any bandits you find who have been stealing the wine of the Lord Marshal's personal supply line. Names of assailants unknown, number of assailants unknown, features or markings that identify the assailants: cloaks with wolf faces in white on black."

"Great, so all I have to identify these attackers are some vague marking on them." You sigh as you get closer to the spot Caderos pointed out, "I'm going to walk right by them at this rate." Having no other ideas about what to do at the moment you leave the paved highroad and wander down to the bank of the river looking for anything out of the ordinary. It's a quiet night, so there is hardly a sound other than running water and local bird life, the occasional splash of a jumping fish or the croak of fat bull-frogs reminds you of the many times you found food along riverbanks like this. The peaceful setting is particularly striking compared to what's going on within the city walls and you wander upriver along a wide sandbar you spot something bobbing in an eddy. It is a barrel and the markings match those of the Lord Marshal's orders; you can at least confirm it is some pilfered wine, or rather the now empty barrel that recently held said wine.

**** for any possible clue you look over the area, it was at least possible that the barrel had been rolled down a steep embankment, it should have been carried away by the river if not for getting caught in the shallow eddy. Of course the barrel could have easily floated down the river for miles before ending up here but you cross the road once again and to your surprise find scuff marks in the soft sandstone that could have been left by a rolling wooden barrel. Following the trail that the empty barrel took down to the river bank you climb a steep hill into a grove of almond trees and after a short climb into the woods above the river road you find the entrance to a hidden cave just like Caderos had mentioned. Taking a breath of air to steel yourself you raise your shield up and enter the cave sneaking through the cavern, if you had any doubts this was the place you were seeking the empty barrels of wine and candles that light the stone walls shows that you are indeed in the right place.

But where are the bandits? Had you been spotted by by sentries in your incautious climb from the road? When you reach the middle of the cave you find more evidence of the culprits, twin black cloaks with white wolf markings upon them - but only two which surprises you and further evidence of two assailants persists two bed rolls that lay around a fire and twin backpacks. Perhaps these belonged to the sentries but where were the men? And where were the rest of the bandits?

That's when you hear it, a splash from deeper in the cave leaving the firepit behind you sneak as quietly as you can down through a narrow cave passageway, peeking inside you spot them - not men at all but women! Two Nubian beauties with skin as dark as chocolate marked with ivory white tattoos that twist and curve along their bodies like warpaint in the flickering light of three candles. They are lounging in a natural spring bath and both of them bare of any clothing at all giving you quite an eyeful as they talk with one another, you also notice that they have several more barrels of wine, one of which they are drinking from.

"Haru bring me another cup of wine." The older of the two says with a slight slur to her voice as she raises the glass up and wiggles it in her hand showing its empty, the woman has dark brown eyes, long black hair in a fancy braid you haven't seen before and her tits floating like air bladders in the still water are more than generous. As she raises herself out of the water the rest of her muscular body is visible, she has been blessed by the gods with flaring hips, firm thigh and when she bends herself over the edge she gives you a great view of her round backside. This is no delicate high noble, she's got those natural curves that come from hard work and an athletic build that blends perfectly with her womanly features. The younger woman is roughly half her age but growls at the older woman like a dog. Her pearly white teeth sparkle as she barks back.

"Get your own fucking drink Mother, you're not some helpless pup, and I'm not your ****." Haru is a younger, slimmer version of her mother, her lean form is also athletic but not as muscular as mother's, and whereas the older woman's breasts were the size of grapefruit, Haru's breasts were like orange halves tipped with dark peaks. The daughter's hair was braided as well, long black braids that reach down past her slender waist as she saunters over and slips back into the water clearly as drunk as the other woman saluting her with the cup.

"To think that Hanya of the Wolf Clan would have to fetch her own drink - how low I have fallen." The woman grumbles and rises from the water "Its because of that damn city falling." She slurs "Our real warriors ran off to join the plunder, and the boys that stayed with us were shit." She drinks deeply again. "I knew they were no match for real soldiers, but I thought they'd be able to take on those old guards." She spits into the water in disgust. "They were useless when it came to anything but farmers, merchants and traveling priests." Her voice sounds more like a growl of her clan's totem than that of a beautiful woman, she fills her cup to the brim before rejoining her daughter in the bath.

"Well that and keeping me entertained, Mother, they were young, with lots of stamina." She giggles showing that she too is well intoxicated. "That is before they went and got themselves cut down like goats."

Hanya laughs loudly at her daughter "Please! Those were just boys. You wouldn't know what to do with a real man. You didn't when our warriors were still with us and you still don't no shit. Those white-assed punks of yours didn't know what a woman really needs from a man."

"Says the woman who hasn't had any in six weeks!" The daughter shoots back and the two women seem about ready to go at one another's throats before they both back down and settle in opposite ends of the bath glaring at one another until Hanya breaks the silence again.

"You're right about me needing a man, Haru-na." The older warrior concedes, "I wouldn't even have minded your pet's skinny white cocks, if they hadn't been such timid little boys." She took a long gulp from her tankard. "If there had been even one man worth having on the wagons instead of those old men, I'd have dragged him here in chains and mounted him until he was fucked dry."

"Maybe the gods will give us a good prey tomorrow." Hanya sighs and you move back from the entrance to think of a plan of attack. one that will get you back to the camp in one piece before these wild beast women have a chance to tear you apart.