Fight.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Maybe these heroes aren't as strong as they look, or maybe you'd get lucky. Either way, you could probably reap some sweet XP if you win...

You dismissively toss Ilimia to the side, mostly for show, and take a few steps closer to the party, growling menacingly and your wolves joining in, crouched low and teeth showing. You don't feel anywhere near as confident as you probably look, but image is everything.

The party prepares for battle. The warriors advance, the archer and the healer stay behind, and the rogue disappears into the evening shadows. The obvious first target is the healer, and you give your wolves instructions in their own tongue about how you intend to get past the warriors.

You let them get closer, and then you take a few steps back, run back forward and leap over their heads, running straight for the healer and keeping your movements inconsistent as to make it harder for the archer to hit you. Your wolves run around the warriors and stand between them and the healer and the archer, keeping them distracted. The archer shoots an arrow at you that brushes against you painfully but mostly misses. Then you reach the healer and throw yourself and your sharp parts at him. Annoyingly, he's more well-armored than you thought, wearing light armor under his robe. His health is dropping too slowly. You deal damage, that's for sure, but not as fast as you had hoped. At this rate your wolves won't be able to hold back the warriors.

You grab the healer by his neck and throw him towards the wolves and the warriors so you can protect your pack while continuing to attempt taking out the healer. You take the wolves' place and fight the warriors while they instead go for the healer with a bit of help from you. Another arrow from the archer pierces painfully into your back and you hear a yelp signaling that one of your wolves also got hit by one.

The warriors are tough. Too tough. This party is most certainly out of your league. If you want to have any chance of defeating them, you'll need an alternate strategy...

Then you see one. A boulder trap, mounted on a cliff above the camp entrance. Several rocks the size of pigs kept in by a fence-like contraption, opened with a switch on top of the cliff. You also see the ladder that the bandits must use to get up there.

Boulder traps deal devastating, unfair amounts of damage, you've heard that from visiting heroes while living in Torgniam. What makes them more balanced is that heroes hardly ever get hit by them. Their accuracy is awful. But maybe... Yes. Maybe. If the rocks were to fall to the side instead of their intended direction, they would land inside the camp on a spot where you could probably trick the heroes to stand. It was a pretty good place to stand while fighting, so they probably wouldn't mind.

With some effort and lost health, you throw both the warriors and the healer to the spot, then keep them busy with your wolves for long enough to get the archer there as well. The rogue you'll have to take out through other means...

According to your plan, the four heroes don't move. Instead they are comfortable standing on that spot with the warriors fighting your wolves and the archer and healer taking cover behind them. Your wolves are at pretty low health now... But they can't spring the trap for you, so you can only hope that they survive for long enough.

The ladder up to the top of the cliff wasn't built for a werewolf, but you manage to climb it with only a bit of struggle and broken rungs. Then you run to the trap, making sure not to fall down, and smash the side of the fencing with a strong blow from your paw. As the stones begin to fall, you're just about to call back your wolves when you see that one of them is already dead, and the other is at critical health. Before you can order it to run, one of the warriors lands his final blow, and your last pack member dies with a yelp.

Then, the boulders land. And a delightful shower of XP fills you.

*Ding*

That was an unusually intense one... You must have leveled up quite a lot.

Then you feel a sharp pain in your back and a sickly sensation as the rogue stabs you in the back with a long, poisoned dagger. You react quickly and grab him before he disappears again, and throw him off the cliff. He screams all the way down, and you can hear several bones crack from the impact as another *Ding* graces your ears.

Before celebrating your victory, you open up the pack menu. You're relieved to see that your wolves are still there, meaning they would respawn. One thing worries you a bit though...

Pack Leader: Alpha Werewolf (Mikael) - Lvl 25
Pack Members: Gray Wolf - Lvl 6, Gray Wolf - Lvl 6
Morale: Okay
Influence: 15
Bonus XP: 54

The morale has gone down by a quite a bit... Apparently letting your pack die to save yourself isn't a good strategy to earn their trust and love. Oh well, maybe you could apologize by giving them that admittedly quite small bonus XP- HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO YOUR LEVEL?!

You close the pack menu and open up your stats, staring at them in disbelief.

Alpha Werewolf (Mikael)
Lvl: 16 ->25
Melee Attack: 24 -> 40
Armor: 8 -> 13
Weaknesses: Fire, Silver
Special Abilities:
Bloodlust: You deal more damage the less health you have.
Tracking: Enemies leave a trail that disappears after 30s * your level.
Heightened Senses: You can see in the dark, hear sounds from further away, smell enemies from further away and distinguish them by smell.
Blood of the Beast: Regenerate 2 HP/sec.
Call of the Alpha: A howl that summons all wolfkin (wolves, werewolves etc.) within hearing range.
Leader of the Pack: Form a pack with up to 2 members that can be commanded. Wolves of level 24 and below and werewolves of level 20 and below can be added.
Fearsome Roar: Inflicts fear on animals of level 24 and below and humanoids of level 12 and below.

You. Gained. NINE levels from that! NINE! And that stat boost! It's glorious! No new abilities though... Wait, what's this flashy thing?

Growth Choice Available!

Wild Werewolf: Sacrifice your Alpha abilities and some intelligence for increased physical abilities and potential. You will also lose your human form and become a werewolf permanently. (Alpha abilities can be regained on higher levels.)

Higher Werewolf: Gain the ability to equip armor and weapons in werewolf form (must be customized to be equippable), as well as the ability to craft custom werewolf-specialized equipment. You will also gain the ability to switch in and out of your werewolf form at will, rather than it being controlled by the day/night cycle (**** transformation still occurs on a full moon). Additionally, gain increased leadership abilities and potential.

My, my, my... Looks like you've hit the jackpot. Both of these seem incredibly useful. Unfortunately they're also rather... ****. You have to choose between two distinct specializations. Couldn't you get some middle option? ...Though technically that would probably be simply not choosing either option and just stay like this.

So, you can basically choose between strength and smarts... As well as pack and no pack. For now, at least. A tough choice... Maybe you should just not choose either for the time being?