Run!

You don't have time to stand around to find out which of these beasts wins their battle for you. The safe money seems to be on Gillo as he bashes one aside, sending it yowling away. You've got to find your sister. You turn your back on the gorilla as he is surrounded by the growling back of lupines. You run for the nearest terrain other than plains: a small ridge about 200 yards away.

"Wait!" Gillo calls out. Any further speech is drowned in the snarling of the lupines as they leap at him. You hear the sound of intense, savage fighting, but you don't look back. You flee up the hill, trying to shut out the horrifying sounds and put some distance between you and the monsters.

Your legs are burning and your breath is coming in pained gulps as you climb the ridge. The sounds of battle are still raging behind you as you climb over the ridge and drop down into a small rocky canyon. It's narrow and confusing and too high and sheer to climb out of.

You realize your error as you try desperately to find an exit and then you see heads peeking over the rim. First a snout and two pointed ears, then two and three and four until a half dozen lupines are looking down at you. Their jaws hang with blood and several of them are limping.

They swing down on their surprisingly human-like hands and arms, three on either side of you. They lick their jaws and keep their heads low, teeth bared, growling as they approach. You've been trained about werewolves. Even the most savage will accept submission, but if you fight them they might tear your throat out. Lupines must be the same way, but their minds are not as human and their hungers are far more savage.

They are also, thankfully, not as powerful as werewolves. Six is a lot, but they can only fight you two at a time at most in the narrow canyon. Maybe you can take them.