You hit him at a full run, teeth-first, fangs ripping through his coat and sinking into flesh. Even dying, he keeps fighting: he abandons the rifle and yanks a KA-BAR fighting knife from a quick-draw holster. This is where it gets dangerous, but you twist and yank, shredding his throat even as you twist away from the blade, then you let go.
Because you know it's over.
This guy doesn't, though. He gets up, blood spilling blackly down his chest, confusedly fumbles between rifle and knife for a moment…then topples face-down into the snow. He'll bleed out in a minute or so.
Then the horse stands up on two broken legs and its black eyes fix on you.
"You guessed wrong, little wolf," it says through bloody lips. And then its incisors lengthen, and it springs for you.
Where are the others? No matter. No more "little wolf," no more tricks. You shift instinctively into your titan-wolf form, the Hispo, tripling your weight as your eyes water and your heart pounds with the exertion of the metamorphosis.
So far, everything had gone according to plan, just as you had practiced a hundred times. But now you're forced to think on the fly as you confront the real threat, this mangled horse-thing. You taste blood in your mouth, hear your frightened breath…now it's for real. No mistakes.
Even in this larger form, I'm quick enough to dodge, weave, and fall back until this Bane makes a mistake.
I continue to rely on stealth and cunning, disappearing into the undergrowth and then striking from the shadows.
I'm hearty enough to shapeshift into my war form before the monster reaches me…and tear it apart.
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While the snowy fields are almost pearlescent with the light of the waxing moon, tree branches turn the forest floor into a spiderweb of shadows, perfect for disappearing. This horse-thing is even bigger than you in your dire wolf form, and while you suspect it's faster in open terrain, the woods are right there. You duck a scything hoof and bound over a patch of dirty snow, then slide on all fours under a fallen pine, showering your pursuer in snow and then vanishing into the darkness.
It's completely black here, forcing you to rely on smell. But that horse-thing has a nose, too, so you creep carefully backward over the hard-packed snow, not making a sound as you maneuver upwind. But the monster knows you haven't fled. It ranges back and forth, snarling through bloody lips, stamping its sharp hooves.
It'll find you soon. Knowing you have to act fast, you circle around an old pine, then accelerate, all four claws digging into the snow. The horse-thing hears you and starts to turn, but it's big, and you hit its flank, sinking your fangs into its side.
The monster reacts with fury, twisting around and biting your cheek, forcing you off. Spitting blood, you circle through the snow, wince as a blind kick clips your rear leg, and come in even lower. Your fangs pierce fur and muscle, rip into guts. You wrench your head away, scramble back onto an embankment, and watch as the horse-thing stumbles.
You spit more blood and test your wounded leg. You're hurt, but your foe…can it regenerate? Some of these accursed things heal faster than a werewolf.
The monster takes a step toward you, then its stomach empties out through the hole you ripped underneath it. Smoking hot gore and entrails pour onto the icy snow. It slips in its own guts, then collapses. You wait until you're sure it's dead. The air is cold as it whistles through the rip in your face.
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You spit blood, then feel around the inside of your mouth with your tongue. The horse-thing's bite has started to heal, and when you shift your weight onto your back leg, it feels like part of the bone has knitted back together.
So, next step: the Bane is dead, but where are Clay and the others? You need to make a call, and you can't do that without fingers. You check your hip: the good news is that the gear kit you carry in wolf form is still there. The tightly wrapped clothes within it will let you blend back in with the human population. Of course, if you tried to change now, you'd freeze to death before you reached that Speedway across from the Amazon hub. A conundrum.
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