The wolves had seen her. Maria was hiding in the upstairs bedroom. When she heard screaming she ran outside only to see the creatures of the dark forest in the town. She figured her husband and daughter would arrive soon with the guards but after hours of tense waiting she got more and more worried. looking out the window she had seen flying lights near the church and after a small earthquake a golem bigger than her house had appeared. she dared not look but she was worried about her family. She looked outside again only for the wolves to see her. One had tried to jump in the window but after scratching the floor to try and pull itself in it went limp after she heard one of those noises she had been hearing since the golem arrived. maybe the golem was from a great mage adventurer that just arrived. another wolf had gotten on the roof and tried to dig into the bedroom. that one was suddenly knocked aside by something. Other wolves got the same idea though. Then it happened. one of them got in the house. Maria tried to kick to keep it away. it bit her leg. The pain was intense. 

suddenly a booming voice was heard “BAD DOG!” a big metal hand crashed through the window grabbing the wolf by its tail. it yelped and let go of maria. knives yanked the direwolf out of the house and tossed it on the ground. knives finished it off by stabbing it with his blades. Jack contacted the squad heading to their location “i was a little late, it got to her. I hope there's a medic on your team.” 

When the team arrived knives kneeled down, Jack jumped out of his mech and went around the back. There a compartment opens up revealing a scoop stretcher. Jack passed it to the team entering the building and quickly hopped back in knives. The troopers rushed up the wooden stairs to the bedroom where Maria was. barely conscious she could only see people enter her room as her vision went blurry. they stabbed something in her leg and the pain eased slightly. The last thing she heard the men say before fainting was “alright move out the v.i.p.”. 

The return to the church went smoothly and they could convince Antony it was safe for Maria to go on the flying vehicles. He and John stayed behind to convince other people that the troopers were here to help and the giant golem was no threat to them. After hours of fighting Jack herded the last direwolves out of the village. The last one he managed to take out really put the fear in them. “haha! alright that was the last of em clara?”

 “That was all”

“Alright, did we save the village? we dominated those puppies.”

“Not quite according to what the local village leader told us, we managed to save 26 people in total.”

“it's a small village”

“There were 67 residents when the leader last checked.”

“well...shit....”

“the village might recover. I wonder why these people built an underprotected village in a forest this dangerous.... I detect people approaching.”

“contact the cap in the church. this might be some backup they called for.”

“If they're here for a rescue, why would they go so slow?”

***

Prince Hobart rode his horse through the dark forest. His plan went smoothly. fill a village with fools who really think he'd insanely reward everyone. make it look like you sent guards to secure the town then pull them back after sabotaging the wall. a sad tale of a town having a few accidents. by morning it would be a military outpost for desert expeditions. 

“a direwolf approaches!” yelled one of his guards. 

The prince held up 3 necklaces with purple gems and shouted “defend us!”

In response 3 bearlooking beastmen jumped in between the small platoon and the direwolf. The wolf however turned and ran into the forest. while they thought it was a bit strange they soon could see knives.

the soldiers were confused  “is that a golem?”

“I've never seen one that wields swords and what is it made of.”

“the mage summoning him must be very powerful” 

Hobart pondered “There were no mages among the people we sent here and there were no adventurers heading into the forest today.”

They approached the village gate. they could not quite see where the golem's eyes were but they could feel it staring at them. 

a voice came from it “you guys took your sweet time getting here.” 

Jack used knives to scan the platoon. inside the mech he had called the commander. “What do you think, commander?”

-”from early scans and the info Clara collected. it would seem like someone sabotaged the village. could be one of the rival nations but seeing this army approach so calmly they were either unaware or not interested in arriving any time soon. Jack, can you prod for info”-

 Jack nodded and opened the speakers again, “So you guys from this town? because it is fucked up.”

 Hobart was taken aback by the golems' crude wording, let alone its ability to speak. but it intrigued him “yes um sir golem. I am prince Hobart nobletalon of kings isle. we were on our way here for an early arrival for my inspection tomorrow.”

“cool cool. yeah so there were beasties all over the place killing your citizens. couldn't find any guards.”

 “They were returning to st baals to guide me here.”

both jack and the commander thought *BULLSHIT* It was a weak excuse for calling the guards back. 

Natlee approached the gate with her squad, John and Antony. Both John and Antony quickly bowed to the prince 

“Your highness, it was horrible. someone sabotaged my shed with a fire rune trap.” John exclaimed. 

“Your highness, I heard you called the guards back to pick you up. why? that left the entire town defenseless.” 

This wasn't going well for the prince. The strangely dressed group behind John and Antony were probably strong adventurers. Then he had an idea and hid a purple necklace in his hand. “an unfortunate oversight. but I see these brave adventurers saved you. Tell me who is the summoner of this golem? I assume he's also the leader.”

over the comms they wondered what they should do when Antony said “i think miss Natlee is their leader. I don't know if she summoned the golem though.”

The commander told Natlee to play along and act as if she summoned knives  “i lead this squad and yes i did summon knives here.” 

the prince's face gleamed “wonderful let me thank you for saving my people.” he stretched out his hand. when Natlee shook it he placed his other hand on her shoulder. she could feel the gem in his hand as he whispered “enslave!”

from the gem a purple light erupted placing a purple chain around natlee's neck. 

“Sire, what are you doing?” John shouted “they saved us, why are you…” an arrow hit John in the head. 

The prince said “miss Natlee tell your men to stand down” 

Natlee complied and told her squad to stand down. The prince pulled out 3 more purple necklaces from his pocket and added the one he used on Natlee. “Beastmen! gather her men and miss Natlee if any of them resist, tell your big friend knives to crush them.” she did as such.

“how are you doing this?” a soldier shouted.

“simple i guess you people haven't heard of our enslavement gems.” he held up the necklaces “these…”

 4 shots sounded out in quick succession. debris from the necklaces shattered into the princes face. 

sniper who was still in the tower saw the purple chain vanish from natlee's neck. -“glad that worked”- he said over the comms. 

“Even if it didn't i'd still appreciate it” Natlee responded while rushing back to her squad. 

The prince was hurt by the shards of the gems and had fallen off his horse. “get them!” he shouted. 

The guards approached but were met with the 3 bear beastmen and a trooper firing squad. The mages in the back tried firing fireballs at knives only to have them bounce off its plating. When the last soldier and mage were killed, knives approached the prince. “I'm sure you might think there's a value to keeping you alive. but i believe it's too risky when you got magic crap like those purple gems. So I wonder what I should do with you?”

 one of the bear beastmen shouted “we can tell you enough. He kept us as his personal guard. we heard everything he discussed.” 

knives turned to the beastmen “well there you have it.” knives turned back to the prince. opened up revealing jack holding a handgun ”problem solved!” with a loud bang the prince was shot in the head. “ sweet i committed regicide.” Jack laughed. 

“Pretty sure this is more tyrannicide,” said Natlee, still rubbing her neck.

“how are you feeling Nat? your 'summon' is worried” Jack joked. 

“that was fucked up. I could not refuse anything he said.”

 a beastman approached the two “you were smart not to resist while under the gems control strange humans. otherwise you'd be in immense pain.”

 the commander's voice came on the comms -”alright we're done here. head back to the ship.”- 

They guided the beastmen and Antony back to a dropship and headed back to the ship. time to debrief.