You decide that it might be wise to maintain a presence here, after all there is still work to be done and you're confident that things will be better at the fort now. Lieutenant Anu nods and says you can set out in a couple days to the town of Jekka. He mentions that the nomads have never been a problem like the kobold are, but lately they have been reaching that level. He also says they aren't native to Nalin, but rather the desert land south of it.

You spend the next couple of days at the fort are spent honing your weapon skills and telling your team to do likewise. Gerald joins you after being released from the stockade. He looks a little embarrassed and you reprimand him for his lack of finesse, but welcome him back.

Eventually you set off for the southern Nalin border. The journey isn't as uneventful as the first mission and you encounter a few kobolds attacking travelers along the roads. You easily dispatch them of course.

The town of Jekka is in much better shape than Dalt, but its obvious the people here have been suffering from attacks.

"Empire soldiers? Here? I thought you lot were chasing down kobolds to waste time with the likes of us." A man says to you. He looks to be some sort of town sheriff.
"All Empire towns are under our protection citizen. We have heard this one is suffering heavy raids from the desert nomads."
" Well, we've been doing okay so far, but a few of the other border villages have gotten it pretty bad. One of them was totally destroyed. Those lizard riders have never been this bad or numerous before. The weird thing is, they just destroy and kill, they don't actually do any proper raiding or looting, not that it really matters. but for the past few months."
"We heard rumors of a shaman uniting them."
"Yeah that's the rumor, but really nobody knows what's going on with them. They make quick attacks and then run back to their accursed desert. So when are more Empire soldiers coming?"
"They aren't."
"What?! We've been holding out for months with no hope in sight and now that you give us a little bit, you take it away again?"
"Citizen, I advise you to calm yourself." You warn, wondering if you're going to have to make another point like you did in Dalt. You don't since thought since the sheriff has more sense.
"Alright, alright, but I'm telling you there are a lot of those lizard riders! I hope you're more than just regular Empire soldiers. You guys Shadow Guard or something?"
"We're Eternals."

You set up your staging point in Jekka. The desert raiders will probably attack this town again as usual, so you might as well take advantage of the fact. The waiting is tedious, but eventually after few days it pays off.

Several of the raiders appear in the distance and make no hesitation in their attack. The raiders are trying to rely on intimidation, because they sure aren't relying on strategy and only attack the town from one direction. The lizard creatures that the raiders ride might be intimidating to the average citizen, but you've fought bigger creatures during training. They're rather clumsy beasts actually and when you and your team begin to use your own hit and run tactics, they start to collide into each other causing problems for the raiders.

As for the raiders themselves, they prove to be barely better fighters than the kobolds after dismounting several of them. Underneath the desert protection gear they wear, they don't appear to be human or any other race you're familiar with, but they bleed just like all them and that's the important thing.

As many battles often go, this one is over quicker than it felt. The remaining raiders run off and you order your people to mount up and chase them down which is fairly easy to do.

Jekka suffered some damage and a few dead, but overall the townspeople couldn't be happier with the outcome and most shower you with praise. However, you get the impression that you're going to be facing more of these raiders in the near future and you're right.

A couple days pass and another raid on the town of Jekka occurs in the same exact manner, then again a few days after that. A week passes and there are no more raids, but that doesn't mean they've stopped. You already know they've been attacking several settlements, so you tell Warrick and Roldan to scout out the closest ones to see what their situation is while you try to build some proper defenses for Jekka.

A week passes and you learn more about your foes from a villager who survived the destruction of his home. The desert raiders (or the Usksha as you've come to find out their proper name) have indeed been united under one banner by a shaman of some sort. The villager says he saw this being with his own eyes and was spared for the sole purpose to warn all that the Usksha will no longer tolerate a foreign presence encroaching on their desert. This shaman said he has been chosen personally by their god Usk to destroy all those that do and that the town of Jekka will not be able to resist the inevitable destiny that it will fall.

"So, he's coming here then? Good, saves us the trouble of hunting him down." You reply.
"Combined with this information and based on what Warrick and I have scouted out, it sounds like there will be even more of them. Possibly a full blown army. We might need reinforcements from Fort Glory." Roldan says.
"Reinforcements? Hah! We've beaten them several times with ease!"
"Would they even get here in time? We don't exactly know when the attack will come." Brenda asks.
"They might or they might not, still we should try. Find out who the best runner is in this town and have them travel to Fort Glory with this news. We can continue to prepare in the meantime." You say.

The next morning several Uskshas appear in the distance like the other times you fought them. Then more show up, then even more. The town sheriff completely panics and says he's never seen this many before. This of course causes most of the other townies to panic as well. You slap him and tell him if he and anyone else aren't going to be helpful then they need to stay out of the way and find someplace to hide.

They come at you screaming and yelling in their barbarian language and suddenly a huge worm thing comes out of the ground in the center of town.

"Ha ha! At last a real fight!" Edgar yells and runs at it immediately as it destroys the nearby tavern. You order Kane to come with you to help Edgar while the rest try to delay the rest of the usksha. You just hope the barricades hold up long enough for them to greatly whittle the numbers down.

You, Edgar and Kane approach the great worm, which bashes its great body into the side of another building, killing many townspeople hiding inside.

"YOU! You think you can destroy me? I am an avatar of Usk! How can you destroy a god when you are, but a mere child of a corrupt empire?" you suddenly hear in your mind.

It takes a split moment, but you realize that this beast is the shaman. He has used magic of some kind to transform himself into this thing. It doesn't matter how much favor he has from his god though, he isn't one and will die like the rest.

Using his daggers like climbing gear, Kane jumps as high as he can and sink them into the shaman, while you and Edgar attempt to chop at his body like it was a tree. The shaman roars and attempts to smash you with his body, but you pull Edgar out of the way and Kane jumps off before being crushed. The shaman burrows back into the hole he came from and a few moments later he breaks through in another area of the town and begins destroying the barricades. You reach the shaman just in time for him to sink back into his hole again, while usksha pour in through the broken wall.

"Shit!" Edgar shouts in exasperation.
"Plug up that opening with their dead bodies!" you shout as you chop off the head of one their lizards before doing the same to the fallen rider.

Holding the back the tide of usksha isn't exactly what you want to be doing though, you want to take down that shaman, do that and this battle is over.

When you hear him break through the ground again elsewhere in town, you tell Kane and Edgar to hold the line here, while you go see if you can get him.

You see him near the center of town again trying to finish destroying the buildings there. You chop down a few usksha near him and resume attempting to bring him down. He uses his crushing attack like last time, but this time you anticipate and not only dodge, but you manage to run your sword into his eye when his head is at your level. He bellows in pain and attempts to escape again, but you won't let go of your sword and pull it towards you as he pulls backwards. You fall to the ground as the sword finishes slicing through the shaman's flesh leaving a gapping wound where his eye and part of his "face" would be.

You then see the worm collapse to the ground and begin to glow. Some of the others nearby, human and usksha alike stop fighting to stand and watch in wonder. The shaman transforms back into his natural form, his head and body displaying heavy wounds.

"No…can't…you…why…we hate you…you aren't…wanted…your empire will die…we will reclaim what is oursss…" are the scattered words you hear in your head as you approach the shaman's broken body.
"Stop talking." You say and run your sword through his other eye.

It is at this point you hear the howls of several usksha as their mental link with their leader has been severed. You, your team and even a few vengeful townspeople butcher the remaining usksha that don't get away while attempting to retreat.

Jekka is half in ruins and many are dead, but the battle has been won.

The following day a detachment of troops arrive from Fort Glory. They look at the carnage and the platoon leader reports to you.

"I'm Corporal Delan and I'm here to help you with…shit, what the hell happened here?"
"Victory, corporal. Victory." You say.
"So…the threat is gone?"
"I wouldn't say it's gone, but it won't be rearing its head for a long time."
"I say we should march into that desert and wipe them out permanently, then we'd never have to worry about them ever again!" Edgar says.
"Well, if you decide to do that, we'll help. I know you've been busy down here so I don't know if you've heard, but we've made great strides in eliminating the kobolds, so Captian Anu told us to help you with this problem as much as we can.

You leave it alone

Marching into the desert without a grand plan other than simple slaughter isn't much of a plan. The usksha are nomads anyway, you'd never be able to catch all of them in their home turf.

"No, I believe we've taken care of the major problem, but I think you should stay here and oversee the safety of this town now. We'll head back to Fort Glory and report the situation." You tell Delan.

As you pack up and start to leave, Edgar begins to complain.

"What are we doing? We should be trying to hunt down the rest of the usksha!"
"Our mission here is done, the usksha have been defeated. If we get ordered to mount an expedition into the desert then we shall do so."
"Bah! Anu is probably going to assign us to fight kobolds again! We should be taking the initiative!"
"It seems every time you take the initiative, I end up having to help you in some way. I'd recommend that you worry less about fighting and more about your combat techniques."

At this point Edgar gets noticeably mad, but says nothing and walks off. You're starting to get slightly concerned about him. You'd rather not have to teach him a lesson like you did when you were still training under Mistress.

When you arrive at Fort Glory and report to Captain Anu he's pleased with what you've accomplished and is impressed. He says he'd like to keep you here to finish up wiping out the kobold infestation, but he's received word from the top that your team is to be transferred elsewhere.

"Where are we going sir?"
"The Rask frontier and I don't mind saying I don't envy you."
"I've heard of the place before. What is the situation there?"
"Bad, worse and downright horrible. As far as I know the Empire has been trying to establish order there for decades and not making any progress."
"Captain, I certainly hope you don't make it a habit of saying disparaging things about the Empire." A man says walking into the room. It's Mr. Mol.
"Uh no sir. Sorry sir." Captain Anu says sheepishly.

Mr. Mol overlooks his comments and speaks to you directly.

"Ignore the captain's words, everyone exaggerates the situation at the Rask frontier. While the area is having some problems, the fact remains if it really was so bad there, we would've pulled out a long time ago. Anyway, congratulations on your latest mission. Couldn't help overhearing your report in the next room, quite impressive. Which makes me believe it was a good idea to transfer you now."
"The Eternals are ready to serve the Emperor wherever he may need us sir." You say.
"And the Emperor will always appreciate your service. He has been watching you, you know. He always is. That is why he believes you would be most effective apart from each other."
"Sir?"
"You are Eternals, m'boy. You were bred to lead as well as fight. You've already proven yourself to be able to do both, but your fellow Eternals will never reach their fullest potential if they live under your shadow. All of you will be separated and given your own commands in territories the Emperor needs you the most. I have no doubt you all will be successful and honor the Emperor with your future victories."
"W..we will sir, but you said territories. Are we not all being sent to the Rask frontier?"
"Oh I think the captain misunderstood. A few of you are being sent there, but some of you are staying here, and others are yet being sent elsewhere. Here, here's your orders, you can inform the rest of your team, I'm sure they'll be excited to hear this news too, oh and consider yourself promoted to lieutenant. The rest of your team members will probably be promoted to sergeant rank when they officially get their assignments. I think that's about it. A caravan will be here to transfer some of you to your new assignments in a few days. Good day."

As Mr. Mol goes walking out the office, you feel a little strange. Your team has been together so long, it feels weird to know that you're going to be split apart.

"Sorry for the wrong information, I thought all of you would be sent to the Rask frontier. Well I guess I'm glad to know some of your are staying, heh…are you okay?" Captain Anu asks.
"Huh? Oh yes. I'm okay captain. If you'll excuse me I have to inform my team of their new assignments."
"Certainly. Dismissed."

You inform your team of the news and there is a mixture of feelings. There is some excitement of gaining their own commands, but are still a little apprehensive about splitting up. Well all of them except Edgar who seems to be solely overjoyed that he's getting his own command.

"Okay, Roldan and Brenda, you're staying here."
"Damn, I was hoping I'd at least get to go some place different." Brenda says.
"Make no mistake, this area still needs order established. I believe you and Roldan will do a fine job in continuing the reputation of excellence that we have built here."

You continue with the list.

"Gerald and Warrick, you're being assigned along the Felkan border. Apparently the non-aggression treaty the Empire had with the Felkan Kingdom has expired and tensions have been high. War with them may even break out."
"Interesting. Well if war does break out, we'll be the first one to show the Felkans the error of defying the Emperor's mercy." Warrick says.
"Yeah, yeah! Let's get on with it, where am I going?" Edgar interrupts.

You glare at Edgar and then continue.

"You, Kane and I are all being sent to the Rask frontier."
"As it should be. My skills were going to waste here."
"Edgar, I'm going to say this while I'm still your superior. I certainly hope you realize that this isn't a game and you'll prove yourself to be a competent leader."
"Hey, I'm just as much of a leader as you are! The difference is I take risks and that will be a trait that will necessary in a place like the Rask frontier! I will rise up in the ranks and bring honor to the name Eternal and glory to the Emperor!"
"You mean glory to yourself because you feel like you have something to prove." You say.
"And you don't? You're a hypocrite anyway! Always were ever since we trained under Mistress! I still recall you begging for your life to her as she crushed you under her boot. From that day on you were always trying to prove yourself and beating the bloody pulp out everyone."
"And as I recall you were on that end several times Edgar. Is that why you're still trying to prove yourself?"
"You wanna try that now?" Edgar says getting in your face and at this point all of your fellow Eternals intervene to break up a potential fight.

"Hey come on you guys! We can't be seen fighting each other like this! We're Eternals, we put all that stuff behind us back in training. We're professionals and supposed to be setting the example for the Empire!" Roldan says.

Edgar brushes himself and backs off.

"Tell you what Roldan. You set the example for the Empire. All of you set the example. In the meantime, I'll be scoring victories and actually serving the Emperor by conquering land in his name."

And with these last words, he takes his leave all of you.

The last few days together are a little awkward with what transpired between you and Edgar. Still you say your goodbyes to Roldan and Brenda when the caravan comes.

A few days after that, you then say your goodbyes to Warrick and Gerald.

You, Edgar and Kane sit in silence for the remainder of the trip. Eventually you arrive at the Rask frontier and make your stop at Fort Destiny. You haven't gotten off the caravan five minutes when a woman wearing battle armor approaches you.

"Hey are you the Eternals?"
"Yes we are."
"I'm Captain Krozer, I've heard a lot about you and wanted to meet you personally. Welcome to hell."

Captain Krozer begins to give you a run down on the entire area. She mentions that the mortality rate here is high so morale isn't the best, but she hopes that you and the other Eternals assigned here can rally some sort hope here again.

Captain Krozer also goes on to tell you that there's been a slight change of plans in your assignments. She says that you're still staying here, but that Kane and Edgar are going to Fort Defiance, which is further north. Probably for the best considering what transpired between you and Edgar.

Kane nods a dignified goodbye to you, and gets back on the caravan; Edgar of course isn't as pleasant and gives you a hostile glare before leaving.

With the caravan leaving, you head to your new unit. When you see them, quite a few of them are predictably much older than you, but surprisingly you see that half of them are around your age.

"So, you're one those Eternals huh?" one the older soldiers says almost dismissively. You're in no mood to warn anyone this time, so you go straight to the point and throw him to the floor with his arm painfully twisted behind his back.
"Correct, and you'll address me as sir or lieutenant if you want to keep this arm, because it'll be very hard to continue doing your duty for the Emperor with just a stump. Understand?"
"Argh. Y..yes sir!"

And so begins your assignment in the Rask frontier.
Chapter 2A: For The Empire!



Year 20

"Watch it the last ones are coming from the left side!" you shout, pointing at the barbarian wolfmen breaking through the barricade.

Two of your number go down before the might of the wolfmen. As always you find yourself having to do things yourself. Not that you're adverse to placing yourself in the thick of battle, but sometimes you get a little tired of having to micromanage.

One of the wolfmen goes down by your blade with ease, the other three however are shot full of bolts, though you were very nearly in the crossfire.

"DAMMIT, watch where you're shooting!" You shout at the dark elven mercenaries.
"Oh stop being so dramatic, we've been shooting with these crossbows longer than you've even been alive I'd wager." One of them replies, followed by a few snickers.

You shake your head at the fact that you have to routinely work with them, let alone having to put up with their kind. Then again you've had to put up with a lot around here for the past four years.

"Are we done fighting these dogs now? When are we going to get back to killing more sveld? That's a lot more fun." One of the mercenaries says.
"You aren't getting paid to have fun svelk! You're getting paid to do your job. If you really want to go murder your tree loving cousins so bad, we're not stopping you." You say.
"Whatever monkey, our job here is done, we're heading back. Let us know when you need our help again." The mercenary says and they leave.

You survey the damage to the logging camp and it's going to be awhile before this place is up and running to it's full capabilities again. Still, today is a victory and despite everything, you've managed to eliminate more enemies even if it does seem like they are everywhere in this harsh cold land.

Unfortunately nowadays the Rask frontier isn't the only place where the Empire has been having problems. Open war broke out with the Felkan Kingdom a couple years ago. Sometimes you wonder how things are going with Warrick and Gerald, but you've never heard anything about them, or from them.

In fact you rarely hear news from anywhere unless it directly concerns you defending mining towns, logging town, or outposts from barbarians or the forest elves. It's never pretty here, but you can only imagine what they deal with up at Fort Defiance where they routinely face ogres and sometimes even giants. You have heard that Edgar has made quite a name for himself with some of his actions. In a way you're glad, because he's living up to the title of an Eternal and doing honor by serving with distinction…still, knowing him he's doing it all to try to "beat" you.

As for you, you've made quite a name for yourself as well. You have improved the mortality rate of the soldiers here a little (most notably the ones serving under you), but you've also managed to successfully defend several towns with low citizen casualties too.

The greatest accomplishments of yours are the complete destruction of several hostile barbarian tribes. The Black Wolves, the Enclave of the Bear, the Blood Boars, and other minor shape changing tribes have all been exterminated thanks to your relentless nature. Indeed, you've become so infamous that the barbarian tribes in this land have come to call you the "The Bane of Rask."

This recent battle was a last desperate regroup attack by one of the tribes, the "Silver Fangs" after you wiped out all their women and children in an attack on their camp. Grim business to be sure, but it wasn't first time and it certainly won't be the last. These tribes must learn that they cannot stand against the might of the Empire or the Emperor. If they can only learn that with their extinction then so be it.

You report your victory to Captain Krozer.

"Excellent as always lieutenant. I know time after time I can count on you. Which leads me to the next major task. From what I can tell we've managed to eliminate the major threats in this particular area of the Rask frontier, but we have two left. The forest elves and the Wendigo tribe are the two in question and I'm wondering which one we should focus our attention on first."

"Well I can tell you that the Wendigo tribe will be a challenge. They're the biggest, toughest and meanest of all the barbarian shape shifters. So far we haven't had a large battle with them yet, but with our extermination of the other tribes, the time is getting closer. As for the elves, it will be more tedious than anything as they use a lot of guerilla tactics and such. We've still never found any sort of home, base or camp of theirs, but I suppose those dark elven mercs will be more than willing to help us with eliminating them. I'm sure their leader, Edolith will most likely demand a high price as usual though." You say.

"(Sigh) Yeah, I'm sure she will. Things are never easy here. Fuck it; we're pushing forward on both groups right now and putting an end to it once and for all. The question is, would you prefer to lead a company against the Wendigo tribe or go on a seek and destroy mission on the forest elves."

You attack the Wendigo tribe

"While I have every desire to see both of these blights erased from the Empire's lands, I believe my abilities would be best served in leading the attack against the Wendigo tribe, captain." You say.
"I had a feeling you'd be more drawn to that idea, and you are probably the best person for it, seeing how many victories you have against the barbarians tribes here. Very well, I shall send another officer to lead the mission against the elves and I hope those mercenaries lower their price in exchange for a chance to kill their tree loving kin. In fact I may go along on that mission." Captain Krozer replies.
"You are captain?"
"Yes, someone needs to keep an eye on those shifty bastards. Besides I find that I've been getting stuck behind the desk too much lately. It'll be good to be back out in the field. Don't want to become like one of those fat self-important generals that do nothing except point to maps and make equally fat musings on tactics. A true leader should lead from the front, I'm sure you agree."
"It is preferable yes…but I do understand the need to keep those with keen military minds safe from major war zones. Such people have their place as all do in their service of the Emperor."
"Why lieutenant, are you complimenting me on my intelligence? It's not like you to flirt." Captain Krozer asks in a tone slightly friendlier than usual, it catches you a little off guard.
"I…no! I mean yes, you are very intelligent, but…"
"Relax lieutenant, just having a little fun, didn't mean to put you on the spot. Anyway, we'll pick this up later, you better get prepared for your mission, and good luck."

You do exactly that, get prepared. You know this will not be an easy battle. You fought a member of the wendigos by yourself before and it was one of your greatest fights. Fighting an entire tribe of them even with an entire company behind you will not make it easier. Most of the men while capable soldiers, they are still just recruits in some ways when facing the shear might and savagery of these barbarians, let alone a tribe like the wendigos. At this point you wish you had a few battle wizards or even orcs in your ranks, but most of those have been assigned either at Fort Defiance or on the frontlines of the Felkan War.

You march through the ice and snow towards wendingo territory, along the way you come across a small village completely decimated. Looks like it was a fairly new one made up of some determined settlers. Still, no amount of determination could have possibly made it a good idea to start building a new settlement that was so close to wendigo territory without Empire protection.

Houses have been burned, and the gory bodies of the dead are everywhere and in pieces. Some of the bodies have even been partially eaten. Not surprising, considering the wendigo tribe will cannibalize their own people if necessary. A couple of the newer recruits throw up at the grisly sight.

The march eventually leads you a wooded hill area where they make their home. It's there where you have your first major encounter with the wendigos. Their aren't a lot of them, but they're completely vicious and without fear. They think nothing of attacking you despite being outnumbered and bellow their terrible howl. A howl so dreadful it can affect the mind and causes a few of your men to lose their courage completely.

"It's all in your head! The Emperor's Will protects us! Find your nerve or die!" you shout and clash with the nearest wendigo.

It's just the first of many such battles. The only good thing is the wendigos are pretty easy to find and make no attempts to hide from you, meaning you don't really need to make a big effort at hunting them down. The bad thing of course is little by little your company is worn down by their attacks along with the land already being harsh and food being scarce.

It's not just that though, this land of theirs, it's making you feel weird, to say nothing of your men. The howls of the wendingos seem to be on the very winds here. It's constantly there sapping your mind and making yourself feel strange thoughts.

"Lieutenant, I'm starting to feel really hungry. A lot of the men are." Your second says to you.
"We just stopped to eat."
"I know, but I dunno I'm still hungry."
"Well we're not stopping again. We need to keep moving the quicker we do this, the quicker we can go back home and have a proper meal."
"Yes, a proper meal with meat. Lots of meat. Heh heh." Your second says and walks away.

By the fifth day, you finally come across a large wendigo encampment and it is there where you see some sort of leader. You knew they had to have one, these types always do. He's predictably the largest of his kind and covered in pure white fur. When your company arrives, the wendigos make their howl, but more disturbingly some of your men make a rival howl of their own and charge into battle even before you give the command.

The battle is a slaughter on both sides. You struggle against the wendigo leader striking several blows that would kill a normal man, but of course then you're not fighting a man. He swipes you across the chest destroying your breast plate and lands another blow to your head which probably would've killed you had you not been wearing a helmet. It is enough to knock you down however.

"Your combat skill is impressive, Bane of Rask. It will be an honor to add it my own when I devour your heart." You suddenly hear in your head as you struggle to get up. You've heard this sort of talk before. Namely when you were fighting against the usksha shaman.

You shake off the wendingo leader's mental attempts to throw you off guard and narrowly avoid his foot stomping on your head. You grab your sword nearby and with all your might, you swing it at the very foot that just tried to crush your head and chop it clean off.

The wendigo leader howls again, but this is one of pain as he tumbles to the ground. You waste no time and shove the blade down the beast's gullet. While this would be enough to kill most, the leader manages punch you aside with all his thrashing and then tries to stand up on one foot with a sword still stuck through his mouth and coming out the other side of his head.

It would be a darkly comical sight under different circumstances watching this beast hop around trying to pull a sword out of his head, but you're in no mood to laugh. You charge into him as hard as you can to knock him down and grab the sword yanking it back and forth until you succeed in sawing off the top part of his head.

To their credit, the remaining wendigos continue to fight and die with their leader. The battle is won and even you take a moment to rest.

This rest is to be short lived.

"Bane of Rask, you've just won a fierce battle wouldn't it be nice to celebrate by filling your belly with meat? There is a lot in the pot over there."
"…what?" you say to yourself and hold your head in your hands.
"The pot over there. Lots of tasty meat that this tribe was going to eat before you so rudely interrupted them. No sense in letting it go to waste."
"…no I just killed you."
"Did you? Of course if you wish you could just pick a body on the ground and start eating. Why not? You deserve it."

You know what's going on here. The wendigos aren't truly flesh and blood creatures! They're some sort of spirits or something otherworldly. No wonder you've felt strange the entire time you've been here.

You get up and call your men to leave immediately, only to see some of them have already fully succumbed to the wendigo curse. Eating the bodies laying on the ground and beginning to look less than human and more feral.

You run

The longer you stay here, the more likely all of you are going to get possessed. This entire land is cursed and you need to get out of here. You and the rest of your unprocessed troops begin to back off while still keeping an eye on the new wendigos. Their preoccupation with fresh bodies is limited however and they soon begin to turn towards you.

They howl that dreadful noise again and begin to transform. It is at this point some of your men run as fast as then can, others begin to hold their heads telling a voice to shut up.

"Bane of Rask, join us or die here today!" you hear the voice hiss.

Several wendigos run after the men who fled, while the others stay to attack you. For whatever reason, they're not fighting with as much reckless abandon anymore, it's almost as if they've absorbed the fighting skills of your soldiers. Despite this, you manage to pull out a victory, but you're exhausted and wounded. You see some of your other men already beginning to transform having been possessed by the wendigos and you spare no time in killing them before they can transform as well.

"Your skills for killing are misused, if you just embraced the primal instinct, you would be able to use your skills to the fullest extent and without the shackles of any higher authority."
"SHUT UP!" you shout.

Between the constant assaults to your mind and your wounds, you struggle to make your way out of wendigo territory. It doesn't help that you're also still being periodically attacked by the wendigos that presumably finished off the rest of your men who ran away.

You run your sword through the face of a wendigo and ignore his claws ripping through your own armor and your flesh. You're tired, but a rage is growing within you due to these constant assaults. You grab the already mortally wounded wendigo and as hard as you can you summon all your strength to break its neck. It falls to the snow in a heavy heap and you do as well.

"Do it…nobody is around…feed to sustain your strength…" you hear.

You sink your teeth into the body of the wendigo and begin to feed…or rather the carcass of its former host as the wendigo itself has left its body and managed to weave itself into your mind. Your barrier against it finally shattered, your mind is truly not your own anymore. While you are "alive" you are merely a puppet now.

You spend the remainder of your days seeking out fresh flesh, until ultimately your mind is completely absorbed and under control of the wendigo.