Lost Hunt

The elves of the village welcomed you with open arms, and have demonstrated a kindness and generosity that you have sometimes come to doubt still existed in the world. Now, as you gather among the dappled shadows of the village green - a good night's rest and a hearty breakfast comfortably behind you - a band of children dances about your legs, and a gentle sense of tranquility settles around your soul. No sooner has it arrived, than the moment is torn asunder by a sudden, piercing scream that echoes from the far side of the small village. Your heads turn as one in its direction, but before you have even a moment to react, you see a black form hurtling through the air toward you. As it crashes to earth scarcely twenty feet away, you realize it to be some monstrous humanoid - and you marvel at the stunning strength of the mighty legs that propelled its massive body through the air. That which follows seems to stretch for an eternity, although it must last scarcely more than a moment: The creature turns with lithe and sinister ease, and with a casual strength eviscerates the nearest villager with a single, terrible claw. A shocked silence fills your ears. And then you hear a sound. You realize it is the children screaming all about you. If the twisted, blackened hide of the creature left any doubt in your mind as to the unnatural blasphemy of its existence, it is eradicated now. The cry for action churns in your stomach, and the creature is already turning to a new victim...