Michael slithered forward in front of them, his tongue flicking out as he attempted to sense the location of the rogue Bugbear. The platoon followed behind him silently, their flintlock rifles held up at the ready. Erica noted with some disapproval that some of her men hesitated before entering the Deepwald, but a stern glance had them scurrying after the platoon in no time. As they entered the dark forest, Erica shivered, the warmth of the sun stripped away by the dense canopy above them. One of her men, a human, let out a loud whistle as he walked behind her. Erica fixed him with a stern stare, and he immediately stopped himself before grinning sheepishly. “Sorry, Ma’am. I have never been to the Deepwald before; I didn’t realize it could ever get this dark during the day.” Erica rolled her serpentine eyes. She had forgotten that this one was new to expeditions like this. What was his name again? Tobias or something like that? The man had only just joined her platoon and was fresh out of training, but Erica had already begun to like him. He was lighthearted, silly, and had been a great moral booster for her platoon. Olaf Waltman, the platoon's sharpshooter, stared at the human and raised a single clawed digit to his mouth, signaling for silence, although Erica could make out a hint of amusement on his face. She doubted Tobias would have noticed this; humans were terrible at reading Serpentine expressions.

Erica turned her attention back to the forest around them. Two of her biggest and strongest soldiers, Elsiph and Axel, were in front of her, hacking and slashing at the overgrown flora with their swords. Suddenly, Michael raised his hand to signal the platoon to stop. Everyone immediately did so and dropped to their knees, bringing their guns up. Michael was the best tracker in the entire 3rd Imperial Dragoon Realm Guard Korp. If he sensed something, it was in your best interest to listen. Michael quietly signaled to the left of their current position. In a low voice, he whispered, “To the left, about 450 meters out. That thing is moving slowly; it doesn’t know we’re here yet.” Erica turned her attention to where Michael had indicated but couldn’t see anything definitive. She turned towards Axel and asked, “Do you think we can get close to it?” Axel looked off into the distance at the thick tangle of trees and underbrush. “It might be possible, but we wouldn’t want to fight it in there. We need it to be more out in the open.” Erica sighed heavily but nodded. “Alright, we need to lure it somewhere better then. Remember, these things are smart, so we have to be discreet about this. I, for one, do not want to be in the middle of this Eliadis-forsaken hellhole when that thing charges at us.” The rest of her platoon nodded solemnly in agreement. “Alright, here’s what we’ll do. Michael, you keep track of that thing; make sure it doesn’t move a millimeter without us knowing about it. Axel, you, Olaf, and Elsiph go out and clear a little area for us to lure it back to. Tobias, you’re with me. The rest of you set up positions around that clearing, guns drawn. I’ll signal you.” The soldiers all nodded as their tasks were assigned and quickly split off.

Tobias approached Erica nervously. “So, uhh, what are we doing?”

Erica smiled at him, revealing rows of sharp, pointed teeth. “We are going to lure that thing into our little trap.”

Tobias’s eyes widened in horror. “You can’t be serious?!"

Erica simply nodded and turned towards the direction of the Bugbear. “Don’t you worry about it, my friend. What we’re doing is actually safer than what they are going to be doing.”

“I cannot possibly believe that that is true.”

Erica let out a little chuckle. “Don’t worry. After this mission, drinks are on me. Now, follow me and stay silent.”

Erica and Tobias swiftly moved through the dense canopy of the Deepwald, careful to make as little noise as possible. They smelled it before they saw it. Bugbears are not exactly well known for their hygiene. The stench of rotting flesh, sweat, and blood filled the air as Erica and Tobias moved closer to the position that Michael had pointed out.

Soon, Erica rounded the corner and immediately held up her hand to stop Tobias from moving behind her. Less than a couple of meters out, she laid eyes on the Bugbear. It was sitting on the ground with a crude club resting against its thigh. The Bugbear's naturally greenish fur was matted with blood and dirt, and the beast appeared to be eating the remains of some creature—perhaps a deer? It was hard to tell, given how mangled the corpse was.

The Bugbear was feasting on the carcass with relish, each sickening bite eliciting a squelching noise that made Erica's scales tingle uncomfortably. She turned back to see Tobias covering his mouth with his hand, looking horrified. She gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder before gesturing toward the creature.

She leaned in close and whispered into his ear, “Move around to the other side, take a position behind that rock, and wait. I am going to begin luring this thing back towards the rest of our platoon. Your job is to stay behind it unnoticed while it enters our trap. As soon as it enters the clearing, the platoon is going to engage it. Your job is to keep a steady stream of bullets pouring into it. Do you understand?”

Tobias nodded his understanding, his nervousness and horror giving way to his military training. Erica nodded and waited for him to get into position.

Tobias disappeared into the thick underbrush around them, and Erica kept her eyes locked on the Bugbear, which seemingly had still not yet noticed that anything was wrong. A few minutes passed before Erica noticed movement on the rocks behind where the Bugbear had sat down. Tobias was in position. Erica then moved back slightly and, drawing her short sword, scraped the bottom of a tiny rock at her feet. The noise was faint, and the Bugbear did not react. Erica sighed and gave another swipe at the rock, this time eliciting a much louder noise. This got the Bugbear's attention.

The monstrous green creature stood and looked around, confused. Erica moved back slightly and made another swipe at the rock with her sword, eliciting another noise. In response, the Bugbear let out a low snarl and began lumbering in Erica's direction. Erica moved back further and threw the rock off to her right. The Bugbear continued moving in the direction of the noises, hefting his crude club as he did so. Erica repeated this process a few times, slowly luring the monstrous Bugbear back towards the rest of the platoon. She flicked her tongue out a few times, confirming that Tobias was, in fact, moving behind the Bugbear as he had been instructed to do. She wasn’t as good a tracker as Michael, but she could at least determine the location of someone she knew from relatively close by.

“Come on, big boy, just a little bit more," Erica muttered under her breath as she continued luring the beast back. The Bugbear was becoming more and more agitated, its low snarl transforming into an open growl. Thank the goddess these things don’t have a good sense of smell was all Erica could think as she strategically retreated back to where her soldiers had set up.

Suddenly, she spotted it: a slight break in the foliage that shouldn’t be there. The trap. Erica looked back towards the Bugbears' direction and decided to make a run for it. In a sudden burst of speed, Erica whirled around and leapt forward, sprinting with all her strength towards the clearing. The sudden noise and movement caught the attention of the Bugbear, which let out a loud, angry roar and began charging after her. Erica threw herself into the clearing her soldiers had prepared and landed on the chopped-up foliage with a thud. The Bugbear came charging in after her, roaring and snarling. As the beast loomed over her, Erica looked up at it with a smirk. “Gotcha.”

Suddenly, cracks of gunfire rang out through the forest, and the Bugbear screamed in pain as the bullets of her hidden comrades ripped chunks of flesh from its body. The Bugbear roared and attempted to lift its club to smash Erica, but before it could, Axel and Elsiph burst from the foliage around them and rammed their halberds into the beast's side. The Bugbear dropped its club and began swinging wildly, but to no avail. A well-placed, high-powered bullet shot from Olaf’s Blackwell-Class Focus Rifle ripped into the Bugbear's wrist and blew its hand clean off. The creature looked at the bloody stump where its hand had been in confusion, before the pain seemed to hit, and it let out a terrible wail. Axel attempted to yank his halberd from the beast's side but was knocked off his feet by a kick from the enraged Bugbear for his trouble. The beast turned around and looked ready to run away when a loud CRACK filled the air.

The Bugbear's arms went slack, and his head drooped. Slowly, the beast fell to his knees before toppling over to the side, a bullet hole through his head. Standing right behind him was Tobias, his gun still raised, panting heavily, the Bugbear's blood splattered across his armor. He trembled for a moment before lowering his gun and falling to his knees.

“That... was... the... scariest thing... I... have... EVER... done,” he gasped out between pants.

Erica stood and looked at him for a moment before smiling broadly. “You did good! That was one hell of a shot!”

A groan sounded through the clearing. “Oh sure, I engage it in melee and save your life, but the human gets all the praise.” Axel attempted to pick himself up from where the Bugbear had tossed him. “I got kicked by a Bugbear for you, Sergeant.”

Erica laughed and moved over to help him up. “You did good too, Axel, I appreciate you.”

Axel groaned but accepted Erica's hand. “I need to go see a Pharmamancer; I think my ribs are broken.”

Erica rolled her eyes. “You have an awful lot of snark for someone with broken ribs. But we'll take you to the apothecary as soon as we get back, just to be safe.”

She turned to the rest of her platoon, who had by now emerged from their hiding spots and were beginning to dust themselves off. “All right, after I’m done with the incident report, how about I treat y’all to a night out at Rhinemark? Drinks are on me.”

Erica's proposition was met with a round of cheers. With that, Erica and her soldiers began making their way back toward their encampment on the outskirts of the Deepwald. As they moved through the dark forest, the soldiers sang obnoxious songs and told crass jokes. Erica had half a mind to correct their behavior but decided against it. The men were giddy with joy. They had completed their mission and not suffered a single casualty, and that was something worth celebrating.