Chief Hogg of the Bloodclaw Clan had come back from his "scouting trip" with a bounty of information. Not only had he learned the details of the plague-ridden town in Filthy Swamp, he had also obtained intel on the enemy, helping Murphy put the "design and development" of the next raid instance on the agenda.
He had even managed to score himself a very generous reward by being bold and shameless.
Although all ten command scepters had been coated with the poison applied by Lameclaw, considering that the madman only needed a vampire heart to help Hogg cure the poison, the situation wasn't all that bad.
For one thing, though Blood Vultures vampires were obviously out of the question as ingredients for Hogg's "self-rescue," there were plenty of Wolfsbane pups in the Cato region next to Smuggler's Woods, weren't there?
With a little luck, he could get it done in a day and still make it back.
And besides, Hogg, who had already become well-versed in the players' "way of doing business," didn't even need to handle the matter himself anymore.
Near midnight, Hogg returned to the great den in Smuggler's Woods with his adjutant and brutes, leading more than a thousand elite skeleton troops in a triumphant procession like a "street-sweeping tiger." There, he found his "master strategist" playing games with a group of foolish little gnolls outside the den.
Hogg called out gleefully:
"Little Ashina! Over here! I've got something good to give you!"
"Huh?"
Little Ashina, who had slipped away from her busy schedule to "inspect the work" in Smuggler's Woods, paused in surprise. Then she tossed a handful of candy to the little gnolls circling her and sent them off to play, before flapping her wings and flying over to Hogg and his imposing dire wolf.