The Hunting of the Hogger, 1
The hunters looked at each other worriedly. In the hill country the quarry seemed a lot more dangerous than it had back in the city. Thog, once the leader of a proud barbarian clan and now a trapper in the northern wastes swore under his breath.

This group was the worst he'd ever had to deal with. Rich southerners, grown fat with years of handling nothing more dangerous than a butter knife, now wanted to play at being big game hunters. He grinned then said, "Nothing to be worried about here. There might be giants they like lurking around in the mountains, and of course, there's always a chance that we might run into a dragon, so keep an eye on the sky."

Five heads instantly craned upwards, and Thog chortled. They instinctively huddled together, then Thog said, "Lucky for you I came along. 'Cause both things sleep in the day time, on account of being what you fine educated folk would call nocturnal." He tossed the last word out with a sneer.

The group relaxed a little, then the leader, Azim the banker, said, "Yes but why doesn't anyone else hunt in the day then?"

Thog grinned again, the scars on his face crisscrossed like someone was playing a gory game of tic-tac-toe. He said, "That's because the hoggers, now they sleep at night. Easy picking then. But you've gotta manage to avoid the giants and worse. And you folk, well I don't think you could avoid a sleeping ogre. So it's really best like this."

Aziz the weaver defiantly said, "So how are we going to get the hogger?"

Thog looked at him rather like a cat would look at a fat mouse, and smiled again. The way the scars moved was really starting to disturb the others, he was pleased to see. In a smug voice, he said, "Well, I know how I would hunt a hogger. Find its lair, go there at night, stab its throat, and there you are. You lot, well, now I think this should be an interesting hunt."

Azim took a step forward and said, "Now look here barbarian. In the tavern two nights ago you told us that you would help us bag a hogger. You said that it wasn't going to be hard at all! Now are you backing out because you're afraid."

The look in Thog's one eye made the rest of the band step back, but to Azim's own surprise, he stood firm. Surprised though he was, Thog didn't back down. He drew his sword and swished it through the air a few times. Azim didn't say anything, but eyed it worriedly.

Then Thog spoke again, in a soft voice. "Okay then. A hogger is the biggest pig in the world. It stands taller than a camel, and one thing you don't need to worry about is it sneaking up on you. It smells so bad you can tell when one's a hundred feet of you. It's fast though, can easily outrun a man. Strong as anything too. It'd be a great pack animal if it wasn't for two things. One, it's the most viciously untamable creature ever and two, it never stops eating. Wherever it goes, whatever it does, it stops to eat, anything that gets in the way. Shrubs, flowers, thornbushes, cats and dogs, whatever gets in the way."

He paused and looked at the worried faces in front of him. Grinning again, he said, "So seeing as to how it's such a deadly beast, I think I want to settle up the little matter of my fee first, because I don't know if you'll all come back from this little trip, if you see my point?" He flourished the broadsword again. Damn, too dramatic, he thought.

The merchants didn't seem to think so though, and after some grumbling and several hurried glances at the sword, a bag full of gold pieces was produced. "Small bag," Thog said in an insolent voice, then took it anyway.

Ok, that's the end of part one. Part two deals with the actual hunting of aforesaid hogger, and will be written once I've gotten over nevermentioned headache.