There were barely five minutes in the Soul Maw before their first challenge came, and it wasn't in the form of other players, but from the things that called this place home.
It came in the form of Bonehowlers,hounds that prowled the ruins of Kareth'Zul. They stood taller than any warhorse, their bodies coiled with lean, predatory muscle beneath hide the color of rotting bronze. A ridge of jagged, bone-like spines ran from their skull to the tip of their whipcord tails, quivering with each breath. Their eyes burned with a sickly, corpse-light glow, and their elongated jaws were filled with fangs like splintered ivory. Every movement was fast, their clawed paws crunching over the skeletal remains that littered the streets, as if daring anything to challenge their claim.
When they raised their heads and loosed their namesake howl, the sound was not merely heard, it crawled under the skin, a hollow, mournful wail that carried the promise of death.
Stephan counted seven of them.
