Fates of Grenora: Return of the Night

Before he could ask who, cheering erupted, drowning out anything else that might have been said. Another upbeat song started playing in the background as the people in the inn gathered together to sing along.

Aldrin turned his attention back to her, who stared at him with a smirk. "Either loud noises get you or you are worried about someone bumping into you?" she asked, taking a sip of her drink that was not there last he looked.

"New Skills," he attempted to pass it off.

The grin she held transformed into an easygoing smile that bloomed on her. "It's ok. We all have our secrets," she said with a shrug. "Torvina Palmwings," she offered her pink hand to Aldrin.

Aldrin flicked his eyes at the extended hand. "Relax, if you don't want to be found, your secret is safe with me," she reassured with her hand still outstretched.

She waited a moment, and he still said nothing.

"Well, that's alright too, Aldrin," she teasingly said.

He stared as she moved in closer, thinking she was unaware of the danger she just put herself in. "If you are going to kill me, then you're going to have to kill him too," she gestured to Thakheam. "Then you're going to have to kill everyone in this inn, then this city, then who's going to help you?" Her smile quirked. "When you are ready to be who you are, call out to me and I will come. Have a good night," she whispered, then gave him a wink and vanished in a puff of pink smoke no one else seemed to notice, leaving her cup where she placed it.

Aldrin quickly glanced around him, trying to gauge if anybody was watching him or if they had seen the same thing he saw. He quickly grabbed her cup, bringing it to his mouth to fake taking a drink from it and inhaled deeply. The same chocolate cake scent he smelled in the forest over their first group of bandits to kill Gyt flooded his nose.

Thakheam soon came over, switching out Aldrin's nearly empty tankard for a new freshly filled one. "Where'd the young lass go?" he yelled over the blaring crowd.

"She's nearby, I believe," he stared at her cup in his hand.

Thakheam chortled, "You can't win 'em all."

"Tell me about it," Aldrin flashed a brief smile.

"Wait, what did she look like to you?" he snapped his head up.

"What do ye mean, lad? You were lookin right at her?"

"Nevermind, Goodnight Thakheam," Aldrin shook his head, getting up. He ventured back up to his room, leaving the party altogether since his mood soured.

Too many major things were happening all at once, first Lor-Vold is corrupt, then the Queen is corrupt, now there's an Undead assault preparing for a siege, Jared's getting his sister who would no doubt attempt to save the day, and now the reclusive Fae have made themselves known to him.

Aldrin's mind spun at the kind of life he was now living. All he wanted to do was join the Holy Order and become a decently good Paladin. How he ranged so far from that still boggled his mind. He needed stability and normalcy, desired it above anything, but this world wasn't going to grant him any of that. Not anymore.

Restless still, he opened his window, preparing a mental route for some reconnaissance. He activated Shapechange when he jumped out the inn window and flew above the city to get a bird's-eye view of it all. The three sections of the city blended seamlessly into an L-shape, with the Production district being the entry point to it all. Of course, he needed to know where exactly the Undead were going to strike so he could map out the route.

Stopping cold in his train of thoughts, "Am I really siding with them?"

On one hand, they had a point about having a right to live. It was a law that all sentient creatures capable of complex thought rather than base instinct have a right to live. But were the Undead really considered a sentient Race capable of complex thought? He reflected on himself, the cool night air helping him think. The feeling of weightlessness continued to be his partner as he traveled through the sky.

He was an Undead, but he was also a normal Human before that, so what changed? A part of him enjoyed the new perks of what it means to be a Vampire, a small part, a very small part. The other part detested the need to feed on the living. He worried one bad day would be enough to give into his bloodlust, making him feral. It was already hard enough as it is not breathing the city's air because of what might send him over the edge. However, he technically hasn't had to do the deed himself since Jared or Pierre supplied him for the day to keep him functioning.

Would he be ok with staying a Vampire? It would be a hard life to live, not to mention the Queen would probably put a ridiculous ransom on his head to capture him alive for whatever experiments if word got back to her. On the other hand, the powers granted to him offered him the ability to become a force reckoned with. Something he ultimately wanted to be ‌was a Paladin, a shield against those that wanted to do harm. Could he still be one? Just for the other side? Maybe both sides? He immediately closed that line of thinking for the moment.

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A small pulse grabbed his attention that was situated just little outside the city's gates among the reddish-brown plains. Angling for direction, he flew, reforming away from any prying eyes of the city. He looked around for the sender of the ping, his night vision enabling him to see perfectly in the darkness. Remembering how he had found the zombies before, he looked around for oddly shaped mounds of dirt. Seeing that nothing disturbed, he slowly waded forward. Trusting in his Vampiric Awareness he kept all of his senses attuned to pick up anything.

"Well, you're a bit of a stupid one, ain't ya? Or are ya a slow learner?" A disembodied, snarky voice said.

Aldrin felt the pin-prickle of something stepping into his radius. He shifted around, looking for the owner of the voice, but nothing stood out to him in the darkness.

The ghostly head of a Human slowly rose from the earth. He was old, and his face was leathered and sun-kissed from the long hours outside. A stab wound could be seen leaking from the neck of the apparition, giving away how he had died. He wore a straw hat, blue overalls with a white linen shirt underneath that covered his potbelly, with nothing on his feet, and the blood from his neck had saturated the front of his clothes.

"Oh no, I'm not doing this!" Aldrin marched away from the Ghost, which floated along behind him.

"I'm yer designated messenger for the big man, so either yer gonna like it or we're gonna have a problem," The Ghost taunted.

Stopping suddenly, "A problem?" Aldrin narrowed his eyes at the ghost as it floated in front of him.

"A problem, short stuff," the Ghost responded, looking at his nails.

The hold he had on his Vampiric nature slipped as he growled at the ghost, drawing his steel sword.

"And ya don't even have silver to harm me with? What kind of Midnight Lord are ya, anyway?" He tapped his chin. "I bet ya don't even have the Skills to harm me neither. Why couldn't we get a better Vampire?" he rolled his eyes once he found himself to be unimpressed by Aldrin.

"I have plenty of Skills!" Aldrin said through gritted fangs.

The ghost took another hard look at him then laughed. "Where?" The ghost fired back.

"Wait! Other Vampires? Like me?" Aldrin ignored the jab to his ego.

"Whatcha mean like you? What makes you so special?"

"I am the Progenitor for one," Aldrin stood proudly.

The Ghost laughed haughtily, clutching at his sides. "No, ya ain't," he said in between his laughter.

"You're nothing but scared of who ya could be if ya just let go. It oozes off of ya and it's gonna get ya killed one day, I can promise you that."

Aldrin had no comeback for that as the Ghost hit home.

"Now I called ya here to introduce myself seeing as we are gonna be working together. The name's Hyde Hall," He tipped his spectral straw hat in Aldrin's direction.

"What do I owe the pleasure of calling the Baby?" Hyde asked, floating around in a circle observing Aldrin.

"Progenitor is fine," Aldrin gritted out.

Hyde scoffed, "Yeah. Ok. Baby it is then."

"Now what ya got for me so I can report?" Hyde rubbed his hands together.

"Nothing. I don't even know how you guys are going to attack." Aldrin answered truthfully.

"Oh, we are already surrounding the city," Hyde curled in on himself to make it seem like he was sitting on air.

Eyes wide as saucers, "I thought you guys weren't attacking until a month from now?"

"We are," Hyde picked his nose and flicked it.

"Then why are you surrounding now?"

"Lots of bodies, and I don't know if you know this or not, but Zombies move kinda slow when trying to organize."

"Where?"

"All around us, or are ya blind too?" Hyde floated upwards, opening his arms wide.

Sighing, "I'll have something tomorrow night."

"I'll tell the boss man then. He is eager to begin." Hyde said.

Aldrin's hearing picked up a roar that sounded like nails on a chalkboard as his hands shot up to his ears. Hyde simply floated there and slightly gloated at the fact that it didn't bother him.

"Best get a move on, Baby. The others have arrived and aren't keen on taking directions from someone weak like you," Hyde offhandedly remarked.

"Soon I won't be like this anyway," Aldrin muttered to himself, causing Hyde to laugh so hard his neck wound started to bleed.

"A Cure? For a Progenitor? Let me know how that works out!" Hyde disappeared into the ground, laughing all the way.

"Fucking asshole," Aldrin said, then used Shapechange to get a good look of the city again now that he knew what the plan was.