Fates of Grenora: Return of the Night

BAM!

THUD!

"Aldrin! Are you ok?" Evie screamed through the chaos as she threw an explosive runestone at the nearest Enchanted Toad Golem, shattering it into small boulder-sized chunks.

Aldrin groaned as he lay flat on his back. "I'm fine!" he wheezed, black dots filtering in and out of his vision. Three explosive arrows peppered the nearest Enchanted Toad Golem that threatened to smash Aldrin.

He rolled away when the smoke from the explosives blinded the Toad. He got up, whirling around with his blade, scratching the Toad Golem that was going to smash him into paste. Eight of the golems were left as Evie's runestones had destroyed one; and another that was missing its front leg limb from Jared's opening explosive shot. Aldrin dashed forward, transforming into a swarm of bats. At the last second before coming head to head with the nearest Toad Golem, he transformed back, activating Cleaving Strike, making his dull greatsword glow dimly yellow. He slashed across the Toad Golem, causing a deep gouge that made it reel back on the defensive.

He glanced at the blade, amazed that even when dull, it could cause decent damage to things. However, as these were stone, he wasn't sure how much damage it could do on an actual flesh being. Focusing back on the fight, the Toad Golem retaliated by lunging one of its stone forelegs at Aldrin, knocking him back again. The pain was a dull thumping sensation. It didn't hurt as much as he thought it would, nor did it cave his chest in thanks to his Undead Body skill, being resistant to blunt attacks.

With no time to let out a grunt of pain, he got back up and waded into combat with the Toad, using Cleaving Strike whenever it came off of cooldown. Out of the corner of his eye, Pierre weaved in and out, using himself as a distraction, since his two daggers were of no use to him. Then whenever he could, Pierre used Pierce to cause a crack at a key moment that the others would take advantage of to cause more damage to it.

Jared fired off his Explosive Arrows as much as he could as he was being chased by a smaller Enchanted Toad Golem that lunged and hopped after him. Evie stayed as far back as possible, using one of her carved runestones to keep a shield up, keeping an eye out for any of them taking serious injuries while occasionally using a stun runestone to blind one golem when an opportunity arose. She hoped she would not have to intervene unless it was absolutely dire, since she wanted them to get the experience of fighting together.

She kept a watchful gaze on Aldrin as he rolled away from one strike, then came to a stop, slashing at a weakened spot on a nearby golem, causing the crack to grow bigger. "I'm a terrible match-up against these Golems!" he lamented as the Golem wound up for a counterstrike. He turned into a swarm of bats, flying high above the golem, forming back and letting himself freefall on top of the golem.

On top of it, he saw a jade stone in the center of its head. The golem he was on tried to buck him off. His instincts took over, enabling the use of the next level of Vampiric Agility, allowing him to stick to any surface. On instinct and willpower, he held strong, unsure of how he could.

"Guys! There is a jade stone in the center of their heads!" He called out, the Toad Golem trying its best to get Aldrin off its head. It began to roll to the side, but Aldrin ran counterclockwise to the roll, keeping perfect balance.

Once it was right side up, he angled his sword and plunged it into the Jade Stone. Emerald cracks appeared all over the Toad Golem, making it screech like two stones grinding together, then it exploded into small shards of stone. The abruptness of it all made Aldrin jump away from it, landing back into the waist-high pond. All the Toad Golems looked at the pieces, angling themselves toward Aldrin.

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They inhaled, making their bellies grow with emerald light, then exhaled, belching flaming stone spikes at Aldrin. Quickly reacting to it, he turned into a wispy black fog, letting the flaming stone spikes pass harmlessly through him. He reformed quickly, patting himself down. "Ok, that was weird to actually feel it," he said to himself.

He looked to see where the flaming stone spikes had embedded in a nearby tree, lighting it in green flames. "Evie! Jared! Go for the stone if you can! Pierre, keep distracting them!" Aldrin commanded before wading into battle with the next nearest golem. All of them battled for what seemed like hours but was only minutes after Aldrin had found their weak spot.

Aldrin read them, letting everyone else recover. Pierre sat on the remains of a golem. Sweat matted his hair to his head as he wiped his brow. Jared was busy gulping down water from his refilled waterskin. Evie was setting up a fire for camp as the sun crested the horizon. Nervousness wormed its way into Aldrin's psyche, wondering what the night would entail inside the Dungeon. One other dungeon monster was active and had yet to be seen. Still, he clung to their prize.

"Anyone else gain levels?" Aldrin asked.

"I gained one in my class and close to another level in Race. God, I need to hurry and get my Profession as a Beast Tamer," Jared came back, wiping the little droplets of water from his chin onto his sleeve.

Pierre focused his gaze on his notifications. "One and one for me."

Evie shook her head, only pinching her fingers together to show the miniscule amount of experience she gained. Aldrin shrugged, "Some is better than none," he said.

They moved to the campfire that kindled to life as Evie placed a runestone inside the ring of rocks. She sat close to it, sorting through pebbles and rocks from around the riverbed, then began to inscribe them with magic. She whispered words of power that took the shape of a runic language Aldrin assumed to be Giantese.

"Your Class, does it require something all the time?" Aldrin asked as he came closer and sat near the fire.

Evie paused, "No, it was a Skill I got once I reached Tier 4 and chose my specialization branch."

"It's the same as your father, right?" Pierre interjected.

A ghost of a smile crested Evie's lips. "Yes, or at least I am on the same path as him. Once I reach Tier 5, I might choose to go a different route if a choice is offered."

"Anyone hungry, though?" She asked, changing the subject, taking out small rations meant for Dungeons. "I have some leftovers from-" she trailed off, a distant look mirrored in her eyes as she stared into the fire. "Well, I had some leftovers, but it doesn't matter now. I'm sorry guys," she quickly recovered.

Pierre grunted in response and waved her off as he emptied his Inventory of rations. He passed them around to Evie and Jared. Aldrin didn't partake, knowing full well it wouldn't sate his new appetite that was still distant.

Jared glanced at Aldrin. "Are you feeling thirsty or hungry? Or actually, what does it feel like?" he asked.

"A bit of both, honestly. My throat feels like sandpaper after not having water, and then my stomach has sharp pains, like it's being stabbed from the inside out." Aldrin answered. "But no, I am not at all, which is strange. I could hunt for animals and see how that would work, as I haven't tried that yet. I know you guys kept me fed in Lor-Vold, but I don't know what we are going to do here."

He stood, dusting his hands off, "Better yet, no time like the present since nighttime is coming."

"Good luck!" Jared called out to Aldrin's retreating back as he ventured off into the dense part of the jungle.