Fates of Grenora: Return of the Night

"We have more incoming to our right!" Aldrin shouted, pulling his sword out of a dead bandit.

"On it!" Pierre said, disappearing into Stealth that obscured his figure first, then vanished amongst the darkened forest backdrop.

Jared fired arrows at the two bandits, taking cover behind the trees to keep them from advancing as Aldrin moved forward. "Almost out of arrows guys!" Jared called out, noting having nine arrows left.

"Have you gotten to the next level of Trickshots yet?" Aldrin said, appearing from behind one tree, trading blows with one bandit as both danced in and out with their weapons.

"No, I need to level up before I can!" Jared said, unleashing another Hunter's Volley at the other tree where a bandit hid, turning one arrow into ten as it flew.

"How close?" Aldrin landed a grievous wound on the bandit, making him grunt in pain before falling to his knees.

"Hopefully soon! Too busy to check!" Jared watched as Aldrin executed the bandit by quickly thrusting his blade through his chest.

Pierre reappeared next to Jared. "It was more than I could handle. I had taken out three of them before the rest could figure out where I was striking from," he said, huffing from the run back.

"They are definitely mad and are on their way," Pierre added, finally catching his breath.

"Was Gýt with them?" Aldrin asked, executing the last bandit.

"No," Pierre said.

Aldrin grunted in annoyance. "How long is this going to take?" He asked himself absentmindedly.

"Who knows? Maybe he has a plan for us?" Jared offered a response, shrugging his shoulders as he watched the trees for any movement.

"I doubt it. He seems to be more of a fight first, think later kind of guy," Pierre countered.

Jared and Aldrin both chuckled at the thought of Gýt rampaging around before asking who he was supposed to fight.

"Either way, when he shows, we split up and make for the cave, then we do phase two," Aldrin said. Pierre and Jared both nodded as another stream of bandits came tumbling through the brush with their weapons raised.

For the next hour, they would repeat the process of Aldrin listening for any new groups nearby, while Pierre antagonized them to get them riled up enough to follow him back to where Jared was perched in a tree, ready to unleash a Hunter's Volley with Aldrin acting as backup. From it all, Aldrin had at least leveled up his Race and Class once, unsure of what levels Jared and Pierre were.

"Hey wait a minute!" Aldrin called for a pause.

Pierre and Jared stopped what they were doing to give their attention to Aldrin.

"I never once asked you what your guys' levels were," Aldrin said, looking between them both.

Jared chuckled. "I am a level 26 Hunter, level 25 almost 26 in my racial level, and no profession," he said, gesturing for Pierre to go next.

Clearing his throat, "I am a level 25 Tracker, level 24 in my racial, and no profession," Pierre said.

"No professions? Why?" Aldrin asked.

Pierre looked at Jared before answering, "Well, like we said when we got here, we were immediately conscripted, and they didn't allow for conscripts to have professions," he said.

"That's weird," Aldrin puzzled as he thought about it.

"How did you get Lore Seeker as a profession?" Jared asked.

A dark and haunted look glinted in Aldrin's eyes. "It was my dad," he said, leaving no room to elaborate.

Pierre studied Aldrin as Jared shrugged his shoulders and went back to salvaging his arrows from the bodies.

"Shouldn't all this blood be driving you insane right now, anyway?" Jared looked at Aldrin.

"Not if it is from the dead," Aldrin stated, sniffing to be sure, but that only ended up with him wrinkling his nose in disgust as the dead life-force no longer surged his thirst to the forefront of his mind.

"And what about us? We have been around you for a few nights and you haven't given us any inclination to rip into us," Pierre said.

Aldrin opened his mouth to answer, then stopped as he thought about it some more. He took a whiff of the air around Pierre and Jared, trying to pick up their unique scent, but all that was there was the scent of the dead blood and forest.

"I honestly do not know why? It's like you guys are dead too since there is no scent coming off of either of you," Aldrin said.

"Interesting," Pierre mused as a thoughtful expression came over him.

"Probabl-" Aldrin stopped when his ears picked up loud thumping, bulldozing through the forest towards them.

Pierre ducked into Stealth while Jared readied his Hunter's Volley.

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Crazy eyed and fuming, Gýt entered the killing field looking between Aldrin and Jared. "I told you I would find you!" Gýt said, letting a cruel, crazed smile form as he materialized his Great Warhammer from his inventory.

"Hey Aldrin, guess what." A playful smirk rests on Jared's face.

"You got it, didn't you?" An equally playful smirk rested on Aldrin's face.

"Yup," Jared said, releasing his Hunter's Volley followed by his Trickshot: Crippling Arrow.

Without looking to see if either of the skills hit, both of them bolted away in different directions towards the cave. Using himself as bait, Aldrin made his direction easy to spot as he crunched dead leaves and snapped twigs underneath his rush to the cave. Gýt's enraged roar bellowed out into the night sky, telling Aldrin and whoever was still nearby that they only pissed him off.

Smirking to himself, he listened for Gýt's rampaging feet thundering through the forest floor with their thuds, hoping he would choose to follow him. Without fail and with the assumption that he was all meathead, his thundering footsteps rattled in Aldrin's ears as he picked it up. Now it was a race to get to the cave before he caught up to him.

It didn't take long for Aldrin to hear the crash behind him as Gýt blasted through a tree with his body alone. Picking up the pace, Aldrin put his improved Dexterity and Undead Body to use and rocketed forward with each step as much as he could. Enraged even more, Gýt's breathing became labored as he sounded more like a charging bull than man. Aldrin made the dreaded mistake of looking back at him to see spittle flying from his mouth as his rage overcame his mind.

Aldrin passed by a few marked trees that signified he was close to the cave and the trap that was waiting for the madman. Gýt, oblivious to the oddly marked trees, only watched the running form of Aldrin. Occasionally, Aldrin would look back, and a dash of "fear" would dance in his eyes, feeding Gýt's all-consuming rage.

"This guy needs therapy," Aldrin muttered to himself as he kept running.

A sharp whistle blew, informing Aldrin that Jared and Pierre were in position. The mouth of the cave loomed in the distance as it grew bigger the more Aldrin ran towards it. Stopping just short of the cave entrance, Aldrin skidded to a stop, spinning on his heel to come face to face with the meat train called Gýt. Emboldened by his prey running to a dead end, he ran full speed and used his Charge ability, closing the gap in an instant.

Shock briefly flitted across Aldrin's face before it turned into a feral grin. Giving Gýt the middle finger, Aldrin Shapechanged into fog, letting Gýt barrel right through it and into the cave, causing a massive thud that shook loose a few stalactites.

Jared jumped from the tree he was hiding in, drawing his bow and brightly lit Trickshot: Blinding Arrow, letting it fly into the mouth of the cave, bathing it in white-golden light.

Gýt yelled as the enclosed space allowed for the Blinding Arrow to take full effect. Pierre moved in with Stealth, striking a blow to Gýt's hamstring, making him take a knee. Grunting from the blindness and the sudden pain, he swung wildly.

Jared sighed wistfully. "I wish we had explosives or something that would make a big boom," then he lined up another Blinding Arrow before firing it into the cave.

Pierre danced back in, crippling Gýt's other hamstring. His body took on the red hue glow of his Berserk state, letting Aldrin know that it was time. Aldrin sucked air in, letting his new Night Reaver skill, Roar of the Apex, charge up.

Releasing the charged skill, Gýt's bubbling Berserk state was immediately stopped in its tracks, forcing the red hue to dissipate. Aldrin moved in, igniting his steel longsword with the sickly yellow of Cleaving Strikes, aiming for his already crippled legs.

The blade bit into Gýt's leg, but not enough to sever it. Aldrin bounced back towards Jared, who lined up another arrow. Gýt's thrashing struck Pierre in the chest as he went back in and was flung backwards out of the cave. Pierre gasped for air, clutching his broken sternum. Jared dropped his aim and rushed to the aid of Pierre, uncorking a [Health Potion].

Aldrin watched as Gýt crawled out of the cave, crazed bloodshot eyes darting back and forth in the dark.

"When Pierre is up, find cover and bring more bandits here so my Blood Aura will activate," Aldrin eyed Gýt, then at the other two.

Activating another one of the new skills he gained, the edge around the blade glowed a faint crimson color as he readied Leech Imbuement. Feeling more comfortable with a blade than he had ever felt, he flourished it, then took a defensive stance in front of Pierre and Jared as Gýt rose to his feet, with his injuries slowly mending themselves.

Roaring in a rage worse than a bear, Gýt's eyes glared daggers at Aldrin. "One of us won't leave here tonight!" Gýt bellowed, using his Charge and Whirlwind in tandem.

Slightly faster and ready for it this time, Aldrin sidestepped the Charge, but the tail end of the Whirlwind caught him, earning a pained grunt from him. Quickly brushing the pain off as best as he could, he reset his defensive stance and before he could even blink, Gýt was winding up for another strike.

Aldrin danced and weaved his way around the blows, taking a few hits that found their mark when he couldn't get away ‌in time. He bided his time until he heard Pierre running through the woods to him, uncaring of how loud he was being. Behind Pierre, more footsteps rumbled on the forest floor. Smirking, he would only need to keep the other bandits busy in the battle, thus activating his Blood Aura, before unleashing his Blood Rage.

"You are right, Gýt. One of us will die here," Aldrin answered back, with a fanged smile and red eyes of hunger as Pierre came barreling out of the woods, followed closely by other bandits.

The System Alert flashed briefly over his vision. Now it was time for the last act to even the playing field if not outright dominate it. Picking his target out of the bandits that started forming up a half circle around Gýt with him at the center.

Letting himself feel for the inner beast, his claws and ears elongated, low snarls escaped his lips when his teeth, specifically his top and bottom canines, grew to sharpened points. His copper skin lost its lustrous color, then settled on a dusty grey color. Blinking, his vision clouded over to his predator vision, allowing him to pinpoint all the bandits arrayed in front of him, with Gýt glowing the brightest.