“We have more incoming to our right!” Aldrin yelled out, pulling his sword out from the bandit he just killed.
“On it!” Pierre said, disappearing in Stealth.
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, taking note of having nine arrows left.
“Have you gotten to the next level of Trickshots yet?” Aldrin said, appearing behind one the trees, trading blows with one of the bandits.
“No, I need to level up before I can!” Jared said, unleashing another Hunter’s Volley at the other tree where the bandit hid, turning one arrow into ten as it flew towards the tree.
“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,” 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.
Grunting, “How long is this going to take?” Aldrin asked no one.
“Who knows? Maybe he has a plan for us?” Jared offered, 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 rinse and repeat the process of Aldrin listening for any new groups nearby, Pierre would antagonize them to get them riled up enough to follow him back to where Jared was perched ready to unleash a Hunter’s Volley with Aldrin acting as back up. 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 the eyes of Aldrin, “It was my dad,” He said, brokering 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 anyways?” Jared looked to Aldrin.
“Not if it is from the dead,” Aldrin stated.
“And what about us? We have been around you for a few nights and you haven’t had 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 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 tramping their way fast.
Pierre ducked into Stealth while Jared readied his Hunter’s Volley.
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 that they only pissed him off.
Smirking to himself he listened for Gýt’s rampaging feet to thunder 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 echoed 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 started to sound 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 Gýt. Unbeknownst to Gýt, he paid no mind to the oddly marked trees as his eyes were zeroed in on Aldrin’s retreating form. Occasionally Aldrin would look back and a dash of “fear” would dance in his eyes feeding Gýt’s all consuming rage.
“This guy needs anger management,” 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 on, 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, “I wish we had explosives or something that would make a big boom,” Lining up another Blinding Arrow before firing it into the cave.
Pierre danced back in, crippling Gýt’s other hamstring. His body began to take 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 up skill, Gýt’s bubbling Berserk state was immediately canceled. Aldrin moved in, igniting his steel longsword with the sickly yellow of Cleaving Strikes aiming for his already crippled legs.
Roar of the Apex is on cooldown for one minute!
The blade bit into Gýt’s leg but not enough to cleanly sever it. Aldrin bounced back towards Jared who lined up another arrow. Pierre went back in aiming for Gýt’s swinging arm but was caught in the chest by his thrashing. Flung backwards out 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].
Cleaving Strikes is on cooldown for 45 seconds!
Aldrin watched as Gýt crawled out the cave, crazed bloodshot eyes darted 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 of blade began to glow a faint crimson color as he readied Leech Imbuement. Feeling more comfortable with a blade than he has ever felt he flourished it then took a defensive stance in front of Pierre and Jared as Gýt rose to his feet, his injuries healing.
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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 barely managed to side step the Charge but the tail end of the Whirlwind caught him, managing to earn a pained grunt from him. Quickly brushing the pain off as best as he could he reset his defensive stance but before he could blink Gýt was winding up for another strike.
Aldrin danced and weaved his way around the blows, taking a few hits he could not get away from in time. Biding his time until he heard Pierre running through the woods to him, not caring at how loud he was being. Behind Pierre more footsteps could be heard. Smirking to himself all he would have to do is make sure that the other bandits were actively occupied in the battle allowing for his Blood Aura to activate then finally unleashing his Blood Rage.
“You are right Gýt, one of us will die here,” Aldrin answered back as Pierre came barreling out of the woods followed closely by other bandits.
Blood Aura is now activated giving you a 3% boost to damage! Happy slaughtering young Vampire!
The System Alert flashed briefly over his vision. Now it was time for the final act to even the playing field if not outright dominate the field. Picking his target out of the bandits that began to form up a half circle around Gýt with him at the center all facing Aldrin.
Letting himself feel for the inner beast his claws and ears elongated, low snarls began to escape his lips when his teeth, specifically his top and bottom canines grew to sharpened points, his copper skin lost its lustrous color when he began to pale. Blinking, his vision clouded over to his predator vision allowing him to pinpoint all of the bandits arrayed in front of him with Gýt glowing the brightest.
Cleaving Strikes is ready!
“You’ve gotta be shitting me. . .” Aldrin heard one of the bandits whisper.
A sharp intake of breath followed soon after, “I thought they were supposed to be feral?!” Another voice whispered.
With his full vampiric nature out on display, Aldrin unleashed Blood Rage.
Blood Rage is now activated giving you a 2x boost to your stats!
Roar of the Apex is ready!
Rushing forward in the blink of an eye, he slashed at a group of three on the left of Gýt letting Cleaving Strikes take care of the rest. Cutting cleanly through the first one, grievously wounding the second, and cracking a rib on the third Aldrin then used another Roar of the Apex to silence any budding abilities about to activate.
Cleaving Strikes is on cooldown for 45 seconds!
Roar of the Apex is on cooldown for one minute!
Lust for Carnage is now activated boosting your stats by 10% for 10 seconds!
Shapechanging into bats, Aldrin fluttered over to the next bandit grabbing him up in the swarm letting his fangs sink into the bandit. A thud resounded as the bandit dropped to the forest floor. Faster than any of them could react, four of their members had already been killed or seriously injured.
Fear started to take hold of the bandits as the predator stood before them. Two arrows flashed past Aldrin, striking into another bandit, killing him instantly as one punctured his brain.
System Alert: Title Activated! Traveler of an Archdemon’s Domain: Fear and Dread waft off of you!
Aldrin slid his cool calculating gaze to Gýt who slightly flinched then rushed forward. Aldrin responded the same way, meeting him in the middle, their weapons clashing into a stalemate, surprising Gýt more than Aldrin.
Wide eyed Gýt found his Strength failing him when he tried to push against the blade. Capitalizing on the brief moment of surprise, Aldrin kicked him in his knee, making it snap backwards. The sudden pain Gýt felt made the last of his strength go as he stumbled back. Quickly glancing at Aldrin, he felt his skin crawl at the way Aldrin had his head cocked at a slight angle watching intently at his knee that started to heal.
“You only invested in three abilities?” Aldrin gloated.
Gýt stood, watching his opponent with his interest, “Who needs abilities when you have technique,” He readied his Great Warhammer.
“Mm, either you really are an idiot or a respectable warrior,” Aldrin hummed.
“Show me the rest then,” Aldrin said, gesturing with wide open arms.
Gritting his teeth Gýt rushed in crossing hilt to blade once more. Aldrin pushed him back, his ever increasing Strength allowing him to go toe to toe with Gýt. Following up the pushback with an upward slash forcing Gýt to continue to be defensive. His acute hearing picked up on the slight creaking of Gýt’s reinforced hilt. Changing tactics from outright brute force to calculated strikes he began to strike at the hilt.
Gýt caught on to what Aldrin was attempting to do, disengaging himself from the melee, “GET IN THERE AND KILL HIM!” Gýt roared to the bandits that watched the dazzling display.
Aldrin let out the best impression of a deep menacing laugh, “No,” raising his hand for all to see, blue flames sparked to life in his palm. The beast inside Aldrin purred at looks of terror plastered on the faces of the bandits.
“Raise Skeleton,” Aldrin shouted, the blue flame in his hand snuffing out as fast as it appeared.
Raise Skeleton is on cooldown for 30 seconds!
Other Skills are ready!
Tense few moments went by as everyone waited with bated breath. A few more moments went by before Aldrin began to worry the Skill didn’t work. One of the corpses of the bandits began to twitch, drawing everyone’s attention to it. The corpse began to move erratically before sitting up. The dead gaze of the corpse greeted everyone as it did so. No sound emitted from it when it began to stand up.
Wet squelching then accompanied it when it started to peel the flesh off of itself. One of the bandits lost whatever dinner they had eaten as the dead continued to strip the flesh off its face revealing a bloody skull with only its eyeballs left. Sadly the eyeballs didn’t last long when the skeleton plucked them out and threw them at the feet of the bandits making them scream in horror.
The skeleton clacked its jaw together before picking up the discarded sword that was next to it. Flourishing the blade it charged at the remaining bandits, eerie blue flames danced in its eye sockets. Fortunately that was all it took for the rest of the bandits to break and run for their lives.
Aldrin tried his best not to allow disgust permeate on his face but when it threw the eyeballs, that was the last straw. His face scrunched up as he watched the skeleton give chase to the fleeing bandits. Shifting his focus to Gýt, they both rushed towards each other, each striking and defending. Watching the timer for the cooldown he pushed back from Gýt giving him some space to use his Skill again.
“Raise Skeleton,” Aldrin said again, the blue flame appeared and dispersed. This time the Skill didn’t take long to take effect.
Raise Skeleton is on cooldown for 30 seconds!
The Mage that had died by Aldrin repeated the same process as the first one, peeling its skin off and plucking its eyeballs out leaving the blue flames to dance. Clacking its jaw madly that resembled laughter it conjured another bright blue fireball. Throwing it towards Gýt, he rolled out of the way letting the blue fireball sail past him alighting the ground on fire. The skeleton continued to clack its jaw together, throwing out another fireball.
“Fuck,” Aldrin said as he watched the blue flames grow out of control.
With no time to rein in the newly resurrected skeleton pyromaniac Aldrin focused on Gýt who eyed him with hate in his eyes. “You can surrender, you know?” Aldrin shouted at him, earning a rage induced roar.
“Guess not then,” Aldrin muttered to himself, rushing in to meet him for the final time.
The clash between them was now one sided in favor of Aldrin as he pushed Gýt back. Feeling the air shift around his hammer Aldrin stepped back teasing Gýt at the last second when his hammer swung around. Capitalizing on the momentum of the swing Gýt came back around, releasing his weapon towards Aldrin who was on his backfoot. Surprised at the sudden change of tactics Aldrin turned his back step into a roll, his Vampiric Awareness alerting him to the whoosh of the hammer as it flew over him.
The distraction of the flying hammer allowed for Gýt to get in close when Aldrin recovered from his roll. The sudden impact of Gýt tackling Aldrin made him let out a surprised yelp. Raining down blows on his disoriented opponent Gýt didn’t let up as all the rage in his body released on Aldrin.
“COVER YOUR EYES!” Aldrin heard Jared yell, barely registering what was going on from the hits he was receiving.
A bright flash soon followed blinding both Aldrin and Gýt. Aldrin pushed Gýt off him from what he was able to see. Scrambling to his feet, Aldrin looked for his sword, the blinding effect from the arrow making his night vision fuzzy and see double of everything. Gýt fared no better rubbing his eyes trying to get rid of the black dots in his vision.
Finding it, Aldrin picked up his sword to come face to face with Gýt who was still blinded. Thrusting his sword forward, he missed, striking at the illusion of the other Gýt. The miss proved to be a mistake when Gýt grabbed the sword by the hilt. Yanking Aldrin in close, he threw a punch with all he could muster hoping to at least graze the right form of Aldrin..
Jerking backwards from the blow that snapped one of his ribs, Aldrin doubled back with an uppercut of his own, lifting Gýt to his tiptoes. They traded blow for blow, each battling for dominance over the other for the sword. Beaten, bruised, and bloodied they no longer resembled themselves.
Gýt’s Strength failed him, his grip on Aldrin loosening, giving enough wiggle room for Aldrin to squeeze his wrist.
Pop.
Gýt hissed in pain immediately trying to resist Aldrin. Emboldened by the turn of events Aldrin applied more pressure, feeling the bones of Gýt’s wrist turn to mush. Desperately clawing and trying to find purchase with his other hand not caring to let go of the sword hilt. Wrenching free, Aldrin raised his sword letting his empowered Stats gather power for his swing. Activating Cleaving Strikes, the edge around the blade glowed its sickly yellow with interlaced with the black and yellow effects of Leech Imbuement Aldrin struck.
His blade sliced through the collarbone of Gýt like slicing through toughened meat. Gýt’s screams of rage turned to screams of pain when Aldrin pulled the blade free from Gýt’s mangled shoulder. The taste of eminent victory seeded the air making Aldrin swing his blade into Gýt’s mangled collarbone again. He hacked and hacked away at Gýt, the screams turning into a gurgled chorus as the blood moved in to drown every area it wasn’t supposed to be. Releasing his hold on Gýt’s wrist Aldrin changed into a two-handed grip, continuing to hack away at the Hulk-Berserker.
“Aldrin?” Pierre gently said.
Hack.
Unaware that he too was screaming, Aldrin continued to chop at the bloodied mess that was once Gýt.
“Aldrin?” Pierre said a little more forcefully this time.
Hack.
“Aldrin?!” Pierre screamed this time.
Whipping around to face Pierre Aldrin snarled, baring his teeth, “Mine!” he growled.
Pierre slowly stepped back letting Aldrin continue to hack away at Gýt. The two skeleton summons from earlier came back, both of them dragging a body in each hand behind them. Jared watched from afar when they deposited the bodies next to Aldrin who stopped at the sudden appearance of them. Aldrin let a deep growl rumble towards the two skeletons making them drop like puppets with their strings cut.
Slowly, Aldrin’s vampiric features faded along with the boosts to his Stats making him drop to his knees out of weakness. Pierre was the first to take a tentative step towards Aldrin.
“Hey, are you alright?” Pierre asked slowly, edging his way towards him.
Aldrin mumbled something that made Pierre strain his hearing.
“What?” Pierre took another step forward, still wary of him.
“I need blood,” Aldrin whispered, not deigning to look at Pierre.
Pierre looked back at Jared who looked just as conflicted. Their emotions passed between the two when faced with the choice of willingly sacrificing someone. With grim resolve they both agreed they would do what’s necessary like they have always done. A system prompt flashed in each of their visions.
Quest Issued: Master and Servant: You have taken the steps to ensure your service to a budding Vampire now the final step is within your grasp. Offer someone up with their blood and gain the benefits of Servant. Choose wisely.
Reward: Servant Options, Skill Points, Experience.