We waited until the sun dipped a little lower into the sky, and until the river monsters calmed down from their frenetic activities. Slowly, we crept up on them from our hiding place in the trees, as stealthily as our armor allowed. I looked to Elwin, then nodded to Kidu to begin.

Gripping three arrows between the fingers of his bow hand, the massive man drew and let loose, in rapid succession, at the gathering of River Lurkers. The arrows flew steady and true, finding their way through the scaled throats and soft eyes of the lizards. Such was the force of the arrows that the smaller specimens were flipped over, their six legs flailing for a few seconds before death finally claimed them. The other creatures raised their heads, mouths opened and hissing threats, unsure from where death had come. I knew that the Comanche of old Earth could achieve similar feats, but Kidu accomplished all of this using a longbow, at full draw, making the display all the more heroic.

Kidu let loose another arrow, then another, and another. Six beasts had been slain or mortally wounded by the master Hunter in short order before, finally, their cold lizard brains determined the source of the attack. They started to charge us then, the smaller juveniles putting out a burst of unexpected speed. The larger River Lurkers stirred themselves from the banks of the river and joined in the assault.

Still, my group had planned for this. We slowly retreated back towards the treeline, Kidu shooting all the while and losing none of his precision, despite the pressure of the approaching scaled menaces. I unleashed my Entropic Aura now, holding nothing back. This forced them to almost stop in their tracks, and they started to circle us in the manner of wolves. The beasts seemed afraid to enter the radius of my dark energy, as if instinctively sensing the horror within.

Another shaft buried itself through the neck of a River Lurker, which was like a signal to push them to breach the circle of my entropic defenses. Knowing full well now the range of my spells, I hurriedly cast Drain, my mind doing the necessary mental acrobatics as I channeled the dark energies. The voices sang with glee and satisfaction, as the tendrils of the deepest shadow attached themselves to several of the creatures. Raw life energy filled me with ecstasy, singing an empowering duet with the adrenaline that roared through my system. My mind narrowed in focus, wanting to unleash violence against the creatures, and I was more than willing to oblige.

Filled with a feeling of invincibility, I slammed my visor down and charged the remaining animals, half-a-dozen or so, trusting in my companions to cover my blind spots. One of the creatures jumped to meet my charge. I met its leap with my kite shield, angling it slightly and bracing myself. Instead of being tackled to the ground, I was instead able to redirect the Lurker’s trajectory, and the crocodilian rolled off of my shield. Another creature, seeing an opening, bit into my shin and calf. I could feel the metal of my armor straining against the steadily-increasing force of the bite, but still it held. Irritated, I looked down and smashed the end of my weapon’s haft against its cranium, braining the creature with the flanges. The ball of the flail slammed harmlessly against the ground, causing clods of the soft earth to explode.

How I had grown, I thought to myself, in the eye of the storm, smiling wryly in my heavy helm. I had grown powerful. I kicked another River Lurker, trusting in my armor to provide protection against tooth and claw. My strike momentarily stunned the beast, but another Lurker took the opportunity to launch itself at me. The heavy impact made me crash down to the floor as the reptilian beast snapped at my face, its claws raking at my armor. Panic started to fill me as I manically tried to brain the creature with the butt of my mace, but I lacked the leverage to inflict significant damage. A flash of adrenalin-fueled inspiration hit me, guiding me to let go of my primary weapon, and I quickly drew the dagger at my waist. The River Lurker bit into the edge of my shield and I stabbed out with my blade, infusing my attack with the skill Power Strike.

The wavy blade struck into the reptile’s eye in an explosion of viscera, putting the animal out of its misery. With a great effort, I shrugged the still-twitching corpse off me and rose to my feet. Sheathing my parrying dagger and picking up my flail, I realized that I was relying too much on brute physical force. I was more than just a simple fighter.

Entropic energies continued to pulse from me and cold rage filled my heart. I felt detached now from the fight and I took a moment to steal a glance at my surroundings, searching for my companions. Of Elwin, there was no sign, but Kidu was fighting against a half-circle of Lurkers, keeping them at bay with long spinning circular strikes from his flashing spear.

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I pushed the dark threads of the Drain spell outward to my enemies, the voices rising in delight. The dark lines of power were thicker now, and hungrily latched onto the monsters, flowing from one raving Lurker to another. My spell had grown in dread power, and apparently it had gained the ability to attach to several life sources in close proximity at once.

Pleasure filled me, headier than any drug, and the desire to keep on killing guided my steps as I rushed to help my companion. I could feel my Health, Stamina, and Mana refilling as the creatures in front of me grew weaker. The rush of pleasure was tempered somewhat by my newfound and cold detachment, and a shard of worry filled me, as I still could not find Elwin. An errant thought, stained with paranoia, entered my mind: was the wiry Rogue planning betrayal after all?

I quickly shrugged off this thought, feeling that it was caused by an external dark influence - a product of the voices that I harbored in the depths of my mind.

A few moments later the Rogue plunged down from a tree, stabbing downwards with his twin daggers. Like a falling shadow, he stabbed into the eyes of a reptile that had snuck up behind Kidu. The man was a fleeting wisp as he weaved among the cold-blooded animals, striking at their unprotected flanks and vital points when he could. I sighed internally with relief; there would be no dagger in the back today.

I began to lay into the River Lurkers, my flail spinning in deadly arcs as it impacted again and again into flesh and bone in an explosion of hard scales. Between the three of us, we quickly made short work of the remaining creatures of the group we had drawn out.

I lifted my visor, drew a deep breath, and looked across at my party. They had not suffered any serious wounds, though Elwin was sporting a bright red cut across his left cheek. Kidu had barely broken a sweat, such was his prowess against the simple creatures. However, at a very rough guess, this was but one-third of their total number. Truly, this looked like it was going to be a bit of a grind.

“A good warm-up exercise,” snorted Kidu, as he checked over his spear and bow, his eyes roving for any recent battle damage.

Elwin simply rolled his eyes at Kidu’s bravado, before adding in a snide voice, “Well at least I’m not dead, though I don’t fancy doing this many times on the regular.” He sniggered a little, as he retrieved one of his throwing daggers from a still corpse.

I could not help but smile as the notification messages filled my inner vision. Our little battle with the local wildlife had been rather rewarding.

You have slain six River Lurkers 65 experience gained.

You have gained 1 Strength.

You have learned Daggers (lvl.3)

You have learned Shields (lvl.2)

Experience to next level 2678/3202

Health: 254/275

Stamina: 28/60

Mana: 12/13

The gain in experience was obviously limited due to my companions stealing precious experience points from me in battle. I crushed that selfish thought as quickly as it came, as no doubt the task would have been exponentially more difficult without my fellows. The gain in Strength had boosted my Health and Stamina by only a mere fraction, but it was still a welcome gain. I almost panicked again when I saw that my maximum Mana had fallen by two points before I realized that it was due to my Entropic Aura still being up. Our little skirmish now finished, I quickly reined in the magic.

I left my companions to butcher the corpses, leaving the lion’s share of the meat to the scavengers. The Lurker hides we loaded up onto our donkey, before we all settled down to catch our breath and rest for a while. My gear had suffered a little damage with a few weakened links in my chain mail, but I felt my equipment was still battle-worthy.

Employing the same tactics, in smaller groups this time, we drew out more of the creatures, whittling away at their numbers until there were none left. Now, all that remained was for us to harvest the River Root and complete our task for the Adventurer’s guild.