Jordan woke up in his bed the next day, for once having had a peaceful nights sleep. When he had returned home after accepting the quest with Bryn, he immediately darted to the shower, nearly scalding his skin to get the thick layers of oil and viscera removed. After thoroughly washing his armor and finally plopping in bed, he smiled thinking about his day. He took comfort on knowing there were other misfits working for Everwatch, and even if Bryn wouldn’t be around for long, it gave him hope that he could eventually form a party of his own one day.

Rolling out of bed and getting his gear ready felt more exciting than usual for Jordan. Vampire spawn were an enemy he hadn’t fought before, and he was curious what they were like. He had told Bryn he had more of a concrete plan, but shooting something in the head usually worked pretty well. Plus they had that sunburst concoction that Bryn made, so he was sure they’d be fine. The dorm was going to be more peaceful for the next couple of days as his roommates had gone on a dungeon hunt, which usually took awhile but the payout was worth it. He finished getting his gear together and made his way back to Everwatch.

Bryn was sitting on the step outside the Guild as he and Jordan had agreed to. He went through his notebook, taking notes on what he had learned at the library the previous night. As he had thought, vampire spawn were weak to the sunburst potion, but they likely wouldn’t need it at all. While they’re fast and about as strong as low level fighters, they have an uncontrollable bloodlust and are not capable of rational thought. Their instinct to feed is what drives them, so setting up a trap would be fairly easy. He double checked the contents of his pack, ensuring he had brought the ingredients and supplies he would need. When he looked up again, Jordan was crouching down, his face inches away from Bryn’s beak.

“Whatcha doing? Can I look? We can’t hide things from each other that’s how you lose trust, you should let me look” Jordan said as he looked down at the bag.

Bryn zipped his bag shut and stood up, the bag lightly smacking Jordan on the chin.

“You’re weird and have no concept of personal space, I’m not hiding anything but I’m not letting you look now out of principal” Bryn said in a pompous tone, walking in the direction of the Floating District. Jordan rubbed his chin, jogging slightly to catch up.

“You’re an aggressive, angry young man. Anyway, do you have any thoughts on how to tackle this? I figure we stay far away, I shoot until they’re dead, and we have the sunburst as back up in case things get rowdy. We get home before 10 and get drunk in celebration” Jordan said, clapping his hands together as if he had accomplished something.

Bryn looked at his partner with worry. He had feared Jordan wasn’t much of a planner, but it seemed he had underestimated that hunch. “I actually have an idea I’d like to try first.” Bryn said. “I did some research on vampires last night and got some supplies based on their weaknesses” he said as he opened his pack and pulled out 2 jars, one filled with a red liquid and one filled with a murky black sludge.

“Looking at books I hadn’t thought of that, so what are these?” Jordan asked, looking closely at the jars.

“The red one is human blood” Bryn said, causing Jordan to slowly pull his face away. “The black one is called Delirium Drought. It’s a concoction using ingredients that are easy to find by the river outside the city wall. If you mix them together with water and oil, it forms this mixture that messes with the senses of undead creatures, like vampire spawn. Once they inhale the fumes they’ll be stunned, slowing their speed and reaction times.” Bryn said, putting the jars back in his bag.

Jordan stared at Bryn as they continued walking down the street, and Bryn stared back uncomfortably. Had he not liked the plan? Did he not want him questioning his plan? Bryn was about to apologize before Jordan cut him off.

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“I really hope whoever I end up in a party with is as smart as you. I can react well in the middle of combat and I’m not that stupid, but strategy is not my strong suit. You came up with that plan in a night man, that brain’s gonna be a big loss to the Guild. Half the people who sign up are idiots who want to swing big sword real good you know?” Jordan said.

Bryn laughed at both Jordan’s little speech and his own doubts. As they proceeded to the floating district, Jordan paused before getting to the gate with a panicked look on his face.

“Bryn I’m so sorry I forgot you need to be able to control den to float up there. It’s ok though, just get on my back and I’ll carry you” Jordan said as he squatted down to allow the significantly taller Tengrathi on his back.

“Jordan… I have wings” Bryn said, grabbing Jordan’s arm and flying up to the streets above. As he let Jordan down, he began to float away as he rushed to channel his den correctly.

“Wait, wait, this takes time! Grab my leg” Jordan screamed as he flew around haphazardly through the field of den that flowed through the floating district. Bryn burst out laughing as Jordan flew around like a balloon running out of air, before he eventually grabbed him and allowed him to channel his den. As they came down to the street, Jordan looked embarrassed and slightly woozy.

“I don’t know why I thought you couldn’t fly” Jordan said as he attempted to keep his balance as they walked to the infested house.

“You did think I was potentially part chicken, maybe that was part of it” Bryn said, still chuckling at the image of Jordan spinning around in the air. The pair arrived at the location they were given upon taking the quest. The house was small, only one bedroom, a living room, and a bathroom. As the pair approached the house, Bryn took his jars out of his bag and handed the blood to Jordan.

“I read that during the day, vampire spawn will mostly be hiding in the darkest corners they can find but this much blood in one location should attract them all to it immediately. Throw the jar into the middle of the room and get your bow ready. Once the blood attracts them and they come running for it, I’ll throw the draught to stun them. If the quest is correct and there’s only 4 of them, you should have at least 15 seconds of them being easy targets.” Bryn said with confidence.

“Those are my favorite kind of targets. Shall we?” Jordan asked smiling. Bryn nodded, and they approached the front door of the house, opening it slowly.

The inside was dark and musty, though the smell was an improvement from the previous job. The living room couch and chairs were torn and on their sides, and the floors were coated in what was hopefully dried blood. Jordan wasted no time, aiming the jar for the center of the living room. Once the jar shattered on the ground, he drew his bow, the steady hand skill feeling increasingly familiar. Seconds felt like hours as the pair stared at the mess of blood and glass.

Then came the shrieks.

Jordan thought it sounded like a human imitating a hyena. The screams and snarls sounded animalistic with a hint of the human they used to be, and with a bang the door to the bedroom flew open. 4 pale creatures skittering on all fours with disturbing speed crashed into the living room, the sound of them sniffing the air disturbing Jordan with how loud it was. They all wore plain cloth as clothing, and their skin was covered in scabs and bruises. Jordan could see their black eyes locked onto the blood and they rammed into each other, biting their brethren to get even a little closer.

Jordan gave a thumbs up with the hand holding back his arrow, and Bryn tossed the draught into the spawn scrum. The moment the glass of the jar broke, he could see the effect it had. The spawns movements became sluggish, and the jittery twitching that had made finding a target difficult slowed to a pace that Jordan was very comfortable with.

One headshot.

Two headshots.

Three headshots.

Four headshots.

Mission accomplished with time to spare. Jordan lowered his bow after his final arrow found its mark and let out a deep breath. He looked over at Bryn who was standing a few feet away and smiled, raising his hand for a high five. Bryn gave a sigh of relief and quickly came to the door, delivering the high five requested of him.

“Easiest money I’ve ever made” Jordan said, walking into the house. Bryn followed and the pair went over to the spawn corpses. The draught had made them sitting ducks, and non moving targets with the relaxed hand skill makes it almost impossible to miss. Jordan looked down at the corpses thanking his luck Bryn came with him. In actual combat, he would have been lucky to take out 2 of these himself. He took out 2 knives, handing one to Bryn.

“You take two and I’ll take two” Jordan said, going down to start his grizzly, yet familiar, work. Bryn had not gone on any missions involving combat, and the smell of dead vampire, blood, and river weeds was not appetizing in the same way rat was. He took a long time carving through the ears, gagging every so often. He finally finished and put them in one of the Tulie jars, and looked up to see Jordan was not there. “He must have already finished and I couldn’t hear him over my gagging” Bryn said as he stood up. He looked toward the door thinking he would see Jordan there.

What he saw was Jordan being choked against the door by a tall, skinny figure in a black trench coat.

The man looked over at Bryn and made eye contact with him. His eyes were pure black, except for the glowing red pupils. Most vampires have purely black eyes, but the red pupils indicates the presence of a true vampire.

A level 12 monster.