Return to Jorgaldur Volume III: blood warrior

Kronardhi County

"Mother warned us not to trust our cousins and uncles, but we didn't want to believe her. They're family on the father's side, so we thought there was some conflict between them. Maybe jealousy. Perhaps a misunderstanding. Besides, father would never distrust his brother," the warrior sighed.

The rest also sighed. Their faces seemed to darken at those words, but there was no time for distractions. In fact, Krinia had just fired a Thunderbolt at some kind of small dinosaur as a warning.

They didn't reach a meter in height and ran on two legs. Their teeth were sharp, and their levels varied between 28 and 32. On their own, they weren't very strong, their strength lay in their numbers. Unluckily, the amount that were stalking them wasn't insignificant.

About twenty meters from the group, on each side, there were about thirty of them. Gjaki knew there were more behind. Perhaps, there were more than a hundred.

Those fearsome predators were studying them, deciding whether they should attack, if it was worth it. They were also waiting for them to be tired.

Therefore, the mage's action was intended to be a deterrent, since it was the most effective method to deal with them. They couldn't show weakness, and it was better if they were aggressive towards any individual which got too close.

For those beings, the prey was appetizing as long as the cost of hunting wasn't greater than the losses. Losing individuals meant reducing their strength, which resided in the group. Therefore, both risk and reward had to be taken into account, albeit instinctively.

"We told our cousins where we were going, with whom and when. All of us were naive and too trusting. We never thought that they were conspiring against us and our parents. We knew that our uncles were ambitious, but not to the point of betraying us," Kroquia continued to explain, while looking saddened and furious.

As she spoke, the warrior kept looking around, especially at their pursuers. Like everyone else, she wanted those beasts to get tired. If they were attacked, the hardest task would be defending Kroco.

"Our county is prosperous. We have good land, resources, and a large influx of adventurers. It's more than enough for the whole family to live comfortably, and for the people not to suffer. However, it seems they wanted more. More than once they had argued that we'd have to live with the same luxuries as the capital. We never suspected how much they really wanted it," she continued. She was connecting the dots at the same time that she explained.

Kruloz pierced one of those small dinosaurs, which fell badly wounded to the ground. It was soon devoured by its own kin, which, for a while, didn't dare to approach.

The vampiress, who had moved to the back of the group, set some Tentacles and continued running. Her level might not be very high, but neither were her enemies very powerful.

Not long after, chaos came to their pursuers. Her Bat was less effective in daylight, but it was enough to watch them at close range.

Four of them had fallen into the trap initially, though one was able to escape. As it was wounded, others attacked it, and three more also fell into the trap as they were fighting over the remains. In the end, between the trap and the cannibalism, eight of them had fallen.

"An easy way to gain experience," she told herself.

So, she kept casting Tentacles. Her companions didn't ask, but it was clear to them that she was setting some kind of trap. They couldn't only feel the mana, but hear the shrieks behind them a while later. Of course, they had no problem with it, quite the contrary. Any damage to their pursuers was good news. Gjaki only regretted that she couldn't get the blood.

Her actions caused chaos among the saurians, and killed almost a third of them. However, they ceased to be effective, as those which remained became more cautious. Those traps were hard to spot at night, but not so hard in daylight, especially if some teammates had been seen falling into them too many times.

After seeing that they had stopped working, she tried an alternative tactic. She set a new trap, and leave a Blood Hound on it.

Krongo looked at her strangely, as he didn't know what she was doing. He was also a little surprised to see the hound appear out of nowhere. It is true that he had seen them before, and it wasn't some kind of mythic spell, but it was quite rare.

"They have learned to avoid the traps. I'm going to try a bait," Gjaki answered to the questioning look, in what had been one of her longest sentences so far.

He nodded. Nonetheless, his puzzled face didn't show whether he thought it was a good idea, stupid, or if he just didn't know what to think about it.

The bait was somewhat successful. More than one of those beings were tempted by the prey, and chaos spread three times. On the fourth, they simply ignored the hound. When her owner ordered it to attack, the little chaos caused wasn't worth it. Still, she had killed nearly two-fifths of them.

Meanwhile, with long pauses in between, Kroquia kept talking.

"A few months ago, strange rumors began to emerge. We ignored them. Now, I don't know what to think. Lately, our uncle only appears at night, or completely covered. He says that he has suffered a strange illness, and is recovering."

Gjaki frowned. That was all too familiar.

"He remarried a few months ago. His wife doesn't show up during the day either, but it's normal, she's taking care of him. At least, it seemed normal before."

"Very convenient," Gjaki thought.

"The disappearances that we ignored, now also seem suspicious. They're supposed to have gone to visit their family. There were also some accidents. I don't know what to think anymore."

"Was there any strange accident?" Gjaki asked, curious.

"No. Well. Maybe at the beginning. A body appeared as dried. They said there were two holes in the neck, the bite of some animal. The investigations revealed a disease transmitted by the animal that had bitten him," explained Kroquia.

"Weren't the investigations carried out by your uncle?" Krinia recalled.

Everyone fell silent, not quite sure what to think, except for Gjaki. It wasn't difficult for her to deduce the cause of that.

"Most likely, they've allowed themselves to be converted. His wife is the most suspicious," the vampiress thought to herself.

In the game, most vampires used to be the "bad guys" on quests. With few exceptions, they were thirsty for blood and power.