My minimap was lit up bright red in the full "you're screwed, mate" shade.

>[System Alert: Threat Signatures Detected: 6]

>Proximity Alert (6): 140m – Southern Tree Line (Status: Closing)

Scar's people scattered instantly, like kids whose mum had shouted it was bath time. One second they were calmly stacking wood and stone, the next they'd vanished into the undergrowth without so much as a "Good luck, boss!"

Scar hesitated a fraction, eyes flicking to his retreating crew. I saw the conflicted grimace as he turned away, clearly ready to leg it himself, until he spotted Dema, who was racing back into the clearing, bow already nocked and eyes blazing. He cursed, then squared up beside me, axe out.

"No choice now, is there?" he said, answering my raised eyebrows. "Can't let her show me up."

"Glad your ego's got my back," I said, hefting my morningstar just as the treeline erupted like a poorly-budgeted horror film. Two hulking shapes—some sort of troll, I presumed—burst into view, shattering branches in the wake. Then, above them, shot out four birds, giant condors positively dripping in shadows, screeching as dark beams shot out of their mouths to strike the ground all about us.

On the one hand, this looked like it could get properly nasty. We were outnumbered, and I wasn't wholly sure what I could expect from my two allies here. On the other hand, I'd been itching to test out my new toys, and I'd not had the chance to properly act as a 'tank' for a group since the Dungeon back in Sablewyn. Sure, it'd be great to have a healer with us, but when life gives you lemons, hitting it in the face with a morningstar was a pretty good response.

I ran forward to meet the assault and felt Aggro Magnetism pulse out. Instantly, all eyes—or whatever it was shadow-creatures used to see—lock straight onto me. I felt a little moment of cognitive dissonance; being spotted in my previous life was almost exactly the opposite of 'winning', however, new life, new 'me.'

"You two need to crack on and do your thing," I shouted to Scar and Dema. "I've got the aggro." A split-second later, the closest troll barrelled toward me.

In response, I triggered my new Ability: Crash Tackle. Energy gathered in my limbs, then released in a surge that felt amazing, like someone had strapped a jet engine to my arse. For a heartbeat, I wasn't in Bayteran, I was sixteen again, and it was Saturday morning, with rain coming sideways on a school pitch just outside Birmingham. There was this cocky striker with gelled hair who'd been winding me up all afternoon. With about a minute to go, I'd answered with a tackle that took the ball, his breath, and possibly his will to live.

This was very much like that.

I exploded forward, shoulder leading, and slammed full-tilt into the lead troll's midsection. The beast let out a winded grunt, folding backwards onto the ground in stunned confusion.

Unfortunately, I didn't get too long to gloat as its mate swung a massive club directly at my face. I twisted away and took the blow on my shoulder instead, wincing as my Health dropped by five points. That was manageable, though. I assumed Stubborn Constitution was doing its job nicely.

Scar took the chance to roar in, axe whistling, and buried it deep in the stunned troll's chest. Dark blood sprayed up over his face, and the creature writhed beneath the strike.

"Nice one, mate!" I said and stepped back slightly to cover his retreat. The first troll took the bait immediately, lumbering closer, while to second one, despite bleeding copiously, got itself to its feet.

While the battle on the ground was shaping up nicely, above, the condors were shrieking and dropping shadowy beams of energy downward. The first bolt struck my chestplate, sizzling as it drained eight Stamina. Nasty. I could do without being hit by too many more of those, or I was going to crash hard! Another shot came from a second bird, but I ducked, and it missed by inches. Enough of that nonsense, thanks very much.

"I don't want to throw shade here," I said, getting my morningstar swinging in preparation for the oncoming trolls, "but it would be lovely if someone with a ranged weapon could deal with those birds..."

Almost immediately, an arrow whistled passed my ear, spearing a condor mid-dive. It folded instantly, crashing to the earth in a satisfying explosion of feathers and darkness. Another arrow followed swiftly after, nailing the second bird between its eyes.

I flashed Dema a grin, but she completely ignored me, as she smoothly drew again, not even breathing hard. I was suddenly very glad Scar had decided to protect his pride.

The troll I'd downed was shaking its enormous head to clear the stun effect. I wasn't having that. I moved to slip past the other one and swung my morningstar at the injured troll with every ounce of force granted by my Weighted Argument skill. The weapon connected brutally, its special effect—Rage Strike—snapping into place. The troll reeled, now clearly [Unbalanced], its footing a shaky mess.

Scar once again capitalised, and ran past me, swinging low to neatly through a thick leg tendon. The troll staggered sideways and then collapsed for the second time. His mate didn't take kindly to us chopping him up, and the second troll reached out and slapped me. My Health, which had ticked up nicely, took another seven-point hit as I absorbed the hit.

Dema had dropped another condor as we tussled, calmly adjusting her aim mid-shot like battling a shadow incursion was nothing special. Scar was focusing on finishing off the wounded troll with a blow after blow to its ugly head. On about the fifth strike, the beast let out a 'cry' and dissolved into a murky puddle.

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I looked about us, and it seemed we had only one troll and one very annoyed condor remaining.

I circled the troll that had hit me calmly, eyeing my Health. Another hit from the sole circling condor stripped me of even more Stamina as Scar pulled back and got into position behind me.

"First fight I've had in ages that's going properly to plan!" he said. "You make pretty decent bait!"

"It's my winning personality."

The final condor dived, aiming a shadow-beam straight at my head. Before it could fire, Dema's arrow skewered it neatly, the bird collapsing mid-air and landing at my feet in a heap.

The final troll squared up, clearly furious. But I felt strangely composed. Calm. Even happy. Who knew tanking would agree with me? This felt right. Natural, even.

"One left," I said calmly, raising the weapon. "Let's finish this properly, shall we?" The words echoed oddly, like we were standing in a place bigger than just a muddy clearing on the edge of nowhere.

The last troll lumbered forward in an oddly purposeful way, given that we'd just turned its mate and all its support birds into a smudge on the forest floor. I thought something was different about this one, it carried itself like it thought it was an actual threat, rather than just an angry blob of shadow.

An arrow whistled from Dema's bow, aimed right for the beast's eye. It struck true, but the arrowhead shattered on impact, splintering uselessly into shadowed mist.

"Well, that's not good," Dema said, backing up slightly. "Ideas?"

Scar darted in, his axe sweeping around for a clean strike to its flank, trying to mirror the debilitating injury he had caused the first creature. The weapon rang out like metal on stone as he made impact with its hide, and Scar stumbled backwards, gripping the vibrating axe haft. "Yeah," he said. "Definitely not good."

No kidding.

> [Veil Incursion Leader Detected]

> Creature: Shadow-Warped Troll

> Level: 6

> Health: ???

> Armour Rating: Very High

> Special Tags: [Elite] [Incursion Leader] [Shadow-Enhanced]

> System Advisory: This one brought friends for a reason. Good luck.

"Oh good," I said. "We found the boss."

I felt Aggro Magnetism pulse again, and the aura surged outward with a visceral pull of attention that snapped the troll's head around. Its eyes fixed hungrily on me, and it charged, each step shaking the earth beneath it.

I braced my feet and met it head-on with my morningstar swinging, the collision shaking through the bones in my arm. I lost a bunch of Health for that, which seemed unfair considering it was the one that had worn a ball of spiked iron to the chest. The troll, though, barely flinched and responded to my attack by driving a massive fist directly into my chest. My armour cracked audibly, and pain flared in my ribs as my Health plunged to twenty.

I bit back a scream, staggering but staying upright. Scar shouted something fierce, axe spinning as he launched himself again, sparks flying uselessly from the troll's hide. "Come on!" Scar roared. "Bleed already!"

It lashed out, contemptuously swatting him away like a gnat. He crashed to the ground, rolling painfully before scrambling back up. At the same time, Dema circled behind it, arrows streaking from her bow in desperate volleys, bouncing harmlessly but distracting the troll's attention just enough to let me catch my breath.

I took the chance to swing low and smash my morningstar against the troll's leg. A faint tremor passed through the beast, which I thought was more from irritation than pain. It brought its enormous fists hammering down on me, which I barely deflected by a desperate, last-second dive to the left that sent reverberations rattling through my bones. As I moved, I completely lost my footing on the slick mud and the troll's shadowy hand shot out, bypassing my guard entirely, and caught me square in the chest again. My lungs emptied instantly, and I felt a flash of cold panic surging as my Health nosedived to just eleven points.

However, rather than following up, the beast hesitated, cocked its monstrous head, and turned slowly, its eyes settling on Dema. Aggro Magnetism had dropped off!

"No!" I yelled, reaching out uselessly as it surged toward her with startling speed.

The troll swung for her, a lazy backhand with enough force to break bones. She got the bow up to block, but that was going to be useless. I felt the tug in my chest a split-second before it landed. Unwelcome Mat: Active.

My world slammed sideways as the hit crushed into me instead, which was more than a little like being side-swiped by a freight train. My ribs gave their opinions on this turn of events loud and clear. My health bar nose-dived even further, but I caught a glimpse of Dema out of the corner of my eye: she'd been thrown back but was still breathing, and I called that a net win.

She hit the dirt near the treeline, skidding to a stop in a cloud of dead leaves. Her bow, though, didn't make it, and splinters had gone everywhere. For my part, I staggered as a handful of Health and Stamina were forced back into me due to tanking a hit meant for her. Ten per cent wasn't much, but it was just about enough to stay upright. Now I just had to survive the next five seconds.

I pulled myself back to my feet and triggered Crash Tackle, which propelled me forward like a missile. Impact. Stagger. Pain. The troll reeled away momentarily stunned, and I felt Aggro Magnetism reignite like a beacon, its burning hatred wholly mine again, and it picked up the Rage Debuff. A strange relief settled over me, even as my Health bar glowed red.

"Get up!" Scar shouted to Dema and charged into the fray again. The Huntress stirred weakly, pushing herself upright. Blood trickled from her lips, her eyes wild with shock, but she was alive. She staggered, half-standing, then grimly drew her hunting knife from her belt. With silent fury, she rejoined the fight, eyes locked murderously on the stunned troll.

Scar was hacking at its leg again, this time drawing dark blood that seeped out sluggishly. I was swinging desperately with my morningstar, each strike reverberating painfully through my battered arms, my whole world narrowed to just the next blow. The next breath. The next heartbeat.

Each second stretched impossibly thin. My body was fire and agony and sheer bloody defiance, but somehow, working together, we ground the troll down. Scar's axe bit deeper, Dema slashed relentlessly, and, in some final, silent consensus, we struck simultaneously. My morningstar crashed brutally into its jaw, splitting bone. Scar buried his axe deep in its neck, while Dema drove her blade home between its ribs.

The troll staggered, shadow draining from its form, and collapsed, falling apart into swirling, evaporating darkness.

Silence fell, broken only by ragged breaths. I dropped to, first, a knee and then collapsed completely. I was pretty sure everything inside me was bruised or broken, but I was alive.

A soft chime echoed as notifications popped simultaneously for us all:

>[System Notification: Incursion Leader Defeated]

> Loot Distribution: Initiated

And, do you know what, I felt we'd earned whatever we got.

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