I do not own Witcher or any of the characters.

Dangerous

Eldin adjusted his Slyzard Hide vest and the long-sleeved, black shirt under it, then the sword on his back and his new sword on his left hip, inspecting himself in the mirror. It felt strange to be wearing extra armor over his dragon scale armor, and even more strange to be wearing armor born from the Manticore Witcher school. His sword strap ran diagonally from right to left down across his torso over his black vest, his satchel ran down across his chest the other way, resting on his right hip, his sword belt connected to the bottom of the back of the satchel to keep it from flopping around, under the vest was a loose black shirt, he wore a pair of Slyzard Hide gloves with long cuffs reaching up over part of his extra, black vambraces, which were studded with small metal spikes on the outsides, and his black pants had the outsides padded with Slyzard Hide down to the cuffs inside of his cuffed Slyzard Hide boots. In all, the Slyzard Hide looked like leather, but would be as hard as steel. Added to his dragon scale armor, the hope was that it would stop Dettlaff's claws, if it came down to a fight.

Behind him, Renfri whistled. "Look at you, all dressed up."

Eldin turned to her and smiled, taking in her own new armor. It had a complete, Dark Steel-Meteorite Silver chainmail top with Albino Basilisk Hide over her sides, then the Albino Basilisk's scales over her chest down to her abdomen where it chainged back to chainmail. The armor had chainmail pauldrons in a rectangular section running front to back on top, then over the outside of her upper arms almost to her elbows, and a pair of Albino Basilisk gloves. The right glove was elbow-length and sat over the black sleeve of her high-collared shirt, but on the left, her shirt's sleeve ended at her elbow, and the glove only covered the bottom half of her forearm. Both gloves left her fingers exposed, and the Albino Basilisk's hide had been tanned into a set of thick leather pants and knee-high boots as well. Her pants and boots had been died brown, and all of the hide and scales on her upper body had been died black while the chainmail's silvery color accented her armor perfectly. In addition to them, she wore her silver sword behind her right shoulder and her steel sword on her left hip, the same way Eldin had his now. Her silver sword was nearly identical to his own, except that its blade was entirely Meteorite Silver, the guard lacked the wolf's head that Eldin's bore, the grip was brown instead of black, and its pommel was a pair of small, rounded sections of metal reaching out from the grip, then passing each other and transforming into a small wolf's head, the two staring in opposite directions, aligned with the edges of the blade. Her new steel sword, on the other hand, was a little more plain, with a fuller running three-quarters of its Dark Steel blade, the fuller bearing a raised ridge down the middle of it, a smooth black grip with a trio of metal rings between where her hands would rest, the arms of the guard twisted around from just outside the blade until the middle of the guard's arms for aesthetic purposes, and a coin pommel bearing Eldin's medallion's wolf head carved into it on both sides.

"I love those," Eldin grinned. "They're beautiful."

"Thanks," Renfri smiled, resting her hand on the steel sword. "They're pretty great."

"We also got you a new steel sword," Aralyn said, walking in with another sword. "We know you don't like that style of hilt, so we figured you might appreciate it, even though you don't need it."

The sword she held out to him was almost identical to Renfri's new steel sword, but the grip was strips of a black material spiraled together around the hilt, and the pommel was the same twin wolf heads as Renfri's silver sword had. He accepted it and smiled widely instantly.

"You two are the best," Eldin smiled, drawing the blade, his medallion vibrating at the magic Aralyn had already placed on the blade. He swapped out the sword for the one Vivienne had given him, strapping that one to side of his and Aralyn's horse's saddle instead. "Alright, we should go and check in with Regis."

The other two both nodded, and everyone climbed onto their horses, Eldin holding Aralyn from behind, kissing her cheek.

"I love you," Eldin smiled.

"I love you, too," Aralyn smiled, resting her head against his as she flicked the horse's reins.

Eldin stared at the cage as Renfri secured Regis's arms in shackles, binding the cage closed with the chain, then nodded to Eldin, who raised the cage into the air. "You're sure about this?"

"Not at all," Regis admitted. "But it's the only way to get my blood while it's in the correct state. Place the bait."

Eldin nodded to Aralyn and Renfri, who quickly spread the necrophage baits around the room at the entrances to their tunnels before everyone retreated to the center of the chamber, under the cage. They were in the dungeons under and ancient vampire stronghold known as Tesham Mutna, one where the same cage Regis was now in was once used to imprison a vampire criminal, the jailers being the rest of the vampire race. Then, the torture method was the same strategy as what they now planned to do to an ally. Restrain the vampire and dangle them in the air, then fill the room with blood, hence the necrophage baits. Doing so would drive Regis insane and they'd be able to get usable blood before waiting for him to calm. They needed blood from a Vampire in the grips of a blood rage or madness. This was the easiest way. And according to Regis, he was a recovering blood addict, which would make it all the easier for them to drive him insane.

"Here they come," Eldin warned as the first of the Necrophages arrived, Ghouls.

As one, he, Renfri, and Aralyn drew their blades. Then, all at once, the Necrophages swarmed. Dozens of Ghouls, Rotfiends, and Grave Hags flooded into the room, only to die as they reached their three prospective prey. A Ghoul leapt at Renfri, only for Eldin to blast it with Aard, sending it crashing to the ground beside Aralyn, who decapitated it as she stepped smoothly around it, slashing a Rotfiend as it lunged at her. It began to make choking sounds as it bounced past her, swelling and paling, then exploded among a group of Ghouls, killing them all. Renfri spun around Eldin, dlashing a pair of Ghouls, then ignited a pair of Rotfiends with Igni just as Eldin slashed a Grave Hag down across the chest and blasted it into the Rotfiends in time for it to be blasted apart along with them. A pair of Scurvers, similar to Rotfiends but spiked, roared at they leapt at Aralyn from opposite sides as she was all but shredding a Grave Hag as she pirouetted around it, but a pair of Igni blasts from Eldin and Renfri hurled both away. A moment later, both rose, only for a pair of silver knives Eldin had thrown to stab into their heads. Both swelled like a Rotfiend, then fell to their hands and knees. A split second before they exploded and filled the room with their poisoned spines, a Quen-like barrier appeared around both from a spell similar to a combination of Quen and Yrden, Aralyn casting one spell as Eldin cast another, both of them doing so with a one-word chant.

"You can do real magic, too!?" Renfri yelped at Eldin, even as she stepped around him, allowing him to easily separate a pair of Ghouls pursuing her into two pieces each as she killed a Grave Hag behind him with equal ease.

"Some," Eldin nodded calmly. "Not as much as Aralyn, but more than a normal Witcher."

He swept an arm out, a curved wall of Igni flames swallowing a small swarm of Ghouls closing in from his left. As soon as he did, Aralyn wrapped an arm around him, pulling him tight to her before turning, pulling him aside before slashing a Rotfiend, redirecting it away from them before Renfri blasted it away before it could burst. Then, suddenly, Eldin grabbed both of them, diving aside just before a Fleder exploded down where they'd been, cracking the ground and kicking up a small cloud of dust. Eldin swore, blasting ot with Aard and sending it flying, only for it to drive its claws into the ground, skidding to a stop as the three of them scrambled to their feet, blades flashing and mowing down the on-rush of Necrophages. Then, the Fleder launched itself at them again, at the same time as an Ekimmara lunged from the opposite side.

Eldin lunged toward the Fleder, being the stronger of the pair, while Aralyn moved to meet the Ekimmara. Aralyn's strike was no more than a smooth stroke of her blade, and it severed both the Ekimmara's head and a Grave Hag's arms before her return stroke removed the Grave Hag's head as well. Eldin, on the other hand, lunged low and to the side, splitting the Fleder down the right side of its head and chest before slamming a hand into the ground, a short-range but powerful blast of Aard going off in all direction, blasting the Fleder over the others as well as hurling away a pair of Rotfiends, which exploded in the distance. Then, as all three readied themselves to continue fighting, a deafening, horrible roar rang out from above, accompanied by a jangling crash as Regis struggled to free himself from his cage. The Necrophages all froze, then slowly backed away before retreating into their tunnels. Eldin sighed, nodding to Renfri, who jogged over and lowered Regis's cage. Eldin walked over to Regis and pulled out his knife.

"Try not to kill me, Regis," Eldin said as he held a bowl under Regis's clawed hands. "This was your idea."

Then, he split Regis's left palm to the bone. Regis roared and snarled angrily, thrashing, and Eldin allowed the blood to flow into the bowl before moving it away and allowing Renfri to raise the cage again. He poured the blood into a bottle carefully, then capped it and tucked it away before looking around.

"Alright, since we have to wait until the blood's dry for Regis to start calming down, and before that for the bodies to finish draining..." Eldin began.

"Let's harvest," Aralyn smirked knowingly.

Renfri groaned. "Gross! I hate harvesting!"

Aralyn and Eldin chuckled, drawing knives, and together the three of them setting about harvesting teeth, claws, eyes, tongues, brains, hearts, blood, Scurver spines, and anything else they could manage, all the while keeping an eye on Regis, who continued to thrash in his cage for hours. Finally, he calmed, regaining his senses and they released him, finding he'd lost all his strength. Eldin helped him out of the dungeon and they all headed back to the crypt where Regis was hiding out, where Eldin took over the brewing of Resonance.

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