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tigerkirby215 · 4 years

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5e Kayn the Shadow Reaper build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Riot Games)

Hey remember when I said I wouldn’t just make League of Legends builds? Well getting back into LoL I rediscovered my love for Kayn the Shadow Reaper. Kayn’s an edgy little anime boy who doesn’t wear a shirt and he has daddy issues as well as a scythe daddy who sasses him and only slightly wants to take over his body to destroy all of humanity.

I should mention that this build is built much more for blue Kayn (the Shadow Assassin) than Raast. I might make a Raast build at some point but for now my focus is much more on replicating Kayn’s mobility and high damage output than Raast’s sustained damage. Blue Kayn is much more similar to regular Kayn than Raast as well. Just be sure to focus down ranged opponents with this build, and if you kill too many melee enemies ask your DM if you can change your race to a Tiefling.

GOALS

I am the weapon, you are a tool - Fun fact; Raast is sentient, and that’s rather necessary for this build. I think most people know where this is going but there’s a nice bonus utility in the subclass we’ll be picking.

Stealthy ganks from the dark - With a dash, a long-ranged lunge, and the ability to walk through walls you’ll be able to keep up with your enemies with ease. Believe it or not getting a spell to walk through walls in 5e is rather difficult, but still quite possible.

Kill the body - As a Shadow Assassin you’re meant to quickly burst down anyone you run into, so high damage output will be key.

RACE

Kayn was always a very skilled individual but he’s still only human. Luckily Variant Humans can still hold their own in a fight. Bump your Charisma and Wisdom with your two free points and take the Acrobatics skill as you are naturally nimble on your feet. For your Feat take Mobile to further increase your mobility and dodge enemy auto-attacks. And for Language... honestly it doesn’t matter just pick whatever language you think will be useful. Spoiler alert: this build is going to end up getting a lot of languages.

ABILITY SCORES

15; CHARISMA - You’re a pretty anime boy who learnt how to be a scary shadow man from the scariest shadow man around. Also I think anyone who knows a thing or two about 5e knows the real reason for this high Charisma score.

14; DEXTERITY - You are naturally dexterous and while in a real world I’d love for this to be a 20 unfortunately there’s no finesse Scythe weapon in 5e so we’ll have to have that high Charisma score instead. Even so DEX leads to AC and 2 is more than enough for the armor we’ll be wearing. (NOTE: If you’re rolling for stats your Dexterity doesn’t need to be higher than a 14.)

13; WISDOM - Wisdom is tied to a variety of vision skills which you’ll need to be an assassin. Knowing to read your opponent’s moves is key in Zed’s Shadow Order, and being able to bandage yourself never hurt anyone. It’s also a requirement to multiclass so...

12; CONSTITUTION - Your recommended build includes Black Cleaver which provides a nice boost to your health. That, and you don’t want to be squishy as a melee fighter.

10; STRENGTH - Strength isn’t that necessary for this build as Raast does all the heavy lifting, but dumping it isn’t as in-character as dumping...

8; INTELLIGENCE - Noxus isn’t known for its education system, and you were put into the army when you were just a child which certainly didn’t help you learn math.

BACKGROUND

For your background choose the Faction Agent from the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. You are a member of the Shadow Order and while that isn’t a faction on the Sword Coast it most certainly is a faction. You gain Insight proficiency as well as an Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma ability of your choice - choose Intimidation as shadow assassins tend to be a pretty spooky lot. You also get the Safe Haven feature which lets you communicate with members of Zed’s order to gain access to a hidden safe house, free room and board, or assistance in finding information. If they ask why they should help tell them you’re Zed’s protege. Or just kill them for their defiance - that would be in character too.

(Artwork by AquaLeonhart on DeviantArt)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - RANGER 1

SURPRISE! This isn’t a pure Hexblade build! Quite surprisingly this build doesn’t even go that deep into Hexblade! Anyways we’re starting with Ranger over Hexblade because the skills and saving throws that a Ranger gets are far more useful to us. With that in mind take proficencies in Athletics, Stealth, and Survival to survive the jungle, gank your opponents, and survive a 1v1.

You also get Favored Enemy and the most in-flavor enemy to choose would be Fiends (as that’s what Raast would be classified as) but feel free to metagame a bit and ask your DM what types of enemies you’ll be facing - one of the key features of Kayn is the ability to adapt your play-style to whatever the enemy team picked. Enemy team got a Teemo? Take Halflings as a preferred enemy and chop down that little pest. You also get a language that’s supposed to be tied to your favored enemy, and for the sake of roleplay I’d suggest taking Infernal. Raast is an old Darkin and chances are he won’t be nice enough to talk to you in Common.

You also get Natural Explorer and again there’s no option here that’s too necessary for roleplay so I’d suggest asking your DM on what setting will be the most useful. Technically Forest is the closest similarity to the jungle but the key to playing Ranger is knowing ahead of time where the campaign will take place.

On Revised Ranger / Class Feature Variants Ranger: This build doesn’t require too much from your favored enemy and terrain but it’s well-known that the Revised Ranger UA and Class Feature Variants UA help Ranger out a lot. This build uses one of the subclasses from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything which work perfectly fine without the UA features. Even so the UA features help a lot so if your DM allows them absolutely take the opportunity to use them. Favored Enemy from the Revised Ranger PDF provides a big boost to your utility, and Deft Explorer is far more useful to you than Natural Explorer. If you plan on taking the Canny feature the skills I suggest to boost are Athletics, Medicine, Stealth, or Survival. Favored Foe from the class feature variants UA is fine but I’d honestly prefer the Revised Ranger’s favored enemy instead.

LEVEL 2 - WARLOCK 1

And now we get the key portion of this build. We’re going into Warlock and I think most people have identified what we’ve came for: Hexblade! The Hexblade patron lets you find a living scythe in the underbelly of Noxus which will give you immense power with the slight caveat that it may try to take over your body in order to destroy the world. Regardless you gain Hex Warrior which lets you attack using your Charisma modifier instead of Strength or Dexterity, which is good because a scythe usually requires a lot of upper body strength but now we can just use our dashing good looks instead. I should mention now that probably the closest you’ll get to a scythe in 5e is a War Pick, but the War Pick can’t be wielded in two-hands and Kayn doesn’t use a shield so ask your DM if you can reflavor a Battleaxe as a scythe, since you can use it in two hands thanks to the versatile property. (Don’t worry though; we’ll get a more scythe-like weapon soon.)

You also gain Hexblade’s Curse which lets you cast Chilling Smite (the summoner spell; not the Paladin ability) on an opponent to do extra damage to them and heal when they die. You can only target one creature with this and gain it back on a short or long rest so save it for the enemy ADC to pop them quick or place it on a tank to shred through them like Raast asked you too.

You also gain access to Pact Magic - You get 2 cantrips of your choice and you may notice that we’re not taking the weapon attack boosting cantrips: there’s a very specific reason for this. Anyways this is probably going to be one of the few times that I honestly suggest Sword Burst as a viable spell as it lets you spin around with Reaping Slash to deal damage to any enemy beside you that fails a DEX save. And none of these spells are really in-character for an AD champion so screw it you may as well take Eldritch Blast in case you need a ranged attack.

For your spells Armor of Agathys lets you shield yourself in cold shadows which provide a bit of extra temporary hitpoints and also cause your enemies to take damage if they hit you. Wrathful Smite from the Hexblade list lets you use Blade's Reach from inside a wall to do extra psychic damage to an enemy and they have to make a Wisdom saving throw or else become Frightened of the fact that you’re ganking them - should’ve warded bro!

LEVEL 3 - WARLOCK 2

With 2 levels in Warlock you gain access to Eldritch Invocations and while there is literally an invocation called “Armor of Shadows” we won’t be taking it. I haven’t mentioned it yet but while Kayn doesn’t wear a shirt in League you can’t have a 20 in DEX like he does unless you get really lucky with your dice rolls, so feel free to wear some Medium armor since in 5e armor doesn’t affect your movement speed. I recommend getting your hands on a Breastplate as early as possible as it will give you good AC while still allowing you to be stealthy by not imposing disadvantage on stealth rolls. (Which you can remedy with a Feat but Medium Armor Master is bad.)

Anyways we’re going to start with Devil’s Sight for those who can not see in the dark, which as a human you currently are. For now you can leave your other invocation empty since we need Warlock 3 to get the next invocation we want. Likewise we’re also going to wait until next level to choose our spell.

LEVEL 4 - WARLOCK 3

And now we gain access to our Pact Boon, and to the surprise to no one we’ll be picking Pact of the Blade which is the pact of choice for any melee Warlock. Pact of the Blade lets you summon any melee weapon into your hands to use as you wish. What’s more is that as a Hexblade this also works with your Hex Warrior feature so you can now use a Heavy weapon with your Charisma. Again while there’s no scythe weapon in 5e a glaive is like a scythe with a smaller blade. It does a d10 slashing damage and has the reach property which will allow you to attack at a 10 foot range, keeping you safe from opportunity attacks. Does this make Mobile’s ability to negate opportunity attacks largely redundant? Yes!

You can also now take the Improved Pact Weapon invocation which lets you wield a two-handed weapon and still cast your Warlock spells. The weapon also gains +1 to attack and damage rolls, and you can also summon a shortbow, longbow, light crossbow, or heavy crossbow as your pact weapon instead of just a melee weapon. While Raast might get bitter that you borrowed Varus’ bow don’t feel limited in your weapon choice.

You also gain access to second level spells and we’ll grab both Blur and Branding Smite from the Hexblade list. Blur lets you up your jukes to give creatures disadvantage when they attack you unless they’re scripting and have blindsense, and Branding Smite lets you do Radiant damage to the target and make sure that they don’t use stealth to get away. You’re sort of midway decent against Evelynn but this will help you get the upper hand on her.

LEVEL 5 - WARLOCK 4

4th level Warlocks get an Ability Score Improvement - bump your Charisma for better attack rolls and damage rolls.

You also gain access to another spell and Hold Person will let Raast knock up a target so you and your allies can hit them. (Note: Hold Person will not strike an enemy up into the air it’ll just paralyze them, which is still very useful!)

In addition you get another cantrip and like I said before none of these are really in-flavor for an AD champion so just grab Prestigitation or Minor Illusion to do some funky Shadow Order trickery.

Also I might suggest replacing your Smite spells with other spells that don’t take your Bonus Action soon? This is just an advanced step if your DM is really stingy on the rules - there aren’t many spells that I’d want at this level but you’re still welcome to pick and choose instead of having Wrahtful Smite and Branding Smite.

LEVEL 6 - WARLOCK 5

5th level Warlocks gain access to another Invocation which will be Sign of Ill Omen, which lets you Bestow (a) Curse of a floating scythe above your opponent’s head which will allow you to do an extra d8 Necrotic damage per hit, give them disadvantage on an ability check of your choosing, disadvantage on attacks against you (because you’re inside of them technically), and the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or else be unable to do anything. This is the closest we’ll get to mechanically when it comes to replicating Umbral Trespass but in essence you can treat this like a more beefy Hexblade’s Curse which requires concentration and only comes back after a Long Rest.

You also gain access to third level spells which means that finally we can put a level into Shadow Step. Blink lets you roll a d20 and on an 11 or higher you go to the Ethereal Plane where yes: you can walk through walls. At the start of each of your turns you reappear in the open and have to roll another d20 to disappear again. This spell is somewhat unreliable but it is a way to walk through walls as well as avoid damage and get the jump on your enemies.

Also if you took my advice from the last level I’d probably suggest replacing one of your Smites will a spell like Gaseous Form or something? GF lets you travel through walls as long as there are cracks in them and while it doesn’t increase your speed it is more reliable than Blink for getting around. If your DM is nice I’d also suggest taking another third level spell - not quite sure which one but there are a lot of great options at this level.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

LEVEL 7 - RANGER 2

Now that we got Shadow Step it’s time to get access to our passive. But firstly level 2 Rangers get to pick a Fighting Style - unfortunately Great Weapon Fighting isn’t an option so your best bet will be the Defense style for +1 to your AC. (Yeah we’re still wearing armor.)

You also gain access to Spellcasting and... bleh giving spells to an AD character is always weird. I’d recommend Hunter’s Mark to get value out of your passive and Ensnaring Strike to cast Chilling Smite (again: the LoL summoner spell) on a fleeing opponent.

On Class Feature Variants Ranger: Hunter’s Mark is built into Favored Foe if you use it instead of Favored Enemy, which is why I suggest using the Revised Ranger Favored Enemy if your DM will allow a mix-and-match between the two UAs.

LEVEL 8 - RANGER 3

Now here’s the real shocker of the build: your Ranger subclass. Take the Horizon Walker for some unique shadow dimension shenanigans! At early levels you get access to Detect Portal which isn’t really in flavor for Kayn but to be honest chances are you won’t use this ability much. You will however gain access to Planar Warrior which lets you add a d8 of force damage to a single weapon attack as a bonus action. Force really isn’t resisted much and a d8 of it every turn can greatly increase your damage output. You also gain access to some class-specific spells and Protection from Evil and Good lets you share some of your anime determination powers to stop Darkin (as well as aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, and undead) from hurting your allies as easily.

You also gain access to Primeval Awareness which is... it is... it certainly is! Truthfully while I’ve been avoiding talking about the Class Feature Variants UA I think Primal Awareness’ spell list is far more useful and in-character for this build. Speaking of spells you get another spell known: take Longstrider to use Shadow Step’s movement speed to close in on your foes. Along with Mobile you’ll be walking at 50 movement speed, which is practically dashing speed!

LEVEL 9 - RANGER 4

4th level Rangers get an Ability Score Improvement: bump your Charisma for maximum damage and accuracy with your weapon as well as maximum anime speeches about how you’ll become galactic emperor of the universe.

LEVEL 10 - RANGER 5

5th level Rangers get an Extra Attack, allowing you to increase your damage output and burst your enemy down more quickly.

You also gain access to second level spells such as Silence which lets you stop any pesky caster from bursting you down... wait you’re caster now too shit. Make sure to stop concentrating on Silence before trying to use Blink to Shadow Step.

And speaking of second level spells you also get access to Flash-I mean Misty Step to quickly teleport out of danger if needed, but honestly with Mobile you can avoid most sources of damage by disabling the enemy’s ability to opportunity attack. Especially considering that you’re using a huge “scythe” with reach getting hit by opportunity attacks really shouldn’t be an issue.

LEVEL 11 - RANGER 6

6th level Rangers get Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer improvements and you know what that means? More languages! :D Again feel free to metagame and ask your DM what to pick since none of these are too in-character. ...Or just use UA?

LEVEL 12 - RANGER 7

7th level Horizon Walkers gain access to Ethereal Step and let’s be honest this was the main reason to pick Horizon Walker. This will let you cast the Etherealness spell which is a far more reliable Shadow Step than Blink will ever be. You can move in any direction though moving up or down will cost double movement. The spell only lasts for 1 turn but with 40 movement speed from Mobile you should be able to get wherever you’re going. This ability comes back after a short rest: Shadow Step has a long cool-down so don’t waste it!

You also get another second level spell and ehhhhhh? None of these are overly impressive or in character so I dunno... Find Traps? I just want to remind everyone that you don’t have to follow this build word-for-word, and even if you’re an anime edgelord some extra healing never hurt anyone.

LEVEL 13 - RANGER 8

Level 8 Rangers get another Ability Score improvement but with a maxed out Charisma modifier you can prove worthy of some Feats.

Alert - A Shadow Assassin doesn’t get surprised, and this feat will guarantee that you always go first.

Charger - Charger lets you capitalize on your massive mobility and chase someone before managing to strike them with Raast. If you manage to pair it with Blink you can Shadow Step through walls before coming behind the enemy ADC.

Prodigy - Kayn in lore is a Prodigy, and this can help you cover up some of the skills your party might not have. Also more languages! If you’re looking for the most in-character skills to have Expertise in go for Acrobatics, Athletics, Intimidation, or Stealth.

Savage Attacker - Channel your inner Raast to get more damage out.

Lucky - Luck is a tool, just like any other.

You also get access to Land’s Stride which lets you move through non-magical difficult terrain without spending extra movement, further decreasing the usefulness of Mobile. You can also Shadowstep through plants that would otherwise harm you, and have advantage on saving throws against magical plants that might impeed your movement. Build the body.

LEVEL 14 - RANGER 9

9th level Rangers get access to 3rd level spells: take whatever you think is good honestly because you’re going to use all your 3rd level slots on Haste from the Horizon Walker list anyways. Go on; shoot faster! Wait woups sorry wrong Champion.

LEVEL 15 - RANGER 10

10th level Rangers get another terrain for Natural Explorer. Again discuss with your DM on what to take, or use the UA rules.

You also get Hide in Plain Sight which lets you prepare for an ambush at the Noxtoraa. You can spend 1 minute to hide in the shadows for a +10 bonus to stealth as long as you remain still... or you could just take the Pass Without a Trace spell?

LEVEL 16 - RANGER 11

11th level Horizon Walkers get access to Distant Strike. When you make an attack you can bounce between shadows to teleport 10 feet before you attack. In addition if you attack two different creatures you can attack a third with an extra attack.

The damage of Planar Warrior increases to 2d8 at this level for more damage with The Darkin Scythe, and you get another spell so take what you want: probably a 1st level spell since you’ll be spending all your 2nd level spells on Misty Step and 3rd level spells on Haste.

(Artwork by McDobo on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 17 - RANGER 12

12th level Rangers get another Ability Score improvement. Refer to level 8 Ranger for Feat options.

LEVEL 18 - RANGER 13

13th level Rangers get access to 4th level spells: Locate Creature will allow you to find your mark no matter where they might go.

You also get Banishment from the Horizon Walker list which is really useful if any of Raast’s friends come for a visit. "Rhaast..? Why are you trembling?" "It's nothing Kayn. Nothing at all."

LEVEL 19 - RANGER 14

14th level Rangers get another Favored Enemy! Aaah! How many times do I have to say it: ask your DM on what you’ll be facing in the campaign, even though by this point it really doesn’t matter.

You also get the Vanish trait which allows you to Hide as a bonus action to use that stealth score of yours, and makes it impossible to track you unless your enemies are using magic or you’re leading them into an ambush.

LEVEL 20 - RANGER 15

Our capstone is the 15th level of Horizon Walker which gives you access to the Spectral Defense feature. When you take damage you can use your reaction to gain Resistance to it, halving the damage. Remember that you only have one Reaction but this is still a very useful ability to have in case you bite off more than you can chew as you’re known to do.

You also get another spell and again: pick your poison by this point it really doesn’t matter.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

'Cause either way we're dead, oh - With up to 3 attacks every turn, Planar Warrior damage, Hexblade’s Curse, Hunter’s Mark, Haste, and Bestow Curse you can output some extreme damage at close range. You even have Eldritch Blast and the ability to turn Raast into a bow for ranged combat.

Free the body - You have an immense amount of mobility tools between Mobile’s movement increase, Misty Step, Blink, Haste, Ethereal Step, and even Longstrider. I believe we accomplished the goal of walking through walls and then some.

A craftsman never blames his tools - You have a surprising amount of utility under your belt with a lot of proficiencies, an ungodly amount known languages, and a lot of Ranger spells and skills giving you tools to start a fight.

CONS

Death finds fools quickly. - Despite being a melee fighter you aren’t very bulky, with a relatively low AC and a lower Constitution you’re just a few hits away from being in Power Word Kill range. Feel free to invest in some Ruby Crystals, or more particularly an Amulet of Health.

Talk, talk, talk. All you ever do is talk! - You’ve got an immense amount of Concentration spells and not a lot of Constitution to concentrate with. With a mere +1 to CON saves and no Warcaster or other such feat you’ll end up losing Concentration often. Hm maybe that’s why Kayn drops Shadowstep if he gets hit?

Shadows touch all - Excluding Charisma you have almost no investment in your stats, and while your class makes up for your low Strength and Dexterity saves you can easily be hit by any Intelligence or Wisdom saving throw.

But that only matters if you get hit: keep to the shadows, strike your enemies when they least expect it and then meld back into the darkness for your next kill. And be sure to focus the ranged enemies unless you want to swap characters mid-campaign.

(Artwork by amatey on DeviantArt)

On Raast

As I said previously this build is built much more around Shadow Assassin Kayn than Raast. I may make a Raast build at some point but it would require a far different level progression, including the fact that you’d be playing a Tiefling instead of a Human. Chances are if I ever make an Aatrox build that would be a far better analogy to Raast.

If you’re planning on potentially turning into Raast at some point discuss it with your DM. You’d essentially be changing characters completely at that point.

#dnd 5e #dnd build #dnd guide #dnd multiclass #league of legends #league of legends kayn

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quietbreeze97 · 7 years

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Horizon | Chapter 2: Natalia, Part I

Read Chapter 1

“You’re coming round later, right?” the raven-haired boy asked, placing a gentle hand around the girl’s waist as they walked down the corridor.

“Probably, but I need to take some photos first. It’s a good night for it.”

He snickered under his breath, making her stare. “What are you laughing at?”

“You and your photography. It’s cute.”

“And what does ‘cute’ mean? You couldn’t have picked a more patronizing word.”

“Nat, it’s a compliment. Learn to take them.”

Natalia shook her head as she looked away from his grin, though she couldn’t hide a smile herself. She and Kayne had been seeing each other for a while, and she still didn’t know if she could call it ‘dating’ or not. After all, neither had said where it was going. Natalia knew she liked him, but something wasn’t quite right, at least for her. Maybe she was only spending time with him because she couldn’t find anyone else she genuinely enjoyed being around. Apparently, she liked Kayne’s company as a friend more than she ever would as a boyfriend, and she would have to tell him that at some point. Just not right now. She didn’t want to stop receiving invites to his parties.

Kayne’s hand was still floating around her waist as they left the college building. He even offered to carry her bags at one point, but she quickly refused. It irritated her when boys tried to do too much for girls, as if the female species were completely incapable of doing anything themselves. Yet another turn-off.

Regardless, they parted with warm smiles, Kayne’s practically glowing as he waved her off.

“Night, Natalia.”

“Night!” she called after him, with some forced politeness. She took a relieved breath as she walked out of view. Finally, she could go and be herself for the evening.

The isolated pathway she took was one few people knew about, and it gave her the chance to head straight into the rural areas she loved so much. Despite the town’s faults, the natural scenery was amazing, and she always looked forward to capturing it with her new camera, a well-chosen birthday present from a week before. It was also the time of year where the sky got a little darker with each passing month. After school, it was a pleasant colour: not dark enough to be called evening, but a plum colour, with hints of oranges and pinks signalling the sun’s descent. Just enough light for Natalia to see, but not enough for others to see her. Perfect.

All signs of human civilization slowly disappeared, and she soon found herself in the enveloping gathering of trees. Usually she would hate walking on such muddy ground, with high heels being her general choice of footwear, but in her current attire of a cardigan, jeans, and flat shoes, she was more than comfortable to stroll through the wood like nothing mattered. Taking in the cool air, she knelt on the ground, getting her camera ready. There was a squirrel ahead, rearing on its hind legs as it sniffed the air. Natalia smiled. She always wondered what they were thinking. She couldn’t truly guess, but whenever animals were frozen in moments like these, she could observe more closely, without the worry of disturbing them. Maybe she would have her questions answered someday.

The squirrel chattered, reminding her of a bird’s high-pitched singing, as she quietly took her first shot with a satisfying click. She grinned, looking back at her camera. It was a good photograph. She’d captured the innocence in the way she’d wanted to. Raising the lens again, she pressed the button, taking a few more photos in quick succession. It brought her joy to see how effortlessly she’d managed to capture a single moment, looking at each one with a wonderful feeling of accomplishment in her gut. Photography was a breath of fresh air to her, giving her the chance to look back on the memories that would only be fleeting to the naked eye.

Unfortunately, her excitement was suddenly extinguished when the camera made a noise like tiny gears grinding to a halt.

“Shit,” Natalia hissed. The film had finished, and that meant no more photos for the evening. Perhaps taking so many shots of her plain old bedroom for practice hadn’t been worth it in the end. She spat several curses under her breath as she fumbled with the buttons, though there was no chance of achieving anything by it. The squirrel continued to chatter obliviously ahead of her. When she was done trying, she looked up, baring a small frown, but the sight of the animal eventually drew a smile out of her. It was rather endearing to see how indifferent it was to her troubles, and how it only cared about the simple things in life: scouring the woods for acorns.

“Looks like we’re done here, buddy,” she proclaimed, holding her hand out helplessly.

It stared back at her, with no real understanding coming from the eyes. She didn’t mind though. It didn’t have to understand her to give her comfort.

She rose to her feet, folding her arms, feeling she wasn’t as accomplished with her night as she should have been. “Hm.” The squirrel gave her another look, as if wondering why she hadn’t moved from her spot. “Maybe you won’t get rid of me just yet.”

Natalia didn’t leave the woods until she felt ready. Her companion had allowed her to simply sit and observe him for a good twenty minutes, only moving from his spot to nibble his claws or search the ground for something tasty. She felt a sense of gratitude for the time she’d been granted, before he finally scurried up a tree to hide for the evening. It was almost better than a long reel of photos.

Almost.

The air felt cold as she strolled back up the path. Perhaps she should have worn another layer of clothing, even during the summer, but she remembered home wasn’t far, so she wouldn’t be sacrificing her body heat for long.

Then she thought of her mother, and her heart sank.

“Where were you?” she would nag. “Late night meetings again? You should be ashamed, considering the help I need from you.”

This was just in Natalia’s head, but considering past experiences, she guessed the real thing wouldn’t be far from her imaginings. The only good thing about home was her younger sister, Grace, who was only three, and just a smile from her young face would do Natalia the world of good. Just ten minutes away, she realised, with a new wave of anticipation in her chest.

Unfortunately, the girl was easily distracted, and she couldn’t persuade her feet walk another yard when sudden unnerving sounds came to her ears.

She froze, listening intently. Loud echoes were sounding in the distance, from the woods she had just left. But not just echoes: wailing, as if someone were in pain, or simply trying to get attention. Was it human? Animal? To her, it sounded like neither. It reminded her of the horror movies she’d reluctantly watched when ghosts lurked in the darkness, and the character would decide to stand in one spot instead of running for their life.

In the coldness of the evening and the eerie silence of the trees, Natalia felt like she was in one of those movies.

But unlike the idiotic characters she took the piss out of, she was calm, pushing her short streaks of hair behind her ear as her eyes scanned the trees. There was nothing to see or hear, all of a sudden. No sounds; no movement. She breathed out, as if in relief. It had probably been a freakish display of wind. Speaking of which, she felt cool breeze ruffling her clothes and creeping up her skin, and it only made her shiver more. So, instead of wasting time, she quickly left, her focus on the quickest route out of the cold, and not at all on the large, black shadows curling around the tree trunks, watching her every move until she vanished over the hill.

“I’m telling you, Stanley, there’s something odd about it.”

“You sure? Or is this just your supernatural-obsessed mind tricking you into it?”

“It’s no trick. I know something’s off when I see it.”

“You going to tell anyone?”

“Like they’d believe us.”

“Don’t use the word ‘us’ to drag me into it!”

“Maybe we should talk to someone other than the teachers.”

“Oh, sure, because the bunch of losers in class are going to be smart enough to believe things thrown in their faces.”

“Now you’re just insulting me.”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry, you’re probably right. But even if you are right, you can’t expect anyone to believe it, can you?”

Ford’s expression darkened. His eyes were thoughtful and his back was arched as he examined the photos on the screen. “Not really. But that doesn’t mean we can’t investigate.”

“Again with the ‘we’, Ford!” Stan shouted, raising his hands in the air. “Don’t think for one second I’m going in there with you to find something that might not even be there!”

“And what happened to the team who investigated everything together?” Ford gave him a sly look, raising an eyebrow and feigning hurt in his eyes. Stan spluttered, searching for arguments, but eventually sighed in defeat. If it would get his brother’s mind off the issue, he supposed he would play along for now.

“Fine.” He slammed his elbows on the desk. “When are you doing your ‘monster hunt’ then?”

“Tonight, I think.”

“Wait, what? Tonight?”

“No excuses, Stan. You have to come with me.” Ford’s eyes were intensely focused on the photos, his finger rolling on the mouse wheel as each one flicked by. The album had a generic title. ‘Squirrel Pal’. Taken by Natalia Rogers. But the subject material was anything but generic.

“But…” Stan sighed again, pressing two fingers to his aching temple. “Ugh, fine. But you’re probably going to be disappointed, Sixer.”

Ford wasn’t so sure about his brother’s doubts. There had to be something feasible about his theory. The photos were obviously from a high-quality camera, and he guessed they weren’t easily faked, or at least hoped they weren’t. To the average eye, the squirrel photos were normal and innocent, but upon observing the background, Ford could clearly see a black, humanoid figure with abnormally long arms standing among the trees.

It scared him, and apparently only he had spotted it, and he was determined to find out what it was.

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