To develop a strategy, I needed more information first. I hadn’t looked too closely when I’d first encountered a patrol, so I wasn’t sure what the Succubus had for a weapon. She’d worn leather armor, unlike the Devil’s plate, so she could be a caster or some other form of ranged attacker, something that valued more mobility over a stronger defense. Luckily, if the current situation mirrored the last time I killed one of the Watchers, I’d have a patrol coming right to me soon. Sure enough, the ground behind me lit up red, marking my location up until I had climbed the tree and removed the tracer with Shadowmeld.

I distanced myself from that location, positioning myself in a tree far enough away that they wouldn’t find me, but close enough that I could see what happened. I only had to wait a couple minutes before I heard noises off in the distance. From my vantage point, I saw the newly arrived Devil and Succubus approach the location of my ambush. The game mechanics had completely removed all traces of the body, even the blood, but the red trail leading up into the tree was enough of a clue for them to figure out what happened.

As expected, the patrol approached the ambush location with caution, clearly aware that something had gone horribly wrong. Maybe if the original guard had waited for his compatriots, he wouldn’t have met with such a fate. That thought made me consider why he hadn’t activated the tracing spell himself, which further convinced me that the Succubus was the caster of the group. That conviction was quickly confirmed as the two split up, the Devil sneaking around closer to the tree, while the Succubus distanced herself while finding a clear line of sight.

Watching them work made me realize something: the NPCs in this game could use some pretty advanced tactics. If I hadn’t been ready for them, they probably could have caught me off guard. The only outcome for me would be death. Considering I didn’t know what happened if I failed the quest, I’d rather not get turned into firewood here. For that reason, I watched closely as the two prepared to ambush my previous location. I saw rather than heard the Succubus start chanting something as her hands started to glow, her low voice barely perceptible over the ambient noise of the forest. Suddenly, she shot her hands forward and a red spike erupted from her hands and crashed into the tree with great force.

The large branch I’d concealed myself on previously splintered completely, shards exploding out as the spike penetrated the branch and pierced the trunk. The Devil followed up by dashing forward, prepared to bring a swift end to anything that fell from the tree. Unfortunately for him, nothing fell within his reach since I’d long since vacated that spot. I watched from afar as the two searched the area, unsure how to track me without the tracer. I guess none of the other Treants they’d captured knew to dispel it.

I wasn’t ready for a confrontation yet, so I let them wander around for a while without revealing myself. Even after they left, I stayed in the tree for five minutes to make sure they were really gone. I spent the time pondering how to take out the two of them at the same time. If I assumed they’d respond the same way if I attracted their attention again, my best time to strike would be when they split up for their own ambush. Ideally, I could get the jump on the Succubus, taking her out easier because of her leather armor. The problem was that there was no way to be perfectly confident about where she would position herself to set up my own ambush. Maybe if I chose the terrain just right, I could limit her options…

The second problem would be killing the Devil afterwards. Without getting the jump on him, I wasn’t confident I could take him on. Wait a second… Shadowmeld said it ends upon entering combat, not that I couldn’t use it while I was in combat. If I was able to ambush the Succubus without using Shadowmeld, I could pretend to flee after killing her before ambushing the pursuing Devil with Shadowmeld. That would give me more time for my cooldowns to come back as well.

With my plan decided, I tried to find the right terrain to restrict the Succubus’ choice of positioning. If there was only one clear shot to the branch I would hide in, I could hide nearby and get the jump on her. My choices were somewhat limited, since it had to both be in the vicinity of a Demonic Watcher and far enough away from the camp that I would have time for Shadowmeld to come off cooldown before my ambush. Three minutes was a long time, but judging by their past response times, I should have enough time. It just didn’t hurt to be safe.

After deciding on the location, I set the stage. I killed the Watcher and climbed the designated tree, immediately activating Shadowmeld to cleanse the tracer. I hopped down and got ready for the fight, patiently waiting in the shadows. Normally, I wasn’t a very patient person, but the tension in the air kept me focused on my goal. I didn’t make a sound, remaining imperceptible in the shadows even after Shadowmeld expired.

I watched the cooldown on Shadowmeld tick down as I waited. An icon for the skill had appeared in my vision when I thought about it, letting me track the cooldown empirically, rather than through guesswork. I expected it to take at least three minutes for the patrol to arrive, but I’d miscalculated. Just over a minute had when I heard them off in the distance. God, I was an idiot. The only reason they’d taken so long before was because they’d returned to the camp first. With the original sentry dead, they must have waited at the camp for me to make another appearance. Now my Shadowmeld wasn’t going to be off cooldown in time.

On the bright side, my luck held in regard to their tactics. It was a risk to assume they’d act the same after I’d escaped twice, but it was a calculated risk. Even with the development of AI, there was only so much processing power the game could dedicate to every little monster. Only special NPCs tended to use truly high-level thinking. As planned, the Devil snuck around to the tree where I’d set the bait, waiting for the Succubus to get in position. The Succubus appeared right in front of me, but I was still torn. Should I still attack with my Shadowmeld on cooldown? There was only 45 seconds left on the cooldown, but my window of attack was pretty slim.

Inspiration struck me as the Succubus repeated her past actions and channeled magic into her hands. I remembered the loud explosion when she’d destroyed the branch. If I could time my attack with her release of the spell, not only would she be distracted, but the noise would give me precious seconds before the Devil would respond to my assault. Without time to second-guess myself, I prepared myself for the fight, both mentally and physically.

The Succubus’ and my hands moved in tandem, hers releasing her spell as mine reached for her throat. Some noise would be covered by the explosion, but maybe if I cut her windpipe, I could silence any cries she would make. I crossed my daggers across her windpipe and slashed to both sides, the game rewarding my ingenuity with a new debuff under her health bar.

Silenced

Debuff – 3s Remaining

Renders foe incapable of speaking or casting spells for the duration.

Perfect! I followed up with Twisting Fangs, hoping to end the fight as quickly as possible. She spun around and raised her arm to block, but my daggers were able to penetrate her armor, sinking smoothly into her forearm. After pulling them out, I tried to finish her off with normal attacks, but she still had 30% of her health remaining as the Silenced debuff was about to run out. I followed up with a Kidney Shot, not even daring to look to see if the Devil had noticed our fight yet. I was dead anyway if he did, so I just needed to focus on killing the Succubus as quickly as possible. Barely a second into the two second Stun, I succeeded, and her lifeless body collapsed to the ground.

As I turned, flush with victory, my eyes met with the Devil who had just noticed my presence. Coming back to reality, I ran. I didn’t know how fast the Devil would be when chasing me, but I needed to stay ahead of him for more than 30 seconds before I could use Shadowmeld again. In the best-case scenario, I’d be far enough ahead to set another ambush before he caught up. However, reality proved a harsh mistress, and he was slowly catching up on me.

As soon as Shadowmeld came off cooldown, I activated it and turned abruptly, dashing into the nearby trees. I didn’t have time set up a full ambush, but at least it bought me time to use Apply Venom. The instant I vanished, the Devil slowed down, taking each step more carefully. With how guarded he was acting, I didn’t like my chances if I went for something obvious like his neck. Instead, I waited for him to pass by, sword drawn, and stabbed for his wrist. He dropped the sword in pain, and that bought me a second of damage as he reached for it with his other hand. As his hand reached the blade, but before he got a firm grip, I activated Kidney Shot, but I missed his kidney as he crouched, catching him in the shoulder.

With only a single second Stun, I only had time to activate Twisting Fangs before he brought his blade up to face me. He only had 20% of his health remaining, but this Devil charged up his swing, a pale-yellow glow emanating from his sword as he readied his attack. Clearly, he was using a skill, and if a regular attack had taken half my health, I didn’t dare take a skill head-on. It could very well kill me in one strike. I did what any gamer would do when targeted with a long, telegraphed attack; I got out of range.

Not wanting to waste the time turning around, I sprinted past him and dove behind a tree, hoping to protect myself from any nasty side-effects the skill might have. Just as I reached cover, the tree exploded into splinters behind me, knocking me to the ground, taking away 10% of my health and sticking me with a debuff.

Dazed

Debuff – 5s Remaining

Reduces foes movement and attack speed by 30% for the duration.

I would probably be dead by the time that debuff ran out if I didn’t finish him off now. Luckily, my own debuffs had reduced his health to 10% in the past two seconds, giving me a chance. To buy myself some time, I threw one of my daggers at his face, slowly standing up despite my spinning head. I ignored his next swing, aimed at my midsection, as I furiously cut him with my other dagger. His attack removed 60% of my health, leaving me with only 30% remaining, but I managed to finish off his low health pool. Once again exhausted by combat and still dizzy from the debuff, I collapsed flat on my back. I needed a rest.