The Hunter Rampage and his weary, bloodied mount faced the victorious Rift Predator and the green hard-shelled creature, which had left the Guild’s tribal warrior and his blowgun shattered in the dust.

I scampered back to the shelter of the volcanic stone and gasped to Jaru, "We must do something. These Riftspawn are on the verge of winning."

The Corrupted Disciple hesitated. I do not believe it was out of fear; that concept seemed unavailable to him. I saw calculation in his burning red eyes, a weighing of the situation to see if there were any benefits to not intervening.

“If the Riftspawn win they will overtake Newerth,” I said. “Do you think they will falter when they come to your Scar and whatever septic blight lies within? They will spill into it like a sewer drain and show your kind what real darkness is.”

Jaru smiled. “Can you not see? The warriors who give themselves over to the Rift are clearly dominant. Those who resist its influence are found lacking.”

“The first Hunter remains standing. He—”

“He is being flanked as we speak. If you do not wish to hear his screams, cover your ears as you have your eyes. I gave myself over to the darkness once, and it has served me well. This Great Rift is simply the next tier.”

“That...that is madness.”

Jaru stepped away from the shelter. “Madness brought Maliken his great power. What might it do for me?”

The red orb rose from his palm and began to spin, faster and faster. Ahead of him the mounted Hunter’s head swiveled left and right as the two Riftspawn circled him, waiting to lunge. The Hunter Rampage glanced at Jaru and his spinning orb. He pointed his giant mace at the Corrupted Disciple, marking him as an enemy, and gripped the reins to charge when a green blob arced from the Great Rift and landed in front of him.

A tentacled, serpent-like head rose from the green mass and spat a viscous toxin at the Hunter’s face. He dodged the assault, barely, as the source of the blob dragged itself through the portal. It slithered into Newerth, shimmering with a sickly green hue, its long tongue testing the air. The hood around its multi-eyed face was flared, the razor-sharp tines growing from its arms slashing the air as it slid toward the Hunter, surrounding him completely.

A realization seemed to fall upon the Hunter, then resignation. He lowered his giant mace and patted the thick neck of the Riftbeast he’d tamed, a final display of gratitude. Jaru and the Riftspawn closed in. I rose from the shelter and pushed my cloak aside, a yellow aura building around my hands. I did not know if it would change the outcome, but I had to do something.

A roar filled the air, echoing from the black portal across the face of Krula. The Riftspawn halted, their eyes darting to the Great Rift. Jaru took a step backward toward me and nearly stumbled when a warrior clad in red and purple armor launched through the Rift, his battle cry growing to a deafening level. He landed next to his fellow Hunter and slammed his weapon, a pulsing red Riftbeast head with burning eyes and jagged fangs, against the ground.

The Riftspawn were knocked off their feet and scattered across the dust. Jaru careened through the air and crashed into the sheltering stone. He slumped to the ground and blinked at the new Hunter, this warrior who seemed to be rallying the Guild’s cause, and allowed his orb to dim and sink below his cloak.

I let the yellow aura around my hands fade as well. Jaru had not seen it, and still believed I was King Jeraziah’s Anointed Conciliator. Which I was, externally.  If I could keep my true identity secret, I would. But if these remaining members of the Hunter’s Guild failed to stop the Riftspawn, I would do whatever was necessary.

Hello! My name is Robert “Kros” Cherry, and I’m the Technical Producer for Heroes of Newerth. I’ve been playing HoN for a long time now, and one of the things I do with any game that I play for any serious length of time is theorycraft. I’d like to share some of that theorycrafting with you guys today.

Imagine a mode that starts off with each player picking three heroes. You decide to pick your favorite heroes: Solstice first, then Predator, and of course Monarch.

You enter the game, and it’s not quite the HoN you’d expect; your abilities have been randomly generated from the 30 heroes chosen by all of the players!

So, with your crazy abilities in tow, you head off to your lane. There you are, carefully last-hitting, when suddenly Martyr throws an Amun-Ra stun at you. Good thing your Bubbles lane partner has Accursed’s Shield! Unfortunately, Legionnaire pops out of the jungle as Minotaur (that he’s stricken with Parasite’s Infest) and catches you before you can get back. Luckily, you respawn very quickly, and haven’t lost any gold. You also notice you have a whole new set of abilities!

This mode is chaotic, this mode is action packed, and it’s incredibly fun. I know this because we’ve been play testing it internally for a while now.

I’d love to hear what you guys might think about a mode like this, so please leave some comments on the forums here:

http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?501871-Blog-Post-Discussion-Imagine-a-mode

The jagged red bone shards of the Riftspawn hammered against the Hunter’s blades and armor again and again, driving him back until he stumbled over a mound of black stones and fell.

I gathered a fistful of Jaru’s cloak. “You’ll not help him? He fights for Newerth!”

“He has already lost,” Jaru said.

The predatory Riftspawn loomed above the Hunter, heavy arms drawn back for a final attack. The Hunter lifted his blades to defend, but they sagged from exhaustion and pain.

I rose and sprinted toward them. The Rift creature’s antennae twitched and his head turned. His red eyes pinned me in place, frozen. The ground to either side was barren—I was completely exposed and vulnerable. The Riftspawn kept its gaze upon me and cleaved the bone blades down. As the razor points pierced the Hunter’s armor and he began to scream, a bolt as thick as my wrist flew from the growing Rift and struck the creature upon its armored hide, knocking it aside and off the Hunter.

A new warrior followed the bolt through the portal. As he moved forward he reloaded the crossbow mounted on his forearm, and when he cleared the black veil spewing from the stalagnights I saw the crossbow was fashioned from some Rift monster, its segmented carapace and appendages acting as armor and weapon.

The Hunter carried himself much like one of the fearsome tribal warriors from the northeast reaches of the Rulian Marsh, and he was adorned in the scales, horns and hides of harvested Riftspawn. A twisted warthog-like skull covered his head, and through its empty eye sockets he peered at the recovering Rift predator and lifted a long blowgun to the vents in his helm.

Before he could expel his breath a large greenish stone tumbled through the Rift. It came to an abrupt halt on the volcanic rock of Krula and from it a whirling disc flew toward the new Hunter.

“Behind you!” I called.

The Hunter turned and dropped, bracing for impact, but the disc burst apart in a flash of light and became a giant, hunched Riftspawn with thick green arms and legs tipped with cruel claws. The shell on its back squirmed with green tentacles, some of which had woven together to form two cannon-like growths. A single antennae with a glowing yellow orb drooped before its face, which held a greedy leer as the Riftspawn reached for the stunned tribal Hunter.