Ends of Magic

Sarah and Stella woke from their naps before long, and Nathan filled them in on the tension, then he narrowed his eyes and looked at Stella. “Did Simla’s team set off the Old Gemore constructs? He mentioned he retreated from a dungeon?”

Stella shrugged. “I will ask. Siltul didn’t say anything.” She sent a [Message], getting a response in just a few minutes. “Nope. Simla’s team went into a smaller fortress of the face just north of here. Nothing to do with Old Gemore. Nobody delved any dungeons to the east of Tarren. No known cause.”

Nathan frowned, thinking. “It couldn’t have been us - even if the crystal did send out a message before I broke it, that was an Edrani dungeon, and these are Old Gemore constructs.”

An early warning sign of the Endings maybe? Or just random shit.

Aarl slapped Nathan on the back, his armored hand striking with surprising weight. “I bet dragon bones to Stalker teeth that we never find out - Davrar’s dangers don’t always have a reason. Let’s get ready, it is time to depart soon.”

Sarah cast a look around the sparse room. “Not much left to do to get ready. Stella, are you recovered?”

The short mage stretched, then cracked her neck. “I’ll sling lightning bolts all day long. But… maybe a day or three before I cast that spell again. My head is sore. A lot of me is sore.”

Khachi opened the door, taking in the Heirs and their readiness, then jerking his head. “It’s time to depart.”

They filed out the door, sticking close to Delric as the various teams assembled in the village square. No work appeared to be getting done and the villagers were out in force, watching the gathered Adventurers and staying silent.

Nathan noted the extensive animal pens which held several herds of the extra-demonic goats. Separating the livestock from the houses were a series of warehouses, what looked like tanneries and a few workshops.

I thought tanneries were supposed to smell bad. Maybe some skills can prevent those problems.

Soon enough, all of the Adventurers were gathered, and Nathan watched as Kozar talked to the leader of the village. “We leave to slay this Nemesis, and will return when the threat is vanquished for a feast. You smallfolk should have no fear.” He clapped the wizened man on the shoulder before striding to the gates.

Nathan would swear that the villagers looked annoyed at Kozar’s terms of address, and presumption on their hospitality. He tried to give them an apologetic shrug, but was pretty sure the message didn’t come across.

The Adventurers strode out of the town, and Nathan and the Heirs brought up the rear, just behind the Old Hands as Kozar and Simla’s teams led the group.

The group was eighteen strong, and they strung out somewhat as they descended the winding road from the heights of Tarren to the desert floor. The mage from the Old Hands dropped back to talk to the Heirs.

She was a Knuld girl, barely three feet tall and nearly lost in an elaborately tailored deep blue robe that matched her hair. Her skin was an umber color, closer to red than the standard orange of most Knulds. She bore a staff capped with a giant red crystal that was just a few shades lighter than her skin.

She sidled up next to Stella, glancing sidelong. “That lightning. Was that you?”

“Who’s asking?” Stella looked bemusedly back, cocking an eyebrow.

The Knuld mage blushed, ducking her head. “A thousand apologies. I’m Neta Helvim. Graduate of the Tower of trickery. I have fire mana, but hear me I want lightning mana. Especially if you can destroy an army with it. Your spell outshone the sun!” She’d started out speaking quietly, but her excitement ramped up over time.

Stella shot Nathan an amused glance, then turned back to Neta. “It’s hard, and takes powerful Insights. But tell me about your fire magic.”

Nathan listened as Stella chatted with the other mage, quickly falling into bantering about the specifics of spells. Neta had shadow mana in addition to fire, and was working on figuring out spells that combined the two, since they weren't a common mana pairing.

Night fell as the adventurers walked across the desert, following somebody in Kozar’s team who had a tracking skill and was guiding the Adventuring group after the constructs that had fled earlier in the day. The swap from day to night took Nathan by surprise, and he looked up at the sky to see if there was anything strange going on.

He found himself frowning at a patch of clouds, some of which seemed to have a different pattern than the rest.

That seems kind of hazy. Weird.

“Hey Sarah. Do you see anything up there?” Nathan pointed, careful to keep his finger directly aligned with his target.

The [Headshot Gunslinger] squinted up at where Nathan was pointing, tilting her head back and forth for nearly twenty seconds. Then she shrugged. “Nothing. What do you see?”

Nathan shook his head. “Nothing. There aren’t any flying Old Gemore war constructs, right?”

Aarl was the one who had answered while squinting up at the dark patch of sky. “Nope. All ground-based. We’ve seen most of them. Artillery, support, siegebreaker, strike, scout, sentry. I think the only one left is the tunneler, and they’re a specialist.”

They walked through the night as the two mages continued to chat. After nearly an hour, Neta shook herself and took several steps back from Stella. “Stalkers take me - I didn’t mean to ask so many questions. I would owe you a small favor for this!”

Stella just shook her head. “No, you don’t. We’re just talking about magic. Isn’t it amazing?”

“Yes. Yes it is. And your fire spellforms! Exquisite.” Neta gave out a small sigh, gazing at Stella in admiration. “But you’re saying I can use shadow to prevent harmful backdrafts - such a good term - and guide airflow…”

Delric had also dropped back, and was watching Neta with a fond expression. Nathan walked over to the older Adventurer to ask a question that had been on his mind for some time. “You are the second team that has a few older, veteran Adventurers and then a single, younger mage. Is there a reason for that?”

“Plain as clean water, isn’t it?” Delric pursed his lips, taking the time to answer Nathan seriously. “There haven’t been many mages in Gemore. Now Gale Shullet has set up a proper tower of magery, and is sharing her Insights. Any team worth their steel will welcome a mage who can cast [Message], let alone other spells. Neta can cast [Basic Illusion], [Darkness] and [Fire Orb]. She solves problems with a snap that leave those with steel petrified in place.”

The older Adventurer shook his head in wonder. “Gemore is growing magic of its own, and I am glad of it. I remember the days where there was no coordination - no management. Tenby would send out a call and get four teams, while Nedrang would get none, losing their shepherds and flocks besides. With more teams having [Message], we can control Delve days, establish villages farther out. Having a mage gives you options, lets you fight smart. Two weeks ago we trapped a Siegeboar Titan by digging an Endings-dammed pit. Neta covered it with shadow, then we lured the Titan over the trap.”

He reached back, struggling to massage his back under his armor. “Every other time I’ve fought one of those brutes, somebody died or nearly died. This time I pulled a muscle from the digging.”

Kozar’s voice sounded from the front of the pack of Adventurers, stern and admonishing. “Keep your mouths shut and your gazes outwards. We travel hostile territory, act like it you muckgrabber leavings!”

Yeah, and your yelling was real stealthy.

Nathan shared a resigned nod with Delric and they trotted to the edges of the formation, keeping watch as the Adventurers traveled through the night.

–

The foundry fortress looked familiar to Nathan - like something he’d seen in a videogame. It was a triangular cave cut into the side of a mountain, with a long flat side against the ground and the other two edges rising to a shallow point. The inside of the cave looked made of metal, and magic faintly billowed from the opening.

That doesn’t look very much like a traditional fortress.

But the longer Nathan examined the fortress, the more defenses he saw. Several portions of the cliff around the cave entrance were definitely covered with illusions, and as Nathan squinted through the concealing magic he could see that they guarded magical emplacements. More illusions covered a multi-layered network of trenches that guarded every approach. Except instead of man-sized trenches, these were sized for tanks.

Or constructs, I suppose.

The Adventurers were hidden in a slight valley that was above their target, with an illusion from Neta disguising their approach. It was a good place to observe from without being observed, but there was only one approach to the foundry fortress, and it was definitely heavily defended.

Defended in depth, even.

Nathan walked over to where Kozar was conferring with Simla and Argan. Argan was apparently a water mage, though he was frowning down at the cave and pointing in the rough direction of where the trenches were. “... something down there, but I’m not sure what. The entire entrance might be an illusion.”

Nobody from the Heirs had been called over, though Decric and Neta were standing nearby. They’d been called over to give their input, though it hadn’t been asked for yet.

Nathan wasn’t waiting. He walked up next to Kozar and pointed. “Entrance is real. There are trenches, about twenty feet across, running from there to there. I can’t see how deep they are, but there are definitely constructs in them. There are five magical emplacements in the cliff, one big, two medium and two small.” He pointed out each feature in turn.

“There’s a support construct, right in front of the cave, a bit to the left. You know, the big brick-like ones with light beams and explosive spells.”

High-tier Notice 4 achieved!

Kozar had turned to Nathan, and his eyebrows drew down. “And why.” he asked dryly “Should I believe you know a construct from a muckgrabber’s asshole?”

Argan held up a calming hand to Kozar, then turned to Nathan. His tone was skeptical, but not as hostile as the leader of their expedition. “Aren’t we all aware that our friend here enjoys a rather special relationship with magic? Is it not possible that he can pierce these illusions? And he and the Heirs have defeated many constructs. Perhaps it is worth a test to see how reliable his input is?”

Kozar frowned. “You can tear away those illusions from here Argan. Then we reduce them from range, charge in and break the core. Simple, done, no need to rely on uncertain advantages.”

The water mage blinked slowly and flipped his hands as if to indicate disinterest. “Indeed, but will we not be under attack from many sources? Should we depend on the child of the Caxol’s to shield us from the magical barrage that follows? Why not take the chance to eliminate the heaviest ranged combatant before the battle is joined?”

Argan talks in questions a lot. He's from Litcliff and has a pretty strong accent. I wonder if it's just him or a dialect thing.

Kozar sighed heavily, blowing air through his nose. Then he glowered over at Nathan. “Point out the support construct. Carefully. If I miss, you owe me the price of one of these.” He held out one of the enchanted javelins in his fist, and Nathan frowned.

I’m not sure that’s entirely fair. But whatever. I don’t want anybody here to eat one of those plasma balls.

Nathan pointed out the position of the wavy rectangular object he was pretty sure was a support-construct from a few different angles. Argan made a few lines of water that faintly glistened in the blue light coming from the sky overhead, and Nathan corrected them until he was confident that they triangulated the blocky shape accurately.

Good thing it’s literally the size of a barn.

Kozar squinted out into the darkness, seeming dissatisfied with the turn of events but unwilling to back down in front of the audience. He judged the distance and drew back his arm, then turned and addressed the gathered Adventurers in a low voice. “I strike first, if this blasphemous guidance works. Then Argan strips illusions. Mages, defend us from afar. Argan, drive them from their trenches. Ranged fighters take out constructs from here, everybody else protects us if they close. Once we’ve reduced them or they’ve withdrawn, we proceed down the slope and towards the entrance. Then the Gleaming Fist will enter and end this swarm.”

Yup, his team is named the Gleaming Fist. I’d call that name pretentious, but my friends are the Guardians of Gemore.

Then Kozar turned, and drew back his arm again. It blurred forward, and there was a crack of displaced air as if a gun had been fired. Below, Nathan saw the giant reflective hexagonal shield of the support construct kindle to life in an instant to catch the javelin.

But it wasn’t a perfect hexagon - there was a hole in the center, where the projectile had pierced straight through. For a moment nothing happened, and then there was an explosion as the support construct detonated.

I guess they’re just prone to blowing up. Huh, not surprising that something firing balls of plasma has some explosive energies inside. Not as big a boom as when Stella unleashed Thor’s wrath earlier.

Argan was already swinging his arms in scooping motions, and Nathan saw a huge whip of fog slowly follow his gesture. It swept across the valley like a tide, washing over the fortifications. No harm was done, but all illusions - Neta’s and the fortress foundry’s - were stripped and revealed the defenses to the naked eye.

Kozar had moved quickly, before many of the Adventurers were ready, so Stella didn’t have a shield up. But Neta reacted in time, throwing up some sort of spell that blocked sight in one direction. The Adventurers could see through it with only a bit of difficulty, and it clearly prevented their foes from aiming accurately at them, given that the counterfire of metal spikes peppered a large area.

One of Simla’s teammates went down, an unlucky spike through his stomach. Khachi stepped over to heal him up, as Stella established her shields just in time to block a plasma ball and several beams of light from the weapon emplacements on the cliff.

Sarah and the other Adventurers skilled at ranged combat pulled out their weapons and engaged, though the strike constructs were popping above their trenches for bare moments to fire a spike before ducking back into cover, so it wasn’t an easy engagement. Neta did her best to divert the attacks, but with so many projectiles her illusion kept getting shredded.

Another plasma ball detonated on Stella’s shield, and she grunted in frustration. Then Kozar’s arm whipped forward again, and the emplacement that had been the source of the plasma detonated.

Is he using explosive javelins? No wonder he wanted Herdin to enchant more for him if he uses them like this.

Argan and the mage from Simla’s team joined forces to conjure water into the trenches, slowly driving the constructs out of the fortifications lest the conjured water tear them apart with vicious currents.

Kozar’s arm was a blur as he threw unenchanted javelins like a machine gun, each smashing apart a strike construct in a spray of metal.

Stella spoke through gritted teeth. “Nobody is going to deal with the light? Fine. I’ll do it.” Her eyes crackled with lightning and her shield visibly flared as it accumulated an electric charge. The potential built up for a moment, and the Adventurers hunkered underneath the broad barrier flinched back, hesitant of arcing tendrils of lightning coming off their overhead cover.

Then the lightning roared down the twin beams of light still attempting to burn their way through the shield. They grounded themselves against the emplacements on the cliff, which blackened and cracked before falling silent.

Luckily, Aarl was nearby. He caught Stella when she wavered and fell a moment later, coughing and pressing a hand to her nose to stem the renewed bleeding.

Shit. There wasn’t enough time for her to recover.

The constructs below clearly decided they weren’t winning this war of attrition, and the survivors boiled out of their trenches to close on the besieging Adventurers.

These things definitely have a grasp of tactics. But it’s hard to win when your defensive fortifications are turned into a trap.

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Magic Absorption 10

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 4

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 8

Class: Implacable Antimage level 110

Stamina: 3064/3600

Antimage’s Impassivity

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Implacable Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Improved Antimagic

Strenuous Agility

Hand-to-hand Expertise

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 4

High-tier Earnestness 9

Mid-tier Sprinting 10

High-tier Spellsense 8

High-tier Notice 4

High-tier Identify 4

High-tier Dodging Footwork 4

High-tier Enhanced Memory 7

Mid-tier Lecturing 8

High-tier Tumbling 1