Loremaster of the Amaranthine lands

“All right,” Regis sighed. “Jokes aside, we have to decide whether we can entrust the church and the nobility with the spider golem. It would definitely shift the battle in their favour, but if we do that, it means we’ll have to wholeheartedly commit to escaping if the shit hits the fan.”

“Can you alter the runes to only make it work temporarily or something?” Osmond asked, earning a slight head shake.

“I don’t have anything that would work like that,” the dark elf said. “The best I could do is add another, smaller diagram to erode a single rune from the main diagram. From the outside, they wouldn’t be able to tell what’s wrong with it, but it’s hard to tell how long it would take for it to do its work. The only way I could control the speed of the erosion would be by adjusting the grade of the enchantment. The problem is, I’ve never done anything like that so I can’t tell the increase in speed.”

“You could always just try it out on something else.” Sophie added.

“I could, but it depends on many variables. It would only give me a rough estimate.”

“That would still be better than nothing.” Quentin remarked.

“So let’s decide,” Valerie looked at her fellow outlanders before settling her gaze on the loremaster. “Are we lending them the spider as well?”

“We could put it up for a vote, but it’s pretty obvious that everyone made up their mind about it.”

“Can you put something like a self-destruct function on it?” Cruz asked. “Just to be safe.”

“Self-destruct? I guess... I could add a runic diagram to over-charge the wands at the same time along with the domain heart.”

“How big the fallout would be?” Quentin asked after remembering the time they once interrupted the dark elf during his work, which ended in a grenade-like explosion.

“I once screwed up a ‘well-made’ grade healing wand,” Regis recalled with a shudder. “It tore a hole the size of a door in the wall when it exploded. This would be a dozen times stronger due to the power of the wands. If the rest of the enchantments react to it too, then it could be twenty to twenty-five times bigger.”

“And the domain heart?” Letty asked, already afraid of the answer.

“I... have you seen one of those demolition videos where they made a ten-floor building collapse with explosives?”

“Yes?” The shaky answer came from the group as a whole.

“It should be able to level one of those buildings on its own.”

“God damn,” Khan couldn’t stop himself from cursing. “Are you telling me you’re keeping some bona fide arcane nukes in here?” Quentin told me that you have one of those things on top of the tower you built in the middle bridge.

“And one at the mountain pass too.” One of the other Outlander mercs remarked.

“I’m pretty sure those are at least ten times more powerful than the one he put on the spider golem.” Fabien said absent-mindedly.

“Yep,” Amanda sighed. “It’s official now, Cruz was right. Regis is a God damn Oppenheimer wannabe.”

“For the record,” the loremaster spoke up indignantly. “I didn’t create those with the intention of blowing them up. I placed layer upon layer of security measures to prevent anyone from tampering with them, so they are perfectly safe.”

“Good to know we won’t get nuked in our sleep.” Valerie chuckled

“Um... what are we supposed to do now?” A heavy voice asked on the side as Nate, the orc of the mercenary team inquired with a puzzled expression.

“That is up to you to decide,” Regis stated. “You’re more than welcome to stay with us for the time being. That way if the church fails, you can get the hell out of here with us.”

“That would be for the best.” Celine hummed with the rest of the group nodding in agreement.

“We don’t have any standing contracts out there right now anyway,” Khan remarked. “So we might as well take a short vacation or something.”

“You just want to stick around to stuff your face with that nice lady’s baked goods.” One of the mercs said, earning a chuckle from their group.

“It’s not my fault no other place sells apple pies in the whole freaking kingdom.” Khan argued.

“Definitely a wasted business opportunity.” Another one sighed.

“I guess the meeting is over then,” Regis stated the obvious as he headed toward the door. “I’ll be busy for the rest of the day and most likely tomorrow as well so I leave the rest to you.”

“Just try not to blow us up ahead of time.” Cruz remarked with a smirk, earning a rueful look from her sister.

As the dark elf left the dining room, he headed over to his workshop where he spent about two hours to create and test the two new runic diagrams he needed to infuse into the spider golem. When he was sure that they would work, he left the workshop and went outside behind the building where he activated the hidden mechanism in the park.

The ground opened up and he called up the spider golem so that he could begin altering it. Several hours went by under the gruelling task of infusing and integrating the two new runic diagrams he had come up with. Regis left the eroding diagram unfinished on purpose, planning to finish it just before he brought the golems over to the army.

It was three in the afternoon when he finished, prompting him to send the golem back into the underground storage area before locking it away again. Not wanting to waste time, he used the gateway inside the manor to teleport over to the mountain path between the two kingdoms.

The light of the gateway faded away after a few seconds and he had to use the crystal atop his staff to illuminate the sealed cave he used to hide the portal.

Using earth magic, Regis opened a hole in the rock wall to pass through, finding a slowly darkening mountain path beneath him just a dozen metres away. ‘I’ll have to first create a new cave to house the archway.’ He thought to himself as he walked over to the uneven mountain wall where he began to shift away the stone using his magic.

Half an hour later a spacious cavern was created with a large stone archway standing at its far end. ‘This is going to take a while.’ He sighed inwardly as he began to infuse the gate with the necessary runes. By the time the sun vanished from the sky, pale grey runes covered the archway as the tired loremaster stood back up.

“This should do it for today,” he said aloud. “The rest can wait until tomorrow.”

Heading inside the manor, Regis decided to have an early dinner before checking the runic arrays in the attic to gather the elemental crystals and the two hollow arcana stone batteries they charged, storing them in his workshop. Finally, a hot bath later the dark elf decided to call it a day and went to bed, waking up the next morning with a groggy mind. He donned his armour, grabbed the charged arcana batteries and went downstairs, finding Euric at the entrance as he was chatting with Quentin and Valerie.

“Good morning everyone!” He greeted them after a yawn, earning a nod from the group.

“Looks like you’re ready to head out.” The infernal woman remarked, the dark elf letting out a sigh.

“It’s best to get it done as soon as possible. I still have to upgrade the mass migration gateway in the mountains to at least ordinary rank.”

“I already ordered the golems to go to the training field, so we can go as soon as you get the spider over there.” Quentin stated, making the loremaster nod in agreement.

“Just give me a minute to bring it over from the park.”

Saying that, he headed back outside activating the arcane mechanism to open the secret storage area. He slid the mystical batteries in place, then commanded the spider golem to come out and follow him before closing the storage again. His friends were waiting at the front entrance of the manor, a shudder running along their spines as they looked at the unique golem.

“I must admit,” Valerie let out a low whistle. “This thing looks quite intimidating. Did you manage to alter it the way you wanted?”

“I did,” Regis nodded. “But I left the eroding diagram unfinished. I’ll complete it once we get to the barracks so that the golem could last longer.”

While explaining this, the three of them headed out toward the barracks, followed by the giant stone spider. Although it was early morning there were still people walking by on the cobblestone streets, all of them stopping for a moment in surprise at the sight of the walking spider statue. By the time they reached the barracks, Grego and a few of the guards stood there fully equipped amongst the large knight-shaped golems. The loremaster also noticed Cruz, Letty and Osmond waiting there at the side of the golems.

“Morning everyone,” Regis said aloud, making the soldiers snap to attention. “Sorry for taking up your training yard. We’ll be out of here in a few minutes.”

“We know,” Grego said as he looked at his fellow guardsmen. “And we are going with you.”

“You what?” The loremaster asked back surprised by the sudden statement.

“Your last trip ended up on a battlefield,” the captain of the guards explained. “This time you’ll have some backup in case something happens. And besides... the lads and I need to stretch our legs a bit.”

“But... fine,” Regis let out a sigh as he saw the determination in their eyes. “Stay close and move as one. We’ll only stay as long as it takes to pass down the temporary command brand. After that, we’re coming straight back. Understood?”

“Yes, sir!” The guards said as one while saluting.

“And you?” He asked from Letty, getting a hug from the young woman.

“I just wanted to be here to… wish you good luck and all.”

“Thanks.” The dark elf said with a smile after receiving a good luck kiss.

“We came to make sure my sister wouldn’t do anything stupid if you stayed longer than five minutes.” Cruz stated with Osmond nodding in agreement.

“Glad to hear that. It would be quite awkward if she burst into the middle of the army encampment fully armed and screaming just because old Felix held me up with his questions or something.”

“Try to keep your visit under twenty minutes this time,” Osmond said with a sigh. “I doubt we could hold her back longer than that.”

“Understood. Just give me a minute to finish up the spider and we can go.”

The dark elf stepped beside the spider golem and placed his left hand on it well closing his eyes. He connected his mind to the runic diagrams that were fused into the golem, focusing on the unfinished eroding diagram. It barely took him a minute or so to finish the last symbol which made the drawing come to life, allowing it to begin eroding the pre-selected rune in the main diagram. Regis judged that it would take about a day and a half before it would succeed, forcing the golem to shut down until he himself would repair it.

“Is everyone ready?” He asked after opening his eyes, both his companions and the guardsmen immediately lining up beside the gate.

“We’re ready if you are.” Quentin stated, earning a slight nod.

Regis walked over to the large, rune-covered archway and put his hands on it. After a minute-long channelling of his arcana into the gateway, all of the runes lit up as a swirling portal opened up inside the archway’s confines.

“Follow me!” Quentin ordered the recently awakened golems before heading through the portal after Regis and the spider.

“Let’s get moving everyone!” Valerie said to the guards before hurrying after the golems.

Barely three seconds after the last of them entered the portal, it closed itself after running out of power. Far away, on the other side of the portal, Regis stepped out into what seemed to be a large encampment with hundreds of tents set up behind the gateway, battalions of soldiers lined up on both sides while a group of knights stood in a half-circle shape in front of him, glowing weapons pointed toward his throat.

“You might want to take a few steps back to give enough space for the rest of the golems to come through.” He said in a rather calm tone, causing the knights to look at him with a mixture of confusion and wariness.

“I was asked by Grandmaster Felix to lend our town’s golems to the army,” he explained while slowly waking forward with the spider golem following him. “He should have informed you of my arrival earlier.”

“A dark elf mage with a blade staff,” one of them said as the rest of the group sheathed their weapons and made way for him. “You must be Lord Regis.”

“The one and only, unless they have a shapeshifter around.” He remarked as Quentin stepped out from the portal, followed by the six large stone knights that elicited a wave of surprised ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’ from the soldiers not far to the side.

Valerie and the guards followed the golems, the portal closing right behind them. The leader of the knights led them through the encampment, the familiar face of bishop Emil and old Felix coming toward them from the other direction.

“Glad to see you made it,” the old spellcaster said with a relieved smile. “And I see you even brought along a surprise as well. Although it’s quite a strange contraption.”

“I created it specifically as an anti-demon weapon.” The dark elf stated as they greeted each other with a slight handshake.

“We won’t decline any weapons you offer against our unholy enemies,” Emil stated with a pious tone. “Come, join us in the command tent for a minute or two.”

“That should give us the privacy needed for me to explain a few things.” The loremaster accepted the invitation, following the two elderly men toward a not too large, but still imposing tent that had three walls covered and one open.