Magus was standing before Arek in a blink. The mage grabbed the orc’s hand with his surprisingly powerful grip and pulled it up to take a closer look.

“There are more runes. You are correct,” Magus said. “This is incredibly concerning. I know nothing of this ‘Blessed One’, but I will look into it. I’ll find a way to keep in contact once you’re in Red Mount. I can’t teleport that far, but there are other ways of communication.”

“Are you going to teleport us to Red Mount?” Ming asked. “Also, the guild still owes us money for helping them in Greenridge Den.”

Magus rolled his eyes. The air beside him crackled with pure magic and split open, revealing a small rift in reality. He reached inside it and pulled out a bag.

“Here. This will be more than what the guild owes you. Just don’t let me catch you trying to accept the reward again at a later date,” the mage warned. “I will not be teleporting you to Red Mount. There are powerful runes that protect the city and the area around it from teleportation. It’s how the city has remained independent of any guild – they all use teleportation to move their forces.”

“So we walk there on foot? I don’t even know where it is,” Malissa said. “We need to buy a map, get supplies–”

“No time,” Magus snapped, pointing his staff at another body and incinerating it. “The guild has a lot of mages who are adept at investigating crime scenes, and you can be certain the Howler guild will report their men missing. I will teleport you to a hamlet a few weeks away from Red Mount. You can get what you need there.”

“I feel like every time we leave Riverfall it’s at the point of a sword,” Arek grumbled. He reached down and grabbed his mask from the ground. He glanced at it, then tossed it into his travel pack. “I’ve got everything I need on me, though.”

“As do the rest of us,” Belmont said. Malissa and Ming nodded as well, although the tall woman looked reluctant.

“Best of luck, then,” Magus said, incinerating the final body and turning back to face them, a grim expression on his face. “Be cautious. We will meet again soon.”

The mage didn’t give them a chance to respond. A crackle of blue magic wrapped around them and they vanished, leaving Riverfall and Magus behind.

With a loud pop, the Happy Sunflowers were ejected on a grassy field, atop a small hilltop. A short walk away from them, over the top of the next hill, rose a small column of smoke. Arek grimaced and shook his head, shaking off the vestiges of confusion left over from the abrupt teleportation.

“You know, for once, it would be nice to leave the city without being on the run,” Arek grumbled. “Reminds me a bit too much of my old team.”

“Did they get kicked out of places a lot too?” Ming asked, climbing to her feet and offering Belmont a somewhat useless hand.

The healer took it with a bemused grin, then stood up on his own strength avoid pulling Ming back to the ground.

“We did,” Arek said, his brow furrowing. “Can’t say we didn’t deserve it, though. Several of our members were pretty bad news for any town – myself included. If you’re interested, I can tell you more about them on the road.”

“That would be interesting, if you’re comfortable with it,” Malissa said, doing her best to look apathetic towards the idea but completely failing. “And I agree with your earlier sentiment. It feels like we’re criminals, not adventurers.”

“No point complaining,” Belmont said, shrugging. “We’re alive and we have all our stuff. We’re also quite wealthy, and we’ve got a good chance of getting another rank up. Granted, Ming and Arek have some strange curse on them, so not everything is good. However, Magus is working on it. All things considered; we’ve been in worse spots before.”

“You’re both right,” Arek agreed, standing up and cracking his neck with a sigh. “I’d like to take things a little slower. I feel like I’ve been slingshotting all over the past few weeks. It would be enjoyable to actually stay in one spot for more than a few days.”

The Happy Sunflowers finished getting back to their feet and started down the hill towards the column of smoke.

“Magus is quite the interesting mage,” Malissa said as they walked. “When we first met him, he nearly killed us. Now he’s putting himself at considerable risk to cover up for us.”

“He’s a man very dedicated to his duty, even if the rest of the guild isn’t,” Belmont said, a note of admiration in his voice. “And I think he’s learned to loosen up a little bit from Ming.”

“It’s hard not to,” Arek said, chuckling. Ming stuck her tongue out at him. “I agree, though. We owe him a lot. He’s doing more than the bare minimum required to be Ming’s mentor.”

The four adventurers crested the next hill and got their first look at the town that Magus had sent them to. The entire thing was visible from atop the hill. It was a good bit smaller than Greenridge Den. Many of the houses were built from a mixture of grey stone and wood, while a single one near the edge was built entirely from stone.

There was no wall, but a ring of spiked logs had been arranged in a rough barricade around the town. It was small enough that only three men were needed to patrol the city. The guards wore strange armor that Arek hadn’t seen before. It seemed to be strips of wood and metal, tied together tightly with some sort of cord. The armor looked light and durable, but it left several spots open on their bodies.

They were nearly upon the town when the first guard spotted them. He nearly dropped the long spear he was using as a walking stick as he did a double take before scrambling to plaster an intimidating look on his face. He looked more like he was constipated.