The corpses of the silversteines didn’t have long till they would dissipate, so Logan was commanded to harvest them posthaste while the rest of the party checked on the villagers trapped within the building. It wouldn’t take much time regardless, and any threat of further silversteine attack was lessened due to them more than likely having grouped up with the four the party had just dispatched.

As the building was in shambles, the party had to spend some time removing broken sections of the wall alongside throwing the thatch roof off to get inside. Under the rubble, the party were able to find an unconscious man who was still bleeding and a woman who was armed with what could be assumed to be shards of a clay pot fashioned into a shiv. Shaking, her hands dropped the shiv as she fell to her knees.

“Saviours! Thank Desma you came to bring these beasts down!” she cried out.

Marcus went ahead of the party to start healing the injuries of the unconscious man, moving to heal the woman next.

“You’re safe now, do you know of any other survivors? We rescued quite a few at the elder’s building”, Kreya asked.

“The elder’s house? I told my husband they would have gone there but it was too far from our home. All we heard was crunching from the nearby buildings, I don’t know if anyone else is alive”, the woman continued, tears running down her face as she recollected the scenes.

Darting his eyes awake, the man jumped upwards from the healing. “Ah! Stay back!... Wait, adventurers?”

Kreya quickly explained the situation to both of the survivors, the husband giving the same recollection as the wife. With the healing by Marcus, the pair were able to move without much difficulty, and so were escorted to the elder’s building alongside the elder who had stayed back, hidden away from the combat.

With two more survivors, the forward base of the elder’s building now had six more survivors to add to the twenty previously escorted to the road. Giving Marcus ample time to heal the party, Kreya and Tenn went out to escort the remaining survivors to the road in two groups. Making a total of twenty-six survivors including the elder meant that any further survivors would be quite the rare find.

Using the time they had, Logan began a discussion with Iimi while Kreya and Tenn were busing escorting. “Hey, Iimi, have you quested with Kreya much before this?”

“Huh? A few times, we’re not a normal group. I’d say a good dozen or so quests. Why do you ask?”

“Just wanting to learn a bit more about her. Did she tell you about our duel?”

“She mentioned that you two were coming in without pay, that would explain why. That extra coin went towards buying up the bait, expensive as it was”, Iimi responded as she counted on her fingers.

“To tell the truth, it was my first duel. Marcus and I have only recently arrived at Gauntlet”, Logan spoke as he nudged over in Marcus’s direction.

“You may face a few more if you decline quests without others in your queue. I suppose setting yourself up in a guild would aid against that.”

“I haven’t had much time to do research, got any pointers for guilds, or duels in general?”

“To be honest you’d fare better if you joined the Magi’s Tower association. It’s rare to find mages in normal guilds, Devouts are more common due to their healing services between outings.”

“I’ll have to look around in that case”, Logan responded a bit disheartened at the revival of the MT topic.

“As for duels, not everyone pays as much respect to the ‘honour’ surrounding it. Some brigands really take advantage of newcomers or wounded, but with the crowds, it’s hard to remove any stain you may face at saying no. If it’s obvious you’re badly hurt, have little spells, or are with a group off on a quest you’re more than welcome to decline without worry.”

“I suspect it’d be a bad thing for a mage to decline no matter the situation, barring having quests already lined up then.”

“Yeah, being a mage already fucks your chances in the city. Honour and fame are your most powerful tool at getting missions or respect.”

“Would villager or hunter quests carry the same weight? If I were to decline the duels.”

Iimi took a few seconds before replying, giving Logan a scanning gaze as if she were sizing him up, or searching for a joke that wasn’t there. “Villager quests are likely to not work in that situation, hunter quests certainly will. If people hear you’re a hunter, they tend to steer clear of fighting you since you do it for a living, you know?”

“That’s good at least, any advice on how many hunting missions it would take?” Logan continued, excited at the fact he could get around duels.

“I am not sure, I don’t know many hunters aside from the top-class ones. Maybe two dozen hunts? There’d of course be people who might ignore you being a hunter regardless, ego and all”, Iimi replied, a bit shocked that Logan was adamant about his hunting future.

“So even that isn’t a certainty, better than nothing, and it lines up with what I wanted to do anyways”, Logan thought to himself.

Moving over to his allies after finishing the healing rounds, Marcus sat down beside Logan.

“Hopefully no more duels come our way, I’d be no fair fight against anyone. I’d much appreciate the spare time to read or even craft”, Marcus added.

“Crafters ay? Good money in that, recipes are an annoyance to gather up though”, Iimi replied.

The wooden doors creaked open as Kreya made her return, alongside Tenn. As if interrupting the conversation, the interior guests looked over to their returning companions.

“That’s everyone back at the road. I made a deal with one of the villagers to return the carriage and wait out for our return. Thankfully they’ve been making good trips to-and-fro”, Kreya informed the group.

“Looking to be a two-day ordeal here then?” Iimi asked.

“With how we’ve been dealing with the silversteines, we should be done on the morrow”, Kreya responded.

“A short jaunt then, our deal will soon be at an end”, Logan mentioned in passing.

“That it will. Sorting out the villagers and quest completion details might take a bit though, so you’ll probably have to wait for a half-day or so to get a signet update.”

“We have plenty to keep us busy, we were busy beforehand anyways.”

“I remember, Logan.”

A tense air hung around the party as recollections of Logan’s and Marcus’s arrival into the party stir between the Spellthief and the Knight. They slowly disperse as the group decide one after another to get some sleep, having one person on watch every two hours or so, allowing Logan a full rest so that he had ample time to prepare his spells in the morning.

After a tumultuous rest, often interrupted by the shifting of chainmail or crashes of monsters in the distance, the morning finally arrived. Logan prepared 1 Wind, 4+2 Lightning, 2 Lightning Cascades for the day, with the plan to use his Wind spell to spread out the bait’s scent to attract the remaining silversteine threat. Marcus made a point to use Heal and Healer’s Caress to bring the entire party back up to full health during the rest.

With a final check of everyone’s gear for the morning and a round of Clean, Kreya got to forming a plan for the party. It was very simple, use the bait in the junction that the elder’s building was sat at, Logan will amplify its mist, and the party will ambush the approaching foes.

At a guess, there wouldn’t be much more than five enemies, with how many had been felled to this point. Logan would use Cascade if there were groups of three for the attack, otherwise, he would use Lightning to take down singular foes. Marcus was to save his MP for healing spells, on the off chance the party were to be overwhelmed.

The plans were straightforward, not that there was much room for being complex in the current situation. Marcus was informed to use Gaia if the silversteines element shifted towards the lightning element, but with his slower casting speed, it would need to be used while he wasn’t a target.

Opening the door to the outside, the party exited to set themselves up into flanking positions on each corner of the junction, hiding around the nearby hovels. Kreya pulled the rope off of the orb bait, the red mist starting to exhale once again.

Logan, now closer to the bait, became a bit nauseous due to the smell of it. Trying not to breathe he quickly cast a Wind Wall over the bait, picking it above the ground and dispersing the mist into the air at a faster rate. Both the leader and the Spellthief darted away from the junction to their own hiding spots.

A few minutes went by as the mist painted the space above the huts a deep red, though still clear enough to see above. Dark shadows started to cast over the floor as the silversteine menace approached with their jet-like propulsions of air. Clicking his fingers, and using Identification where he could, Logan was scared at the numbers approaching his team.

The approaching forces were all level 8, and comprised of seven silversteines that were prepped for dining on a fresh meal. Some showed signs of combat, from bloodied wounds on their sides, to scorch marks across their faces. Possibly survivors from the elder’s spells or the attacks of guarding villagers.

Circling in the sky above the bait, which had fallen to the floor when the Wind Wall had ended before their arrival, the silversteines started to dive-bomb through the layer of mist to the floor. Tearing into the bait orb with their maws, the remaining mist was so small it barely made a new puff of smoke.

Logan saw that Kreya was making a motion for him to attack the airborne silversteines to start the confrontation. Despite the numbers, they had to deal with what was in front of them, even if Logan felt an aura of worry at the situation.

Lining his arm with the four remaining foes in the air he began to chant, “Lightning Cascade”, to which his arm was ignited in a flourish of blue coursing lines. Darting from his arm to the air and finally to the foes up above. Crashing into one of the foes, the lightning exploded and grasped onto two nearby friends, exploding all of their air rings and pulling them all to the floor, on top of their allies.

Following up, Logan shot a Lightning spell at the last silversteine in the air, a small display of lightning arcs dancing and zig-zagging into the confused loner. Zapping another creature to the floor, the grounded foes writhed just like all the previous ones. However, the unwounded silversteines reacted hastily to the event occurring around them.

Three explosions of air were seen on the floor, as the unharmed silversteines altered their auras from wind to lightning, Logan knowing they would use any further lightning-based spells to emulate teleportation towards him.

The rest of the party barreled towards the lightning-charged silversteines, Tenn jumping on the back of one to dish out his Ten-Point Barrage. Iimi also drew the attention of another lightning silversteine and proceeded to use her Berserk skill combined with her combo skills, each attack followed by a different coloured aura to indicate her progression through the combos.

Kreya targeted the final lightning silversteine with her Chatter ability, striking her shield to cause the creature to become jittery. Logan could only assume it would stop the beast from using its Spirit Blasts.

Bolts from Marcus’s crossbow could be seen hurtling towards the silversteines that had exposed body parts, away from any form of cover provided by his allies.

“Celsius, over here!” Logan called out to this elemental.

Running around the hut, Logan told his summon to shoot him a Flame, to which the elemental did without question. Absorbing it out of sight, the duo continued to circle the building. Logan slid to a halt around the corner and lined his arm towards the sky.

“Flame Skystrike!” he chanted aloud.

Flames ignited in his arm and dispersed into nothingness, the point at which Logan had pointed then exploded in a dazzling fireball of might. Swinging his arm down as if to hit a console, the fire in the sky careened to the floor, creating a smokey trail behind it. Crashing down into the head of a lightning-charged silversteine, the flames exploded and burnt the creature for 19 fire damage.

It was a lesser number, due to the creature’s resistances, but it was much higher than any Force mick or Flame spell from Celsius. It also confirmed that even though the creatures had phased towards lightning, their resistances stayed the same. Attacking from the sky would also allow Logan to avoid hitting his allies.

Darting behind the building again, Logan absorbed two more Flames from Celsius, though he would keep the charges for later. Continuing around the hut, Celsius was instructed to shoot Ember Shards continuously at the foes, whereas Logan began to utilize his lower damage Force micks to hit the writhing foes for 8 damage each.

With the sheer amount of enemies in the fight, it was difficult to bring them down quickly, and by the time the lightning foes had been felled, the writhing ones had recovered and dashed to the skies. Spirit Blasts were prepared in the four skyward beasts, the white-flame balls of destruction were then sent hurtling to the floor at incredible speeds.

“Take cover!” Kreya shouted as she ran over to Marcus to drag him to the side of a building.

Tenn was the fastest and was able to take cover before any attack came near him. Iimi was hit in the tail end but was able to find cover before much else assaulted her. Logan, sadly, was out in the open trying to fell the same beasts that soared upwards. Darting to the elder’s building, Logan could feel the energies coursing in his direction.

A hit into the shoulder, another into his lower back, Logan was winded and slowed by the barrage that had already dealt 36 damage to him. Behind him, in the sky, more Spirit Blasts were hurtling in the Spellthief’s direction. Turning his head he could see death approaching in a white-hot mess of disaster. The rippling of the heat off of the blasts hugged the orbs that would blast him to pieces if he didn’t get moving.

“Logan, ball up!” Kreya shouted.

Pushing away any thoughts of distrust, Logan did as commanded and crouched down to make himself as small as possible. The sound of a sheet of metal swinging in the air came darting towards Logan’s position, peeking up he could see that Kreya had thrown her shield in his direction.

Halting above him, the shield had a faint yellow hue around its edges. Reaching him just in time, the shield started to vibrate horrendously as it was pelted by blast after blast. Each time it was hit, flickers of the white flames hugged around the shield towards Logan’s side of it. Cracks became more visible with each hit, some even causing parts of the shield to smash apart.

The shifting of metal and shuffling of leather could be heard as Kreya started to dash towards Logan’s side. Her bracer lit up with yellow sparks as she grabbed a hold of it. Just in time with the stasis mid-air shield falling apart from another blast, Kreya slid into its place as another shield formed on her arm.

Loud banging and explosions noises erupted behind the large metal protector that saved both Kreya and Logan from a seemingly unending bombardment.

“Logan… You need to get them out of the air!” Kreya spoke against the force being applied to her shield arm.

“Got it”, Logan responded as he knelt higher up.

Preparing himself for a lull in the blasts, Logan chanted, “Lightning”, to prepare the sparks of blue in his arm. When the moment presented itself, Logan jumped to the side by a wide margin to give him ample time to line up his shot and fire. Seeing the silversteines above revealed them to still have Spirit Blasts readied to fire into their endless barrage.

Throwing his arm in their direction Logan shouted, “Cascade!” as the lightning around his arm jumped outwards towards the beasts. As their faces were covered by flames, as well as their maws being wide open, the silversteines weren’t too aware of the oncoming attack but did notice the two adventurers splitting up. Firing a return of Spirit Blasts, the attacks crossed paths.

The Lightning Cascade hit the lead silversteine, jumping to meet his allies in the sky again, exploding their air rings and causing them to fall to the floor a second time. As Logan was aiming to fire a follow-up Lightning spell, he was pelted by a series of four orbs, one missing but the last three hitting him for a total of 54 damage, causing him to miscast his Lightning spell.

Yelling out in pain, Logan fell to his knee again. Throwing up his other arm, he shot another persistent spell towards the final airborne foe, this time he was able to finish the cast as the dance of smaller arcs struck the silversteine harshly for 36 damage.

An aura of yellow lights surrounded Logan as a Heal Shot came his way from Marcus, bringing him up from 8 to 28/98 HP. With such a distance between the foes and the party, they could only have hoped to get there in time to deal with the final foes before they had a chance to go skywards.

Logan and Celsius each threw out a Flame Shot, Marcus a Gaia Shot, Tenn his daggers, while they all tried to get closer to deal with the enemies in melee combat. A torrent of blades and bludgeons were all that was required to finally finish off the last of the foes. The whole party let out a rush of heavy breathing from the stress and exhaustion, Logan sitting down harshly as he saw the numbers rise from the corpses.

Even if the numbers were slowly declining, Logan couldn’t help but feel happy that he survived the onslaught of energy blasts against him. His body vibrated all over as he recovered from getting punched by the hot orbs. To aid in his recovery, Marcus made the rounds on the party to heal them up from the confrontation.

Looking over his companions, Logan gained 2,660 XP, Celsius had gained 3,360 XP, and Marcus gained 560 XP. This fight had more than levelled his companions, bringing both Celsius and Marcus to level 5. Marcus whispered in Logan’s ear as he got to healing his ally confirming his increase in power, Logan putting the free attribute point into the Devout’s Wisdom as usual.

With some spare time, Logan looked over his allies' statuses, happy at the increase in power they were all gaining from this quest.

“Celsius - Flame Elemental. Level 5. STR 14, AGI 12, CON 14, INT 14, WIS 9, CHA 7: 28/28 HP, 2/6 MP. Skills: Ember Shard, Fiery Body, Damage Reduction 2.

Spell List:

1st: Flame.”

--- *** ---