Much to my surprise, Tom stepped in front of me, brandishing a staff. Normally, it lay along the bottom of the driver’s seat, looking like a part of the cart. I didn’t see him as a fighter, but as someone that travels regularly, it made sense that he was no stranger to fending off attackers.

“Stay behind me, Perry,” he said. “I’ll smack them on the head if they get too close.”

Meanwhile, Hruk raised his right arm, pointing it at the larger of the two human-sized bandits. He too had now emerged from the shadows and raced towards us brandishing an oversized club. Instead of just dropping out of the bauble maker, a crystalline sphere full of frostfire shot at the attacker. The man caught it on his buckler, deflecting it. The projectile flew a couple of metres more before exploding, leaving Hruk swearing.

Using the blacksmith’s help, Hruk had transformed the bauble maker so now it had two parts. The bit attached to the underside of his arm had barely changed. It housed the ice-elemental and produced the frozen spheres. While the half strapped to his forearm’s topside, acted like a spring-loaded launcher. He had added a myriad of runes to it, of course, and I couldn’t begin to fathom what they did. However, I knew he had modified the device to increase the ice casing’s thickness to compensate for the new device and his left hand’s increased strength. The results suggested he had taken it a step too far.

The frostfire lit up our surroundings to make the attackers pause, and I shot an Analyse at the grey-skinned attacker.

Half-Great-Orc

Despite their porcine noses, referring to a great-orc as a pig person is never a great idea. They don’t take kindly to people drawing parallels between their rage and that of a wild boar or brorc, either. The nomadic race compensates for their lack of Wit with incredible bonuses to Brawn.

Despite popular belief, great orcs and hybrids aren’t warmongers. It just happens to be what they’re best at, and the other races of Arena Disk will pay a premium to hire them as mercenaries.

The specimen in front of you is half human. His attribute bonuses might not match pure-bloods, but he makes up for it with increased Wit.

The information dump from Analyse had increased considerably. It helped little in the moment, but it helped to know what I was up against. Meanwhile, the lead bandit—or the first to appear, looked mostly human.

I struggled to figure out what had changed the bandits’ mind. They were willing to let us go until the revelation regarding our trading plans. However, that was a worry for later. The bandits’ ranged attackers were my primary concern. On top of that, I had no way of confirming their numbers. So, I backpedalled towards the cart and looked inwards, using Mana Sense. Gram’s cloak willingly accepted most of my inner reserves as it came to life, turning into the embodiment of shadows. A loud gasp sounded from our opponents as I pulled the hood over my head and disappeared altogether.

In the meantime, the club wielder had closed in on Tom and Hruk. My dear hobgoblin friend faced him alone. I finally saw the true power of the mountain’s blessing first-hand. Despite the difference in size and general brawn, Hruk didn’t budge when he blocked the half great orc’s club on his stony left arm. The blessing turned half of his Arcana into Strength after all, and as far as I could tell, most, if not all of Hruk’s attributes were focused in the Aspect of Control.

Since he didn’t have any protections against frost fire, using the bauble maker at close range wasn’t an option—I intended to approach the subject of a flamethrower at a later date. Fortunately, Hruk’s lightning-focused Creation attunement was perfect for such situations. Electric blue energy crackled and leaked out of the cracks in his stone arm as he thrust his pointed fingers at the towering opponent. The giant’s eyes widened for a second before the electrified digits made contact with his torso and ripped into it. Then they rolled up into his head as the bandit spasmed and collapsed in a limp heap.

“No!” Their leader exclaimed, lunging at Hruk. Before he could reach the hobgoblin, Tom darted forward and swung his quarter staff at the human. The blow missed, but forced the bastard to retreat. Then a pair of crossbow bolts shot out of the darkness. One pierced Tom’s right bicep, making him grunt, while the other bounced off Hruk’s left shoulder.

I needed to get involved as soon as possible or we’d lose the shock and surprise that Hruk had brought us. As I withdrew the Wand of Shaping and focused on Mana Sense, trying to find Doctor Whoo, a pained scream drew my attention to my left. One bandit still at the clearing's edge had fallen out of the shadows. She had an oversized head but no hair, suggesting she was a gnome. When another blast of frostfire lit her up, showing her right foot barely hanging onto the rest of her leg. Then a pair of saucer-shaped golden eyes appeared behind her, and Mana Sense highlighted silver energy in a claw shape.

My mouth fell open. For several weeks now, I had tried to get Doctor Whoo to use her magic in her miniature form, but she never did. I assumed she didn't have access to her magic while under the effects of Satchel Monster. It was the reason why Kraine's spirits couldn't detect her while transformed. I'd have never guessed that she didn't care about training and wanted to go about as she pleased.

A mental push called the mana set aside for Satchel Monsters back into my body, growing my pool to half of its original volume. Meanwhile, Doctor Whoo grew to her normal size on top of the gnome and several crunches sounded from her once again shadowed form. She neither made a sound nor squirmed when the shrikes pecked and ripped away a sizeable chunk of flesh.

Satchel Monster has progressed to Novice Rank 7!

"Get the others, Doctor!" I yelled, rushing to Booger's side. The poor brorc growled, struggling against his rope. His beady eyes and enlarged into panicked circles and two arrows stuck out of his flank.

"Idiots," I mumbled, setting him free.

Ideally, I would've loved to activate my smoke screen, but Tom lacked a trinket to make him immune to the smoke. So, I had to make do with the Wand of Shaping and Mage Hand. Music would've helped kick-start everyone's healing and improved their focus, but would also give away my position, so I needed to find other options.

A pink-purple blade of light shot out of the shadows at Hruk. I threw the Mage Hand at it, hoping to block the projectile. It didn't come as a surprise when I missed. The spell struck Hruk the side of his head, but much to my surprise, it didn't leave a wound. Instead, his movements slowed and reflexes dulled. Previously, he had blocked all the bandit leader's blows, but now a couple of punches got past his guard.

I ran at him with the Wand of Shaping clutched in my left hand. Using Mage Hand offensively would trigger Coward's Brand, so I settled on tickling Hruk's opponent. He almost jumped out of him and swiped at the tool while Hruk stumbled around. More purple blades shot at him out of the tall, but I got in their path and stabbed the soft earth with the wand. A wall sprouted in its place, blocking the attack.

The caster cursed from the darkness and the fool's anger helped Doctor Whoo locate them. She fell upon them and screams followed.

Between Tom's staff and my Mage Hand, we kept the bandit leader occupied long enough for Hruk to recover. Then he finished the rogue with a lightning inhaled punch to the head. As soon as we were sure that no more attackers would come for us, I whipped out Sasha and played, weaving Life Mana into the music.

Both Tom and Hruk collapsed, panting. Booger returned with the charred remains of a small-footed halfling impaled on his horns. I heard Doctor Whoo feasting in the darkness and left her to it.

"I'm sorry," Tom said, snapping the crossbow bolt, skewering his bicep before pulling it out by the head. "We should've taken the longer road."

"It's fine," I replied. "No one suffered injuries I can't fix. These weren't regular bandits, though. There's something strange in the neighbourhood?"

"Who do we call, Tom?" Hruk asked. "Is there a patrol station nearby?"

Tom shook his head. "Let's pile the corpses by the clearing's edge and inspect once daylight comes. I'm with Perry on this. This lot was strange."