The Striga are the reclusive intellectual caste of the Avensi and rightly so. They handle academic affairs, keep and document records and oversee their archives. They also work in administration in conjunction with the Gestia to ensure that their polities are run well. In most cases, the Striga serve as advisors to the ruling monarch assisting them in their day to day duties or in conjunction with the parliament, draft edicts and laws that concern the kingdom. The Avensi are very pragmatic in their ruling in that regard hence why their kingdoms are relatively peaceful. Excerpt by Valerith Quillworth in his book: An Exposition on the Genesis of Races.

Arthur had seen the aerships back at the port of Riftedge. It seemed so long ago but their features were as clear as the day he’d first laid his hands on them. But the Sturmjäger’s approach surely deserved an orchestra of cinematic background music as he stared up at its keel coming overhead with the Stormbreaker following right behind it.

Twin sails furled out from the portside and starboard like the wings of a flying fish in an upstroke leaving the center devoid of the mess of masts and their accompaniments. They were closer to the left half of the stern where the elevated pilot house containing the bridge deck sat. Shadows thrown against the outside of the pilothouse showed there were people on the main deck.

At the fore, directly on its wedge shaped bow were ballistae emplacements carrying star shaped bolts and barbed harpoons. Directly behind that sat the cannon turrets, three at the bottom and two at the top, all attached to one barbettee that could swivel in opposite sides if the cannoneers so wished. This accorded it various degrees of freedom, enough to cover a bubble of slightly more than 180 degrees about its beam and at least 45 degrees of elevation. There were also cannon ports interspersed throughout its hull length but those looked closed and unused.

Finally, the ships came to a stop right above them, hovering in the air. It was then he noticed the new scarring on the starboard hull where a mana seeker had grazed it. Pieces of earth and dust clung to the bow as if someone had run it aground against the mountain.

“Wow, I left you alone for a couple hours and you managed to bump just about every cliff there was to see,” Arthur blurted looking at the indifferent Numen.

“ Ah, what is going on?” the necromancer asked again. “ Did I miss a turn somewhere? Why can’t I remember the last few quarts, and who is the mute?” Thaddeaus asked, rubbernecking the synth. Numen gave him a deadpan look, flat as a plinth stone.

“[Seeker]; Our mission objectives are the capture or failing that, complete annihilation of the Void Syndicate operatives.

“[Glasses]; How do we know you won’t turn around and stab us in the back?”

“[Seeker]; Ah…

“[Red]; Focus on the task at hand Glasses, mud slinging will be done later. We’re on the clock. I think we’re forgetting something here, we have hostages in the line of fire…

“[Eatrude]; Hostages?

“[Quartermistress]; what in the Pit’s bottoms is she doing here?

“[Snow]; Hmm, I too would like to know.

“[Red]; People, people…let's please be reasonable.

“[Elder]; Hmm, a war council…interesting.

“[Glasses]; Who is that?”

Things— were rather hectic. Who knew moderating an impromptu meeting could be such a pain in the neck? People were squabbling like a group of crèche schoolers in a zoom class and Arthur could not help but facepalm. And the old elf has somehow found a way to insert himself into the conversation. There was simply no one in charge, lines of authority were virtually non-existent as were rules. And it was not like he could mute any of them.

Fortunately, he didn't have the message’s buffer inside his own prefrontal cortex, that would have been a huge headache so Numen was serving as the go between. They were sharing a scrying slate they’d taken from the Seeker’s vessel to communicate with either ship as they put together a plan of action.

“[Red]; People, we’re going nowhere.

“[Seeker]; agreed. Everyone will have their turn to speak. The sand’s wasting while we twiddle our thumbs. Please continue…

“[Red]; first order of business is knowing how many we are dealing with. We already know who, but not how many we are up against…more so the Void Syndicate. I would like to think they’re the ones we barely have information on. We don’t know what kind of abilities they have or what they want with the hostages either. Also, we have to assume that they know we are coming….Seeker?

“[Seeker]; Our priority is getting information, for that I shall avail myself for the reconnaissance operation. Using the drachenflieger’s [Cloaking] abilities we should be able to scry at them without arousing suspicion—

“[Elder]; I shall have to stop right there lass. The area is heavily obfuscated with anti-scrying wards. I have however discovered how they pulled it off; the presence of telepsychic noise veils their tracks.

“[Seeker]; I assume you have a way around this? And who might you be―Might I presume you to be his anonymous benefactor?

“[Elder]; Hoho, sharp one are you? Of course I know how to get past their wards. How they made something big enough was a stroke of genius, I would assume they examined the thaumic oscillation of the ambient telepsychic noise and found a way to marry it to their anti-scrying wards. Thus, they have essentially been able to cut down on mana costs and broadening the range of th—

“[Red]; You’re straying…

“[Elder]; ah yes, forgive my tangents. As I was saying, we might be dealing with a prodigy of the Psi affinity, rare but not unheard of. Now however, since I know the underlying basis of his technique, it should be easy to time the ward’s oscillations because they do not have a repeating vector. Which puts them at the third tier at best

“Where did you pick this one?” Thaddaeus asked, peering over the scrying slate. Of all the things that fazed him, it was the old elf’s lecture which caught his attention most as he retrieved a stick of char and a worn pile of parchment and scrawled the elder’s narration.

Eventually, they did get to the crux of their delivery. To scry the unscryable, they had to bypass the wards by matching the thaumic oscillation of the drachenflieger’s own anti-scrying wards. That discussion sounded like a lecture on wave mechanics, so Arthur tuned out most of it. But it turned out, Numen could do it with her eyes closed.

With that out of the way, now they had to find out the lay of the land—who better than the local amongst them? Remus was still shaken from their escapade with the other ship and then again, the paralysis of coming back to the empty village almost made him numb. It was fortunate that he remained in the ship; he did provide the information on the surrounding terrain—something Arthur had overlooked the first time they employed to go scouting.

On his behalf, Elena provided the layout of the area, which Holly proceeded to map out on one of the Sturmjäger’s instruments and then shared the same information with her own craft on the ground. The relief looked like a very defensible array of cliff gorges; too many places for the vespertine to hide and get the drop on them. The location they predicted to find the Void Syndicate turned out to be the site of an ancient ruin in the middle of the lake. There was no other way in or out.

“[Seeker]; It can’t possibly be! I heard they were mad, but I didn’t realize they were this mad.

“[Snow]; What are we missing out on?

“[Red]; One-way in one way out, and they have captives, either as a deterrent to by time or something else— “

“[Elder]; I dare say the Void Syndicate is not a cabal of fools but neither are they bloodthirsty and wanton killers. Whoever dyed their hands crimson was no doubt paid but for the rest of the villages, it only leaves an unsettling conclusion. That slew of disappearances did have a commonality…Seeker. I believe your people have been working on something close to it?

If a message had a smug tone. That would have been it; the elder seemed very satisfied with himself. Arthur imagined just how well connected the Elder had to have to even be in the know about things privy to the upper echelons of another race, if Holly’s following reaction was any indication.

“[Seeker]; Wait, how did you? No, unfortunately that is above my rank. I thought they were just rumors…

“[Glasses]; What rumors? If it involved Antecessor magitech I want to know.

“[Kitten]; According to the account provided by the farm hand, through the Quarter Mistress, I estimate the odds are high that the structure being described—is the Maker’s translocation gate.

“[Glasses]; Wait…Maker’s?

Arthur looked askance at the synth sitting in the pilot’s seat. His eyes also darted to Nora right behind his seat and the Necromancer who seemed just as perturbed on the other side as he followed the conversation. The Seeker’s cockpit was a tight squeeze to have four people, but there was some elbow room at least.

“[Elder] I think she means the old word for the Antecessors, I haven’t heard that in a while lass. Are you really the same girl I know?”

“[Glasses]; ah of course, how could we miss it. One way in and out and hostages

“[Seeker]; that is impossible, no gate has ever worked to transport people. Only cargo has ever been passed intact, and even then, there is always an allowance for losses…unless they’re planning on using them as test subjects—no, before that how would they know if they’ve arrived at the destination?

“[Glasses]; so that leaves us with one deduction—by some way or another, they have finally found out how to make them work. Do you know what this means?

“[Seeker]; A security risk no doubt. This is valuable information.

“[Glasses]; Ah, and I thought I was the most paranoid of all.

“[Red]; So we actually have less time than we thought—

“[Elder]; You might want to be even less optimistic than that my boy. They’ve had the whole night to do whatever arcanry it took to reawaken the old thing.

“ [Red]; Right right…Kitten. The ball is in your court,

“ [Seeker]; Strange, is that some sort of Occidanian expression? Never heard of it.

“ [Red];…

“[Kitten]; Collating all the information we have so far. Our mission objectives are as follows—

There were a plethora of questions everyone wanted to ask about the plan. No, it was not about the plan per se, but the architect of the plan. A 13 year old girl, —perceived age; they did not know that. There was still tension with the dwarves, who were speculating what she was. Most of them said she was part faerie and that Arthur’s wife had been from the realm of the fae. Arthur let them run with it―his focus was elsewhere. The mission had already begun some half a half a quart ago.

“I must admit, I never saw myself willingly walking back to the den of Smaulhjon,” the necromancer muttered as he worked his craft.

“ He means Erythean lions or an approximation of it. On Earth, they would be the descendants of the Smilodon.,” Numen said through Arthur’s arcano watch. She was perched up on a tree overhead. Covered in Arthur's Nightstalker cloak, she was watching from above making sure that no other entity would enter her Scan range.

‘I could ask myself the same question,’ were Arthur's thoughts. The plan had been made, pieces had been set; Arthur wasn't even part of the lynch-pin. That was what the adventurers were for. Though he hadn't met the Hill Maidens and the twins, he trusted that they were ready for it more than he could ever be. You would have thought sleep and phantom pain smarting from healing injuries was incentive enough to sit it out so why was he there? And Nora too for that matter? Of the two of them she'd been the most wrung out.

It was not out of a sense of duty that Arthur had come along; he was no [Hero] or [Champion]. Besides, if his luck ran out, heroics could get him killed. But for all that, it was Nora's insistence that they be there to see it through volunteering that tipped Arthur’s decision.

Her involvement was even more indispensable when she was the only healer for leagues around. Even if they had Potions of Healing for every single survivor, there was no telling if there were people who’d contracted an illness. Nora could not exactly heal sicknesses but she knew enough about diseases to ensure they were treated.

Truth be told though, Arthur was rather nervous about another confrontation. This was a departure from the dhampir who seemed eager. There was a chance that she'd enter the fray—and go all out too. After the last encounter, Arthur had resolved to give her a little of his blood so that she could bring her abilities to bear.

From the corner of his eyes, Arthur saw the woman fidget, as she leaned against the exterior of the drachenflieger parked amongst the trees. Oftentimes her hands would go to her leathers where the vial of his blood was held. She wasn't even aware of it as she too watched the surroundings.

Speaking of surveillance, the synth’s extra spatial skill could not reach as far as their adversaries’ location. Besides, she kept its reach small because she suspected that the vespertine were receptive to psychic resonance . It was their form of echolocation or so it seemed, able to track anything that had a mana signature. That is how they’d gotten the drop on Nora by marking hers. Also, the bigger vespertine that’d fought them had other kinds of psychic skills that could disrupt Nora’s Shadow Port.

Lurking on the edge of a marsh they watched the going ons of the raiders' camp from afar. There, the water trickled slowly, as it drained from the still lake into the river indicating . Above the din of whatever amphibians called the water their home and insectile chirps, there was a buzz in the air, so palpable they could feel it prickle their skin.

From afar, they saw it, the large remnant of the Antecessor age, several millennia old and still standing. There was a shimmering in the middle of the gate, like the film on a soap bubble—a barrier as the gate attuned to the leyline underneath it

Gazing at it inspired awe, like looking at an architectural time capsule from another civilization. Sure he could explain that magic was used to create the gargantuan structure, hoist up the curved columns several storeys high, so high that a dwarven ship could pass through it unhindered. But, it still inspired wonder all the same—Arthur had never seen the pyramids of Giza in person, but the feeling he got from looking at the toroidal gate might have been similar.

An incantation from the necromancer drew his attention back to the present. Staying gawking like that was bound to give away their position to one some of the vespertine flying overhead. Across the lake, he could see the silhouettes of goblins and hobs, and one other race he hadn't seen before. And directly in their line of sight were the wooden cages cobbled together from timbers, presumably also taken from the village.

As Arthur turned to watch the necromancer he saw, dark colored wisps weave through the air and sink into the mud bank. Like growth sprouting from the dirt, some sort of creatures that looked like oversized tadpoles pulled themselves out of the mud. ’Lungfish—so not amphibians,' Arthur mused as he observed the slimy scales . These ones had webbed fore legs and their tail was also lengthy like an eel's.

They were killed by one of the necromancer's pest extermination spells, even the color was leached from its skin leaving them gray as if boiled. Nonetheless, they would do the job just fine. With a knife the Necromancer took to carving his initials on the flat heads of the creatures—Even if the man wasn't close with them, the villagers would no doubt recognize it as his initials as the exterminator. It wouldn't spook them after all.

“ Don't get the orbs mixed up,” Arthur said, handing over several spell orbs. One to cause a distraction and mark targets, several others to get as many of the captives out of the cages. He scrunched his nose as he saw the necromancer shove the orbs wrapped in parchment into the maws of the creatures.They bulged as the artifacts were pushed down their throats like a snake swallowing boiled eggs.

Each parchment that enwrapped the Orbs of Lesser Teleport detailed instructions on how to use them; Remus assured them that a few villagers knew how to read basic Common. On the other hand, Thaddaeus would use his undead fishes to get down the number of adversaries they'd have to face. They were betting on that, else the plan would fall apart before it began.

“This is why I don't work with corpses and if I have to, only the fresh ones, ” Thaddeaus grimaced, flicking mucus back to the river. Shaking his head, the albino let out an unintelligible sound when it didn't come off and wiped it on his cloak instead. “We're lucky it's just the end of Spring otherwise we'd be digging them out of the mud,” Thaddeus said as he stood back to observe his work.

Six fishes for five cages and one distraction. With a flick of his fingers, as though manipulating string puppets, the necromancer used his [ Undead Familiar] spell to have the fish take to the water. Their dead bodies would give them buoyancy despite the Spell Orbs they carried and the party watched as they disappeared with a ripple and bubbles.

As the casions ticked down, it finally hit him that he was becoming inured to putting himself in danger. Never had Arthur thought that he would be diving headfirst into an engagement like that. It was no ordinary adventurer guild request where they were going to be fighting against monsters. They might have gone ahead and left it to the adventurers to take care of things but Arthur could only wish.

Besides the Hill Maidens, the other party, the Fanged, could only free up two of their number as three remained behind to keep some of Doladraen's dwarves in line.—the [Captain] was still hung up on Arthur's ship. It was just as well that they had done the meeting over [Message] spells because Arthur did not want his face known.

The plan was that Holly would commandeer the Sturmjäger, and initiate the battle from long range to try to thin down the numbers. It would give them less of a hassle to just mop up the stragglers who would remain. Elena would convey the Hill Maidens and the other using the Stormbreaker adventurers as soon as the first volleys had hit to capitalize on the element of surprise.

With the raised platform that held the gate, they would easily disembark from the deck and use the direction of the cages. Joining them would also be a certain Mage-Hunter. Arthur was not privy to how the Mage-Hunter was also part of the mission; either she’d been bought out or blackmailed.

Arthur's, Nora's and Thaddaeus' roles in the oncoming battle would be discretionary. He would be looking out for any nasty surprises that would arise; Nora would take care of any unmarked heavy hitters from the other side.

Meanwhile, the necromancer was staying out of the confrontation. His other task was to hand out other Orbs of Lesser Teleport whose waymark was the dwarven aership. The evacuation was to be done on using two lesser teleports to mitigate the burden on those rescued. As for the synth's role…it was overwatch.

And when all was said and done, Arthur was not going into it underpowered. He had one rune wand to use in case of any eventualities as he was still sore from his spellcraft quarts ago. Using [Appraisal] brought up the particulars of the magitech weapons, it was heavily obfuscated with sylvani runecraft but unveiled to him;

[Venti;

Luftkaster Mark One Runewand

Emerald foci

Magillium bore

Aertherite mana source

Aer Affinity Compatible

Made by Nᚢᛗᛖᚾ’]

Anyone else would have only seen the name of the weapon and its maker.

While he’d not yet tested it. Pointing and shooting was undoubtedly easier than preparing spell matrices. In place of a trigger, the rune wand had specialized conduits on the grip to both imbue mana and cast the spells. Its projectiles could punch just as hard as his [Air Cannon] spells while maintaining the finesse of a bullet.

Not surprisingly, it also supported a diminished form of [Thunder Bolt] called [Spark Bolt] that could incapacitate with one shot. However the emerald foci could run out of mana quicker if he leaned towards the latter spell too much and the barrel could overheat too. He was looking forward to using his [Magitech Aercrafter] first weapon skill too.

“ Father,” Numen called out through his hail. Arthur holstered Venti and turned, regarding the synth who was trailing the Nightstalker’s cloak as she came towards him. He still hadn't gotten used to the alter persona of the synth calling him a parent—it was even more peculiar because of Numen's origin.

“What is it?” Arthur responded, stifling his fluster.

“ I have prepared a contingency plan,” Numen said, narrowing her eyes as she stared to the far off gate. Arthur followed her gaze and furrowed his brow. “I do not trust that the Seeker will maintain the status quo,” at which she switched her gaze to the necromancer who was still engrossed in his familiar spell. Thaddeaus seemed to purse his lips in concentration as if threading several needles in tandem―controlling several familiars was an onerous task so it seemed.

“ And should I know what this contingency plan is?” Arthur asked as he too watched the necromancer, in case the go ahead for the mission was given. However, Arthur would've been lying if he wasn't leery of using an ancient construct that had not seen use for millenia

“ I would ask that you trust me,” Numen said unflinchingly. “I admit that my social graces are somewhat―lacking,” she scrunched her face. “ But I only have your best interests at heart,” With no way of conveying her emotion, she placed her hand on her chest, where her Shard-heart would be.

“Do you?” Arthur whispered as he crouched down to her eye level. “What’s stopping you from pulling one of your stunts again?” Arthur said, raising a one arched brow. “ Hold on, why are you even here? Arcis I would understand, but what is your stake in all this?” For the first time, Numen had no retort. She chewed on her lips and squirmed under Arthur’s glare. She seemed to sigh before finding her voice once again,

“I am beholden to my sister’s whims,” she said. “ Think of me as my sister’s alter ego, but taken to the cynical extreme. And though we are separate entities, where she goes I go―

Arthur forestalled the synth with a raise of his hand. Then retrieving the Psiphone he asked,

“ So, locking up my pictures was what? A manifestation of her selfishness?”

The synth blushed blue. The cold unfeeling entity was actually caught in a fluster as she gaped like a fish out of water. “At the time, I did what we thought was best;but now I see that it causes you undue distress.” Her mask slipped. “ Therefore, I shall revert the changes I made without your knowledge

“ Wait, let’s do this after this is over…not right now,” Arthur said as he returned the Psiphone to where he’d kept it. The Synth frowned but relented with a shrug of their shoulders. Their face had returned to its impassive countenance

“ If that is so, then I suggest you take my place on the drachenflieger while I shall engage the enemy upfront.”

“And the contingency plan you were talking about?” Arthur remarked, scratching his stubble in thought. ‘Overdue for a shave’. He grimaced at the prickliness.’ What’s a man gotta do to get a break around here?.’

“ I shall provide a signal when the time is right,” the synth nodded in synchronicity with the voice coming through his arcano watch.

‘Ah, again with the secrecy. What are you going to do Numen?’ Arthur wanted to ask. However, the mental gymnastics of trying to wrangle concessions out of the synth was something he had not the headspace for.

“ Well, then,” Arthur checked his arcano watch. It was somewhere around the fifth quart after midnight, he left out a yawn saying, “ Let’s get ready and hope everything goes off without a hitch.”