The party of five advanced quietly into the mountains. They followed a trail away from the town and up into the interior of the range. Upon reaching a place where two such trails came together Belany retrieved a map from her pack. Their provisions included a few maps such as these. The maps outlined routes that the Thorne clan patrolled every summer in their efforts to curtail the demon population in the mountains.

The route they were currently taking was one of the less risky patrols reserved for younger and less powerful clansmen. This route should enable them to encounter enough least demons to satisfy their hunt requirements with a low chance of encountering lesser demons. Least demons are generally understood to be around tier three in strength with immunity to steel weapons, while lesser demons are considered to be around tier five in strength.

The party was expected to be made up of peak tier zero members. For a normal human group of tier zero, it was considered dangerous enough to engage least demons and casualties were expected to be high. For the Thorne clan, though, with their Holy magic and fighting techniques, the least demons should not be terribly difficult at all. A lesser demon would be a challenge though, and the party would have to do their best in order to deal with one without anyone being hurt.

This was why Belany chose this route. She didn’t want to risk injury to the party so she initially chose the easy route. She pointed to the path that headed south and Derek took point, walking four paces ahead of the rest of the party to prevent ambush.

In the first evening they encountered no threats. They had travelled quite a way into the mountains and were nearing one of the areas indicated on the map for the possibility of demons. It must be understood that demons don’t naturally exist on Elanith. They must be summoned or force their way through the barrier between their realm and Elanith. The easiest places for them to do so are places where magical ley lines of chaos and dark magic are the strongest. The Hell’s Gate mountains are one such place and the Thorne clan had long ago identified the places where the barrier was the weakest.

The place they were currently approaching was one such place and it was known for allowing large numbers of least demons through and some lesser demons. These places were most active during the summer so the number of demons was expected to be low. Naturally, while the number of demons were low, monstrous beasts of the chaos and dark type would gather in these places to bask in that essence and grow in power.

Demons and monstrous beasts naturally gather essence much faster than humans so long as they are near sources of the essence they need to grow. This is contrary to the humans’ need to constantly work and practice to do so, though a human that works and practices near the correct essences will see a marked improvement in essence growth. There is a final method that all beings can benefit from. It is leaching essence from the death of another.

When a being dies, the essence they have gathered will be released. A monstrous creature can leach that essence by devouring the flesh of the recently dead creature before the essence dissipates. A demon does so by devouring the essence directly. Humans rely on their schema to do so. The rate at which the essence is successfully absorbed and converted is directly related to the strength of the schema.

Because of the strength of dark and chaos essence in the area, this valley they were approaching would be dangerous even if no demons were to appear. It is highly likely that packs of weaker monstrous beasts or singular stronger monsters would have taken up residence in this valley in the absence of demons. Due to this, the party approached carefully.

Derek stayed on point, on alert for any movement from the trees around him. As he crested the ridge he concealed himself behind a nearby tree. The rest of the party also took concealment near the ridgeline. Belany crouched next to him and they looked into the valley below.

A chaotic scene appeared before them. There was a pitched fight between a large pack of chaos wolves and demons. Chaos wolves will normally cede territory to demons during the summer when demon numbers are high but during winter they will aggressively hunt down and devour any demon in their territory. Demons are beings of chaos and dark essence after all and chaos wolves can grow very powerful by consuming their essence.

It appeared that the pack of twenty or so had attacked a group of least demons but more demons had arrived and caught them off guard. The chaos wolves are quite loyal to their pack and with several of their packmates encircled by the demons they were unwilling to break off the fight in spite of how dangerous the situation had become. So now the pack was locked in a fight with ten least demons and one lesser demon.

It must be said that while these twenty or so wolves had been put into dire straits by the eleven demons and the party might have been able to engage the demons in relative safety; fighting the wolves would have been very dangerous for the five of them. It was a mere fact of specialization. The children of the Thorne clan were specialized in fighting demons while the wolves were not and the pack’s numbers would have posed a serious threat to these green youths.

Derek whispered to Belany, “We should probably let this play out for a while before acting. If that pack detects us we will be in some danger.”

She nodded then spoke quietly to the group, “Let’s watch for a moment. Prepare to ambush when I give the command. Remember, use steel arrows for the wolves and obsidian for the demons. Wait for it.”

They watched for a moment. The wolves all lunged forth at once. Four attempted to tie down the lesser demon while the rest targeted the least demons. In moments, pairs of wolves dragged down a couple of the least demons. But a few others were able to injure a wolf fighting them. The lesser demon even managed to use its claws to rip a large gash in one of the wolves facing it.

The wolf howled pitifully before going quiet and at that sound it was as if the whole pack went berserk. They clashed even more violently and with less concern about personal injury. Demons and wolves started to die more rapidly. After a little over a minute both sides were quite ravaged. Almost a dozen wolves had been killed and only three least demons and the lesser one were still alive.

Six chaos wolves were stalking around the lesser demon, a blood red light shining from their eyes. The demon stood eight feet tall with a dozen eyes and a beak on its face. Scales and coarse hair covered its body and black blood oozed from its numerous injuries. It had personally killed most of the wolves that had died here. None of them had been able to resist its claws and beak.

It was then that Belany gave the order, “The wolves first. Derek, Elton, Feros: use steel arrows on the ones on the fringe of the fight. Hector with me, Wrathfire cones into the big group. Try to catch the demons in the blast.”

Derek, Elton, and Feros started firing their bows. Their shots were well placed and most of the wolves on the fringes were badly hurt already. With every shot a wolf went down and in a few breaths they had each killed two wolves a piece. At the same time Belany and Hector released their Wrathfire in a cone towards the demons and tightest clump of wolves. The wolves caught in the blast were all burned to husks, while two of the surviving demons were also instantly killed.

At this point the only surviving wolf fled, but the surviving least demon and the lesser one both turned to rush towards the party. Derek, Elton, and Feros switched to their obsidian arrows and imbued them with the Smite spell. All three loosed one arrow each. Feros’ shot struck the least demon in its heavily damaged chest. The Smite blasted out from the point of impact with incredible holy force. The demon was blasted back a dozen feet and stopped moving. Derek and Elton’s shots both struck the lesser demon in the abdomen. The holy blast that emanated from that location almost cut it in half at that point. It toppled forward and ceased moving as well.

Belany and Hector summoned a light rain into the valley to stop the small fires that had been started by their spells. Derek, Elton, and Feros both quickly moved into the valley to finish off any crippled wolves and to recover some of their arrows. The group then set about carving out the hearts of the eleven demons and packaging them in their bags.

Their spirits were high. Belany laughed, “See? What did I say from the beginning? We achieved our goal on the first day. We really were lucky to encounter this conflict in progress. Derek, do you know of any use for these wolves that would be beneficial to us?”

Even Elton and Feros were interested in hearing what Derek had to say when Belany brought this up. It must be understood that even with their antagonistic relationship with Derek, the clan wasn’t so rich that they could ignore opportunities like this and Derek was the only one of the lot that could judge whether anything valuable could be gained here. They knew not to be contrary in this situation.

Derek looked around and pointed to the wolves that had not been burned. “Those are some quality pelts. Those four should fetch fifty talents each and the other seven about thirty if they are skinned correctly. It will take me about an hour to do so if you don’t mind waiting for me to complete it.”

They all nodded and stood lookout while Derek skinned the eleven unburnt wolf corpses. After that it was approaching noon and they had been active all night so they travelled to a nearby ledge on the mountainside that would allow them to overlook the valley. They set camp and Derek set his sprites to keep lookout while they rested. Of course, Elton and Feros couldn’t help taking shots at Derek as they set up camp but Derek knew that now wasn’t the time to respond to them. In these mountains this kind of childishness could lead to trouble.

Derek woke a few hours later when his earth sprite, Gnome, sent a warning to him through their bond. He heard the gravelly voice in his mind. “I feel something walking towards your camp. Six pairs of feet.” Soon the air sprite and others confirmed. Six demons were approaching the camp.

Derek got up to see Belany seated next to her brother preparing dinner. Elton was lying near them sleeping as well, his and Feros’ gear was placed next to each other but Feros was nowhere to be seen.

Derek got up and quickly donned his armor while alerting the rest of the party of the approaching demons. Elton also donned his armor while Belany and Hector reached for their staffs. Once everyone was ready Derek looked to Elton, “Elton, where’s your brother?”

Elton turned pale, “He got up to take a leak. He went the direction you said the demons were coming from.”

Derek cursed. Thus could go really bad really fast.

Least Demon-

Class

Least Demon

Elemental Attribute

Elemental Affinity

Point Value

Spell Level

Tier

3

Order

-

-

-

Level

-

Water

Average

12 (-6)

Low 2 (11)

Light

-

-

-

Basic Attribute

Point Value

Wind

Average

12 (-6)

Low 2 (11)

Strength

23 (-6)

Chaos

Supreme

18 (-12)

Low 4 (31)

Body

26 (-6)

Fire

Supreme

16 (-6)

Mid 4 (35)

Agility

20 (-6)

Dark

Supreme

18 (-12)

Low 4 (31)

Mind

21 (-6)

Earth

Excellent

14 (-6)

Mid 3 (23)

Essentia Pool

Mid T3

Malluses-

Hell’s Gate Mountains Seal: -2 to Basic Attributes per Tier, -2 to Elemental Attributes per Tier, additional -2 to Chaos

and Dark Attribute per Tier, Essence regeneration inhibited

Elton-

Class

Magic Warrior

Elemental Attribute

Elemental Affinity

Point Value

Spell Level

Tier

0

Order

Supreme

20

Low 5 (40)

Level

10

Water

Excellent

8

High 2 (18)

Light

Supreme

20

Low 5 (40)

Basic Attribute

Point Value

Wind

Excellent

8

High 2 (18)

Strength

10

Chaos

Good

7

Low 2 (12)

Body

9

Fire

Excellent

8

High 2 (18)

Agility

8

Dark

Good

6

Low 2 (11)

Mind

8

Earth

Outstanding

8

Mid 3 (23)

Essentia Pool

Low T1 Mage

Previous Classes-

None

Permanent Enhancements-

Unicorn Tears: +10 to Order and Light Attribute

Equipment-

Runic Armor, Tier 1: basic protection low t2, maximum defensive spell level 6

Runic Warsword, Tier 1: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6

Runic Glaive, Tier 1: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6

Runic Bow, Tier 1: basic offensive low t2, maximum offensive spell level 6