Chapter 7

Ambush

“How did it go?”

Before Brun could answer Graul’s question, a notification appeared before them.

The prey (Human) has killed a hunter! The western hunting zone is now shrunk by 10% (of original zone size). Check maps for new boundaries.

They all looked at maps. They could see an orange line that went from almost the top of California to almost the east side of Nevada and Arizona, then a white line that came in about a hundred miles from all points of the orange line.

Torger said “I checked the map the first time that notification came up, and this line is smaller. It looks like you killed one tyter Brun. Good job!” Torger smiled broadly and slapped him on the back but Brun looked dejected.

“I had hoped that would have killed all of them.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh yeah, you guys don’t know. It wasn’t just the tyter who killed you, I mean who you fought, sorry,” Brun could see the look on Torger’s face knowing he lost an important battle, “that chased me. He must have communicated with the others and they all chased me to Kellogg hill. I was hoping they would have all been in the entrance and died from your brilliant plan Torger. I guess it was too much to hope for to take them all out with one shot.”

“What!? They all chased you? That would have been great if it worked, but killing one is still a good day.”

Brun had more information to give them. “Graul, when you stabbed its suit, you ruined it. The tyter took it off and chased me naked. We know that their armor isn’t completely impenetrable, and that’s the one that probably died. I’m guessing the Kevlar suits protected the others.”

“Let’s hope the fire at least damaged their unprotected parts. That should slow them down.”

“I have more. The one we killed, it had no mana, so I don’t think they can use magic, but it did have several potions, and a bazooka. We’ll have to be careful of that ranged attack.”

The three friends discussed strategy for a while, but until the others returned from the trip to the dwarves, there wasn’t enough information to make a good strategy. Brun gained 3400 exp from the kill and put the three ability points into knives, bringing it to a measly level 11, but the chances of him dying and losing the unused ability points was too high. The whole group had maxed out their health, stamina, strength, mana, and all but the highest level spells. Brun being a black mage allowed him to learn all black magic available except poison 4 and Rome being a white mage allowed him to learn all white magic spells available. Everyone else had bought all level 3 spells.

Torger took the first shift that night while the others went to sleep. No matter how much he tried to ignore it he couldn’t get the counter out of the top right corner of his vision.

Lives left: 1 Enemies left: 5 Days left: 13

After an hour he couldn’t stand the unanswered question anymore. He shouted up to the sky. “Hey, tyter mother ship! I need to know did the hunters communicate with each other to find Brun, or did you tell them where he was at? Did you go back on your word?”

Silence answered him. He figured since the remaining tyters hadn’t found them yet the ship must not have told them where they were at. Next he checked the icon marked cities. As expected Kellogg Hill was no longer an ally city, but surprisingly it showed that it was now a tyter city. The hunters must have claimed it as their own.

The next day nothing happened. They weren’t surprised the others hadn’t returned from Modesto yet. Sure it was an extremely long trip- a hundred fifty miles each way, but they could easily make the round trip in ten days, probably eight days. Until then, they had to hope the tyters would find them soon. They spent the day going over an exact strategy, and the next day they put it into motion.

It was a cold, windy and rainy day when Brun, Graul, and Torger each headed out in different directions. Their task was to walk two hours, look for tyters, then come back. Brun headed south and did his best to stay out of wide open flat areas. He needed to stay hidden behind hills and rocks but occasionally getting to a high point to try to see through the downpour. As he came to the top of a hill, he could see two tyters walking towards him from a distance. He crouched down and backed away, keeping an eye on the hunters.

They seemed to be heading in the general direction of Calico, and Brun realized they had found the dirt road going from Small Hammer to Calico. He couldn’t think of any way to deter them, the road was an unmistakable path. He ran back to the town and waited for his friends to show up.

An hour later the three friends were hidden behind a large boulder a couple hundred feet off the road. As they lay in wait of an ambush, the two tyters each jumped behind the boulder and slashed at them! Brun took a severe wound to the ribs from a gauntlet’s knife, and Torger took an overhand bash to the top of his head. Graul took off running and cursed their stupidity as he looked behind him. The rain softened the sand and their footprints leading to behind the boulder was as clear as marked arrows on the ground. He didn’t have time to dawdle though, and ran towards Calico as fast as he could. He knew the others would put up a short futile fight to buy him a little time and he couldn’t squander their sacrifice.

It took less than two minutes before the tyters were hot on his trail. He had to cover about ten miles and the mud was significantly slowing him down. On a long shot he cast Slow 2 behind him hoping to slow down one of them, but as expected the suit absorbed the spell and the tyter didn’t slow down. Next he cast Haste 2 on himself, increasing his speed by 30%, then cast Analyze 2 on his foe.

Tyter Level 75

Health 850 Stamina 125 Strength 37 Mana 0

Doing some quick math in his head Graul realized there were four missing enhancements based on the level. From what he could see the tyter should be level 71, not 75. But he didn’t have time to think about the inconsistency, this thing had massive stats. At level 68 Graul was no slouch but he would never win without being able to use magic and his good armor. Humans capped at five hundred health, one hundred stamina, one hundred mana and twenty strength, and if it weren’t for them finding the glass box in Yuma three years ago, he also would have no mana. As he thought about these things he saw the village on the horizon. It had taken a little over a half hour to cover the ten miles, due to him casting Haste 2 on himself twice more during the sprint. He actually had to run a little slower than he could have to allow the tyters to keep up, because the spell lasted for five minutes at a time.

He entered past the shield and kept on running. The tyters each had a long sword and broke through with two hits each. The spells coming from the shield also got absorbed by those nearly impenetrable suits, and Graul got a little worried that the plan wouldn’t work. But there was no plan B.

Once they entered the village the tyters saw Torger equipped in low quality iron armor and had low quality sword and shield, and Brun had a wooden staff. There back up sets to the back up sets were made for someone around level 15, so the tyters ignored them and continued chasing the exhausted Graul. Torger and Brun each cast spells at the tyters to no effect then they teleported to their last safe zone, Indio.

Graul made sure his stamina and mana were extremely low so he would seem like an easy kill to them. Once he reached the mayor’s house he looked up the special one time spell Scorched Earth and cast it. The spell description said he had to be near a mayor’s house and it was a one time use so he had never tried it before.

From every square inch of his body intense white hot flames shot out in all directions. Graul died in seconds but the last thing he saw and heard was a sonic boom originating from himself. The tyters screamed in agony and as the name suggested the sand in the whole village charred black and all the stone buildings received the same damage. The wood buildings caught on fire as his sight faded.

Graul respawned in the cave in Indio, having changed his respawn point during the chase. Torger and Brun were once again donning cheap armor and weapons. Graul went to the cache and started getting dressed with a huge smile on his face.

“I think it worked guys. That was intense! The tyters were badly damaged and-“ While Graul was speaking a notice appeared in their vision.

Notice: The prey (Humans) have killed two hunters. The humans expended the secret weapon Scorched Earth. 4 Hunters remain.

The friends looked at each other with broad smiles on their faces. As congratulations were being spread to each other, a bright light appeared at the mouth of the cave. Without thinking they all cast a spell at the figure, and the figure called out “Shield 3!” The spells smashed into the shield badly damaging it but didn’t shatter it. Next the voice called out “Relax my apprentices, I mean to help you, not harm you.”

They recognized the voice and Torger asked “Ristopan is that you?”

The ancient dwarf stepped forward and they recognized him. Brun asked “How did you find us?”

“I have the spells you do not have, Teleport four and five. The fourth one allows me to teleport to any village in Nuva and the fifth one allows me to teleport anywhere in my realm even without a village, and my Analyze four spell allows me to see all life forms in my sector, but the mana costs for those spells is extraordinary. But that’s a discussion for later.

“Congratulations on this astounding victory. You do have potential to win this hunt. I will tell you this, three of the remaining tyters are the same levels as the ones you killed already, but Captain Shug is an elite hunter, one of very few who has ever reached the maximum level. You have yet to win in hand to hand combat with a tyter, except the first one you ambushed, and Shug has brought in another tyter to replace the one you first killed. But I believe that they unfairly took your best equipment. I have therefore decided to endure the wrath of commander Karzik and return your items to you.”

Ristopan handed a small satchel to Brun and gave him a wink. Brun reached into the bag and began pulling out all their items they lost when they were stuck to the bottom of the ship and sucked up into space. Brun replied “Thank you, but why are you helping us, and what punishment will you face?” He handed Torger his mithril boots with Haste 2, his mithril sword with Fire 3, as well as his steel armor. Graul got back Inferno and his steel armor and Brun got his diamond staff and wool robe and mantle. Not only that, everyone’s gear was there- including Rome’s diamond staff, Antic’s halberd Power Cord, and Arden’s dragon scale tower shield capable of absorbing all fire and poison. The one downside was all the black powder and shotgun shells were wet and useless.

Ristopan looked pleased with their awe. “Since I am the brother of the western sector, I can know everything going on in my sector with a scrying globe. I think this equipment will even up the fight quite a lot, and I have truly enjoyed watching the hunt. Excuse me for a second.” He cast a spell and the ground raised up forming a dirt bench for him to sit on. He then pulled out a high mana potion and drank it. “Ahh that’s better. It’s difficult to stand for long in my advanced age and getting here cost me most of my mana. Brun, when your group stumbled into my personal territory last year, you were the first mage I’ve seen reach level fifty in hundreds of years. I thought I would never take an apprentice again, but you piqued my interest, and now look at all of you! Each of you is over level sixty. I told you then that once you learn every spell you can I would take you as an apprentice, and you are all very close to that. I want you to win, I want you to succeed, selfishly so I can teach someone young and full of vigor once again. If you can make it back to your home, that is great for you, but if you win and stay here I would like to teach any of you everything I have learned.

“As for commander Karzik, he begrudgingly has to accept that he and I are equals. They have a tremendous amount of pride and are rather xenophobic, but beating the tyters in their own hunt, by their own cultural traditions, makes you an equal to a commander, or what you would call a general in your army. Not that I command armies, it’s more of an honorary title. Anyway I digress, the point is you will have to use all your skills in combat to defeat Captain Shug, and I will have to use all my skills in politics to not lose much status with the commander by assisting you. It is technically against the rules for me to return your equipment but it is also against the rules for them to have not returned it to you. After they killed you by suffocation, they dropped it all into the ocean. If they had dropped it onto land I would have merely informed you where it was at, but being fifteen feet deep was a bit unfair of them in my opinion, and I hope they see it that way. But I have lingered too long. Escape back to your home if you can, but I do hope you become my apprentices. This is the best battle I’ve watched in centuries.”

Ristopan stood to leave but Brun interrupted. “Just one detail. This isn’t my group as you called it, we are all equals and friends and don’t seek to lead each other.”

“Yes I know. That is a strange relationship you have with each other, but for some inexplicable reason I had an instant fondness for you Brun. Perhaps it was because at the time you were the highest level human in your group. Take care.” He cast a teleport spell and was gone in the flash of a pale green light.

Chapter 8

Allies

Antic, Arden, Jex, and Rome finally saw the dwarf village of Rich Fields in the distance. They had been travelling for three days with very little rest. At nights they didn’t bother setting up tents but just bundled up close to the camp fire and took turns keeping watch. There was little risk of dying from the monsters since most of the natural predators to Nuva and the tyter prey had leveled up to the low thirties, half the level the humans were at. But after three years of keeping a night watch it was an ingrained habit and on a few occasions warned them of a bear or roc looking for a nighttime snack. It seemed that as these creatures killed the deer, coyotes and other lesser animals in the area, they would somehow gain experience and levels just like the humans. Since the aggressive brutes hunted only for food and didn’t contain the mental capacity to plan on being hunted, they didn’t kill everything in sight indiscriminately just to gain levels. But they were now massively huge and strong. Arden once saw a level 32 bear with a strength of 28, but it only had 50 stamina.

The sun was setting on their third day and Rome asked “Do we rest for the night or push on and arrive at sunrise?”

Arden answered “We push on. We need to get back to help the others. The sooner the better.”

Jex felt weary from their long forced march and she could see the fatigue in all of their faces and body postures. “Hun, I think we’re too tired to make it all the way without a rest. We’ll need to be in top shape when we get back to the others.”

Arden reluctantly agreed and after a vote they decided to walk another hour or two before calling it a night. Jex ran off into the woods to find a deer for dinner. He didn’t like it but knew she was capable of successfully hunting, field dressing, and returning with deer meat. None of them were as good as her at it.

Just a few minutes after she took off they all got an alert in their vision.

Notice: The prey (Humans) have killed two hunters. The humans expended the secret weapon Scorched Earth. 4 Hunters remain.

Rome whistled. “Wow they did it! Somehow Graul lured them to a village and used the spell. That would have been a sight to see. I’m looking forward to their story.”

Antic looked up Cities. Calico was missing from the list, not just grayed out like the dwarf and elf villages, and now Kellogg Hill. He let the others know where Scorched Earth had taken place, and that Calico was no more, meaning not one single building was remaining. “That narrows down the places for us to teleport to; Indio or Palm Springs. I hope the others secure your cave Arden, or we could jump straight into an ambush.”

“I’m sure Torger will think of that. He’s got a good strategic mind. But why are there four left instead of three? ”

No one could answer Arden’s question.

In the morning they covered the coals and hid signs of their camp. It was hard not knowing how good of trackers the tyters were but they were professionals at stalking and hunting prey in a variety of environments. None of them knew what the message 10 days left meant that was in their vision. Could they hide for ten days then it would be declared a draw, or in ten days would the tyters use air strikes to finish them off? It was a risk they couldn’t take. They had to be aggressive and win.

As they set out they kept to their own thoughts, Rome the most discomforted. He had the last shift of the night. Two years earlier that was the best watch to take so he would be refreshed and wide awake for the day. But now nobody wanted anything but the first shift. They had to sit there at night and listen to their friends cry, groan, and scream in their sleep. Three years of killing beasts and occasionally being killed, sometimes in gruesome ways had badly frayed all of their minds. They all knew about the night terrors that had been going on with each of them for months, but nobody talked about it. That night had been especially bad as Jex kept asking and pleading for her baby to be OK. None of them knew if she was still pregnant after having died stuck to the bottom of the alien space ship. They wanted to encourage her but the words were empty as only time would tell if she would have a healthy, fully human baby. After all, they weren’t in their original human bodies since coming to Nuva, only their minds and faces remained the same.

As Rome was thinking these things Arden spoke up. “Looks like about two more hours until we’re there. I think I should do the talking, unless anyone objects?” After an answer of silence, he nodded. He was a natural salesman and they all knew it.

Five miles from the village two dwarves stepped onto the road and took defensive stances, axes raised. “Stop! You know you’re not allowed near any dwarf city. Turn around and leave before you bring ruin to our whole tribe!”

The dwarves looked scared. Two level 19 dwarves against four level 65 humans would be a slaughter, but Arden found their bravery admirable. “We understand that we can’t go into the village. Please send Strong Arm to us so we may talk to him.”

“Strong Arm is busy, and the tyters are watching. Go away, please.”

The courtesy comment caught Arden off guard who was expecting to get into a verbal assault. He recovered enough to say “We don’t want any trouble for you, nor from the tyters and we will cause you no harm. Just ask the mayor to come talk to us. We have a good chance of winning. Have you seen the messages about the killed tyters?”

The look on their faces showed they had received the same messages- four tyters dead, four to go. One of the dwarves meekly replied “Strong Arm can’t come to you even if he wanted to. It’s by command of the tribal chief that you cannot come within five miles of any dwarf village.” He looked down in disgrace as he said that.

Rome told Arden “I don’t think they like Baybil much. They look fearful and beat down, like the way the dwarves looked under Small Foot’s rule.”

A dwarf kicked a stone. “Baybil, he, uh, isn’t the tribal chief anymore.”

“What! Who is? What happened?”

“Um, our great leader Thirrell, he, well he and Baybil traded positions. Baybil is now the mayor of Home and Thirrell is the tribal chief. But his rule is strict. He really likes to punish any wrong doing.”

The other dwarf elbowed him in the ribs, to no effect since he was wearing iron plate armor. “What he’s trying to say is our clan will grow in strength and number under our new leader’s reign.”

Out from behind a large rock stepped Thirrell. “Well spoken Madrin. Our clan has been too weak for too long, and I will change that. As for me enjoying punishing wrong doing, I am simply separating those who make our tribe weaker from those who make our tribe stronger.”

Both dwarves snapped to attention and looked at their leader. Arden took the opportunity to change the ugly subject. “Hey the head honcho, just the guy we need to talk to. You know we’ve killed four of the seven tyters, now eight, and we might be able to kill the rest. If we could coordinate your tribe to set up an ambush, we’re sure to win. Of course we’ll need potions and new weapons, but all the loot will be yours. And you’ll all get a lot of experience for helping to kill the tyters. If fifty dwarves join in that will still be, let’s see, fifty seven at four times seventy-five, and Shug is ninety-nine, well, um it’s a whole bunch of experience points. The math isn’t important. The loot and experience is. Let’s get started with some steel armor and weapons. Then we’ll try to get the elves to join in and victory will be guaranteed!”

“Ha! You think I’m going to risk the lives of my tribe members, just when we’re starting to rebuild? And fight alongside elves? No way! You humans tried that experiment and it failed miserably. No, just go away, and don’t lead the tyters here.”

“Failed experiment?” Antic was livid at that accusation. “When I first got here I was afraid for my life every day. I was afraid of pain, afraid of losing my friends, afraid of never seeing my family again. But Torger and Arden trained me to be good with a spear. They taught me how to stab and thrust, parry, and roll when I need to dodge to get back on my feet again, then they taught young dwarves and elves how to fight together, alongside each other. Those kids were slaying simmets left and right by the time they had a couple weeks of training together! One mishap and the dwarves turtle up and hid back in the villages, not engaging monsters or trading with the elves. As the leader, you should be leading them into battle to protect their villages, but you’re not! We killed two razorlings and a roc today, just miles from your village. Send out your best dwarves to clear the area like Torger did with us humans, and make sure no monsters are knocking on your door!”

“I am protecting my dwarves! By keeping you away I’m protecting them from the tyters. Maybe you don’t know this, human, but this the end of the hunt. Those monsters had three years to grow stronger. In a couple of weeks the terra formers will come, modify the land, and the beasts and new prey will be reset to level five or less. Then it will be safe for me to train up our warriors. In two weeks, when you’re dead, we will begin swinging our axes once more. Until then we are gathering wood and food for the winter. Remember, it was your friend Torger who didn’t buy coal for the winter last year, and we’re still a little short for this year. What if the next world is covered in snow, or a series of small islands. You haven’t been here long enough to see just how varied the climates can be from hunt to hunt. You need to leave right now or I will order an attack on you.”

“Attack us?” Antic was still boiling. “Torger is the one who brought tremendous prosperity to your tribe. We showed you where silver mines were, then gold mines. He established good trade with the elves and introduced a tax system that makes sense. You’re riding his coattails, and kicking his memory while you do it! Not only that, we stopped most of the goblin invasion that would have surely wiped you out. And what did you do to usurp Baybil’s command?”

Arden interrupted the tirade. “What’s in the past is past. Look Thirrell, we just want to survive and go home. We don’t want to die. If you’re not going to help us fight, at least sell us weapons and potions.”

“You don’t have any money, and no matter how much you offered we wouldn’t risk the wrath of the tyters. They would kill all of us for sure.”

Arden thought about what to say and carefully chose his words. “I call upon Ristopan, son of Muldwil for help.”

Thirrell and the other two dwarves blanched then he asked in shock “How do you know the name of one of the five sons?”

Before anyone could answer, Ristopan teleported to their location. All three dwarves were dumbstruck for a second then they all bowed their knee to him. “Rise my sons.” They slowly and reverently did so. “Thirrell, tribal chief of the Cucamonga clan, you are wise to not risk the wrath of the tyters. But there is something to these humans that makes me think they might win. If you join them, you may die, but you will probably win. I am no seer and can’t say what will happen. But if you join them I will return to your tribe Bone Crusher.”

Thirrell gasped at the name and his eyes bulged out as Ristopan pulled from a small backpack a massive war hammer. It was as tall as a dwarf and was forged of one solid piece of moonstone. Ristopan easily twirled it in his hand and it looked as if it only weighed a few pounds, but then he struck it hard on the ground and sent a tremor in a circle for about fifteen feet, causing all of them to stumble and almost fall down. “As you know Thirrell, this is soul bound. It will always return to you, just as The Bow of Artemis the Huntress will always return to Jex.”

She looked sheepish but withdrew the Bow from the black velvet case, got a good hold of the Bow and threw it as far as she could. It landed forty feet away but after two seconds it rematerialized at her feet, undamaged.

Thirrell reached out a tentative hand to stroke the hammer of legend but Ristopan pulled it away. “First, most dwarves and elves don’t know she has this legendary weapon, and you three dwarves will keep it that way. As for the Hammer, the dwarf who wields this weapon must show amazing bravery and loyalty to his clan to earn it. Upon death it will return to me. Will you, Thirrell, tribal chief, show yourself to be brave, loyal, and selfless, even at the risk of your entire tribe? Choose carefully, for I can’t guarantee your success.”

He was in deep contemplation and introspection for over a full minute before answering. “I, Thirrell, am responsible for the safety and protection of this tribe. Bone Crusher would greatly aid me in protecting them, but the danger in taking the weapon would be too great. I do not wish for the end of the Cucamonga tribe to come during my rule. Please, my lord, give me a task that I may complete to earn the weapon, and I will gladly risk my own life for it. But I will not risk the lives of hundreds of other dwarves for it.”

Ristopan looked disappointed. “You have chosen to keep this tribe safe, and quiet. No harm will befall the tribe during your rule, but no great deeds will come to them during your time either.”

As he finished speaking these words, an elf trader walked up the road, oblivious to the conversation he had stumbled upon. “Good day dwarves, and men, and uh, woman.” He bowed to Jex.

Ristopan addressed him. “Traveler, what kind of speed do you have?”

He looked baffled. “Speed? I can sprint a hundred meters in under eight seconds.”

“No. What I want to know is how quickly can you get to the nearest elf village?”

“That’s about a day and a half, but I could get there in around fourteen hours in a pinch.”

The humans looked at him in jealousy, and the dwarves with disdain. Going a hundred miles over rough forest terrain would take the humans two days if they hurried. Elves must know how to move quickly in a forest.

“That’s not good enough, though that speed is admirable. I sense you are a trader. What wares do you have?”

He looked at Ristopan and became a little worried that he was about to get mugged, with four humans and three dwarves all armed blocking his path. But there had not been reports of any highway men in the area for fifty years. At a nod from Ristopan he opened his duffle bag and pulled out bows, arrows, potions, and low quality gems.

“I am interested in you potions, put the rest away. Specifically I want the strongest mana potion you have.”

The elf held up a blue potion and the vial glowed, indicating the glass was more resistant to breaking. Ristopan looked at it. “This will restore sixty mana, a very nice potion, but not enough. Do you have three of these?”

The elf was shocked. “Three? Only our strongest magic users have that much mana. I would never think of bringing something more powerful than this to the dwarves. I only have this to show off what elves are capable of and convince dwarves to abandon their low level potions. I can sell you five high potions which will restore two hundred mana.”

Ristopan shook his head. “No, my stomach can’t take elf potions very well. They work, but I pay for it, days on the toilet, and five potions would have me bedridden for a month. Tell me, do you have the spell teleport two?”

The elf reluctantly nodded. “I do, but why does that matter?”

“I want you to teleport to the nearest elf village. Tell them to send an elder to me in the village of Rich Fields.”

“First, I have nothing to gain from that. I’m about to make a month’s wages by trading there today. And I do respect my elders sir, but what you ask is too much. Second, dwarf villages are not allies to elves, so we cannot teleport there.”

“That’s fixed easily enough.” Ristopan waved his staff. “Now any elf within four hundred miles who is at least two hundred and seventy years old can teleport to Rich Fields for the next nine hours. I will be waiting for them. Tell them Ristopan has an offer to make. I assure you they will reward you for your troubles.”

The elf bowed and teleported away. Then Thirrell glared at Ristopan. “My Lord” he spat the word, “I do not appreciate you bringing an invasion of elves to the heart of my tribe. I must prepare my defenses.”

Thirrell stepped back to teleport but Ristopan stopped him. “That is why I put the high age limit on them. Like dwarves, elves live to be about three hundred on average. Those who come will be, geriatric. Physical defenses will be unnecessary, and I can hold my own if it comes to a wizards duel. Let us go together.”

Ristopan nodded and the three dwarves disappeared in a pale green flash. He looked at the humans. “I think I can work out an alliance for you with the elves.”

Antic asked “How did you appear here when Arden called?”

“I hear the prayers of everyone in my sector, I just choose not to respond. Imagine a thousand requests a day for dwarves to get richer or to not get caught for their bad behavior. Precious few requests are from a pure desire to help your friends without selfish gain. I can teleport to anywhere in my realm, at a cost of a hundred and sixty mana, which is why I wanted the strongest mana potion. I could have teleported to the elves myself if I had the mana. And as tribal chief, Thirrell has a similar, but weaker version of the abilities. When you were talking to the guards about Thirrell, he could vaguely sense it since it was in the territory of his tribe. And he can teleport to anywhere in his own territory, at the cost of all his mana for a day, which is how he appeared behind the rock while you were talking to the guards. But that is already more information than you need. Please travel to the edge of the village, but don’t try to pass the shield or harass the guards. I and hopefully some elves will meet you there shortly.”

Ristopan disappeared and the humans, overloaded with all that just happened, walked in silence to the edge of Rich Fields, being greeted by angry stares from the guards.