A few minutes passed as Verdan and Kai waited outside, idly discussing some of the areas around Hobson’s Point that Kai had visited. Sadly, it seemed that the majority of the northern section of the continent had been abandoned. Verdan remembered Kai mentioning something along those lines before, but hearing how few settlements there were nearby really drove it home.

"Excuse me, Master Sorcerers, the Commander will see you now," a grizzled-looking guard came over to address them. Of all the guards they’d dealt with, this man looked the wariest of them, making Verdan wonder just what he’d had to deal with in the past. Surely Sorcerers weren’t bad enough that simply speaking to them was a potential problem.

"Please, lead the way," Verdan said politely, rising to his feet and gesturing for the guard to go first. As the man turned away, Verdan gave Kai a look and mouthed the word ‘Commander’, but the Sorcerer shrugged and shook his head.

Intrigued by who they were meeting with, Verdan followed after the older guard, nodding to the original one he’d spoken to as they went past. The guard cautiously returned the nod but kept their focus on the job at hand, which was reassuring.

The more Verdan saw the guards in the city, the happier he was with them individually. That just made him more confused about the state of play, though. Verdan didn’t understand how professional and well-trained guards like this could let the surrounding countryside fall into ruin.

Verdan would be shocked if there were enough farms producing food for the city in the area by this time next year. He knew first-hand what cyth would do with half-a-chance, let alone if they were running rampant like this.

The interior of the guard headquarters was part administration, part housing and part armoury from what Verdan saw as they made their way inside and up to a higher floor.

The guard knocked on a plain-looking door halfway down one corridor and paused briefly before opening it and letting Verdan and Kai inside. Looking around, Verdan found himself inside an office with a large central table that had three men sitting around it.

A relatively small, bald man was on the far side who met Verdan’s gaze without issue. There was a confidence there that was born of self-assurance, and Verdan took an immediate liking to the man.

At the end of the table to Verdan’s left sat Lieutenant Silver, who was maintaining a carefully neutral expression. Opposite him at the far right of the table was another new face, but one that bore a lot more suspicion and not a little anger.

"Thank you, guardsman, we’ll be fine from here," the bald man said, rising from his chair as he gestured for Kai and Verdan to sit opposite him. "Please, take a seat."

"Thank you," Verdan said, taking the offered seat while Kai remained where he was leaning against the wall next to the door. "Thank you for seeing me as well."

"Not at all. We’re always welcoming to Sorcerers staying in Hobson’s Point," the bald man said, his eyes flicking from Verdan to Kai and back.

"As long as they don’t interfere in guard business," the angry-looking man on Verdan’s right interjected, leaning forward to glare at Verdan with a hint of a sneer on his face.

"I do apologise. I didn’t realise that I’d been intruding?" Verdan said, raising a brow at the man who’d spoken. That was a lot of aggression from someone that Verdan hadn’t met before.

"Intruding?" The man spat, his eyes narrowing angrily. "You’ve swanned into our city, taken control of a valuable estate and started ordering about the local workers like you own the city. We won’t put up with your kind here!"

"My kind?" Verdan asked, arching an eyebrow questioningly at the increasingly red-faced man.

"A Sorcerer who thinks they are better than us, that you can just take what you want without consequence. Don’t think we’ve not noticed how you’ve poached two previous members of the guard and that you have a Witch working for you!"

Verdan felt Kai stiffen behind him at the mention of Gwen, but the bald man cleared his throat and drew the attention of the room back to him. "Lieutenant Michaels, if you can’t maintain the necessary composure, I will ask you to leave." Michaels sneered at Verdan once more but kept his silence.

"I might not feel as strongly as my colleague, but I am also concerned," Lieutenant Silver said into the silence. "Hobson’s Point has managed well enough without Sorcerer interference. We don’t need a sect moving in and causing chaos."

"You are under a few misapprehensions here," Verdan said slowly, organising in his mind the points he wanted to make. "The first thing to address is that I am not a Sorcerer, nor do I represent a sect. I am a Wizard first and foremost, similar in some regards to a Sorcerer, but very different at the same time."

"A Wizard?" The bald man asked with a touch of curiosity in his tone. "I haven’t heard that term before."

"Lies already. What more proof do you need that he’s working against us, Commander!" Michaels shouted, rising to his feet to point at Verdan.

"Enough!" The Commander snapped, not raising his voice but making it crack with authority as he silenced Michaels. "You are dismissed, Lieutenant."

Michaels opened his mouth to argue but thought better of it and instead stormed out of the room, glaring at Verdan and Kai as he went.

"I apologise for that. Lieutenant Michaels was out of order. Whilst some of his concerns regarding your actions are warranted, there is no need for that kind of display," the bald man said with a frown as he glanced at the door that Michaels had stormed out through.

"I look forward to proving him wrong; I have only the best intentions for Hobson’s Point," Verdan said, keeping his anger at the way Michaels had spoken to him firmly quashed.

"I certainly hope so. As you may have gathered, I am Commander Griffon, the overall leader of the city guard here. Lieutenants Michaels and Silver are my right and left hands, respectively. Lieutenant Michaels commands the eastern approach while Lieutenant Silver watches over the mountain pass."

"I see. Without wanting to cause offence, what about the land outside of the city?" Verdan asked in a neutral tone, not wanting to provoke the other men.

"We send out patrols, but there’s little we can do. Most of the protection falls to adventurers now. The towns and villages hire them to patrol the area or drive off specific beasts." Griffon said with a scowl, clearly unhappy with the situation.

"Is it a question of manpower?" Verdan asked, probing for the reason they were unable to act.

"It’s a question of capability," Silver said, gesturing to Kai as he continued. "My men are well-trained and ready to fight, but they are at a severe disadvantage. Sorcerers like your friend here can meet the creatures on their own terms, but if we tried that, the casualties would be severe."

“Is that why the logging camp to the north was left abandoned?”

“One reason, yes, though we were considering an expedition alongside some adventurers to resolve that. I believe you’ve taken care of it, however?” Griffon explained, arching a brow in Verdan’s direction.

“To an extent, yes,” Verdan said, launching into a quick summary of the issues they’d encountered, leaving out the Fwyn as much as he could and focusing on the Darjee side of things.

“That is concerning,” Griffon said eventually, leaning back in his chair with a thoughtful expression. “I’ve heard of Darjee before, but I’ve never encountered them myself. What are your thoughts, Lieutenant?”

“I believe we should focus on our more immediate concerns,” Silver said after some thought. “The Darjee will be back, but we have time to prepare. For now, the other, more local concerns are the priority, in my opinion. Particularly the most recent situation.”

“What situation is that?” Verdan asked.

"There’s an elemental bear harassing a nearby village," Griffon said, gesturing to the east. "We’ve put out a request for someone to kill it, but so far, nothing. This particular variant has a layer of rock armour, so mundane weaponry is poorly suited to it. Magical weapons are rare this far north, so we’re stuck waiting until someone with the right means decides to help." Griffon explained, giving Verdan a meaningful look that made it clear what he wanted.

Verdan sat in thought for a few moments as he considered the implications of what Commander Griffon had said. Verdan had assumed that the guard would have some form of magical countermeasure to monsters, but it seemed that instead, they just threw bodies at the problem. Such a hideous waste of life.

Still, with no Sorcerers, no Witches and apparently no clerics or templars, Verdan could see how Griffon would have few options. He did mention magical weapons, and that they were rare, so some knowledge of enchantment might have survived, which was good. Still, enchanters were rare and hard to work with during the height of the empire, never mind now.

Thankfully, Verdan had some options to help them with, both in the short and long-term. He’d need to look into an alchemical solution as well, but that could wait for when he had his equipment.

"I may be able to assist with this," Verdan said, breaking his silence as he considered the options he had. While he did want to help, he didn’t want to intervene directly; that would only lead to the kind of dependency that none of them wanted.

"Excellent, I will organise a squad to lead you out to the village.." Commander Griffon started to say before pausing as Verdan raised a hand and shook his head.

"Actually, I have something else in mind. How familiar are you with temporary enchantments?" Verdan asked, pausing to take in the blank expressions on their faces before continuing. "A temporary enchantment is one that replicates what an enchanter can achieve with sigils, but through an Aether construct. The effect will last until the construct has run out of power, which will happen when the enchantment is triggered as well as passively over time. Does that make sense?"

"Not all of it, but I think I understood parts of that," Griffon said, his eyes narrowing in thought. "What you’re saying is you could temporarily enchant the weapons of some of my guards?"

"Equipment in general, to be specific. Weapons are the most common for temporary enhancements, however. I will need to work on the process and methodology, but the concept is doable." Verdan explained, part of his mind drifting back to when he used to do this for the guardsmen he worked with. Not even the imperium could afford enchanted weapons for all its defenders, so Wizards like Verdan helped where they could.

"That would change everything," Lieutenant Silver said, eyes wide as he looked over at his commander.

"Yes, it would," Griffon muttered, looking down for a few seconds before nodding to himself and looking at Verdan once more. "We would need to see an example, first of all. If you can deliver what you’ve promised with this, that would go a long way to proving your good intent."

"I’ll go one step further than that," Verdan said, the talk of the elemental bear preying on his mind. "Give me three types of weapons, preferably two melee and one ranged. I’ll enchant them to better pierce and penetrate, and then you send that squad you mentioned after the bear with those weapons. Kai and Tom will go with the squad as support, allowing you to field test the weapons but ensuring that the problem is dealt with."

"What cost will this carry for us?" Griffon asked with a hint of resignation in his tone. No doubt he thought Verdan was going to fleece him for every coin he had for this. After just explaining how they needed exactly this kind of help, it wasn’t like Griffon could turn down the offer either.

"Initially, nothing," Verdan said, spreading his hands as he spoke. "Consider this a gesture of goodwill on my part. In the future, I will ask for compensation for my expenditure of time and Aether, but I will be reasonable. I will also not spend all my time enchanting for you. I have my own projects to work on."

"That is very generous of you," Griffon said, his brows rising in surprise as he took in what Verdan was offering.

"I’m used to a more cooperative relationship with the guard than what seems to be the norm around here," Verdan said with a slight shrug, not wanting to be celebrated for what he considered the bare essential level of support they deserved.

"I know you’ve said you’re from somewhere far away, but I must admit that I struggle to imagine just how different such a place is if the city guard is supported like this," Griffon said, shaking his head slightly in disbelief. "Just how far did you travel to get here?"

"Too far," Verdan said succinctly, unable to help the sadness that coloured his tone.

"I have a question," Silver said, somewhat hesitantly. "You said that these will only be temporary enchantments. How do we know when they are about to expire?"

"That’s a good point," Verdan said, musing on the issue with interest. Under normal circumstances, a Wizard would be there to watch the Aether levels, but that was obviously not going to work here. It was a relatively simple job to do, but it would require the ability to sense Aether first and foremost.

Two potential ideas occurred to Verdan. The first was showing Kai how to do it, an easy solution. The problem then was that the guard would forever hound Kai to join their patrols. In good conscience, Verdan couldn’t do that to him.

The second idea was more work for Verdan, but in the long run, it might even be better. Just over one in five of the population should be Aether sensitive, according to an old imperium study anyway. Under imperial law, anyone with sensitivity was given the chance to become a Wizard and around half of those sensitives were able to do so.

Those Aether sensitive people should still exist now; they just lacked the support to become anything more. Verdan had no intention of training new Wizards, but some sensitivity training to keep track of enchantment strengths was something else.

"So," Verdan said, speaking slowly as he got his thoughts in order. "Thinking of the people under your command, are there any that are able to sense Sorcerers or their activity?"

The two guard officers exchanged a look and shook their heads, both looking equally confused by Verdan’s apparent tangent.

"Right, let’s go even more fundamental than that. Someone give me something you can carry in one hand," Verdan said, holding a hand out as he mulled over spell constructs and words of power.

"Here, will this work?" Lieutenant Silver asked, offering a short dagger hilt-first to Verdan.

"Yes, perfect," Verdan said, taking the dagger and laying it on top of the table. He remembered some vague notes on sensitivity training tools; this would be a bastardised version of that principle. "Grym liff."

"What was that?" Silver asked, cocking his head to one side in confusion as he stared at the dagger on the table.

"I’ve created a weak flow of Aether within the dagger, not enough to achieve anything, but enough to be felt. Here, hold the dagger. Good. Now, focus on the hilt in your hand, extend your sense of touch outside of your skin, and feel the ebb and flow of magic throughout the blade. Do you feel it?" Verdan instructed, watching with interest as Silver followed his instructions.

"No, nothing," Silver said after a few moments. Commander Griffon tried as well, to a similar outcome.

"No matter. Take that dagger and give your people the same test I gave you. If they do feel it, send them my way with the weapons, they will be your means of detecting if they need charging."

"Fascinating," Griffon muttered, turning the dagger over in his hand as he eyed it with a mix of suspicion and fascination.

"Please send over the equipment and soldiers tomorrow. I can’t promise they will be ready by the end of the day, but I can start work with all due haste," Verdan instructed. It felt good to be of service again, though part of him was tempted to go out there and kill that bear himself.

"Very well. Thank you for your time, Wizard Verdan. You’ve given us much to think about," Griffon said, rising to his feet with a slight smile.

"Excellent. You know where I live if you have any questions," Verdan said, taking the dismissal for what it was and rising to his feet as well. That wasn’t how he’d expected this meeting to go, but it was probably better overall.