Loremaster of the Amaranthine lands

No one seemed to have touched the stashes that were previously left behind, so they could continue on without worries. As they reached the large gate of the inner town, they saw movement on top of the walls.

“Halt!” Someone called out to them from the top of the walls. “Who goes there?”

“It’s just us,” Khan yelled over to the soldier. “The job is done. Would you guys open this damn gate now?”

A good minute of awkward silence later the gate finally opened up with slow and creaky moves. On the other side of it, the guardsmen they met in the morning awaited them.

“Did you lot really close the outer gate?”

“You can head over there to check it if you want.” Fabien shrugged as the group walked forward without even waiting for their answer.

“I guess it wasn’t only Hyord that doubted us.” Cruz grumbled.

“I’m pretty sure anyone here would doubt us if we told them we killed of a small army of undead in a matter of hours, only to close a big ass gate guarded by high ranked fallen.” Valerie let out a strained chuckle.

“We’re only here for Letty and to tell the captain about the gate,” Quentin noted. “The opinion of the people is not our concern.”

“You say that now,” Regis sighed. “But it’s exactly the people that can crowd together to chase us with pitchforks and torches if need be. “

“Oh come on,” Khan harrumphed. “We retook the gate, five of us tiered up and we even got a shitload of loot. What else do you guys want?”

“Now that you mention it,” Valerie looked at the youth. “I could also use a hot bath as well.”

“Was that an invitation?” The bladedancer asked cheekily.

“In your dreams short stack,” she rolled her eyes. “Try to flex your charms to one of the local refugees or whores. Maybe someone amongst them would be willing.”

“Ouch.” Khan grabbed at his chest after hearing the answer.

“You kind of asked for it,” Quentin laughed as he patted his friend on the back heartily as the group neared the centre of the inner town. “I thought you already gave up on courting Valerie back in Hunor, but it seems you still have some spark in you.” Quentin patted his friend on the back heartily has the group neared the centre of the inner town.

“I was just teasing her,” the bladedancer immediately retorted. “It’s not fair that she’s the only one to mess around with others. She deserves a bit of teasing like everyone else.”

“Perhaps,” Osmond rolled his eyes as he heard Khan’s words. “But she has a metallic whip and she knows how to use it.”

“Point taken.” The Mongolian scratched his head as they reached their destination.

The place was crowded with temporary shelters and desperate people. Everyone noticed the incoming warband, wary and distrustful gazes greeting them.

“It’s nice to see that nothing changed while we were away.” Cruz scoffed.

“What would have changed in just a few hours?” Osmond asked from her.

“Nothing from the looks of it.”

Their short banter was overshadowed by the heavy and strange atmosphere of the refugees around them. As bustling and noisy the market square of the inner town was, everything became eerily quiet as they walked to the other gate where the captain was supposed to this stationed. The stifling silence got shattered by someone’s angry yelling.

“What’s with the commotion?” Regis asked as he thought to have recognised Hyord’s voice in the yelling.

As if pushed on by the ominous feeling, they hurried to reach the origin of the yelling, the crowd thickening in front of them into an angry mob.

“Isn’t that the elder and Hyord?” Osmond asked has he noticed the familiar faces in the small clearing left by the crowd.

The captain and the elder were in the middle of an argument, their adversaries all too familiar for the outlanders.

“It’s Zareef,” Amanda’s voice turned heavy. “Those mercenaries are up to something from the looks of it.”

“Out of the way,” Khan spoke up loudly. “Armed warriors coming through!”

The angry crowd snapped out of it for a moment, opening up a path to the warband. When they got close enough, they could finally hear what the actual argument was about. The elder from the previous day stood there with the guard captain and a few people from Hunor, standing up to some of the local guards, mercenaries and robed figures that were likely the leftover clergymen.

“Have some sense old man,” Zareef said. “The outlanders are nothing but trouble. They almost destroyed the Landwaker tree before and you actually allowed one of them near it again?”

“This time it’s different,” Jonah spoke with a firm tone. “The lass spent the past hours communing with the tree and healing it. Thanks to her, it is almost back to the way as it was before.”

“And what did her help cost us, huh? These mongrels can’t do anything but cause harm. Do you really believe that she was healing the tree? Maybe she just made it look like that while she was poisoning it. The next thing we know, people will start dying after eating the fruits the tree bears.”

“You can’t just turn a magical tree poisonous,” Letty spoke up from behind the captain’s back. “All I did was mend the damage that was caused to it by the frost.”

“Frost,” Hyord looked at the girl with his eyebrows raised. “Wasn’t the Landwaker tree burned?”

“No,” Letty shook her head. “It was harmed by a powerful frost spell. If strong enough, even frost magic can leave burn marks of its own. They’re hard to distinguish on the surface, but the deeper damage to the tree made it clear.”

“This makes no sense,” elder Jonah mumbled as the rest of the outlanders finally got close enough. “The outlanders had no frost mage amongst them. Even I know that frost magic is a rare discipline. The only one I met other than one of Qadir’s apprentices was Zareef.”

“Are you trying to accuse me old man after everything I’ve done for your people?”

“What’s going on here?” Cruz asked while stepping beside her sister.

“They,” the young wood elf girl looked at the mercenaries. “They wanted elder Jonah to hand me and Mary over. They keep saying that I was harming the Landwaker tree, but I wasn’t.”

“She’s a druid you assholes,” the tomboy turned towards the mercenaries. “We left her here so she could help heal your tree so that the people wouldn’t starve!”

“And you expect us to believe your lies?” Someone from the crowd yelled.

“The Landwaker is a sacred gift of the old gods,” one of the priests said as the mob nodded. “It is the life source of many in the town. We cannot risk it getting further harmed!”

“See,” Zareef opened his arms wide. “The people know it just as much as we do.”

“Do they also know that your archer tried to assassinate us while went out there to close the outer north-eastern gate?” Regis asked as he stepped closer, his left palm facing backwards so that his opponents wouldn’t notice the thin arcana threads that silently weaved themselves into a spell.

“The dark elf’s lying,” the archer raised his voice. “That’s what they always do. I was atop the walls the whole…”

“Enough!” Quentin roared as he slammed his fist into his shield.

The moment his fist struck down, the shield let out a wave of warm gold light that showered everyone in a fifteen meter radius.

“That’s,” the priest from before muttered as he and his fellow clergymen lowered themselves into a half-kneeling stance. “We greet you, Paladin of Saintess Elora!”

His words were repeated by his fellows, the crowd being stunned by the sudden light that filled the air in front of them.

“What,” Zareef and his men stumbled back for a moment. “That’s impossible. There’s no way that the Saintess would allow an outlander…”

“The sacred light of Saintess Elora is unmistakeable,” the priest spoke aloud. “Nor can it be counterfeited. He bears her blessing, outlander or not.”

“You,” Quentin pointed at the mercenary archer. “Why did you try to assassinate my friends at Scholar’s Square?”

“I didn’t…” the archer tried to speak, but he quickly reached up to his throat as black fumes left his mouth.

“No lies shall be spoken in the domain of the Saintess’ servant.” Another priest spoke as they saw the black smoke being exhaled by the mercenary.

“I ask again,” Quentin’s voice turned more commanding. “Why did you try to assassinate my friends at Scholar’s Square?”

“I…” the archer tried to hold himself back, but his tongue twisted against his will. “I attacked the dark elf because he was the leading spellcaster of your group, so he had to be dealt with first.”

“Why did you want to deal with us?” The paladin’s second question resounded louder than the murmurs of the crowd.

“Because…” the man struggled, but couldn’t move anywhere, as if unseen shackles held him tight. “It was because Zareef ordered me to take care of you, so that you wouldn’t ruin things!”

As soon as the mercenary admitted this, he fell to his knees, coughing blood on the cobblestones. The people were stunned by the sudden turn of events, along with the outlanders. Quentin turned towards Zareef, the light slowly dimming around them, but still holding on for the moment.

“You,” he pointed at the spellcaster. “Why did you want to want to get rid of us?”

“You…” the mercenary leader growled as he tried to back out of the area affected by the divine light, but his body froze up just like the archer’s before.

“Why did you want to want to get rid of us?” The question was repeated, the light further dimming.

“I… I had to get rid of you bastards before you’d cut into our profit and ruin everything!” Zareef answered through gritted teeth as the final gleams of the divine light faded.

“You bastard!” Cruz cursed at the spellcaster as the crowd murmured in the back, trying to make sense of what was happening here.

“Figures you mercenaries would only care about the money.” Valerie let out a disgusted sigh.

A strangely heavy and awkward air took hold of the square. The priests and most of the local guards that previously stood beside Zareef’s mercenaries now distanced themselves, making it clear that they no longer wanted to be related to them. Regis looked the spellcaster in the eye with his own purple eyes glowing as their golden edges burned with an otherworldly light.

“You almost got me killed for doing your fucking job for free?” He asked as Quentin put his hand on the dark elf’s shoulder.

“We came here on our own accord, not asking for a single coin in return for risking our lives to help the people of East Fork. We even managed to close the north-eastern gate as captain Hyord asked us to do!”

“That’s…” The mercenary stuttered with his eyes darting between the local guard captain and the outlanders while the crowd became ever louder in their chatter.

Barely a moment later, Regis had to blink several times in surprise as golden words flared up in front of his eyes.

{Your act of answering East Fork’s call for aid in closing the town’s outer gate did not go unnoticed. Your deed has been recorded and you have received 500 renown points. You have received 500 reputation points.}

{Renown necessary towards caste elevation: 1828}

{You have gained a total of 500 reputation with the river town of East Fork and thus your standing was elevated from unknown to known.}

‘I guess that’s one mission successfully completed.’ The dark elf thought as he watched Zareef’s face change through several different shades of colours.

“You mongrels ruined everything!” The spellcaster screamed with a voice that hardly even resembled a human’s. He raised his staff as the air shimmered while he began to quickly chant a set of arcane words.

Before the man could even get halfway through his hasty incantation, a large flame arrow struck him, shattering the ice shield that sprung up out of nowhere to protect his life. As the flame arrow shattered the icy shield, a small part of it managed to get through, pelting the man’s face with a bright, if greatly weakened burst of fire. A moment later the retreating mercenary froze in place. Regis sprung forward at the same moment he let loose the greater runic fire arrow he’d been holding back during Quentin’s interrogation.

Everyone watched in horror as his bladestaff’s tip pierced trough the man’s right shoulder. The spell weaver aimed for the man’s dominant hand in hopes of disarming him for further interrogation. The certain victory however immediately got overshadowed as strange markings appeared around the terrified Zareef’s neck, his eyes turning blood red before popping out of his skull. His body immediately frosted over as giant needles of ice burst out from the dead spell caster, forcing Regis to jump back with several frozen needles still sticking out from the gaps of his arm guard.

“What the fuck, man?” Khan burst out cursing. “The dude turned into a friggin ice porcupine!”“Regis!” The dark elf’s companions called out to him, worried by the blood that was dripping from his injured hand.

The spell weaver however was preoccupied by the new set of golden letters that flared to life in front of his sight as a burst of glowing Amaranth mist left the corpse, darting toward him.

{Your act of vanquishing a hidden demonic collaborator did not go unnoticed. Your deed has been recorded and you have received 750 renown points.}

{Renown necessary towards caste elevation: 1078}

{Your show of force was witnessed by the people. You have become ‘Feared’ in the town of East Fork.}

'Well, shit.' He blinked as he stared at the strange message.