Rising Kite - A story from the world of HWFWM

“So, having a little trouble are we? It’s not just every day I have four of the big shots of Havenpeak to come knocking at my door,” Solomon Blaske, leader of the Doomstrike Mercenaries said as he leaned back in his chair, regarding the four silver-rankers arrayed before him. They were in the private meeting room of a suite in one of Havenpeak’s more prominent ‘boarding houses’ - the name a failed attempt at dignifying the combined hotel and brothel that it was in actuality - and said room had been cleared out well ahead of the arrival of some of the local crime barons.

Blaske was a whip-thin human man with a wide, toothy smile and black, curly hair falling in perfect locks. Much of his lean body was showing as he sat lounging in a woman’s silk bathrobe still half open, clearly indicating what kind of activities he had chosen to interrupt to entertain his potential employers. While the man had every inch of the beautifying effects of silver rank and probably had been quite a looker even before, there was still something about his whole look and demeanor which always sent shivers down Micola’s spine as she stood facing the seated man next to three other leaders of Havenpeak. That the aura of the silver-ranker exuded boundless hunger didn’t help his case.

“We are grateful that you could meet us in such short order,” Ambrose spoke from beside Micola, as usual being the best of all of them at changing his tune according to where the wind was blowing.

“The nice little fireworks outside gave just a little hint. Not that I didn’t appreciate the show,” Blaske replied, the grin never leaving his face.

“As you of course already must know, then, is that trouble has found us. And as you, someone quite adept at dealing with trouble just happened to be in town, we thought to offer you the opportunity to help us deal with the said trouble,” Ambrose confirmed.

“Ah, but you see, both me and my friends are between contracts right now. I promised them some proper time to unwind and relax. And they’ve been having the time of their life, too. You really got a good thing going here. So you see, we’re not really available. Even now, I’m leaving a most delectable lady waiting for me. As a gentleman, I’m sure you can see how it hurts, too.”

All of Blaske’s rather flippant words stood at stark odds with the plumes of smoke and fire still raging off in the distance outside the window, the attack over but the fires still not fully under control. Micola wanted to march over and slap the mercenary senseless, but kept the impulse under wraps. Or at least, she thought she did.

“Oh, do come over. I don’t mind you getting a bit rough,” Blaske said while wagging his eyebrows.

“Damn aura,” Micola swore inwardly. She always meant to get better at aura control, she truly did. But there was so much to do, and only so much time each day. Which had led to this freak picking her emotions out as if they were written on her face.

It seemed that Ambrose was about to speak again, trying to pretend that the little exchange had never happened, when another of those present stepped in.

“Quit dancing around the subject, Blaske,” Ludvilla Stahltz said, the older elven woman carrying herself with the same no-nonsense attitude as she always did. “How much?”

“How much?” Blaske asked innocently while not moving a muscle to leave the chair. “As I said, we’re not available-”

“How much, Blaske? We want you and all four of your teams. We want the ashes of this problem thrown out into the sea. As long as you keep the civilian casualties to a minimum, you can guide our people too if you need.” Ludvilla pressed on, her eyes boring into the man.

“Oh, such intensity. I like you. Maybe older women is a thing I could get into,” Blaske said, eyeing the elf who in turn stoically just ignored him. “I would consider having you all ask really nicely, but that dominant streak has just become so boring lately. So I’m trying out new, exciting things. So… as you’re all here… Sure, why not?”

“Why, thank you master Blaske,” Ambrose began, going into full boot-licking mode. “We knew that you were a-”

“Quadruple the rate, of course. Short notice, accelerated deployment, vague info, highest tier danger-pay - because who are we kidding? You wouldn’t be here unless some serious people were playing around on your little island - compensation for any bruised feelings due to said short notice-” Blaske added, ticking off each of the ‘reasons’ on his fingers. “-oh, and a set of essences. At least one corrupt - Don’t deny it, I already know that you have them - and a whip essence. The third one can be whatever, but make it something sexy. That lady inside really seems to know her business, so I have decided to offer her to come with me when we leave. But the downside with this whole silver-rank is that she can barely scratch me even when I beg for it, so I figured some essences and cores will solve the problem in the long run.”

Micola could feel both herself and her colleagues stiffen at the request. They already knew that the cost would be a steep one, but this… Had it not been for that record-breaking shipment still being gathered, stored and prepared for shipping, the mere cost of this would have set the whole island’s operations back a substantial amount.

Apparently sensing their reticence, Solomon Blaske smile widened again. “Need some time to think about it? Fine by me. I have an appointment to get back to anyway. Maybe I’ll even get some more fireworks to brighten my day while you ponder,” he said, rising from the chair without any care of protecting his modesty as the silken robe hung open. “Any of you ladies want to join? Or, any of you, really? A guy shouldn’t be too picky in the company of other silvers. No? Alright,” Blaske said, waving over his shoulder as he sauntered back towards the bedroom part of his suite.

The four barons and baronesses looked at each other, all coming to the same conclusion and all hating having to do so. But none of their people had seen even so much as an afterimage of their assailants. They needed professionals of a different caliber.

“The rate is… accepted,” Ludvilla said, her seniority leading to her once more taking the lead. “Half as an advance and half after the task is completed.”

Blaske stopped in his tracks, turning his head slowly to grin back at the four. “Essences as part of the advance though. Non-negotiable.”

“That can be arranged within the hour.”

“Then it seems like breaktime is over,” Blaske said happily, before going the rest of the way to the bedroom door. He opened it and called inside;

“I’m terribly sorry, mistress, but work caught up to me. Get yourself nice and comfy while me and the rest go out and deal with some… obstacles. I’ve even arranged for some nice things to be sent up to you while I’m gone, and then we’ll pick up where we left off later. The gifts? Oh, they might not look like much, but I promise you; they’ll rock your world almost as hard as me.”

Closing the door, and his robe, Solomon Blaske turned back to the others. “Then if you’ll excuse me, dear employers, I believe that me and the teams have some of your trash to take out. But I’ll have to ask you to be a bit patient. If it’s adventurers, you have to do this just right. Trust me, I’ve done it before.”

With a slight surge of mana and a burst of air, Emilio appeared among the rest of the team. It only took the elf a split second to notice the chitinous monsters trying, and failing due to multiple barriers and conjured earth walls, to get a proper charge in amongst the team and utilize their spiked carapaces to their full extent. He brought out his pair of resonating force wands and fired a few blasts to drive one of the monsters back, but as Kite, Amica, Christine and Gray Sky seemed to have things well in hand, Emilio instead turned to Ryker.

“Did you find them?” the team leader asked, not taking his eyes from the conflict ahead.

“I did. Their situation is much the same as ours; little to no stealth meant that they also chose to go through rather than turn back.”

“How far?”

“They entered from the other side of the island, but the caves are leading them inwards and around just like us. Their team leader, Maralee, suggested that we try and meet up to push ahead together.”

“With things as they are, we should focus on speed and getting up there, so I agree. Odds are that the stealth teams have already set things in motion, but we can’t leave them without support for longer than necessary. Did you leave a mark on them?”

“What do you take me for? An amateur?” Emilio scoffed in return.

“Then you’ll be our line of communication and direction,” Ryker said, ignoring the elf’s comment. “Move as you need to, and check in if any side seems to be stopping for too long.”

“Understood. At this rate, we’ll hopefully reach the surface soon, Fortune be willing.”

“Fortune be willing,” Ryker agreed.

“You’re sure?” Jane said as she looked up from the map with Lefoux, the rest of the stealth team perched on nearby rooftops to keep a lookout.

“As sure as I can be. Sniffed out hints of dimensional magic from that building-,” the elf said, pointing at the location circled on the map, “-but only small glimpses. Must be some faulty or shoddy defensive formation that leaks every now and then. Missed it the first couple of passes, so I stopped and checked. But it’s irregular and seemingly random, so the odds of a trap feels negligible.”

“If they even know what we’re after. Last I overheard, they are speculating about which of their rivals are behind it,” Jane agreed. “Then we move in on it now. Even a team like ours will be found out sooner or later if we just run around and blow random things up, and if we can take out - or even better, sabotage and turn - the spatial anchors, we get a lot more options if they turn out to be needed.”

A moment later, illusory hideout removed and gear stowed, one of the two stealth teams were on their way. Jane hoped that their distractions had been enough to both buy some time for the tunneling supports to arrive, and for the other infiltrators to locate the shipment that was their reason for being here.

When approached with the information of that much restricted magical contraband being moved, several of the rulers of nearby city states and countries had all agreed to offer Gauntlet the contract in the utmost secrecy so as to not warn the smugglers of Havenpeak of the danger that was about to crash down upon them.

A few minutes later, the team was perched on a nearby rooftop while looking down on a seemingly ordinary townhouse, constructed up against the wall of the old fort like many of the added buildings. Jane was warping the light around them all, allowing them to see one another properly as they planned.

“That is it,” Lefoux confirmed. “Get any readings?”

“Not yet… Are- Wait, yes, a clear spike in dimensional magic,” Chia, another of their party members added, the leonid woman checking an intricate artifact slate through a series of conjured magical lenses which appeared and disappeared in front of her eyes.

“No apparent guards. Either they are inside or have been lured away by the little gifts we spread out in our wake,” Jane added. “Expect magical defenses at least though. There is a reason for the flickering signal, no doubt.”

As they spoke, Jane’s words were confirmed as a pair of silver-ranked thugs came scrambling out of the building, setting off towards the pillars of smoke in the distance.

“You know the plan. Move.”

The team landed softly, not even the dust at the road shifting in their wake. Chia took the lead, phasing through the door while the rest of the team remained hidden by Jane’s powers. A moment later, the door slid open and the three remaining silver-rankers were inside within three heartbeats. They quickly stopped however, as the leonid held up her hand while sweeping her gaze across the room.

“This should be the place. The arrays here are way beyond the norm we’ve seen so far,” Chia said, lenses flickering.

To Jane, the room was just an ordinary living room, even though there was a slight tingle to the air one would barely notice. Her magical perception barely noted anything other than the magical infrastructure common in the decently high magic of the region, but any concealing formations would be pretty bad if the magical perception available to almost all silvers and above could pick out.

“Can you handle them?” Lefoux asked, getting only an eyeroll in return from the leonid as she began her work.

Beyond decent stealth capabilities, Chia’s power set, featuring the resonating confluence, had plenty of options to circumvent or dismantle magical defenses, making her a sought-after member for many contracts within Gauntlet. At that very moment, she was showing off why her reputation was well-earned, as it only took her half a minute of observations before she threw out a series of gleaming motes of shuddering, vibrating light that latched onto seemingly random spots in the room.

“Synchronize and be as one,” the leonid intoned. For a moment, Jane saw parts of the previously hidden arrays flash before her magical perception before seemingly freezing and crumbling like a pane of glass hit at just the right angle.

“That back door does not lead to the bathroom,” Chia noted dryly, indicating a nondescript door marked for that very purpose.

Jane had already reached that conclusion as she too had seen how much of the array that had been centered around it, and the team wasted no further time. Beyond the seemingly ordinary wood was a utilitarian stone tunnel leading down into the mountain below. From the feeling which emanated throughout the whole area, like a weight upon their bodies and souls simultaneously, the group had found their target; the dimensional net.

It was a common type of array used for many purposes across the world. While there were many different types, they all boiled down to restricting long-range dimensional travel, such as teleportation and portals, in an area. Some would redirect such travel to specific platforms while others might restrict them entirely, or only allow them for people bearing a certain enchanted badge or token.

In the case of Havenpeak, it was the latter; without the right kind of identification, you could only teleport to and from the well-fortified floating harbor built at the base of the cliffs. The mission of the stealth teams was to identify and disrupt magical infrastructure such as this, and finding it within hours meant that Fortune had smiled upon them.

“The two of you stay here and keep watch. I’ll guard Chia’s back while she deals with the thing,” Jane said, following the leonid down through the stone tunnel while their other teammates hid themselves to keep watch. Chia even made sure to leave the arrays of the entry room in a state of partial activity, which could fool many observers at a glance if they just made a casual check.

After walking down a winding set of stone stairs, it became obvious that they had indeed found their target. The dimensional net was in fact a set of revolving, floating rings covered in magical sigils, with each ring rotating according to its own patterns. Looking at the device and the distortions it created in the space around it made Jane a bit dizzy, but Chia didn’t seem to care as she immediately went to work with a nearby control panel.

Meanwhile, Jane swept the room, looking for anything out of the ordinary. It was unlikely that she would notice anything more than the leonid expert would, at least not along the lines of magical traps.

As she neared completion of her little lap around the walls of the square, nondescript room, Jane was just about to declare it as empty when a small detail registered as off in her periphery; a miniscule seam in the otherwise flat walls. She had missed it while passing, the angle hiding it even from her perception, but now she could see it for what it was; an oddity that, while subtle, had a distinctly different quality from the rest of the stone wall. Which usually meant…

“Chia! Stone-shaped walls. Get back!” Jane called even as she had already conjured a stark white javelin in one hand and thrown it towards the odd wall. A vortex of wind enveloped the head of the weapon, allowing it to drill into the wall with ease. Apparently, the projectile broke something inside, because Jane could suddenly feel hints of other silver-ranked auras inside, retracted as if to hide, probably behind some kind of formation.

“Chia, move! It’s a tr-” Jane called again to the leonid still standing by the control panel to the dimensional net, completely unmoving. “Wait, unmoving?” Jane thought, mind finally registering the details; the leonid stood almost completely still, only twitching slightly. The second where Jane took it all in felt like a moment frozen forever as her silver-ranked mind worked overtime to take it all in; her teammate’s immobility and the miniscule sparks coursing up from the control panel and through Chia’s body, which she could only belatedly notice in her magical perception. The distress blooming in the leonid’s aura, proving the stunning effect to be a most recent development. And the wall where she had seen the flaw in the stone-shaping buckling inward towards the room before breaking apart in a spray of debris.

But said debris soon seemed to freeze and reverse, shards and chunks of stone reversing their course before being sucked into a steadily growing sphere of absolute darkness held above the palm of a man in shining silver armor, the dark locks of his hair flapping towards the pull of whatever void his essence power seemed to be creating. One side of his face was torn and bloodied, probably due to Jane’s javelin from before and the vortex of cutting wind which must have erupted within the hollow space behind the fake wall.

“Ouch! What’s wrong with you lady? Attacking poor innocent walls like that?” the man said with a wide grin. “Typical adventurers, uncaring of collateral damage. Do you know how much my time costs? I think I’ll have to take out a bit of a bonus to speed things along. After all, I’m always hungry for new experiences. Get it? Hungry? Hunger essence?” he monologued as he took a dramatic step out from his hideout.

Jane, of course, had a teammate to extract and a retreat to plan, and would gladly let the fool talk. She sent another trio of javelins flying towards him while using another wind spell to launch the paralyzed Chia back toward her. But another figure emerged from the hiding spot, a conjured stone greatshield on each arm which she used to block the projectiles while the smiling man reached out with his other hand and snatched Chia before she could move more than a meter.

Jane could see that the stunning effect of whatever trap had been on the console was wearing off. Too late.

“You know, silver-rankers are actually quite nutritious. Great for the skin and all that. I think this one will speed things along quite nicely.” Then, to Jane’s growing horror, he threw the spasming Chia to the ground, planted a foot on her chest and pushed the void hovering over his hand straight down towards her head. A barrier activated in defense, but the man merely snorted, his mana surging as the orb in his hand released a burst of disruptive force. Then another. And then another.

On the third one, the barrier shattered. Chia had just started to interpose her shaking hands when the dark void of the orb met her face. Blood started splattering everywhere but was almost immediately drawn into the singularity, its destructive hunger working its way through the leonid’s head centimeter by centimeter before her flailing arms and chaotically discharging powers finally stopped.

Jane had done her best, sending what projectiles she could towards the smiling maniac while he broke through the barrier, but to no avail. The shield bearer blocked all her attempts, and as she saw the stone around the opening start to shift, ready to seal off the chamber and leave her alone with a pair of hostile silver-rankers, Jane had to make the hard call most professional adventurers had to some time during their career.

Gritting her teeth in frustration, she sent out a fusillade of projectiles towards the pair before her wings of swirling wind manifested to carry her out. The smiling man was still busy taking his time to let his dark void devour Chia’s whole body, the orb growing in intensity each second, but the shield bearer charged forward to pin Jane down. The stone-shaping sped up, but Jane at least had an ace up her sleeve.

“Unite with the gentle breeze.”

Sylphian Reprieve was a rather common power of the wind essence shared by many adventurers across the world. It let Jane dissolve into an intangible wind, speeding her up greatly while making her all but immune to damage. She flowed through the small, rapidly closing hole where the opening to the corridor above used to be, flashing up the stairs in a blink only to be met by Lefoux and her remaining teammate diving into whatever cover that was available.

Sensing the many auras outside the building, Jane held onto her windy form for just a bit longer. This turned out to be the correct choice as one of the walls of the decoy building outside was turned into burning splinters from a potent explosion of fire and force. While her teammates were seared by the outer blast, Jane’s form only rippled as she took in the people arranged outside, six silver-rankers where two of them didn’t have a trace of cores in their auras, supported by a dozen bronze-rankers. While most seemed to be thugs and other more undisciplined scum, the coreless ones were definitely a league above, with the most obvious one being the man clad in conjured armor of flames who was winding up another steadily growing flail of pure destruction.

“Just stay right there, if you please,” came a dignified voice from within the closed, smoldering helmet. “Got to sober up and make sure that my aim is on point this time.”

“Chia?” Lefoux asked from where he hid, now fully turned into his wolf-hybrid form.

“Dead. Ambush,” Jane answered as Sylphian Reprieve wore off and she materialized next to him.

“I have a distraction to give us a chance to get through. Two of them are the real problem, though.”

“We have to try. Two more below.”

“Understood. Howl of the Great Moon Pack!”

Lefoux’s chant was supported by their last member Derrik using his own illusions, and the pair of potent spells soon caused the scene to turn even more chaotic. A vivid, round full moon materialized above the carnage, spreading its pale light outward to blind and dazzle their foes, only to be followed by pale, spectral wolves appearing from every shadow cast by its luminescence. While they weren’t true summons, only lasting a few seconds, their appearance was still enough to send most of the less disciplined thugs flinching back while directing attacks towards their assailants.

Meanwhile, illusory copies of the three remaining team-members, complete with as many ripples in the air or similar hints of people moving while concealed by a stealth powers, started swarming out of the ruined building, further adding to the confusion as some attacks while most just fled for alleyways or rooftops.

The two coreless silvers didn’t flinch though, the man in the flaming armor just letting the emerging wolf sear itself on his flaming armor as he instead immediately stopped charging up his flail and discharged what power he had gathered towards the ruined building while simultaneously chanting a spell.

“A line drawn, the inferno beckons.”

Walls of flames shot up all around the building even as the fulminating ball of force and flames was thrown toward its midst. What was left of the building was utterly annihilated, as was anything inside as the flame walls left no room to escape.

“I sense no life within,” the other coreless silver-ranker, a red-haired elf man with half his scalp shaved and instead covered in elaborate tattoos, said as he floated down from the sky to hover beside the man in the flaming armor.

“Adventurers sent here are probably both tricky and resourceful,” the armored man retorted, eyes scanning the crowds of distracted thugs where the bronze-rankers had to band together so as to not be seriously injured or even killed by the short-lived conjurations. “Strike down the illusions and prepare a search. We-” he began, but suddenly turned and flung the ball of his flaming mace towards a nearby alley.

The bronze-rankers who had been there while ‘fighting’ against the summoned wolves immediately dropped the act and shot out of sight with speed far eclipsing whatever they had been acting as.

Jane could feel the heat behind her as flames billowed out into the alleyway, the power of Derrik’s illusion still covering her. The illusions combined with that switch-teleport of his had been the straw they had grasped to give them a chance at escape, and Fortune seemed to have favored them. Her own cloaking power fell across them a moment later as the three remaining members of the first stealth team fled. Their first priority would be to go to ground, recover and assess whatever shift had occurred to have such an ambush be sprung upon them.

“And we have to be alert for when the tunnelers appear. Because this seems to have turned into something which we really do not want them to just stumble into without warning,” she thought bitterly as the trio swerved into another of the small gaps between the houses of Havenpeak. As things stood right now, the name seemed even more ironic. Jane did not think that they would find any kind of haven there in the hours to come.

“So, found yourself an appetizer?” Franz asked as he noted the size and voracity of Solomon Blaske’s void sphere when their illustrious leader returned. Franz still wore his flaming armor, but was otherwise remaining at ease while he let the locals whip their own people into shape.

“I did. Quite tasty. She will last me a while,” Blaske responded with his usual smile even as he mentally felt the power stored in his orb now.

“The other three have at least one illusionist. Maybe more, given the numbers,” Franz added, gesturing to the chaos. “Landon is attempting to track them, but from their escape, they are quite the skulkers.”

“Elusive little treats, huh?” Blaske said thoughtfully. “At least we have enough people to properly start to corner them. We just have to be patient and methodical, as always. Have the other teams coordinate with Landon and the locals. This island is large enough for it to be unlikely that whatever contracts these adventurers are under is unlikely to be just the one group.”

“Of course. This isn’t my first little sortie, Blaske.” Franz said haughtily.

“Feels like a long time ago since we were in their shoes now, doesn’t it. But you have to admit that being on this side of things is way more fun. Or stimulating, as you would say,” Blaske said, as he turned towards the city, just imagining the little adventurers scurrying to find somewhere to hole up and regroup. “We’d better get to it, Franz. Send out the teams in pursuit. Got to earn our keep after all, so I can go back to my most charming company.”

“Ryker, we’re through!” Christine called from up ahead.

Kite didn’t need to turn his head from the chittering bear-bug he was currently fending off at the rear of the group to see what she was indicating; a stone wall, definitely man-made, which sealed off part of the cavern ahead and above them. Using his staff to pin the monster in place while the arms of his mantle finished it with twin stabs trailing the darkness of Void-Sunders-Firmament, Kite gave the tunnels behind the group a final scan before hurrying up to join the rest where they were gathering.

“What are the defenses?” Ryker asked Christine and Mtanga where the pair was setting up a quick ritual to make most formations become visible in greater detail. The ones down there weren’t that hidden though, and even Kite’s magical perception could make out a decent amount of details.

“Can’t be sure yet, but I think our guess paid off. Seems to be mostly concealing and repelling ones to keep the monsters away and disinterested,” Mtanga answered.

“Good enough. Emilio, bring the other teams over here. As we’re later than expected, better to emerge together.”

The blonde elf disappeared promptly, leaving the rest to look on in silence as Christine and Mtanga did their work.

“Teacher, what do you think we’ll find up there?” Kite took the opportunity to ask as he stepped up next to Ryker.

“Hopefully, a calm and unaware city of smugglers who are in for a really bad time,” Ryker said, looking up at the ceiling as if he wanted to look through it. “The members of any stealth team sent by Gauntlet are good at being discreet, but they’ll definitely have plenty of distractions and the like planned or even performed by now. The more they can tell us of the layout and the more disarray they can give us, the better.”

“And… if things haven't gone according to plan?” Kite asked, trying to imagine the settlement above. If it was one thing that he had learned from his five months with the task group so far, it was that plans had a habit of becoming more like vague guidelines when their foes were people.

“Then we’ll act according to the contingencies and use our judgment. Evaluate which goals, if any, are still achievable and take it from there. Or retreat. But as I said, we can hope that it won’t be necessary.”

“May Warrior bolster our resolve, then,” Kite said, his chest tightening slightly as he tried to imagine what the next few hours would look like. “And may Fortune bless us so that everything has gone as we hope.”