Fable - Ask Unshattering the Eye

[Minerva]

At the same time as Rak she too launched herself forwards. Charging from a differing direction, aiming to throw the creature off. Yet, she too, found herself thrown backwards by an unseen force.

Once, then twice, then held in place just as her half-orc companion had been.

"Any ideas?"

Madeleine's voice was calm, collected, as her teeth gritted and boots dug into the cobbled flooring of the monastery. She refused to tear her vision away from the creature that floated and screamed at them, no matter how unnerving the fuckin' thing was.

She knew that soon the visage would go in for a killing blow. Or worse, try to condemn them to some awful plane of existence that only the dead and the damned had laid eyes upon. They needed to avoid such a terrible fate at all costs.

"Tisha." The wisened elf said in a flat tone. "Leave them be. Please, darling, I know you don't want this."

In her head Minerva realized that this was foolish. There was simply no way whatever this thing was resembled his lost loved one in any way other than a minor physical resemblance. Whatever it was was changed, different, and extremely angry.

To her surprise though the figure swiveled her head entirely, looking back at the mage that had caused all of this and bellowing, "Wedezīhi ‘alemi inimelesaleni!"

 

[Rak]

"Not...as...of..." Rak spoke with a serious amount of strain to his voice, making it obvious that even as he hung suspended within the air he was fighting with all his strength against whatever held him. Every muscle in his body pushed, stretched. A fruitless and pointless attempt at breaking free of the invsible wall. "Yet..."

He finished, desperately trying to move when he finally noticed the creature had turned away.

It's bleak eyes flickered not towards the two Summoners, but instead the very man who had brought it into existence. That odd language rang out once more, and the wizard looked in confusion at what had once been his wife. Not understanding any more than Rak or Minerva.

"My love, I don't understa-" Before he would finish the words were shouted again.

"Wedezīhi ‘alemi inimelesaleni!" ​

They boomed this time. Thundering through the hall with such strength that Rak felt his very bones shake. A pit of despair forming in his stomach as he watched the power of those words suddenly take hold.

The Wizard looked at his wife and as she spoke, as her words thundered within the Monastary, the man exploded.

No other words would have suited it. Rak couldn't have put it into any other words. The wizard came apart in slow motion, skin peeling from muscle, muscle pulling from bone, bone ripped from marrow. In an instant, the man who had wrought all of this was gone.

Torn into his component parts and nothing more.

 

[Minerva]

Minerva struggled for a time until she surrendered to the fact that the thing holding them in place was insubstantial. No physical movement from her would break the grip that strangled her armor to the flooring. She'd need to try something else entirely.

Her train of thought ended though as the violence in the room took on a new tone.

A voice so loud it split her ears, a shaking of stone so rough she believed the tower was about to collapse, and then the cherry on top. The elven mage they were tracking down become a bloody mist of viscera. Whatever this thing that resembled his wife was had come back with a vengeance and clearly wanted to take it out upon the man who had interrupted her rest.

Or at least, that was how Minerva was interpreting it.

"Rak," she said quietly, "I don't want to be exploded."

Her fingers tightened around the hilt of her blade, her other hand rushing towards curved throwing daggers magically affixed at her armors hip. If she couldn't move she'd start chucking whatever implements she could at the ghastly spectre that still floated high in the center of the room.

"Wedezīhi ‘alemi inimelesaleni... wedezīhi ‘alemi inimelesaleni..."

The voice was different this time. It was soft and sorrowful and only accompanied by minute shifts of the stones within the tower. Up upon the platform Madeleine could see the Shattered Eye covered in gore and bone dust as the force that held the two Summoners in place seemed to relent.

Madeleine tilted her head towards the half-orc and chanced a question. "Is, is it over?"

 

[Rak]

"It'll be okay." Rak answered quickly, almost instantly. A feeling of dread filling his stomach. Not fear, for such things had long ago left him, but dread. It was as though he had seen his own death, and now was simply waiting for it.

Then it really was over.

Minerva's words seemed almost trigger. Both of the Summoners suddenly felt what was holding them simply leave. As if the invisibly force had been taken away.

Rak half stumbled forward, nearly doubling over before he shifted the weight of Sojourn and counterbalanced himself. Taking only a stumbling step forward as he glanced over towards Minerva to make sure that she was alright.

When he saw she was alright, his attention turned back towards the floating woman. A soft smile now sat on her face, and she spoke again.

"Ch’erisewi."​

There was still something wrong about the voice, but this time it did not scream or yell or cry out. It's voice was soft, almost pleading. Rak frowned, and then finally answered Minerva. "No, not yet."

The Half-Orc said as he slowly, patiently began to walk forward.

Scholars would probably have wanted to capture the woman, study her, or at minimum ask question. Figure out what had happened that caused the Wizard's spell to go wrong or how such power had been manifested through the Use of the Eye.

But that wasn't their job.

That wasn't why the Uroghosh existed, it wasn't why he and Minerva were in this tower.

No field appeared this time, nothing to stop his advance. The steady beat of his armored boots striking the marbled floor echoed out. The woman didn't move as Rak brandished Sojourn, moving the blade in front of himself.

Slowly the Half-Orc stepped onto the dais, his massive Zweihander shifting, and then he ran it through the creatures chest. A pulse seemed to run through the blade, and then woman leaned forward. Gently caressing the side of Rak's helmet.

"Sile mech’ereshayē āmeseginalehu."​

She whispered, and then fell into herself. Her body collapsing in on itself, dragging back into the beyond at the point of Rak's blade.

Leaving the two summoner standing in an empty Monastery with a blood stained altar.

 

[Minerva]

And, at last, it was actually over.

Layers of crimson coated the floors, walls, and even segments of Minerva's arcarmor. Rak's armaments were in an even worse shape after he'd cleaved directly into the husk of a woman the elf had brought back to the realm of the living. Madeleine didn't normally have nightmares but she was fairly certain the guttural words spoken would be seared into her subconscious for the remainder of her life.

"I guess we should get the Eye now." Waltzing forward like they'd just conquered the place she stood over the tiny amulet that was currently sat in a pile of innards, stained red from the mage who'd come into its possession's blood. "So much trouble over a little trinket."

Madeleine grabbed ahold of the chainlink that was affixed to the gemstone, its onyx coloring somehow shining through the carnage that covered it. A fresh crack, likely the result of the revival spell, shimmered in the center of the thing. She dangled it outwards, showing off The Shattered Eye to her compatriot.

A forlorn gaze was cast at the slain thing that had come through the portal. "It's actually a bit sad, isn't it?" Though she didn't personally understand the feeling of loss the wizard had felt she could sympathize with him a tad.

"The non-Uroghoshi believe themselves above the laws of reality so they seek out things such as this to bend Arethil to their will," she made a tsking sound between her lips, continuing to shake her head, "I guess all that's left is returning this thing to the vault, eh?"

 

[Rak]

Sojourn slowly lowered to the floor, the heavy tip of the blade resting against the marbled tiles as Rak looked almost mournfully down at the blood scene in front of them.

"Tried to warn him." Rak said, more to himself than Minerva, his head shaking as he took in a deep breath. Fingers touched the small gem in the center of Sojourn's hilt, the odd blade shifting and shorting so that it would fit upon the Half-orc's back.

He rolled his shoulders, as if trying to take out some of the stiffness now plaguing his damaged armor.

"It's all ego, really." Rak contended as he watched Minerva scoop up the little artifact they had come for. "Man learns he can do magic, does all sorts of things that he'd never thought he could before and suddenly thinks there's no limits to what he should do."

Rak shrugged, though his eyes flickered to the gore once more.

Lips thinned, and then he shook his head. "Yeah, let's get the damned thing back."

Which, of course, would probably turn into a whole other affair. More than one mission had turned to utter shit on the journey home. Unfortunately, the Uroghoshi had long ago learned that artifacts such as the Shattered Eye practically attracted bozos like the now dead wizard. "Think the Captain will let us tear down the rest of the tower before we go?"

Rak asked hopefully.

 

[Minerva]

"It's just as the teachings from Lohzab say, unsanctioned magic can poison anyone's mind." She nodded along as Rak spoke, remembering the words passed through oral tradition from the first of the Inheritors until they would eventually be written down in the Age of Chronicles.

Minerva didn't dare to tie the Eye around her own neck, instead choosing to keep the chainlink firmly grasped in one hand until Gunther, the Source who'd accompanied them, could properly store the thing.

To the half-orcs final question she took on a joking tone. "I doubt it, Cap'll probably be in a hurry to get home. Get Genoe's arm looked after."

A smirk shone behind her faceplate as heavy boots stepped near the stairs so that they could properly exit the tower.

"Though I hope I'm wrong."

---

The Captain and the rest of their squad were assembled just outside the tower as the pair emerged, a round of applause ringing off the canyon's walls at the sight of the Shattered Eye and Gunther quickly produced a pouch for Madeleine to deposit the foul artifact inside.

"It was pretty easy," she bragged, while crossing her arms. "Barely broke a sweat."

Captain Laiza had already de-activated her own arcarmor but she wore an impressed grin. "Guess we should level this thing then get on the road, long journey ahead but there's no sense in leaving this place standing."

 

[Rak]

"Ancestors, you are simply the best, Captain." Rak said with a wide grin.

"I keep telling Minerva." He said, the moment now turning far more jovial despite the injury that Genoe had sustained. The summoner would probably get a knew arm, one of those fancy things crafted by the Sources back home. "I don't care what all the others say about you."

He jested. "I think you're great."

Laiza heavily rolled her eyes, and then gestured to the Summoners who were arrayed. A quick flick of her wrist as she offered Rak a very rude gesture.

"Just get on with it, I want to get out of here sooner rather than later." A wide grin spread across the the faces still arrayed behind her, and with quick flashes of arcarmor the Summoners quickly set to work. In an impressive display of just how destructive the armored Uroghoshi could be, the tower was practically ripped apart within an hour.

Destroyed and torn to pieces, left as little more than rubble with an essence of magic still clinging to the stone.

A job so thorough that even a demolitions expert might have been impressed.

After the job was done, and a short rest was had, the group once again set upon the road. No small amount of cheer carrying through the group despite the injury sustained. No one had died today, they got the artifact. That was enough.

Now they just had to get the damned thing home.

 

[Minerva]

Minerva rolled her eyes in unison with Laiza at Rak’s jest but held her tongue, deciding instead to join in on the demolition of the tower they’d just trekked through.

Once it was finished they all took a rest, Gunther recharged a few of their arc stones (with Rak and Madeleine at the top of the queue) and before too long they were all out of their armors and back on the march towards home.

”When we get back to Rytghosh I’m heading straight for Gur’zags tavern.” The walk thus far had been boring. A dull, stony, pathway with nothing but the sound of insects to keep them company.

The least she could do was strike up some sort of conversation. ”Get a big bowl of her stew, maybe a large goblet of laeger, and fit in a few arm wrestling matches.”

Ideally winning some coin off the younger Summoner’s eager to prove themselves while getting horribly drunk before passing out in her cot. Then, do it all over again the next day.

As much as she loved the job, and Minnie truly did, getting a few days “shoreleave” inbetween missions was like having a nice vacation. You had to fit as much fun and debauchery into those days as you could muster because it wouldn’t be long until you were onto the next job.

Sometimes with Captain Laiza, sometimes with a different squad.

She just counted herself lucky that she was normally paired up with reliable Summoner’s like Rak. Earlier in her career you got saddled with greenhorns and newly promoted Captains who made dumb decisions in misguided attempts to prove themselves to the Elders.

”What about you Rak? First thing you’re going to do when you get home?”

A beaming smile of pearly whites accented her question.

 

[Rak]

Rak let out a breath that half turned into a whistle as he pinched his lips in thought. "Gur'Zags sounds pretty nice, not going to lie."

Sitting and having a drink was always nice, especially when you had the opportunity to trick greenhorns into arm-wrestling you for a few bits of coin. Most of the other Summoners knew better than to try him, but the younger fools always wanted to prove themselves stronger.

They never won out in the end.

"But." He said. "Well, Naz has been a little sweet on me..."

A wolf whistle erupted from one of the other Summoners. "Fuck off!"

Rak almost immediately said, half turning to try and see which one of his companions had offered him the offense. When he saw only 'innocent' faces and eyes darting quickly towards the side he glowered slightly.

"That's wonderful, Rak." The Commander offered.

"Thank you, Captain." The Half-Orc began. "I qui-"

Before he could finish Laiza cut him off. "I hear wedding bells already, maybe she'll finally make a real man out of you."

A chorus of laughter ran through the group, and Rak stared at his Commander as though she had slapped him in his face. Before, of course, breaking out into a laugh. Having never expected the woman to bring herself down to the same 'level' as them.

 

[Minerva]

Wow.

Rak and Naz had a fling? Minerva had never been “in the loop” when it came to the gossip of Rytghosh but that was news to her.

She always assumed Rak was one of those love ‘em and leave ‘em kinda men. The revelation didn’t stop her from playing along with the rest of their squad though, whistling and laughing along with the others. Although she found herself taken aback by Laiza’s teasing.

Was a sign that the job really had gone well.

”Marriage definitely suits you Rak. Cookin’ eggs in an apron at dawn.” The image of it was so funny that Madeleine chuckled at her own comment.

Truthfully the news was actually kind of sweet. Naz was a good woman, it was a good match, and it illuminated a side of Rak she didn’t even realize existed.

Plus she was pretty sure his plan was significantly more wholesome than the “arm wrestling and booze drinking bender” she had planned.

With a smirk she decided to shift the teasing, ”next we’re going to learn that Gunther has a miss’s too.”

The Source went beet red before replying. “Well, actually…”

 

[Rak]

"Well, if one of us has to do the cooking it probably is me." Rak said with a loud laugh, accompanied by a few chuckles from his fellows.

Though the orcish ties of the Uroghoshi many species had eventually become intermingled through their little tribe. Each family held distinct cultures and honors, but many were widely interbred with humans, dwarves, and even elves.

Naz? Well, she had the luck to have some troll blood in her. Rare, for obvious reasons, but though she stood no taller than the Captain the woman could easily break Rak's spine if she felt like it. "Doubt Naz will want to throw on the apron."

He said with a chuckle.

The Half-Orc shifted in his saddle, glancing towards the Source as he went beet red.

"Don't tell em, Gunter!" Rak said with a smirk. "The Bastards are just going to use it to-"

Before the could finish, something suddenly caught his eye off to the right. It was a flicker of motion, there for only a brief second, and then suddenly and explosive force tore through the column. In an instant it surged through the group of Uroghoshi, slicing two of the summoners directly in half before either had time to summon their armors.

Then the force bent, and exploded outward. Sending those still alive flying from their feet.

 

[Minerva]

She was able to keep her chuckling contained this time but the image of Naz in an apron almost threw her over the edge.

Feeling the positivity and merriment amongst the Summoner's was one of her favorite parts of going on missions. Though Madeleine wasn't familiar with cultural differences amongst other people she was well-traveled through the nature of their work and she couldn't imagine any joy greater than a team of Inheritors marching back from a successful mission.

But then the joy ended in sudden violence.

Two of their number died immediately and Madeleine found herself flying backwards. She landed hard, in a heap of bodies, before getting herself up. She could already feel the pain emanating from the right-side of her face, it was definitely going to swell.

In a blur of motion she grabbed hold of her arcstone and in seconds magical armor enveloped her body once more. "Captain Laiza!" In the chaos she'd lost sight of their leader. Her head swiveled trying to find the orcish woman while simultaneously trying to assess where the threat had come from.

 

[Rak]

Rak pushed himself up from the ground.

His ears were ringing, and blood was slowly dripping down into his eye. It seemed like his entire body was shaking, but instinct drove him. Fingers latched around the crystal, and the arcarmor surrounded him. Grasping at his arms, legs, and torso.

Surrounding him in an instant as he pushed himself up and off the ground. "Where the hell did that come from?!"

He called out., but as he did so yet another wave of force suddenly tore across the road. It ripped up rock, dirt, and everything else in the way before suddenly cascading out into an explosion. Pebbles pelted against Rak's armor as he shielded himself.

Fingers darting towards Sojourn's hilt as he drew the blade.

"RAK! TO THE LEFT!"​

The warning came, shouted by one of the others just as the massive Zweihander swept free. The blade coming up just in time to meet the sword that had been slicing towards his head.

Confusion flickered over his features as he found himself facing...himself.

A mirror image of his own armor stood across from him, almost exactly the same save for a shift in color which seemed almost directly opposite his own. "What the fu-"

Rak began before the mirror image shifted their blade and swiped at his legs.

 

[Minerva]

There wasn’t really any time to think.

They were under attack by something powerful, something deadly. Minerva heard the shout and caught sight of the figure that went to attack Rak.

Whoever their assailant was they looked oddly similar to Rak himself. The armor was shaped identically. Was it possible that someone had stolen an arcstone? Duplicated it’s magic and-

”Rak!” No time to think. She charged forward, blade and shield in hand, rushing to aid her fellow summoner. ”I’m coming!”

Something crashed into her side just as she shouted the announcement that she was on her way.

Madeleine raised her chin, leveling her shield upwards, only to discover another figure standing before her. This strange attacker had slammed her own shield into her and it possessed a carbon copy of her cobalt blue arcarmor.

With the notable exception that it was a crimson red.

Blades clashed as the mirror echoed her movements. The type of feints and flourishes she typically employed failed or were used against her. There wasn’t time to think about whether this was possible or not, she simply had to keep parrying and striking to stay alive.

 

[Rak]

Rak cursed as he heard Minerva call over to him, his attention still entirely on the strange duplicate in front of him.

The two of them clashed against one another with stunning swiftness. Both of their arcarmors flaring as their massive blades sparked again and again. Every strike batted away, every feint quickly countered. It was as though the man in the armor knew every move the Half-Orc would make. Reading him perfectly and moving to land almost the same blow.

Frustration bloomed within his chest, his fingers tightening on his blade as a rage began to build. "What…the hell…"

He shouted, twisting Sojourn in his hand as he shifted the blade and brought it slamming down overhead. The mimics blade snapping up, and a thunderous sound of steel crashing against steel ringing out. Both of the men's armors and bodies shaking as the collective force reverberated through them.

"Are you…" Rak growled as he pushed down, desperately trying to bring the duplicate to his knees. The thing looked at him, it's helmet slowly tilting to the side as if attempting to understand.

All around them more of the odd copies darted from the forest. Moving with the impeccable swiftness of Summoners. Rushing and engaging their equals just as they had Rak and Minerva. Each one fought with silence, and through the chaos went another figure unseen.

Shrouded in the barest cloak of magic, it stalked not towards the summoners. Not towards any of the fights, but Gunther who still laid on the ground.

 

[Minerva]

Sweat was starting to build upon Minerva's brow. She'd already gotten past the confusion and now she was simply angry.

This thing before her would die, just as every other foe she'd faced had before it. Only it was taking far longer than she would've normally expected. Instead of dying it kept matching every action she made, every twist of her blade or parry of her shield. Nothing she attempted seemed to work to break the thing's defenses.

And, even when she acted randomly and unpredictably, the mirror somehow knew what the randomness would be.

"I'm going to," she huffed through deep inhales of oxygen, "break you into," an exhale of frustration, "a million pieces!"

Despite her threats the thing before her stood very much whole and after several more collisions of her blade with it's shield (and vice versa) a new image caught her eye. Gunther seemed to move upwards, as if his pouch was lifting him off the ground, though from where she stood the Source still seemed unconscious.

"Gunther!" She cried out in desperation while blocking another blow from her counter self. "Something's got Gunther!"

And then, in a moment of clarity, the reality of what was happening dawned upon her. It wasn't grabbing for Gunther, it was grabbing for, "the Eye!"

 

[Rak]

It was already too late.

Rak couldn't do anything, none of the Summoners could do anything. The figure darted through the crowd of armored men and women perfectly. Weaving through the fight as the satchel wrapped around Gunther's form dragged through the air.

"FUCK!" Rak called, but the mirror image slashed his blade forward. The moment of distraction causing the sword to smash into his side, cutting into his arcarmor and leaving a gash within the metal.

The blow half turned him, eyes landing on the figure just as he reached the back.

A red face pulled out from beneath a heavy black cloak, two horns rising from her forehead. She beamed with a wide grin as her fingers slipped into the satchel, looking at the summoners for just a brief moment before the Shattered Eye fell into her palm. "Perfect."

She said with a wide smirk, and then suddenly reality seemed to bend around her form.

Rak didn't know how to else to put it. The air itself shifted, blurred, and then within a single heartbeat she was gone.

The Half-Orc cursed, shifting his stance and rebounding his sword. It arced through the air, his twin flickering his blade upward. This time though, the mimic of Sojourn didn't stop it's pair, and instead Rak's blade went shattering through the other sword and through the figure. The duplicate exploding into a thousand tiny slivers of mirrored glass.

 

[Minerva]

Minerva’s saber went clean through the mirror image, causing the clone of herself to dissipate into a wisp of magic and cease to be. ”Fucking tieflings,” a low groan came as she dismissed her own arcarmor and rushed towards the growing crowd of Summoners.

“It’s alright Gunnie, you’re going to be alright,” Laiza was saying while holding one of his hands and looking down on him with a concerned look.

Gunther just shook his head in disappointment, he was paler than she’d ever seen him before. “I’m done,” a wheeze interrupted his words, “she-bitch got me in the wrong spot.”

A single look at the ground beside the Source they’d accompanied would’ve confirmed his theory. Saturated with blood that continued to rush from the gash in his side, the strike had pierced something internal.

“Sack.” A finger pointed towards the discarded sack. “G-get the Eye back. Put it in that null sack.”

”No, you’ll be the one to put it in there. We need you Gunther, we need to gather some herbs, bandage the wound.” The redhaired Summoner had joined the group now and heard that their scrawnier companion was already trying to throw in the towel.

Captain Laiza caught Madeleine’s gaze and simply shook her head. “A warrior’s death.” The tone was somber yet cheery, it brought a smile to Gunther’s face.

“Always figured I’d die in the libraries, from a heart attack or something,” Gunther coughed up a bit of blood. The blade must’ve pierced a lung, she’d only seen it once before and it was certain death without a mage nearby to heal.

Minerva forced herself to keep a brave face. ”We’re going to avenge you and we’re going to find that Eye.”

 

[Rak]

Rak let out a frustrated roar as the last of the glass shards tumbled to the ground with a loud echoing clatter.

The Half-Orc turned to let loose his rage on something else, but the moment he shifted he caught sight of the carnage within their ranks. The anger he felt disappeared in an instant, and his stomach dropped. Sojourn shifting to half land in the ground.

More than half their number lay dead, and a few more injuries saw to the fact that only three Summoners total remained standing at all. Rak, Minerva, and then the Captain herself was all that were at fit and fighting form. One of the injured Summoners whispered something in Rak's ear, but he simply nodded his head and pushed passed the others to Gunther.

He frowned as he approached, hearing Minerva make an oath for them all.

For a moment Rak lingered, squatting down besides Gunther.

Seconds passed as he tried to find the right words to say. His lips thinning as he looked down at the armorer. After a few more moments he simply reached out, gently grasping the man's shoulder in a silent prayer for his loss.

Then, he shifted, standing and turning towards the others.

"Captain, Idris recognized the Tiefling's marks." Rak said quietly, frowning and tapping his fingers on his armor. "Blightlands, he said."

Rak frowned as he passed the message.

 

[Minerva]

Laiza nodded along as Rak spoke, releasing the Gunther's hand as it fell into a deadened slump. "We need to get back to Rytghosh."

Her words were solemn as she looked over the scores of bodies that were mangled or slain.

For a group of Summoner's to see casualties of this magnitude was a rare thing and Laiza's initial plan made good, logical, sense. The Sources back home might have information about the kind of magic they faced, the elder's council might know more about the tiefling's marks that Idris recognized, both groups might've been able to connect the dots of how that all related to the Blightlands.

It was a sound plan.

"No!" Minerva was on her feet and staring at the captain. "I can't just go back. We have to recover the Eye."

"Minnie," Laiza started until the cool green of her brow went from furrowed to smooth, "what do you hope to do?"

Madeleine swallowed and spoke as sternly as she ever had in her life. The jovial nature she normally exhibited seemingly vanished. "Give me one week. Let me see if I can recover it. If I'm at a dead end I'll report home, probably end up back a day or two after you anyway."

Laiza's pace would be slow with all the injuries, they'd have to make frequent stops.

 

[Rak]

Rak wanted to curse when the Commander ordered them all back to Rytghosh. It was the right call, there was no denying that militarily. It was rare that this many of them were killed, especially so quickly. News of this would doubtlessly cause waves, maybe even enough to call for a crusade.

It was the right call, but it felt wrong.

For the half-orc it felt like they were abandoning the mission. Like they were walking away with their tails tucked between their legs. He had to bite his tongue to keep from objecting, silencing himself and remembering what his father had told him about following orders.

Then Minerva blurted out, and in the moment he could have kissed her.

Elation rose in his chest. Pure joy at the fact that he could step up, that he didn't have to disobey his commanding officer. Or at least had a better way of doing so. "I'll go with her Captain."

Rak said quickly.

"Minerva can't go alone and...this doesn't feel right." He added, trying to urge Laiza. "Least we can do is follow the trail, see what we can find."

Everyone else could head back, gather themselves. As long as Rak and Minerva made some progress at least this wouldn't feel like a complete kick in the nuts.

After a few moments of silence, Laiza finally nodded her fine. "Fine."

The Captain agreed carefully.

"But you move carefully, no extra shit." There was a pause, then she added almost desperately. "Don't get yourselves killed."

 

[Minerva]

Without any more words needing to be spoken the two of them broke into a march away from the carnage they had survived and into the wilderness in pursuit of their prey.

They kept a brisk pace, staying silent at first as Laiza gathered up the wounded and prepared to head home.

It wasn't until they were far out of sight that Madeleine bothered to speak up. "Any plans for when we find this witch?" They didn't know who she served, if anyone, but what they knew for a fact was that her magic was seemingly a real threat to the Summoners.

And unlike the mage they'd just slain in the tower she seemed to have real arcane talent and possessed the Eye now.

"I hate that I'm saying this but," she let out an exasperated sigh while shaking her head, "we might have to try something underhanded."

The Uroghoshi way involved brute force, tackling a problem head on. They weren't accustomed to subterfuge or sneaking around but in this instance she saw no other path forward. Facing this tiefling, if they even found her, in a direct confrontation could end with Minerva and Rak dead upon the ground.

Getting the jump on her and killing her before she knew she was found out? That might actually work if they managed to pull it off.

 

[Rak]

Rak's family had always been traditionalists. They held to many of their orcish roots far more steadfastly than many more 'modern' Uroghoshi did. Some called them fools for it, but it had never been discouraged. Each was allowed their own way.

It was the very weight of those traditions that weighed on the half-orc in the moment.

Men and women whom he'd loved, his brothers and sisters had been slaughtered. Taken from him without ever seeing true battle. Caught off guard by a foe who cared nothing for honor. It made him angry, his stomach roiling with rage even as Minerva began to ask him about what they should do.

His head snapped towards her when she suggested something underhanded.

Lips thinned, and he was almost about to rebuke her when suddenly he realized that she was right.

They had next to no information on the Tiefling that had ambushed them. The magic she'd used had been extremely deadly, and now on top of all that she had the Eye. Neither he nor Minvera knew what she could do with it. Nor what the consequences would be.

His teeth snapped together, jaw tightening. "I guess."

Rak grunted, clearly not happy with the idea.

"I have this still." He offered, reaching to the small of his back and pulling a small Wayfinder from his pocket. The thing appeared to be a small compass, though with dozens of more tiny gears in the middle of it as well as several gems. "Should still be attuned to the Eye."

At least that meant they wouldn't be wandering blind.

 

[Minerva]

"Hm," she mused while staring at the Wayfinder.

Rak didn't need to say anything else for her to guess at his opinion on trying something roguish. He'd been from a hardy stock of orcs who honored the old ways, almost to a fault. But the Uroghoshi had emerged from people like Rak's family and there was something honorable about following the old ways so stringently.

No one could doubt or question that Rak had earned his spot the hard way. The old way.

"Guess we could use it to track her. But when we find her?" If only they still had a crossbow. Sure, it wasn't the most distinguished way to kill someone but firing a bolt into someone's chest was more honorable than trying to sneak up on them.

Minerva grunted in frustration as the pair was practically sprinting to ensure their prey didn't get too far in front of them. "Let's just find her and then we'll wing it, I guess."

Or, maybe, "unless you want to try sneaking up on her when we get closer?" The Wayfinder would help them in that regard, at least. But even she wasn't sold on the idea of trying to sneak up on the tiefling and stab her in the back. To go truly undetected they wouldn't be able to summon their armor which could pose an even bigger threat after what they'd seen the mage do.

And that was to say nothing about how despicable the gesture would be.