Chapter 77: Reports of Bad Tidings

Noah, the mage that had short black hair and a strong chin with a scar above his right green eye, was good few miles from the Coalitions capital in a large square stone building of dull grey brickwork. The building was three stories tall and 250 yards long with a width of five houses. The logistics of securing such a large building was difficult but a wide wall and three smaller compounds around the perimeter provided ample safekeeping for the building where the most sensitive matters of national security were discussed.

He waited in the plain hall with a fine wood floor, stone walls and ceiling as he stood in a line of other military officers and personages outside the dark oak door that sectioned off Marvin's office. He was put there to give another firsthand report on activities before the appearance of this new orc weapon when that report came in.

For no other report was worth mentioning on that wretched day.

A letter boy rushed past the line of men and women waiting to see to their various tasks that demanded the overseer of the military's attention. A few men scowled at the young teen rudely barging past and the man within was of a similar mind.

"Boy. You better have-" Marvin's voice sounded beyond the now open door.

"Priority one, sir!" The letter boy squeaked, his voice cracking midway.

The sound of ruffling paper and a moment of dread silence followed as everyone in the hall stood perfectly still.

"Get-" Marvin's voice strained for a moment. " Everyone. Get everyone in here NOW!" Marvin's secretary promptly ran out of the room with the boy. The people in the hallway could do nothing but wait as none wanted to be the idiot that drew Marvin's attention at this time.

Eventually, a general came past in fine green clothes with an embroidered sword at his hip. Then another. Finally, the third came by, an older man with long grey hair and wide brown eyes.

"Sir. What's the status?" One of the men in line asked.

"Go rest. That's your status." The general responded in a heated tone.

Another objection came from the crowd.

"Sir, this report I have to-"

"Does it have priority one?" The general asked in a tight voice.

"No, sir" The feminine voice said from somewhere behind.

"Then it doesn't matter. Dismissed, All of you." He said, looking over the crowd looking for any sign of defiance. There was none and the crowd promptly dispersed.

As afternoon fell, Noah was in the mess hall when the news broke out. He was sitting on a long bench eating a sandwich and sipping a mug of water when an interesting tidbit was heard across the table that made his head shoot up.

"Fort? What about a fort?" He asked the rough man with black lambchops and leathery, tan skin who was sitting across from him as his blue jacket lay open with the white shirt beneath exposed.

"Apparently that failed experiment got crushed. No one knows how but word is more of those tracks were seen around the sight." The man said in a low tone. Information concerning the orcs was not kept a secret unless it involved troop movements or any other facet of military operations so the 'tracks' and the thing leaving them behind were an open item of discussion for all. To do otherwise would violate a precedent laid down ages past where the containment of the orcs was a concern to all nations.

The men around the table went pale at the gossip and started chittering amongst themselves. Noah sat still and continued his meal in contemplative silence. The rest of the day passed with him twiddling his thumbs and practicing archery since Freya was called to provide magical counseling almost all night long.

The night spent doing his duty with a woman provided by the Front had done nothing to quell Noah's quivering stomach, for even in the middle of a military compound a male mage was still expected to sire more mages for 'humanity and country'. Although the phrase that the locals used had oddly been changed to 'for humanity'.

After breakfast, Noah spent a good while doing more pointless martial practice but around late afternoon, a messenger got him and said Freya was ready to meet. Freya's office was on the floor below Marvin's with the hall and office door being the same set up but the dead silence when he came in was far too out of place. The room reflected the rough and tough lifestyle of the rangers, with a bookcase to the left and a simple wooden desk in the back center. In it sat Freya, with her head down in her arms. Her hood was pulled back and her black hair with bits of grey lay freely about her head. To her right lay a piece of paper with the marking of an official report.

As Noah walked up to her, she jerked out of her stupor.

"Ah, Noah." She told him in a voice laden with exhaustion.

"What's the problem ma'am?" Noah asked. Freya's blue eyes sparkled for a moment as alight smile crept across her face.

"Pff. You must have some understanding of how bad things are for you to be calling me ma'am." She said in a kidding manner. "You know, we maybe the lower end of the magical world. Oh, don't fret. You lot are like my own children and I care for each and every one of you, but the facts are the facts." She chided, having picked up on the slight frown the tugged at the corners of Noah's mouth before continuing.

"But I thought… I thought just being a mage counted for something. That it meant we were a people above the peasantry. Farmers sons and whores spawn could die in ditches by the hundreds but we… we would die from only the grandest of battles that would inspire bard's tales and tavern rumors wherever we visited. A fanciful notion but one I thought worth indulging. But, this… this new thing from the orcs. I think maybe some higher power brought it here to drive mages into the mud and teach us all humility."

Noah just raised an eyebrow.

Freya took the report to her right. She looked it over like it was her own death certificate before giving a light cough.

"I got a report from a special delivery bird. Several hours after the hole in the dirt was reduced to a real hole in the dirt, the bandits who were stationed at the mine got wind of what was happening and abandoned their posts. The morning after, one of the local mage commanders took it upon herself to send her and her squad to try and hold the fort down or scout the area, it's not clear which. What is clear is the fourteen mages that set out are all dead. Not just dead. The scout said they were cut and pulverized like a starving bear ripping into a cow. That is what all those endless hours of training, gold, and sweat got them."

Noah just stood there, dumbstruck. Fry used the moment of silence to push forward.

"Marvin has called upon all of our resources to deal with this. Troops are being pulled from the frontlines with the birds and all the idle posts in every camp we have, accounts are being set up to pay for the expenses in acquiring barrels of fire starters and sustainers, and even the magic associations are now putting in considerable numbers of mages."

Noah raised an eyebrow at that.

"They are? I thought they fancied themselves above such concerns." He said skeptically.

"Bah, they were reluctant at first. But Marvin handed the heads of every mage guild, association, and fraternity a signed copy of all of these events. Along with each package, a letter summarizing his estimation that we will lose this war in a matter of weeks if things continue as they are. 'Help us deal with this new problem' is quite a different proposition from 'help us or we will lose this fight'.

We mock the Rodring kingdom for its failure to contain the orcs, but the mages can all see that we are now on the losing end of our fight with that scourge. National pride may not be an issue for most of them but letting the orcs officially win a war is not a humiliation they intend to suffer along with our mainland cousins. I received word that they will be supplying dozens of mages for the upcoming fight."

"We can finally put this mess down. Great." He said with an air of relief.

Freya raised an eyebrow at his enthusiasm.

"Noah, we may be on the lower end of the magical world but it's not that dramatic of a difference. This will not be the end of our war." She finished, seemingly getting older by the vowel.

Noah struggled for a moment as he started up his spirit connection before finally getting it out towards Freya.

'What order do you-'

'None. Now is not the time to be taking up room on supply caravans to deliver a few papers to the Viper base.' She responded.

'I don't know why you insist on having all of the orders from Marvin copied, signed, and stored so far away.' He responded in a miffed tone.

'Kid, you've got skill and that's what got you this far. Politics, however, is a skill you and everyone else needs to master once you get too important. We all stretch the rules, but Marvin is high enough that he could throw me under the bus at any time. Having these copied orders helps ensure that if we ever run into legal trouble, Marvin will have to work us both through it rather than let me take the sword to the gut.'

Noah nodded then audibly said "If that's all ma'am, I will return to doing nothing in the Academy town"

"One item. You and John. I know he wanted to strangle you after finding out you went behind his back with the bandit raid. How are things between you now?" She asked with her hands holding up her head.

Noah actually smiled back. "We're friends again. He wouldn't even look in my direction for day's afterwards but that seems to have passed now that all of our life's work is dying right before our very eyes.

"Good, a nice little story for these dark times. Suffice it to say, Marvin no longer has time for a in person review of your reports. You are officially dismissed and can return to your post." She said with a nod before returning to the report. He responded by promptly turning around and leaving.

After a few hours, Noah was travelling towards midpoint base in a caravan with the other troops, as he typically didn't like to needlessly spend money for a private carriage, even if the money wasn't his. The base was right in the middle of the Coalition where the main highway met the southern lands and was the last stop until the carriages got to the line of forts leading a road to the hell of the swamps. Pushing aside the canvas right next to his seat, the mage looked out to see the rest of the carriages pulling in behind him.

Things were quiet now, an unusual thing for a military brigade but the storm over the Coalition was currently being felt by everyone, from the bottom foot soldier to Marvin himself to even other nations if the rumors from embassy row were to be believed.

Pulling back to lean into his seat, Noah briefly looked around at the faces in the carriage. Some talked in hushed voices to their travelling companions while others just stared down like they were looking at their own corpses. Their faces were bad, at least as bad when the first report about the current status of the southern region was getting put together for an official release.

Noah already knew about it and had time to adjust, but it was a fresh wound for most.

The night came and the military patrol had to stop for the night and set up camp. The local soldiers were quite appreciative when Noah made a few quick and dirty crafts to turn the cold night air mildly warmer for the men, praise Noah took in his typical quiet stride. A military man since his earliest days, certain habits and attitudes were hard to cast aside no matter how high he had come in the world.

Clogged roads were a constant on the highways leading to and from the coast even on the best of days as huge shipments of grains, livestock, and vegetables made their way towards the central continent. That regular traffic combined with increased security and troop deployments meant that it took three days to get to the midpoint base instead of the regular two even with the military priority they were given at certain checkpoints. If it was bad on the roads, coming into the Hub proper was a nightmare. The compound was a wide series of tall bunkhouses and a central fort with warehouses sprinkled throughout the minitaure city. A city that held to higher standards than most since even in the mid-day sun the smell of sewage was absent.

Noah got out of the carriage with a wave towards his former travelling companions before making his way to the other side of the base. Along the way he came upon a big crowd of soldiers with their belongings laying about the front of one of the bunkhouses. His curiosity demanding an answer, Noah walked up to one of the soldiers idly smoking a cigar as the grizzled veteran sat on a large trunk amongst the pile of other goods.

"I would have thought the officers could have juggled the new troops well enough. Bad paperwork or did a rat infestation drive you out of your bunk house?" Noah asked idly.

"The officers can do a lot but when a whole fort bites it, there is only so many places you can store troops." The soldier responded in a rough voice.

Noah raised an eyebrow.

"They're still trying to find room for the people from the underground base?" He asked, perplexed at the failure in bureaucracy.

The greying eyebrows of them soldier perked up as his brown eyes looked at Noah with pity.

"Damn kid. You don't know, do you?" The veteran said in a quite voice. "The mid-way fort got its wall cooked last night. Whole place had to be abandoned."

Noah lost the color in his face as he stood there for a second before asking the first and most important question.

"Was it that orc weapon or monster?" he asked.

"Near as we can tell, it was an accident. One of the pillars supporting the wall had its surroundings dug out when it was made but never got filled back in since they used it to store supplies to finish the fort and it never lost that purpose. Then when the carriages of supplies to burn the forest came, we had nowhere else to put it and well… I'm sure you can imagine the rest of it." The grizzled veteran leaned back slightly and took another deep puff on his cigar.

Noah just respectfully nodded and turned around. Something felt off about those events. The commander of the fort was a man named Cren, a good acquaintance of Noah's who was a strict by the book man. Having an accident like that under his command stretched believability. On the other hand, a few caravans of flammable materials needing to be stored with little to no forewarning would test even the most solid leadership and mistakes were not incomprehensible in such circumstances.

Coming up to the grey stone box that was the fort, Noah came through the front gate after presenting his credentials to the door guard.

Walking past the yard in between the wall and the fort proper, he came through the tall double doors of iron banded wood that served as the main entrance and out onto the open space of the first floor. It was in a state of pandemonium as secretaries and officers jostled about to get to their various destinations. The floor was hard oak and the walls were grey brickwork with a dual set of stairs on the opposite side leading up to the three other floors above, with doors to rooms on the left wall and the wide entrance to the canteen on the right. Making his way up the stairs to the top floor, He came out of the staircase onto the wide hall leading left or right.

The shouts coming from the right at the end of the hall drew his gaze. Two guards stood ready with swords in hand at the entrance of a closed dark oak double door.

"It doesn't matter! You can't just put aside-"

"It doesn't matter?! How can you-"

This back and forth of yelling and aggrievement went on behind the two guards but Noah tuned it out.

What drew Noah's eye was the small girl on a bench to the left. She clutched a blue blanket and her green eyes were red from crying.

Noah walked up to the little girl and kneeled before her. The little girl's button nose and freckles with brown hair seemed somewhat familiar to Noah. Then it occurred to him that she matched the description of the fort commander's daughter, but military families shouldn't be anywhere near here.

He took a moment to spin up a ring of fire that shot off sparkles as he sent it three feet into the air, making the little girl giggle and her eyes light up in wonder.

"You a mage mister?" She asked him.

"I am little lady. You are the fort commander's daughter. Jess, correct?" He asked back.

She got a down cast face at that as she turned to look at her feet.

"Everyone's been yelling at father. I tried to tell pop about the thing, but he was too busy." Jess said.

"How did you get down here?" Noah asked idly, trying to comfort the girl.

She actually seemed a little proud of the story when she started to tell it.

"Dad was going back to run the fort, but I wanted to help. Mom and dad said no so I hid in carriage luggage and ate some of the food they kept there. When we arrived dad was real mad, but then something happened, and he couldn't send me back. Good thing I came though. Else no one would know." She said, looking over at the door in bitter resentment.

Processing her talking about seeing a thing and what she just said made a tingle of excitement run up Noah's spine.

"Jess. What did you see?" Noah asked.

"A big plant thing. It had bones and vines all over its body with bits of grass inside. The head was like a deer but with dark wood all over-" Noah put up a hand as he leaned forward and put a hand on the little girls shoulder.

"All right. Just wait… Start from the very beginning." Noah said. His throat was dry as he struggled to not yell at the girl.

"I was over a hole with metal bars above it that shot out wind when it sucked the air out of the underground place. Some mages came by and made it for daddy a few days before and it was real fun going up into the air with my blanket. But after Boris and Joe put in more of those sticky barrels, the thing stopped. When I opened the door to see what did it… The thing was there. Just standing in front of the door, staring at me.

I ran away to tell dad but before I could get to him, that big fire started, and we all had to leave." She finished.

Noah took in a deep breath and grabbed the girl's hand.

"Well let's go talk to daddy right now." Noah said, which seemed to cheer up the girl as her plain brown dress and shoes flopped as she got off the bench.

Noah walked towards the double doors with the little girl still holding his left hand. The guards moved to intercept him but thought better of it when he conjured a tongue of flame to wiggle in front of him. Opening the door, he came into a wide room with a long bench of three older higher ups on the opposite end, all dressed in fine green cotton and in the middle sat three men. The floor here was a finer, lighter wood and the walls had some curtains of red with the Coalitions symbolic alternating twirl of green and orange in between them.

The three men in the middle were not of a mind to admire such finery. Two of the men, a scrawny man and a heavy-set man with a scar across his left cheek sat behind the man at the center. A grizzled man with brown hair and freckles, the only difference his line tolerated in his daughter was the nose, which for him was a curved thing. However, Cran was getting chewed out by the men at the table right now as he wore a plain white shirt and brown pants.

"Absolute travesty. I had expected better than this." A grey-haired man on the left of the table said.

"With all due respect, sir, we have years of requisition orders asking to fill in the hole and build us a proper warehouse. But any resources we had always went towards the new forts. I was left with no options to safely store the hundreds of barrels of flammable material, a task I was given only a single day to prepare for." Cran responded in an even tone.

"That is beside… Yes, master wizard?" The man with a long grey beard in the middle said as he noticed with a look of annoyance in his green eyes and wrinkled bald forehead. Noah coming out of the door.

Noah walked forward and Cran looked back at him with no expression until he saw Noah bringing his daughter along. A mix of outrage and bewilderment crossed Cran's face as Noah came between him and the table of people who looked like they wanted to flay Cran alive.

"Good sirs, I came by to get information on last night's tragedy but-"The middle man interrupted him with a raised hand.

"I'm sorry to waste your time, but that was an unfortunate accident due to oversights on part of the commander." He said. Cran got a sour face and Jess looked peeved but Noah merely nodded.

"Well sir, it appears I know more about the situation than you do." Noah said dismissively, to which the older men at the table got looks of indignation.

"Cran, have you talked with your daughter since last night?" Noah asked as he turned around to the man in question.

"I haven't had the time. I know it's hard on her but she's tough as nails and-"

"Cran. You really need to talk to your daughter." Noah said with some urgency as he leaned closer to the fort commander, his short black hair hiding nothing of the strained smile or the pulling on the cut above his eye.

The little girl was done being silent as she shuffled forward. Her coming speech was squeaked out as quickly as the little girl could manage.

"I was out using my blanket to fly on the vent when the thing that pushes out the air shut down after the men loading it left." She said with a meaningful look at the two men behind Cran. "When I went to see why it stopped, I saw a big thing made up of vines and bones with a dark deer skull for a head. It was standing behind the door and I ran back to tell you but before I could the thing blew up the barrels." She finished, breathing heavily from her exertion.

Everyone stood still for a moment, totally unmoving. Then an older man on the right of the bench with glasses and a skinny complexion excitedly spoke up.

"Is… is it that thing?" He said breathlessly.

"I would believe so. But we have no way of knowing if it has the plant element or if it's just a disguise." Noah said.

"The door." Cran said absent mindedly. "When we looked over the wreckage for the cause in the few minutes we had, I noticed the door was a solid piece. I thought it was the iron bands melted together, but could that thing have molded it together?" Cran looked to Noah with desperation in his brown eyes.

Noah thought on it for a moment.

"The enchantment that sucked out the air, was it directly in the room or did it have a bend leading up to it?" Noah asked.

Cran nodded.

"It had a bend and the wood they placed it on was behind another grate over a big hole to hold rainwater. Why?" He asked.

"That means it must have the water element to send a spray out, since sand wouldn't reach that far without falling into the hole. Unless it has air." Noah concluded.

"Nah." The skinny general with a over comb of white hair said. "It has the earth element and since two's the limit, it must be a plant type."

Noah shook his head.

"A good assumption given it was in the underground warehouse, but we shouldn't jump to conclusions. Not when so much is riding on us. The door may have well fused together from the melting of the iron bars if the plant mages made it strong enough."

The general raised an eyebrow, but it was the larger one with a full grey beard who spoke up.

"The road to the Viper base had almost been completely shut down. Traps with water blades and earth shells have made the road almost impassable."

Noah just stood there with a fuming smile that seemed more sour than sweet before turning around.

"Guards!" The men by the door snapped to attention at the mage call.

"Take this young girl and get her the finest sweets we have." He said as he led Jess up to the armored men.

"Mah says no sweets." She said in only halfhearted protest as she licked her lips in anticipation.

"Tell your mother a big scary mage said you had to eat the sweets, or he would turn you into a chicken." Noah replied lightheartedly as he pushed her towards the guard.

She giggled as she was led through the door.

Looking back to the table, a secretary was drawing up the report with the three higher ups and Cran, who was now around the table looking over the papers being drawn up.

"What I don't get is how a mass of vines moves around fast enough to hit multiple bases and take out mages like that." Said one of the generals.

Noah thought on that. His time spent in the field was a fast fading memory, but he still remembered enough to get a general idea of how the mages travelled. The monsters being on the ground was the most likely answer but how would such a thing move?

They all pondered over this new information when they finished the report and sent it out on a green and white bird, originally a hawk but fed enough magical resources to become something else; A special delivery animal that was only used for information of the highest level of national concern.

Naturally, a copy of the report was sent to each of the local mage bands who were stationed at the base as well. It was around early afternoon that another report was received. Noah was still in that same room munching on a ham sandwich when a messenger quickly ran in, his black hair flopped with sweat and his brown eyes wild in his thin frame.

"Attack! The roads are under assault!" He said as he ran up to the men assembled at the table. Noah promptly left the table to go outside while the rest of the men started doling out orders and Cran left to get his armor and weapon.

Making his way out of the building, Noah came back out into the open air to see to his left a huge clog of carriages, with some of the drivers running around with a panicked air. A local officer was out trying to restore order as the open road was a mess of carriages and screaming men.

"What is going on here?" Noah shouted over the din of noise, drawing a moment of silence as the crowd shirked back from the mage as he walked up to the officer in charge. The mans brown hair dripped with sweat as he gulped and spat out his report.

"Lord mage, we were getting ready to send out the next detachment of soldiers when the caravan we previously sent came back on foot. I don't have to whole story." He said.

Behind Noah came more footsteps, he turned to see a gaggle of three finely clothed women. Each bore a symbol across her chest, the left a water wave with an icy blue robe, the middle a mountain emblazoned across stout leather armor with metal shoulder guards, and the right a symbol of rushing air painted into a tight white shirt and brown leather jeans, showing off her petite form and red pigtails. All, of course, inlaid with gold and no small number of jewels.

"What is going on?" The brunette in the blue robe demanded, her green eyes drawing severe irritation.

"More importantly, what is a male mage doing out and about?" The earth mage asked, her tan skin and black hair shimmering in the late day sun. Her near black eyes looking at Noah in particular annoyance.

"Exalted mages, I was just getting the reports in-"Another soldier came running up to the officer, whispering in his ear.

"Ah" The officer said as he turned to the mages with fear clearly in his brown eyes. "The caravans that were heading towards the southern bases have had their horses killed, apparently. The drivers reported their heads suffering a wound with a sharp crack in the air. It started with the back ones then worked its way forward until the horses were all killed. The men promptly abandoned their position and ran back here. Although they strangely seem unharmed."

The petite red head scoffed.

"Why would the enemy waste resources on them? Non mages aren't worth shit in this fight." She said casually, the faces of the surrounding men showing little to no emotion at the jab lest they draw the women's ire.

The brunette merely sighed.

"Seems we'll get to see how these vine monstrosities fight. To think I was so close to acquiring a troll liver just a few days ago. I'll get my people moving" She said mournfully.

The officer raised an eyebrow at her.

"The monster that's been walloping the rangers." The brunette replied with a bored huff as she turned to head back to her groups station.

"I'll do the same. Get out of here stud, can't be watching your ass to make sure the orcs don't get in your pants" The earth mage said before turning around with no other words, the petite red head doing the same but sending Noah a lustful gaze before turning back.

Irked at the jabs, Noah returned to the main fort. Coming to the main room, none of the men had left and waited for his return. The tale he had to tell was as grim as any other. Then he got to the part where the mages were going to head out and fight it themselves.

"Is that wise? Fighting so late into the day on the enemy's home turf." The bearded general said with a pale face.

"Doesn't matter now" Noah shrugged. "Those mages don't work with anyone but themselves. I don't think they really even work amongst themselves. Maybe… Hopefully we rangers are just terrible at our job and they win easily."

"We'll send some troops with them." The skinny general with a combover said. "They'll almost certainly die but we need information on this thing, no matter the cost."

The other four men looked dubious at that statement but could offer no reasonable objection. His task at the Hub finished, Noah made his way to the dark oak double doors. But when he opened the door, a woman in a black work dress with green eyes was standing there. She had a grey pair of pants underneath and her hands covered with black gloves. Her face bore faint lines across her pale skin with a mole on her right cheek as her blond hair was put in a bun.

"I know it is hard for you to stay out of the fight, if the penchant for action stated in your profile is anything to go by." She said. "But we all have our duties and as the representative for the Front here I must make sure you see to yours. I have several good, fertile young girls from the kitchen staff picked out or even better yet among the mages there are-"

Noah thought about it as she droned on. As a male mage he should probably vacate the area but leaving so soon after that earth mages reprimand would be construed as obedience, and that was not a precedent he wanted to set. He leaned against the woman and caught her lips. Her green eye went wide for a moment before she returned the kiss.

Sometime later, the sun was now totally down as Noah looked out the fort window of the bedroom he was in. He was sitting on the bed of red blankets and white sheets as the Front woman lay beside him, her breath still having a hard rhythm to it.

"You seemed prepared for that." Noah said to her as he looked over the sweat drenched body of the naked woman. She gave a lazy stretch and turned on her side to admire his body.

"I've heard some talk about how you prefer to just do the Front woman rather than go through the process of finding one for them to offer you." She said coyly as her left hand went to her pummeled sex, wet and sore from a long contest "And I must admit the prospect was not one I could afford to turn down at my age."

Noah nodded and leaned in to kiss her before he left to wash himself with a magical shower head in a designated room in the back and got decent for the trip ahead.

As he came out through the main door of the fort, a commotion came from the left. It was from the same road that had seen the mayhem yesterday, but it now had some of the mages coming down the road as they moved through the trees and into the base proper. Some other mages were coming out of their bunkhouses, designated with a flag embellishing their groups symbols.

Some of the women coming out of the woods had blood on them but most looked fine. Fighting the impulse to find out how the operation went; Noah made his way towards the last carriage making its way out towards the north where he was regularly stationed. This time it took only a night and a day to get to his destination as the roads were mostly clear going in his direction and the slender carriage was made more for speed rather than luxury or cargo size.

It was late in the day when he was dropped off, rubbing his sore bottom as he waved goodbye to the driver. Walking through the academy town with the huge white walls in the distance, he came onto the main hostel he had been staying at with his friend. The large rectangular building was pretty well maintained but was still below the standards he had been used to.

As he came in through the main door, the left side had a lively bar. And in his typical corner, sat Johnson. The dark tan man drank from a mug sullenly in the small table illuminated in the candlelight on the chandelier of the dark room. His grey cloak and leather armor was displayed proudly even as the black hair coming out of the side of the hood showed a sway to his movements.

"Heya, buddy. How's it going?" Noah said as he made his came close to the table, taking his seat across from his friend.

The man looked up with his dark eyes showing clear misery. Johnson's jaw had a scar along the right side that became distorted as he puckered his lips.

"Did you get the latest report?" He asked of Noah.

"Better than, I was there when I got the little girl to give us some details." Noah said with some pride as he flagged down a passing waitress for a mug of beer.

"I heard. But I was talking about the report of the battle with the vine monsters. They sent one out to all the local stations with the academy's and mage associations getting priority one birds." He said, his voice carrying the slightly uneven wobble of ale.

"No. I saw the women who came back, and they seemed fine, a little blood here and there but not that much worse for wear." He said idly as he took the mug from the waitress coming by with an appreciative nod.

John looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Did you see how many went out versus how many came back?" John asked him.

"No." Noah replied as his throat went dry.

"Twenty, and a fair few regular soldiers besides. That's how many we lost.�� John replied before taking another swig of his ale.

"T-Twenty!" Noah demanded breathlessly. Thinking back over what he saw, there couldn't have been more than a dozen returning mages.

John merely nodded sagely.

"Yep. The roads are all booby trapped now with some odd dirt mounds that occasionally spout water blades. When the mages went out, they said they lost a good fifteen people before they even understood what was happening. Those things. They hide way, way up in the trees and have some kind of weapon that kills with a sharp crack of noise. The one with a deer skull was there.

They can move faster than us through the treetops and drop down to kill and main with metal bladed arms. The main squad of mages testified that they saw one take out three mages with its bare hands in an ambush before running off. The second in command says they didn't know just how many they had lost until they all met up to go over a plan" Johnson finished as he stared into his mug with sorrow in his eyes.

Noah took a deep swig of his mug as he tried to comfort his companion.

"Hey, it was a loss, but we at least have some information on this menace. Now that we know what they are and what they can do, we just need to keep our eyes up to get a chance to kill one." He said encouragingly.

Johnson shot him a severe glare but then leaned back and pinched his nose with his right hand.

"I'm not sure how much that matters at this point. Come this Necrosis, we won't have the money or the manpower to push through to regain our territory. Even if, if, we kill those things and hunt them too extinction, it'll be years before we get back to where we were. It will be decades before we fully recover from these losses in troops and money. So much damn money." He said as he took another swig.

The men continued their back and forth. Cursing the mage associations for not getting involved sooner, the orcs, and the world at large with their words becoming increasingly slurred.

"You.*Hyuck* You know the darndest thing" John said as he unsteadily pointed a wobbly finger at Noah.

"N-No" Noah said before giving out a loud burp as his red tinged cheeks were accentuated with the flickering candlelight.

"Maw, that fucker. He sees now that his fort won't *Burp* won't do shit but he still won't give up on getting that boy what killed his brothers and uncle. Tried to explain no one knows where the silver punk is since he ran off, but no, bastards' pride is mixed up in this now and he thinks he can hold out with the mage guilds getting up in there. I hope those vine things get wrapped around his spiteful neck before this is all through." Johnson said with another swig of his ale.

"Ma-Maybe we can fix that." Noah said with another unsteady gulp of liquid confidence.

John raised an eyebrow at that.

"I heard that shit was fucking a goat thing. Saw them together and everyone knows where the goat woman's house is. We *hic* should ask her mother where they scampered off to." Noah said with a squint in his eyes.

John smacked the table and got up with a wobble as he moved.

"Sure as…Shit, we should." He said as he stumbled to get out of the room.

Noah's vision spun for a moment as he got up to follow his friend. Going out of the tavern and into the street, the two men drunkenly moved through the occasional passerby as they faltered towards the right side of town with uneven steps. Noah didn't know where he was going exactly but eventually John stopped at one of the homes with thick wooden beams and a plain oak door.

The ranger banged on the door with an uneven rhythm as Noah stood right behind his longtime friend.

A few minutes later, a small Kelton woman scooted out into the doorway. She had brown fur with a grey dress and was a good foot shorter than the two men. Noah's alcohol addled mind registered a wooden half circle over her right hand and a leather armbrace around her left arm.

There was some loud noise coming from ahead as his eyes traced a very interesting pattern in the wood above the door frame.

"Shoosh!" He said to the yelling ahead of him as he barely registered hand movements from his friend.

Suddenly a burst of heat came from somewhere as John fell back with flames writhing over his body.

"John, you're on fire!" Noah said indignantly as his motor skills still possessed the aptitude to summon a basic ring for a stream of uncontrolled fire. He turned towards the small Kelton woman but the stream of flame coming out of his hand was knocked upwards by some shimmering shield of water as it bashed into his gut, basting the front of the house in fire.

He landed on the solid stone of the street headfirst. The blackness of the void closed in as he heard yelling in the distance and the flickering orange of flame petered out over his failing vision before sleep took him.