The next day Donis and Striga were doing their final shopping for the trip back to Darkwater. They were acquiring food, water, some snacks and even some local tobacco. Striga was offered a pipe from a local and found the flavour nostalgic.
It still stung to leave the place without information for Striga, but she knew she had to drop it for now. She'd have another chance in a while to maybe solve the riddle that's been plaguing her for the past 2 decades.
In the market, Donis was looking at some new ingredients for his Alchemical studies and experiments. He wanted to see if he could figure out new potions by randomly experimenting. He hoped that he'd create something which already exists and the new potion would be added to his repertoire.
He'd found some Dried Lihzerd Skin which was said to increase heat/fire resistance if ingested. Stoneflower, which increases toughness of skin. Baoruin, which is a flower that resembles a sand-coloured lotus and when smoked it acts like tobacco. The town ended up being named after the flower for the mild comfort it brought during the construction of the area to the locals. Finally, he ended up getting some Sandracons Bonepowder. It had a wonderful property of allowing the person who ingested it to gain clarity and accuracy when using Elemental Charged Mana, specifically when dealing with dirt and rocks.
All in all the haul was pretty good. Donis was happy with his purchases and couldn't wait to try out some experiments by himself. He also thought that maybe paying the resident Alchemist lizard Yyrthrub a visit for some tips on how to progress in Alchemy-2. It wasn't as clear cut as he imagined, and maybe the Master Alchemist might be able to shed some new light on how to progress faster.
The two were making their way to the carriage, bidding farewell to the town that had more bitter memories than good ones. Donis didn't feel much, but Striga didn't fare so well. The sooner she left this place the better it'll be for her mental health.
On the way, they saw guards running up and down looking a little frantic.
"Huh, maybe they took our warning seriously and went to check out the threat. Good for them, but it's no longer our problem Donis, lets keep moving," spoke Striga after sparing them a single glance.
Donis looked around but kept moving, not saying anything. He wasn't sure how to feel right now. He wanted to know what they were doing, but he also knew how Striga must be feeling in this situation, so he decided to not push further.
That was until both of them saw some of the guards being carried covered in blood. The scene was getting some gasps from the crowds surrounding Donis. Yet even through this scene, Striga never stopped walking. Looking at her back, Donis realised this must be hurting her.
At the gates of the town, they were stopped and Striga sighed.
"I knew you guys wouldn't let us leave so easily. What is it?" she barked.
"We have orders from Captain Horrigan to bring you back to him. You will obey," spoke the guard in a matter-of-factly way.
"Or what?" Striga said as her aura spiked.
"The captain predicted you'd act like this. He said if you do not obey and listen to orders, you'll never know the new location of your family," the guard continued with a smug smile on her face.
The area around Striga darkened ever so slightly. Not enough for the guards to notice, but enough to send chills down Donis's spine.
"Of course, we'll head down there immediately!" interjected Donis.
Striga gave him a look, but Donis didn't return it. He continued looking at the female guard with determination.
"Great, Ryan here will escort the two of you to the Captains quarters, thank you for your co-operation," the guard spoke.
A young man came out from behind the female guard and did a polite bow to the two. Donis felt it weird that someone of an authority figure would bow to him too. Though he suspected it was out of respect for Striga and less so for him.
They made their way back down to the militia headquarters, and were met with the fat captain, Horrigan.
"Welcome back you two. I see that old stain isn't back here to protect, Striga," laughed Horrigan.
"Protect me? He was protecting you, weak boy," she bit back.
"Feisty. Anyway, your orders are to help the guards protect the town from the incoming wave of Sandracons. Our intel tells us that there are going to be around 180 Sandracons and the current force we have aren't enough to deal with them all. Unlike you, they don't have a skillset suited to killing monsters," said Horrigan as he handed out debriefs to the two of them.
Donis looked over them and realised that the captain here had prepared an extensive list of information on the patterns of attacks of the Sandracons, their preferred hunting numbers, and potential outliers in the upcoming battle. It was impressive, but it still didn't soften the sour taste Donis had in his mouth after seeing the bloodied soldiers at the gate.
'What did this information cost?' he thought.
"And what if we don't wanna do what you just told us to do? We'd be risking our lives again, and Donis here had already lost an arm to those fuckers. What's our compensation? I also didn't forget about our previously promised compensation for even giving you this information," said Striga while playing with a knife she summoned from her storage item.
"I gave you a promise and I'll fill it. Your reward for the information is 500 Erzi each, and not getting arrested on sight Striga. Your reward for participating in this battle will be based on how much you do. I don't compensate wastes," Horrigan said venomously.
"That's enough I guess. We'll be back, and you better be ready to pay up."
***
10 minutes later, outside Baoruin.
"So, Striga, any tips on fighting nearly 200 monsters which are all afflicted with Hunger, outnumber us 10-1 and outlevel nearly all of us?" sighed Donis as he looked on the sandy plains.
"Yeah, finish off your side, assist anyone you can, and don't put yourself in any extra danger than you have to. You've lost your arm once, I don't want you doing it again," said Striga.
"Great, so no real advice. Wonderful. I'll have to get creative I guess," said Donis as his shoulders slumped.
Thinking about it now, Donis thought maybe he'd be able to fare much better. He now knew of their attack patterns, knew about their numbers, and knew first hand how fast these monsters were. He no longer felt safe on the ground, nor did he feel safe in the air. Fighting them will take some tactics.
Every soldier there seemed to be somewhat experienced in fighting the Sandracons as they all were setting up their environments accordingly. They helped each other create a sort of marsh around them. Water filled the sand and made it heavy, then they used Elemental Charged Mana to fuse the sand together to create an artificial sandstone.
The sandstone was then elongated and would create a pillar which then was submerged underneath the sand. The soldiers then stood on these pillars and continued to create a water filled area. It seems that the Sandracons ability to navigate through the sand is hampered if the sand is heavy.
Donis asked why they were filling the area with water, and the answer he got was that the Sandracons used both vibrations and heat sensing vision to see their targets. The water would dampen their vision, vibration sensing abilities, and slow them down.
Taking this information in, Donis decided on creating something different then. If the water would do all of that, why not add stuff to the entire area to hamper them further. Donis knew that most mages wouldn't learn every type of Element in Elemental Magic like him, so he figured this was the best decision for those who don't partake in Elemental Fire.
Using a mix of Void Charged Mana and Fire Charged Mana and [Air Pulse]'s max bonus to bore holes into the sand which were hardened immediately. He then used [Dragonfire] to melt the sand to create glass shards all throughout the area around him. Once these elongated glass shards created, he soaked the area in water, asking for Strigas assistance.
The water cooled the glass shards too quickly, creating not only imperfections in them, but also allowing Donis to then crack them by hitting the ground, and using Earth Charged Mana to shift the sands around, bringing the small shards all over the battlefield.
Strigas area resembled the Blackwater swamps far too much. There was even a dark cloud looming above the entire battlefield, casting a powerful but eerie feeling over everyone. She was placing metal rods throughout her area, finally getting time to fully prepare for a fight she could excel at.
As Donis watched her, Striga noticed the curious onlooker and shouted out to him, "A mages greatest strength is their ability to prepare for anything. They're almost unbeatable then. A warriors greatest strength is to fight anything that comes their way with little preparation. Only those who can become both, survive."