Evren teleported the last group of people to the surface. He learned from Joseph the maximum number of people that can teleport at once was six. This was why it became a standard that a party of adventurers was typically relegated to six people. Although each person could teleport themselves, many had a low magic capacity or might get confused while teleporting and go to the wrong location. But if a single person could teleport five others with them then they would be able to start exploring right away.
Evren raised his hands as Joseph had done in the center of Anbuton and everyone turned his way, "Thank you all for coming!" Evren started with, "I'm really only looking for books, but if anyone finds a jeweler's shop, please let me know. I'm sure it's been looted of everything, but it may have something called a reducer or a gem polisher. Those things will help to cut, polish, and engrave mana gems that I use in crafting. It will be something I'm going to get others to do as well, most likely much better than I could do anyway.
"I would also like to mention that this fortress was under siege when it was taken. Many of the buildings were damaged to siege equipment, or just to the exposure to weather. I'd feel comfortable if you all went with someone else because you might get hurt. We've got a count on how many people have come along. I'd like the same number of people to be able to head back to Anbuton. If something does happen, find someone immediately. Show them where the injured person is, and one of you stay with the person, the other come find us.
"Does anyone have any questions?" One lady in the crowd raised her hand. Evren gestured to her and said, "Yes?"
"Umm… are you single?" she asked, and a roar of laughter was heard.
Evren looked around at everyone and smiled along with them. "I'm a widower. If nobody has any other questions, please come back here before dark, and don't go down until we get a count. We can set up a fire nearby if it gets too cold. Thanks everyone and good luck!"
Everyone scattered excitedly, but not in a rush. A few were walking faster than usual, but for the most part it was a calm departure. Evren turned around to look at the others who stayed. "I'm sure you're all excited to get exploring too. I'll stay here and set up some wood for a fire and try to keep track of everyone in town."
"Are you sure Mr. Evren? I know you wanted to explore too." Harley asked.
"I'm positive. To be honest, I'm a bit nervous about anyone getting hurt up here, so I don't think I could relax if I was searching. If all I'm doing is sitting in one spot, I can keep track of everything in a broad sense." Evren replied.
Everyone nodded and split off. Harley with her parents, Joseph with Isabel, and Walter with his two guards. As they left, Evren went to a nearby building and began collecting up wood to make a bonfire out of. He had plans to make a big bonfire, so he was grabbing some pretty big pieces of wood. As he began stacking the wood, he stared at it for a while and asked himself, "I'm missing something, what is it?" He glanced around he saw some rubble on the ground and said, "Ah, a circle of stones."
He gathered up stones to surround the fire and went to get more wood. He piled the wood up to the side when he had enough stacked for the bonfire. In case he ran low or needed to stay later than sunset. He reached out with his sensory field and noticed most people had avoided the damaged buildings, with only a couple groups braving the dangers. Evren paid a little closer attention to those as he waited.
As the day moved on, it started to get cooler, so Evren lit the bonfire. He wanted it all to start quickly, so he used 'jet' to set all the wood on fire. "What's better than your own personal flame thrower?" he said as he seemed to be enjoying the lighting of the bonfire. A couple groups had come back with some books and to get warm by the fire before heading out again. They had handed Evren the books before leaving and he put them in his backpack before giving them a once over.
As the day wore on, a few more groups had come back and chose to stay instead of heading back out. A couple of boys returned and said, "Evren, we think we've found a jewelry place." Evren smiled and looked to the people standing by the fire. I'm going to go have a look. If anyone comes back while I'm gone, could you let them know I'll return in a little while? If they want to leave any books here while they go back out, I'll grab them when I return."
The people nodded and encouraged him to go. He followed the boys to the third level, and then down an alley to a small shop in the back. It hadn't escaped the looting as some of the shops in Plinth had, but the looters had only taken the jewelry and gemstones. There were a few ingots of silver and gold that Evren grabbed up to use in crafting. It had a gem cutting wheel in it, and Evren thought there was no reducer, until one of the boys said, "There's another room back here."
When Evren went into that room, he found the reducer. It appeared to be in better shape than the one in Plinth. Evren smiled and said, "Thanks boys. This is exactly what I'm looking for." He began looking for a way to get the reducer out of the room, but it was too big. "They must have assembled it on site."
As he stared at the reducer, he thought to himself, 'I wonder if I can pick it up with telekinesis and tilt it on its side. Will it fit through the door then? No, will I mess it up if I do that?'
Evren did a quick search of town to see if anything looked amiss. He then focused solely on the reducer. He was scanning with such detail, if it had been a person, they would have felt violated. He then changed the nature of his sensory field from feeling to grabbing. He lifted the reducer and tilted it from side to side to see if anything moved. The two boys were watching in awe as Evren was working.
Evren tilted the reducer to its side and noted that nothing seemed to have moved, so he moved it towards the door. It looked like it might fit, but Evren was concerned because it would be a tight fit. To get the reducer completely through the door, it had to be tilted and turned and lifted and twisted until finally the most troublesome parts were on the other side of the door. Evren was sweating at this point, not only from his usage of telekinesis, but also from his nerves.
Once he got it fully into the room, he moved it across the shop to the large window that used to be there and set the reducer on the ground outside the shop. The gem polisher was much easier to move, but no less cumbersome. He set that outside next to the reducer and checked around inside the shop some more. "That was amazing! How did you do that?" Evren smiled and said, "That's an old family trick. I'm not sure anyone else can do that, but if you guys want, we can try some other time."
"Really? That'd be great!" they said almost in sync. Evren laughed and found what he was looking for, extra stones and parts for the polisher, and some extra chisels for the reducer. He put all of that in his backpack and turned to the boys.
"It's getting dark, can you guys help me get those two things back to the bonfire?" The boys looked at each other and then to the two large machines sitting in front of the shop. One boy said, "I don't know if we're strong enough to help out with that.
Evren smiled, "No, I'll be doing all the lifting, I need you guys to light the way for me."
The boy replied, "But we don't have any torches."
Evren reached into his backpack and pulled out his scroll case. He cast light inside it near the end so it would have a wide beam and pointed it away from the boys. "You can use this." He said as he pulled the cover off of the scroll case, lighting up the store.
"Wooow!" they exclaimed in unison.
"I've only got the one, so you'll have to share it for now. Do you boys want to learn magic?" he asked.
"Are you going to teach us magic right now?" the boy asked.
Evren shook his head, "No, not right now, but back in town hopefully I'll get a chance to teach you boys how to do something like this all on your own."
Evren held out the scroll case flashlight to the boy who spoke and said, "Now, just shine it in front of you as we go. If you find something that I may trip on, can you move it out of the way, or let me know where it is?" The boy nodded.
Evren did a quick scan of the town to see if there was anyone in trouble and it looked like he was in the clear. Focusing on the reducer and the gem polisher, he lifted both of them up and followed the boys out of the alley. With their careful instructions they made their way back to the bonfire.
Everyone was interested in the scroll case flashlight the boys were carrying, and they bragged that Evren would teach them how to make something like that all by themselves. Evren smiled as he moved down the passageway to the teleport room, the boys leading the way. He set the two machines down on the glyph and said to the boys, "Alright boys, we're going to teleport really quick up to Anbuton and then back down. Hold my hands." The boys held Evren's hand and he fed magic into the glyph teleporting him, the two machines and the two boys to the 86th level. He moved the machines to the side and left them there, taking the boys back down to the Fortress.
When they got back to the fire, Evren took back the scroll case and separated from the boys. The sun had begun to set, and it was getting dark. Evren scanned the town and found only two groups hadn't returned yet, but both were on the way. He met up with Joseph and the rest to speak with them about returning to Anbuton.
"I left the two machines up there near the sigil. I've nearly exhausted my magic, so can I get help with teleporting everyone up?" Joseph and Isabel already had experience doing this, but the others, even though they know how to manipulate magic, hadn't teleported themselves nor others yet. So, they explained it to them. I'll take the first group up once everyone gets here and stand by on that end." Evren said and everyone nodded.
When the last group arrived, Evren and Joseph got a count of everyone and found that nobody was missing. They explained the process they were going to go through, and Evren started with the first group. When they got to the 86th floor everyone waited around until the last person arrived. Before everyone left, Evren got the books off of them and they headed off to town discussing their little adventure.
Evren said, "I'm going to go down and put out the bonfire, then I'll bring this stuff into town."
Harley said, "Mr. Evren, I want to watch!"
Evren smiled and said, "Ok Harley, let's go."
Harley smiled happily and went to the glyph and held out her hand. They teleported to the Fortress and approached the bon fire. Evren stood back from the fire and cast 'deluge' on it, a large quantity of water began pouring out onto the pile of wood. While it was still being drowned in water, Evren cast 'freeze.' The bonfire got encased in ice, snuffing out the fire.
"Ok Harley, let's head back up." Evren said.
"Ok!" she replied.