"What is your business here foreigner?" The stranger asked Kothar.
"I'm a traveler, going south." Kothar responded in the common tongue of the north, keeping an eye on the stranger's heavy bow.
"You know our tongue. Yet you cannot speak it. Strange." The stranger responded in the common tongue, speaking with a thick accent.
"Forgive me, I am Kothar of Balin. Seeking to travel to Newport." Kothar said politely.
"Rana, of the Crow. " The stranger returned to speaking the tongue of the Southern Tribes. She removed her helmet, revealing a thick braid of black hair, with silver trinkets woven in throughout the braid. She had thick brows and a tall, proud nose, she looked crow-ish, which was apt given the name of her tribe. Rana's braid tinkled a melody as she shook it out from the coil it had been in under her helmet.
"Please excuse my trespassing of your land." Kothar said apologetically, wanting to be on his way.
"My land? You may understand our tongue, but not our ways. How can the land that provides for us all be owned." Rana shook her head at him, sending the trinkets into song again. She spurred her horse forward, coming to a stop alongside Kothar.
"You may travel as you wish, but leave that horse behind. I wish to have it." Rana reached toward the reins, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"That's not happening." Kothar jerked the reins away, sending his horse scrambling away from Rana.
"But you are weak. I know this, all northerners are weak as children. You have only a few great warriors, while the rest of you hide in your walled villages." Rana sounded genuinely confused, her brow furrowed.
"I think I can." Kothar said, struggling not to laugh at her, she seemed no older than he was, and he had the experience of over a hundred years of interstellar combat on his side.
"We shall see." Rana said cooly, drawing her longbow and sending a flaming arrow screaming at Kothar, all in one smooth motion.
Fortunately, Kothar had seen Rana channel the mana to her hands before she fired the arrow off, which gave him more than enough time to draw his sword and deflect the arrow.
Red and blue sparks sprayed through the air as Kothar's crackling sword and Rana's arrow made contact, it was a beautiful sight, but neither of them had time to appreciate it, as they both prepared to attack the other.
Kothar simply pointed his sword forward, sending a few bolts of lightning flying toward Rana, who responded by conjuring a wall of flames in between them, which slowly rolled forwards towards Kothar.
The elemental mana within the wall of flame obscured Rana even from Kothar's enhanced vision, and Kothar noticed that even as he rode away from the flames they curved and turned to follow him, Rana was at the very least at the Beginner level.
The wall of flames died down, revealing Rana, who had left her group of horses behind and rode along the wall of flames, now a fair distance from Kothar.
Rana arms and bow shone with a dull red glow, and she had nocked three arrows to her bow. The arrows began to spiral with flame and the glow grew brighter and brighter.
[She's reinforcing her body with mana as well as covering the arrows with flame.] Silan highlighted the likely trajectory of the arrows for Kothar, who began to channel two portals simultaneously in response. This would be his first time trying to do this.
Screeeee. Rana let the arrows loose, and they flew towards Kothar, following him as he tried to navigate away from them. The arrows left a trail of fire in the air, criss crossing each other's paths as they flew. However, they flew straight once they had crossed half the distance between the pair, but Kothar was determined to return these arrows.
Kothar came to stop, and turned towards the arrows. A quiet, distorted sound rang out through the air. A pair of dull purple portals appeared in the air, the first facing the arrows, the other next to it, facing back to Rana.
Rana stared dumbfounded as her arrows smoothly flew into the portal and out the other portal, screaming back toward her.
Kothar grinned, and began to channel a Bolt Barrage, it would be more than enough to at least scare Rana off, if not defeat her,
"Stop! Enough, you've proved your prowess!"Rana yelled out, sending her horse prancing across the landscape, dodging the first two arrows, and blocking the last one with a short spear.
"Guess northerners aren't so weak after all." Kothar grinned and rode toward Rana.
"Now, can I be on my way?" Kothar said as he rode past, evidently not asking.
"Go. But the next time we meet, I'll be stronger, and I'll be ready for that strange magic of yours." Rana's voice rose as she yelled out as Kothar rode away, his mind focused on his mission.
[I wonder why we don't do the same in Ursten, utilizing Warrior type reinforcement spells and Mage spells together?] Kothar asked Silane.
[I think it would hinder your progress in mana control, you'd be splitting your time between two massively different styles of mana manipulation, and it'd be hard to master either of them.] Silane added her informational graphics to her explanation, which had grown into a habit for her.
[It definitely creates an advantage in the early stages, though. Most other beginner mages would have been toast after those arrows. I don't think a beginner could cast a defense spell strong enough to block those.] Kothar mused, as they sped across the plains, leaving Rana far behind.
As Kothar continued his journey across the plains, Simon had snuck deep into the Kalun encampment, not using any of his Thief abilities, rather using the innate stealth that he had developed over many years of training.
In his dark clothing, he looked like a liquid shadow that flowed from one dark corner to another.
Tonight, his target was Minister Bata, who oversaw communication for the massive invasion army, and doubled as one of their strategists.
His tent was only guarded by a lone Kalun guard, who wore a simple moon shape curved sword on his belt. Since his tent was so deep within the encampment, the Kalun army entrusted that their regular patrols would be more than enough to take care of any spies.
With their more skilled soldiers feeling for any fluctuations in mana that would give up a skilled Thief.
Unfortunately for them, not only was Simon a Thief by profession, he had grown up breaking into the finest manors in Newport, so he was more than capable of getting by without a cloaking spell.
Simon looked to the guard, who, unlike most soldiers awarded a cushy job for the evening, was alert and on guard, scanning the surroundings constantly.
Simon decided to use one of his older tricks, one that had lured many an unsuspecting victim.
He began to make small squeaks, which eerily sounded exactly like a mouse, and scratched at the boxes he was hiding amongst with one of his short blades.
It took a few moments for the soldier to notice the noise, which was faint enough that he wouldn't suspect it to be a genuine distraction.
"*****. Bloody mice, if this keeps up we'll die of starvation before we battle the Ursten." The soldier muttered angrily, and began to creep quietly toward the boxes.
Simon tilted his head, listening carefully for the guard's footsteps. The guard slowed as he drew closer, trying desperately to be as quiet as possible, so as not to scare the mice eating their precious rations.
"Huh?" The soldier stared down behind the crates, seeing Simon crouched below, giving the soldier a nasty grin. Shlick. Simon's short curved blade quickly dispatched the poor guardsman. Simon caught him as he fell, leaning him down where he himself had been hiding.
He took the dagger from the guard's belt, and stalked toward Mister Bata's tent.
The tent was expansive, enough for 10 men to sleep in, and was lit brightly with a multitude of lamps, magic and oil both. Creating a mix of warm oil light and the cooler light from mana crystals.
Minister Bata's silhouette was clearly visible, he was a small portly man and was hunched over a desk, scribbling away, The scratching of his quill audible from outside the tent.
Simon quietly slipped inside the tent, and paused for a moment, shocked by the sheer opulence within the tent. There were flagons of wine, pastries, strings of sausage and large pieces of cold cuts on a long table on one side of the tent. Bata even had an entire bed and a wardrobe within his tent, while most commanders enjoyed some privileges, this was outright ridiculous. The rest of the tent was carpeted with thick, heavy rugs, which were strewn with papers, scribbled with a dense script.
Simon, stepping around the mess of papers throughout the tent, crept toward Minster Bata, who remained unaware, and continued to scribble away at the sheet of paper in front of him.