Later they decided to stop early for the night. While the location wasn't an official safe room, it was a cleared room with one door and the best location for another three or four hours of traveling. Elmerin and Kaada had Nera watch as they put overlapping layers of warding up, not just over the door, but around the walls, floor, and ceiling of the room as well.
Nera and Kaada were released from standing watch. The other eight adults divided the night between them. Falchan had a fit that he'd be on watch with Seef rather than Drysia, but shut up when Elmerin dragged him into a corner and quietly reminded him their deal wasn't official until money and goods changed hands.
"I've already told Sky, Nera, and Kres so they won't protest. I could call over and tell them the deal's off, right now."
"But the stupid Eagles would know!"
"True, and wouldn't that be a shame?"
Falchan grumbled a bit more and caved. He simply didn't think of how Elmerin wanting custody of Kres gave him leverage in the argument -to Falchan, Kres was nothing but an embarrassment, a reminder of how he'd been repeatedly told how he'd failed his father by having a child with a commoner before a noblewoman. To his way of thinking, as the heir to the county he was supposed to have the prettiest woman around, and Kres was to be ignored as an inconvenience.
The other pairings were Kaada with Sky, Reefka with Alexavier, and Elmerin with Drysia. That last suggestion got Alexavier a sharp look from Elmerin, but the battle mage couldn't really argue against it.
"It's odd," Nera said as they ate dinner. "We saw those infected vines this morning, and the Eagles ran into those ants they mentioned, but we haven't seen anything since we joined up together."
"Most lower-level monsters will avoid larger groups," Elmerin said absently. "That's why, if adventurers are in a large party, or even clan-sized, they'll split off into smaller groups to hunt."
"It's not a good thing." Alexavier frowned at his bowl. "It makes it much more likely that anything that does attack us will be at least Emerald strength. And with Sapphire monsters running around…"
"Only two," said Falchan.
"Only two that we've encountered," Kaada corrected. "There's over twenty parties participating in this exploration and clearing quest, including a couple Sapphires and their parties that came in from other regions. I heard a Diamond was going to be sent from Korech, but they hadn't returned from their previous quest by the time the officers set off from the capitol."
Sky closed their eyes. "Some of those parties were made up of only Topazes, maybe with a Ruby. They're probably having a hard enough time right now. If this place becomes a dungeon…"
"It won't. We won't let it." Drysia's eyes were firm.
"A dungeon would be really lucrative for Cothmore, though," Falchan said. If he'd been looking in her direction, he'd have seen Drysia looking ready to kill him. The responses from the others, aside from Nera and Kres, weren't much better. Nera was horrified rather than angry, while Kres was bored; Falchan's greed was expected, and Kres had no idea how dangerous a monster swarm was.
"There was a monster stampede in Bexley the year I joined the guild," Drysia said, very softly. "You do not want even the risk of that."
"I'm sure my father the count knows best," Falchan said patronizingly.
"In this case, Anol knows best," Alexavier said. "He's explicitly told the Count that the labyrinth must not be dungeonized."
"I heard about that fight. Did the Count actually manage to break the guild's main door?" Elmerin asked.
"Yup," said Seef. "And Anol charged him for it too."
"He was also mad because Anol refused to increase the tax on the items the adventurers sell to the guild over and above their quest requests," added Riyo. "Anol pointed out to the Count that the current tax is the legal maximum permitted by the agreements between the adventurers' guild and the kingdom."
"Huh." Elmerin looked thoughtful. "I'd still prefer someone who'd made it higher than Topaz as a guild leader, but I thought he was completely in the Count's pocket."
Falchan sniffed. "Anol's been forgetting his place."
The others acted like they hadn't heard him. "Apparently it's actions like that, and because the Count kept dragging his feet on clearing out the labyrinth in time for Bolat's visit, that have lost the Count Anol's loyalty." Kaada said. "The Count kept saying 'later', but according to all the records the guilds have, once you get less than ten years before the next visit, the ability to adequately prepare the labyrinths and the networks under the cities goes down by double for every skipped year. Apparently that's what happened before the Demon Wars, and added to the devastation the Demon King spread."
"The whole era was marked by royal and noble mismanagement," said Elmerin. "That's why so many of their houses and kingdoms fell in the aftermath."
"Fortunately we had the Summoned to beat back the demons," Falchan said smugly.
"We didn't need them," Elmerin snapped. "The forces of the combined kingdoms were more than enough to beat the Bolat-energized monsters and people -not demons- back. If they'd worked together, they would have won without the Summoned. It was only because they were so suspicious of each other they refused to make the alliances. And many of the Summoned wound up working together and with members of various kingdoms anyway!"
"Here we go," Sky said under their breath.
Nera heard him. The Death Eagles were also looking at each other with an "again?" look.
Elmerin was reasonable when teaching about the Summoned. But it was another matter when he was in a debate about them, especially with someone as stubborn as Falchan. Nera had already heard a few of Elmerin's vocal discussions on the topic during the labyrinth quest, especially about taking children from another world to come to Thas and fight the kingdoms' battles.
"The Summoned had power! Power the gods only grant to those from other worlds," Falchan snapped.
"Bull. Their power was based on the Summoning process supercharging them with power as they crossed between worlds. Neither our gods or theirs had anything to do with it. And they were weaker overall since they lacked the skill and experience to use their power properly. A good part of the damage during the war was because they lacked control."
"We'd still have lost. There was no one who could equal their power or the power of the Demon King."
"What about the knight Eban?" Elmerin snapped. "The Blessed Swordsman Allory? The Great Mage Merridan? They all had mighty power and did massive damage to the corrupted hordes. But because they came from different kingdoms and those kingdoms were on bad terms, they weren't able to band together and wound up fighting the corrupted armies piecemeal. Eban and Allory died defending outposts that fell anyway, and Merridan's power was spent Summoning over a hundred people from another world. Young teens, most of them. Only a couple were over sixteen."
"You forgot Meinz of Acorath, if you're going to talk about heroes of the Demon War era," Falchan said smugly. "The mightiest priest of the era, and the last priest who could control Light and Dark. He actually faced off with the Summoned against the Demon King."
"And it got him cursed," snapped Elmerin. "If he'd had experienced fighters watching his back instead of a bunch of half-trained kids, it wouldn't have happened. That curse is why he eventually disappeared."
"Please," Falchan sneered. "No one even knows what the curse was. You can't say for sure that's why he vanished."
"It was," Elmerin replied bluntly. "That's aside from the original point. Between Eban, Allory, Merridan, Meinz, and a couple of others active at the time, they had enough power and experience to flatten the Demon King. And that so-called 'hero' Chester who led the combined Summoned and Tasian forces would never have been in the position where he could steal the Demon King's blade and its Bolat crystal for himself. The party wouldn't have been badly weakened already and stuck using the remnants of their power to seal Chester, the Summoned siblings Teria and Theo wouldn't have been sealed with him, and we wouldn't be waiting for the seal to break and the damn castle to re-emerge!"
"It won't re-emerge." Falchan rolled his eyes. "The Summoned had more than enough power."
"Skill and experience are vital to making such a seal last, and none of the Summoned had that."
"Uh, Elmerin." Nera broke in.
He looked at her, away from Falchan. "Yes, Nera?"
Nera blushed, clearing her throat nervously. "Elmerin? Why do so many adventurers never make it past Ruby or Emerald?"
And that was Elmerin's other passion: He did his best to teach the new kids in the guild. If an inexperienced adventurer asked a question, he'd usually answer.
It made for a good distraction.
"That's where the walls hit for most," Elmerin answered. "With Zircon, all you have to do is complete one quest successfully to fulfill the signup requirements, then do one request a month to keep the card. It can be as simple as cleaning trash off the streets or capturing or killing the wild pigs or dogs that roam around town. A lot of people who never intend to adventure get it since the government papers are expensive."
Alexavier had moved next to Falchan and had a firm hand on his shoulder. The Emerald adventurer was speaking quietly to the Sapphire.
"To get to Topaz, as you're doing, you have to fulfill a number of a variety of quests for points, and complete one 'labyrinth or equivalent quest' -a LEQ- with passing marks, then keep your points up and do a LEQ a year to maintain your rank. Ruby promotion requires more points and completing two LEQs, then two a year plus points to maintain. Topaz you can pick up escort quests; Ruby on up, you're also assigned them.
"Emerald, they start keeping specific track of the ranks of monsters you kill. Five Ruby-level monsters in six months and four LEQs in twelve to rank up and maintain Emerald. Emeralds are expected to keep up a steady kill rate of Zircon and Topaz monsters combined with other quests, to be ready for the occasional tapped quest -monsters killed on tapped quests count toward maintaining- and be first in line when Ruby or Emerald monsters show up or an escort needs guarding through a particularly dangerous area.
"For various reasons, Rubies often don't want to or can't handle the work, so they never push for an Emerald promotion. Even more so for Emerald to Sapphire."
Falchan was glaring at Alexavier, his arms crossed sulkily.
"Sapphire is when the extra responsibilities and duties really start to pile on. Promotion and maintenance requires four LEQs in a year, and ten Ruby monsters or three Emerald in five months or better, though they don't need as many Zircon or Topaz kills. There's a lot more involuntary travel since Sapphires are more likely to be tapped for mandatory higher-level quests, and it's the lowest level where you're under command of the king of whatever country you're in, whether you like it or not. You have to show up for emergencies and royal quests if the throne demands."
Most of the group pointedly did not look at Falchan. He had badly failed the one quest he'd been tapped for, and hadn't been contacted since.
"At Diamond, you need to at least be able to kill Sapphire monsters, and Diamond monsters when working as part of a team. There's no longer a requirement for a certain amount of LEQs due to the likelihood of being tapped for mandatory missions, especially by the kings. Part of the promotion test is leading a party through a LEQ with only acceptable losses. People you party with regularly can't be part of the test party." He paused for a moment. "Drysia got the highest score in the kingdom in fifty years when she took the test nearly two years ago. She's successfully completed two tapped quests since."
"And Falchan still sulks that she didn't wait for him to catch up before taking the test," muttered Sky.
"Like that'll happen," Reefka snorted.
"Black Opal…" Elmerin paused. "A Black Opal is everything an adventurer is, and more. It's taking the sum of everything an adventurer has done until then, and increasing it by a factor that doubles or triples that sum -the Summoned called it an exponential increase. They've often done some rare feat or service. It's something special, and very hard to reach."
Nera was counting on her fingers. "Um, Elmerin? As I recall, you usually run at least a short 'lehk' every couple of weeks, and at least one every couple months is explicitly for people you haven't worked with, if anyone's interested. You killed that orc general and the goblin sorcerer, and you make so much from quests and commissions that you don't even bother picking up most of the common monsters' stones. That must mean lots of points. Why aren't you Diamond?"
"I don't want to." Elmerin stood and stretched. "One of the things about promotion is you generally have to ask for it, and can turn it down if it's suggested." He began picking up bowls from those who had finished. "I prefer not being at the beck and call of the king of whatever country I happen to be in at the time. And before you ask, it takes pretty extraordinary circumstances to force a promotion.
"Um, Kaada and I were going to share a tent, to be safer she said…"
"I don't mind," Kaada said. "What about you, Kres?"
"Sure. El can have more time to write in his journal."
Elmerin paused in cleaning up. "Have I been keeping you up with that?"
"It's okay." Kres shrugged. "I know you use those journals to keep track of monster weaknesses and stuff."
"Still…"
"If the brat's fine with it, leave him," Drysia snapped. "Adventurers in a team look out for each other, and that means sometimes accepting things that are hard for yourself." She stood and brushed off her pants. "I'm going to bed. See you at watch."
Alexavier glanced after her, then turned to Elmerin. "Been meaning to ask, why are you wearing your hair loose? You know damn well that's dangerous."
Elmerin shrugged. "My hair tie came loose in the fight with the orcs, and it was too worn to bother putting back in."
"Don't start on that 'it doesn't matter if I die' crap. It's surprising you haven't died considering you take far better care of your team members than yourself. Sit."
Elmerin sat while Alexavier pulled out a leather thong. Alexavier frowned as he handled Elmerin's hair.
"What the heck happened here? It looks like someone took a random Wind Blade spell to it."
"That's essentially what happened," Elmerin shrugged. "I got hit by a wind cutting spell when I fought the goblin sorcerer."
"Still, there's enough here… If I do this, then that…" Alexavier trailed off as he concentrated on binding Elmerin's hair so a monster couldn't catch it.
Nera was watching with wide eyes. Falchan smirked.
"They used to date," he commented, giving a lewd wink.
"Oh," said Nera. "Then, Elmerin, you… worship Vikesh?"
"He worships Vikesh and Idalin. I worship Vikesh," Alexavier said absently, braiding part of Elmerin's hair.
Kres looked at them suspiciously. "What does that mean?"
"It means… ah…" Nera faltered and blushed.
"It means who you screw," Falchan smirked.
Mentally, Elmerin rolled his eyes. What is he, four? "It means who you look to as a sexual or romantic partner. Or partners. 'Worshippers' of Idalin follow women, 'worshipers' of Vikesh follow men. Some people worship both. It's just a polite-" he shot Falchan a dirty look "-way to say it."
"Then what about Sky?" Kres asked.
"I can worship either, or neither, as I choose." Sky grinned. "If you mean, what god there is for me, that's Aquet, the one who is neither god or goddess, Dark or Light. Or maybe both, depending. They also handle justice and the domain of the sky, which covers all things."
"There," Alexavier said, giving Elmerin's hair a final gentle yank. "Try not to destroy it before we get out of here, El."
"No promises."
*******
Characters in this chapter:
Elmerin
Kres
Drysia
Nera Faunford
Sky
Falchan Cothmore
Death Eagles:
Alexavier Asheburne
Seef
Reefka
Kaada
Riyo
Characters from the past:
Allory: Profession: Blessed Swordsman. He possessed divine power granted by the gods themselves. Was a strong advocate for peace and cooperation between the kingdoms. Died defending an outpost against the demon hordes. Left behind a wife and two children. Kingdom: Drendale (fallen)
Eban: Profession: Knight. He had the power of a hundred warriors. Blessed with a connection to Tas and the power of earth. Believed the kingdoms should set aside their differences until the Demon King was defeated. Died defending an outpost he didn't know his king had decided to abandon. Kingdom: Kiron (fallen)
Chester: Profession: Commander. Summoned with five companions, four young women and one young man. Possessed the abilities of a master strategist and tactician, as well as strong magic warrior skills. Had exponential growth in magic and skills, but his personality became corrupted by both the power and the obeisance shown him. Plotted to steal the source of power of the Demon King and succeeded, but was subsequently sealed by his former party. Kingdom: Kiron (fallen) (Summoned)
Meinz of Acorath: Profession: Esteemed Priest. Acorath was his home village, exact location now unknown. Last known person to master both Dark and Light magics. Worked with Tasians and Summoned to build the guild registration and communication systems. Disappeared ten years after the defeat and sealing of the Demon Kings. One of the few people to have two birth-talents, although the second was unknown. Kingdom: Ocheorean Empire (greatly reduced in size, now known as Ochrea)
Merridan: Profession: Great Mage. She could devastate a mountain or flood a valley. Aided in the call of the Summoned, which she later regretted. Thought the kings were being stupid to fight when the Demon King was the greater threat. Suicided after Meinz disappeared, causes unknown. Kingdom: Ekozar
Teria: Profession: Thief/Rogue. Summoned with her twin brother Theo and other members of their family while on a trip, as well as some friends who had accompanied them. Had extremely high stats in Agility, Stealth, Accuracy, and Targeting, as well as good stats in Trapfinding and Mechanics. Kept Chester distracted while Meinz, Theo, and other members of the party worked to seal him. Was sealed with Chester by accident. Kingdom: Drendale (fallen) (Summoned)
Theo: Profession: Mage. Summoned with his twin sister Teria and other members of their family while on a trip, as well as some friends who had accompanied them. Could handle all the elements and undifferentiated mana. Was skilled at enchanting objects and creating seals. Worked with Meinz and other party members to seal Chester. Sealed himself with Chester to make sure the spell would be successful. Kingdom: Drendale (fallen) (Summoned)
Terms used:
LEQ = labyrinth or equivalent quest: A quest that takes place in the labyrinth or is of equal difficulty to such a quest. The specific quest rank and difficulty is assigned by the guild for the purposes of both remuneration and promotion.