The 10 Masters of Isunia sat at a semicircular table staring at the images of eight students floating in front of them. It was the early hours of the morning; most students had long gone to bed.

"Are we all in agreement that it will be these eight?" Emmaline asked.

"I still think they are too young," Zayla said, "But they are the best of the volunteers."

"We've been over this a million times," Abindra replied wearily, "The other countries will be less suspicious of a group of students than they would a group of professionals."

"They are skilled enough," Sylvain said. "But not so skilled that we would have to worry about any one of them taking the stone for themselves."

"As long as Isac does his job properly."

"Excuse me! When have I EVER failed at this kind of work? These kinds of binding hexes are my specialty."

"That's enough! Are we all in agreement then?"

The Masters all nodded and Abindra waved her arm and the images disappeared.

"Then I'll summon them right away." Adrissa closed her eyes, sending out a telepathic summon to the students.

"Most of them will be asleep now. Shouldn't we go in person?"

"Not to worry. I made sure to make the message loud enough to wake them."

---

Emrin had been working when the message came booming into her head. COME TO THE MASTERS' ROOM NOW. The shock caused her to knock over her third (or was it her fourth?) cup of coffee all over the notes she had been painstakingly making. Emrin swore loudly and cast a spell to dry the papers, but in her tired state, only succeeded in blowing them off her desk and scattering them about her room. Emrin sighed and rubbed her eyes tiredly. What time was it? Late. Or early, depending on how you saw it. She quickly gathered the ruined notes and stacked them in a messy pile on her desk. She'd have to wait until her return to deal with them.

Emrin entered the Masters' room and bowed politely, trying not to let her annoyance show on her face. Master Sylvain saw her disheveled state and grinned, "Another late night Emrin? I hope we didn't interrupt you." Master Sylvain was the only professor teaching Rune Theory at the university. He knew all of his students well.

"No worries, Master Sylvain. It wasn't important." She replied curtly.

"Take a seat," he said gesturing to seven chairs arranged in front of the Masters. "You're the first one here."

Liah was sleeping quite soundly with her arms and legs wrapped around a large pillow, if one were in the room they could hear the soft mumble of her speaking in her sleep, along with an occasional cute snore. The snore wasn't her though. That was Rascal. Wedged in between Liah and her pillow.

Their peaceful rest was rudely interrupted by the yell in Liahs head, causing her to jolt awake and consequently… fall off her bed with a loud thud. A soft whine came up from the cold floor, and then nothing for a moment or two. Rascal, who was wide awake now… watched with its head on the pillow as he heard grunting, groaning and straining while a loud slap of a hand could be heard on the hard floor multiple times, as if liah was stretching for something while still on the floor. Then silence.

Another flurry of movement, Rascal watched as liah’s legs shot straight up with pants on the end of her feet, groaning more as she reached up and pulled them down, tying them off once on. Before crawling to her knees and pulling herself up slowly. Her eyes still closed as she did. Now she was grumbling, irritated and uttering curses and whines under her breath as she searched her room looking for her warmest cloak. Tossing clothes all around her, some landing on Rascal as she did.

Finally finding it, she made her way to the door, slipping on her shoes while hopping, her grumbling now even louder. Rascal could hear now, ”Why do they HAVE to.. She grumbled angrily as she pulled her final shoe on. ”Couldn’t they wait Just... She said before opening the door and slamming it behind her.

Rascal let out a puff of breath before nuzzling under the pillow. Content that it didn’t have to go with...

The door slammed open again ”Oh no, if I can't sleep, you are not getting any.” She said to him as she pulled him out from under the pillow and into her arms. Then finally making her way to the masters room.

Opening the door with one eye open, as the lights were still too bright, she saw all the masters there, along with Emrin who was still standing. If she knew Emrin, it was most likely was already awake doing her research as usual...well, really she hadn’t even gone to bed yet.

The masters and Emrin would have easily seen how Liah got dressed in the dark, with a pink tunic, tan pants, black shoes, and brown cloak. Her hair was a rats nest and hastily half way put up as she made her way from her room.

Rubbing her closed eye with her free hand slipping out from under her cloak she gave a short bow. Her annoyance was not as well hidden as Emrin. But it was under control enough she had stopped cursing well before she got to the masters door.

“I just want to say, I’m innocent…of...whatever it is we were called here...for.” Liah said cautiously. Clearly confused and still waking up.

---

It had taken Ryder some time of tossing and turning before sleep finally welcomed him that evening, so the sudden wake-up call wasn't exactly a pleasant surprise as he jolted awake. However, he only allowed himself a fleeting moment of annoyance and a single displeased grumble before prying himself up from his bed. Grabbing a collection of clothes from a chair where he had neatly folded them not too long ago, Ryder let his minder wander to the possible reasons for such a summon as he proceeded to quickly dress himself on autopilot. A mix of excitement, nerves, and dread coiled in his gut as he thought back on the mission application he had sent in. If that's what this is related to, then, well...

Focus.

Ryder cleared his throat, the sound piercing the quiet small space as he pulled on a jacket over his grey sleeveless shirt and brushed off a speck of dust or dirt that may or may not be truly there off one sleeve. Stopping to glance at himself in a mirror, he smoothed the few wrinkles from the front of his simple black pants even though it was mostly futile and straightened up the hem of his jacket. The core of his outfits tended to be dominated by practicality for a good tumbling around, accompanied with something discardable to keep him warm, but not too warm, and give him a semblance of formality. It was good enough for this sudden meeting as well. He'd be good to go if it wasn't for the persistent fog of sleep trying to cling to his mind. But for that, he had a remedy.

Running through the familiar calculations in his head, he placed a hex to boost his alertness on himself, forgoing a magic circle. He doubted he'd be needing that bit of wasted mana from the direct cast that night and he regretted nothing. This way he'd be ready to face whatever the masters had to throw at him without spending time guzzling down pots of coffee. So he had better not waste that saved time dillydallying around. Into his boots his feet went and he was out the door, jogging down the hall to make up for the time spent getting dressed.

Before entering the room, Ryder hurriedly ran his fingers through his hair to smooth it back and fix it in place the best he was able to without proper tools. Stepping onto the other side of the door, he acknowledged the masters with a bow before straightening his back, keeping his arms tucked behind himself as he awaited further instructions. Although, he did give the other apparently summoned students a glance from the corner of his eye, finding himself raising an eyebrow at the blue otter in one of the girls' grasp. From the looks of it, she had just grabbed whatever was within reach on her way out of her room, her beast included. He couldn't say he knew her or the other girl already present, which wasn't particularly surprising. But if he were to have anything to do with them in the near future as a result of this sudden meeting, he'd have to get to know them on a basic level at least. He furrowed his brows at that notion, redirecting his focus on the masters instead.

Getting to know people was dangerous.

With it being this early in the morning, it was expected to be silent save for the nocturnal animals, or even the diurnal animals just waking up. But near the training grounds, which should have been silent at this hour, one could hear multiple rapid thuds in a row, then a few loud thumps a few moments later.

Liam was in the training grounds practicing shooting his bow at five targets at different distances and heights, then at random intervals switch to slapping some spinning practice dummies with the same bow, ducking and weaving as he dodge said dummy's arms as they spun around. Then moving to a new spot, pulling three arrows out with his draw hand, knocking one, and firing at a random target. Repeating the quick knock and fire at a random target for the last two arrows in his hand.

It was at this moment he winced at the loud voice of Master Adrissa in his head telling him to come to the masters office. He took a deep breath,and let it out slowly in effort to regain control of his breathing. While he did he looked at his targets, and while he was glad many of his shots were within the bullseye, he made sure to note how many were outside of it. Grimacing at any that did not hit the target at all. Which was a few, but that meant far more punishment later. As he forced himself with a set extra of pushups and pull ups for every one outside of the bullseye, and extra complete workouts for any missed entirely. A training method his father instilled upon him very early in his life.

Liam’s bow had a long nail just over where he gripped it, looking sort of like a simple finger guard, But Liam used it to store over his shoulder. A leather loop just over his right shoulder, attached to his bandolier. In an easy motion, he flipped his bow over his shoulder, hooking it to that loop and allowing it to hang easily off his back. He walked over to his targets and pulled each arrow out, slipping them into the quiver on his right hip.

He was far from the Masters room, far too long to walk it with how urgent it sounded, Picking up Mia, who had followed him to the training ground. He then drew out a magic circle in his mind and used a teleportation spell to appear just outside it. Allowing Mia to hop out of his arms he straightened his short sleeved black tunic and dusted off any dirt on his pants.

Once satisfied with what he could do for the moment, he walked into the room with Mia following close behind. He bowed his head to the Masters, and looked to the others, surprised to see his sister and Emrin here. As well as another man, who was clearly a soldier by how he held himself. He knew his stance well… He was most likely another student. He gave him a nod and moved over towards his sister, and Emrin.

It would look like Emrin had stayed up once again, certainly engrossed with her work. While Liah clearly woke up, knowing she would probably have never had dressed like that if she knew others besides the masters would be here. And by the looks of the seven chairs, three more were yet to come.

He nodded with a small smile towards Emrin while he reached up and scratched Rascals chin who had reached his head out towards him.

”No sleep again?” Liah asked groggily as she looked towards Liam.

Shaking his head, “I got three hours…” he said as if that was normal for him.

”And you? Let me guess 2 cups of coffee?” Liah added glancing at Emrin with a grin.

After the usual long night of going over his enchantments to make sure they were calibrated properly, Finlay had been dead asleep. When the message blared away his slumber, he was rather perturbed at first as he lay staring at the ceiling groggily for a few minutes. Then he had a realization; Hold on, the Masters' Office? Ah ha! It's finally time! I knew they would select me for the mission! With that thought, he practically jumped out of bed.

Without sparing a moment, Finlay grabbed his jacket and staff before rushing out the door, not wanting to keep the Masters waiting. As he jogged to the office, he used his free hand to tidy his bangs the best he could while letting his mind wonder about things; The ad said this would be an important top secret mission; I can't wait to hear what kind of task it will be. I wonder what the other people selected for the team will be like. Knowing myself though, I'm sure we'll get along great! I'm sure the Masters made their selections very carefully, and didn't choose anyone untrustworthy like that monster Mana. At this thought, he had arrived outside the door to the Masters' Office. Taking a brief moment to calm his breathing and collect himself, Finlay cleared his throat before opening the door with care.

"Greetings, I believe you called for me?" He spoke as he entered the room with a calm smile, giving a courteous bow to the Masters. Upon looking around the room he noticed that there were 4 others that had already arrived, and when the Masters acknowledged his greeting and directed him to a set of 8 chairs he realized they were still waiting on 3 others. Well I may not have arrived first, but at least I'm not the last one to keep everyone waiting! He bowed once more in acknowledgement before taking a seat, looking around at what appeared to be his party-mates; Hmm... an experienced-looking gentleman that seems a bit older than me... he should be quite reliable! A pair of girls that seem to already know each other... good! It's always good for there to be positive chemistry in a group of comrades. And finally a boy who looks to be related to one of the girls... oh my! Those are some intense scars! And are those prosthetic limbs?! Seems he's been through a lot, but it looks like he's fairly sturdy nonetheless. This looks to be an interesting group! He looked forward to the task they would be given, and to learning more about and working with his fellows within the group.

Sidney's habit of sleeping in her poncho (though backwards so the hood covers her face) was interrupted by a voice yelling at her which caused her to practically leap out of bed while still in a prone position. An arm shot out as she flopped back onto the bed, hood still covering her face. It took a quick second before it clicked in her brain who it was and what the message said.

Because of course it'd be the one night I turn in early she thought to herself, already getting up and dressed. The regular black suit was hanging on the wall at the edge of the bed which blended into the night. But after hanging up in the same place every night she knew exactly where it was. She nearly fell into another wall as she got dressed. Tying the hair up was a particular trick to do without a mirror but she was pretty sure it was done fairly. Once that was on she tossed the poncho back on over her regular clothes.

As she began running through the reasons why Sylvain wanted to speak with her at this cruel hour. I don't do class till daybreak she looked out a hall window to reconfirm. Yeah no daybreak. Old coot.

Entering she took a brief note of the other students who were there before plopping in a chair, slinking partway down and scribbled down a quick "Yo" that she flashed to the others before flipping the hood up and over her eyes. She wasn't falling asleep but she was about to at least partially check out mentally.

"It seems everyone is here First, apologies for calling you here so late." Master Emmaline said, "However, this is a matter of utmost importance. I am sure most, if not all of you have heard the rumors already. Mana's Heartstone has been found. As you are aware, this is an incredible powerful relic, and if it falls into the wrong hands, it could cause the continent to fall into chaos. Luckily, an Isunian contact has managed to get ahold of the stone already. Your mission is to go retrieve it, and then bring back here to Isunia, so it can be destroyed."

"Of course we can't trust all of you." Mirella looked at each them, her expression showing that she trusted none of them. "To ensure none of you betray us, Master Isac will be putting a Hex on all of you."

"Are there any questions? If not, then please step forward so Master Isac can cast the hex." Master Lyndel gestured to the front.

"I need to cast it on all of you at the same time." Master Isac said standing up, "So decide quickly if you're going to accept or not."

Emrin carefully looked around her. She had already guessed what the mission would be when she signed up for it, but she wasn't about to risk her life if she didn't think her party would be reliable. It was of course, reassuring to have Liah and Liam, whose skills she was familiar with. The other three though, were strangers to her. They seemed capable enough though, and she trusted the Masters' decision. "Other countries are bound to have already made their move to retrieve the stone. Do you know who and how many?"

"It seems Draesa has already dispatched a unit. They have most likely dispatched a team of elite mages." Sylvain told her. "However, their numbers will be small and we trust in your skills. We are unsure about Soria. Yoendra for now, has agreed to allow us to handle the matter. However you must still be careful bounty hunters and rogue mages."

Emrin took a moment to think it over. "I trust in your judgement Masters. I will accept the mission."

---

As more people came in to fill the room, undoubtedly students he'd be working with shortly, Ryder paid them little mind as he sat down to wait for their instructions. Until his attention was caught by the trio who already seemed to know each other on some level, that is. The two girls that had beat him to the meeting and, more importantly, the guy who had joined them.

Ryder had merely more or less involuntarily glanced over as the students filed in and announced their presence in... varying ways, but the magical prosthetics of one of them made him do a double take. He'd seen the guy around before of course, he was pretty hard to miss and seemed to be a fellow combat student as far Ryder had gathered. Although they weren't in the same year so there wasn't much he knew about him. It was hard not to be curious though and the prosthetics were fascinating.

And thus, Ryder found himself looking longer than socially acceptable.

Master Emmaline's voice demanding their attention saved him from continuing to try to make himself look like a creep and he quickly shifted his gaze where it should be, on the Masters. tensing up, Ryder tried not to cringe at his own lapse of focus right in front of the whole collection of Masters in a mission meeting of utmost importance. Way to go.

But it seemed his suspicions of the reason for the sudden meeting were indeed correct. Shifting on his seat nervously, Ryder averted his eyes from the Masters as one of the students voiced her question about possible opposition and found himself glancing at his potential future comrades. At least he'd be able to trust them, Master Isac would make it so.

This was a bit more sudden than he had expected though, calling them over at this hour and making them decide on the spot like this... Of course, he had made his decision when he had applied but yet he found himself hesitating for a moment. Ryder swallowed, distantly wishing for a glass of water, and got up to step forward for the hexing.

"I trust your Hex won't interfere with my own, Master Isac?" It was a stupid question, the man wouldn't be a master otherwise. But Ryder sought out the reassurance nevertheless.

Liah didn’t have a chance to hear Emrin’s reply when the masters spoke up/\. While they spoke she glanced around at the other people that showed up...one other girl that was wearing a poncho backwards…. That works she guessed. She normally wore cloaks that had larger cowls that could cover her face if she really wanted. But she looked to the other two men. Who joined them. Her eyes narrowed with a hmmm as she looked them up.

Both looked quite interesting and one stood like a soldier. She knew, just like Liam, how a soldier stood. She bit the bottom of her lip as she looked from him to the other one who looked a bit older, perhaps experienced. She stood up straight as she thought Interesting while her eyebrows popped up.

She sighed as the masters said they needed to hex them.. It’s not like she could say no, but hell of a way to inspire loyatly… She scratched Rascals head to his dismay of trying to sleep in her arms. An adorable snort/growl could be heard from him.

The soldier brought up the hexes revealing he worked on hexes as well. Wouldn’t he know that already if he worked with it? Her confidence was waning. Maybe she was just use to working closely with two Runecrafters. After the soldier was answered, she would ask "Are we at least getting a carriage?” She wanted to sleep of course. She wasn’t like most people she knew who slept very little and seemed to be able to function. She needed her 10 hours! She heard an audible slap next to her from Liam. His hand now covering his face. He seemed to know exactly why she asked. "Wat!?" She whispered towards him. To which Liam only shook his head.

Sidney leaped up, practically ripped her hood off and scribbled down before anyone could blink"Wait, you want to what?? I know it's hypocritical but I do not like getting hexed. I mean, you know, combat training is one thing but still! Can't I just, you know, give ya something valuable to hold on to?" It was only then that she noticed properly the others who were in the room with her, including one with the prosthetic limbs (how did she miss seeing him?). One of the older students, one of the blond boys expressed concern about the possible interference with his own hexes and another girl who seemed to be having reservations before getting side tracked by their mode of transportation. Her question was valid but there were bigger priorities.

"Also why would you call in multiple hexers if we may end up having to fight? Ain't that kinda... unbalanced magically speaking? I ain't saying I'm not in. Just... ya know... saying."

"There is no need to worry Ryder, when Master Sylvain and I created the spell, we made sure to take your hexes into account. There should be no issues."

Master Zayla smiled at Liah's comment. She was also someone who cherished her sleep. "We will need you to be ready within the hour. They will be a carriage to take you all outside of Isunia and into the nearest village, but after that I'm afraid you'll have to go on foot."

"You will not be allowed to fly." Master Lyndel added. "You'll be too noticeable."

"If you do not want to be hexed then you may leave." Master Emmaline told Sidney. "The hex should not interfere with your fighting capabilities." She looked to Master Isac for confirmation.

Master Isac looked offended. "Must everyone question my abilities today? These kinds of hexes are my specialty. There will be no problems. If there are," He shrugged, "Deal with it. Now if there are no further questions I will explain how the hex works." This will be a binding hex. There will be several rules to follow. If any of the rules are broken, you will put under a paralysis spell that can only be broken if at least two other party members place a small drop of blood on the hex mark. These rules will apply even in death, which means should one of you die, you'll have to carry the body with you. I imagine that will be highly inconvenient, so don't die. The rules are as follows. 1. You must stay within 500 feet of your fellow party members. 2. You must stay within 50 feet of at least one party member. This will mean you will have to stay in pairs. 3. You cannot injure another member of the party and 4. You cannot teleport. If there are no further questions, step forward and I will cast the spell."

After Master Isac cast the spell, they were instructed to be prepared to leave within the hour. A carriage would be waiting for them at the city gates. Once they reached the city gates, they were to talk to the inn keeper to learn the exact location of the stone and get supplies. They were provided with nothing but a travelling clock (enchanted to keep the wearer warm in the cold and cool in the heat), water skins, and two tents.

"One more thing before you go," Master Emmaline told stopped them right before they left. "There will be one more student joining you later. Her name is Esperanza Ciervo. She will contact you through this scrying mirror. She handed the mirror to Finlay. That is all. We will be waiting for your return."

He frowned for a split second when Emrin didn’t acknowledge Liah and himself. Glancing down he wondered if he said or did anything wrong recently. He listened to their mission, and was fine with it...that was until he heard the rules which were placed on them. Sometimes he wonders about the wisdom of these masters. Couldn’t they simply just put one on them that paralized them if they sold/ or intended to take it for themselves? However he decided to hinder long range combat, and force them all to stick together essentially. Which would limit his ability to fight because he moved around.

Brilliant. ‘Lets send students to get this extremely valuable relic, and hinder them at the same time. ‘ He sighed as the others asked questions, looking around at his new teammates. He noticed two other guys who seemed formidable. An odd girl..or guy, who was wearing a poncho backwards...Liah would love that. He was surprised to see she didn’t have a voice, scribbling her questions at an incredible speed. Apparently she was a hexer, with the way she asked the question and that only the one named Ryder had revealed he was a hexer as well.

He was sure it was fine, as there were different fighting styles even between two people who used the same magic. But he decided not to bring it up as the meeting was clearly coming to a close. He nodded at the last comment by one of the teachers and said nothing. But once he was done he turned to leave, nodding to his new companions. He then left for his room to get a shower changing into some traveling clothes, and a very small backpack, with only a few changes of clothes and essential traveling gear. He could hunt for their food easily if they needed it. He inspected his prosthetics, quickly as well, doing any last minute matentince and making sure he had quite a few extra mana stones with him before making his way to the Carriage.

He decided to not bother the others, and let them sleep… so he jumped ontop of the carriage. To be honest, he was lying to himself….he was just extremely awkward around people in a close space...His face turned red as he thought of the chance to sit next to Emrin and if she fell asleep. Not that he would do anything to her, just hope that she would rest her head on his shoulder. He shook his head as he was actually tempted, but the anxiety of making small talk with anyone else won out.

Probably better if they had someone on guard anyways… and he wasn't tired at all. The trip was uneventful, and quick thankfully. At least to him. He sat up when he noticed the town in view, and immediately he felt….something was off… It seemed too quiet… even in this early morning, usually someone is getting their day started. Standing up, he unslung his bow and pulled three arrows out of his quiver and knocked the first arrow. He waited for a moment, listening and watching. He stomped his left foot three times to wake up anyone who was still sleeping before jumping off. On the right side of the carriage. He took a deep breath. He didn’t like talking, but he was drilled enough to push that down when there needed to be communication. He glanced back and said softly. ” Guards up, Something’s off...Liah, stay back with Emrin. Ryder, follow just behind me.” he looked to Ryder, who had a spear as a weapon. He had seen him in combat, and would trust him to know how to clear a room, even if he was using a spear inside. Then to the blonde, ”If you're fine in close quarters follow up behind Ryder. “Before making a glance at the darked haired one with a rifle. “You can cover all of us. he said without giving anyone time to object as he turned and started to make his way to the Inn slowly. After a moment of checking around he opened the door to the inn, Quickly moving and looking around, turning with his bow up and the first arrow pulled back ready to fire. He stopped next to the fire on his left about five feet, giving enough room for Ryder and the blonde to come in behind him. They would immediately see that When they entered the inn there were 5 dead bodies scattered about and 3 sorcerers. One behind the counter who was holding a staff right in front of us, one on the far side of the room with a grimoire and one coming down from the stairs next to the counter had his dagger drawn.

---

Nodding at Master Isac's confirmation of the hex's non-interference, Ryder kept quiet as further questions were answered. Though he did raise a skeptical eyebrow at the student apparently scribbling his questions on a notebook. That seemed... rather inconvenient in emergencies of any sort... But he had been chosen for this mission and it wasn't Ryder's place to question the Masters' judgement.

Except he apparently had. He couldn't tell what the Poncho Guy had asked but the answer implied concerns about the hex and Master Isac's indignation implied things about how his own question had been received.

He hadn't meant to question Master Isac's abilities! Except he had. But not question question! ...Regardless, that was a grave sin he had now committed.

Ryder stared at the floor in silent mortification.

At least he had the hex explanation to listen to attempt distracting himself from his transgressions, which didn't exactly put his mind any more at ease. The proximity requirement was... worrying. He'd have to remember to stick close to someone but he didn't even know what sort of combat the rest of them preferred. If there was no one else to jump in melee with him, that could spell trouble for him.

But that was a problem for the future. The very near future apparently. Ryder did his best to keep any concern out of his face as their final instructions were laid out. Just an hour and they'd be kicked out the door... Well, it was an important mission so urgency shouldn't be so surprising.

The reveal of another student joining them later was surprising, however. Ryder wondered how they'd ensure her loyalty when she wasn't there for the hex, but it was not his concern. The Masters weren't nearly stupid enough not to consider and solve that so he didn't have to worry about it. His mind had plenty enough to occupy itself as it was.

After a visit to his room to get properly ready instead of the haphazard job he had done earlier, Ryder made it to the gates with a bit of time to spare still. With a touch of grumpiness, he shifted on his feet as he eyed the carriage. Stupid carriage. He didn't like it and he wasn't sure if being crammed in that moving box with a bunch of other people would make it better or worse. Regardless, it couldn't be avoided and complaining would be childish and stupid. So, he sucked it up and climbed on, mindful not to bump the spear slung over his shoulder into anything.

Since he wasn't exactly suffering from sleepiness and he most likely wouldn't be getting any shuteye even if he was, Ryder settled with just sitting quietly, trying not to be weird. Although he still couldn't help stealing glances at his brand new compatriots as he fidgeted and worked on gnawing through his lower lip. He hated this carriage already.

His suffering thankfully wasn't eternal, however, and after some time, three consecutive thuds from the roof of the deamded the attention of the carriage. The source of it was soon revealed to be their roof guard who apparently had concerns. Ryder wasn't quite sure what was up but, for now, he was content to do as he was told and even more content to vacate the carriage lickety-split.

As they approached the inn, Ryder readied his spear and kept his ear out for anything unusual, but the whole area was a bit strangely quiet even for this hour. You'd think at least someone was awake.

And then they went in and came face to face with a murder scene and the assumed perpetrators still about.

After the meeting, Emrin went back to her room and attempted to salvage her ruined notes. Then, she carefully packed her things and made her way to the meeting spot. The carriage ride should have been a good time to get to know her companions, but Emrin instead chose to spend the 2 hours sleeping. It was a better use of her time. She was suddenly woken up by someone stomping in the carriage, and woke up to see Liam getting off the carriage. Emrin ignored what he said and simply rolled her eyes and followed them out of the carriage, and drew her staff. She didn’t follow them all the way to the inn though, staying back by the carriage. Now that she was awake and out of the carriage she could see that Liam was right. Something was...off. Even though it was early in the morning the town seemed strangely empty.

The three sorcerers in the inn sprang into action the moment the door opened. The man on the stairs immediately drew a second dagger and leaped off the stairs at Liam. The man behind the counter immediately dropped the body he had been holding and drew his staff and cast a spell, sending a magic bolt in the doorway at Ryder and Finlay. Meanwhile, the last sorcerer, a woman, began a summoning spell, summoning a large white basilisk, which she used to attack the carriage that she had noticed through the window.

Emrin had been about to step up to help upon realizing they were under attack when the basilisk came crashing through the inn wall straight towards the carriage. She managed to get a shield up just in time, and the basilisk pulled back to strike again.

As Liam was ready with an arrow drawn, he quickly aimed at the sorcerer and fired. Turning his attention to the knifeman he raised his bow like a staff and blocked the knife by slamming it into the man's wrist. Allowing himself to fall backwards, he allowed the opponent's energy to push him back onto the floor. Raising his foot up against the man’s stomach, he then used the momentum to roll backwards and toss him behind him, into the path of the fire blast.

As the less than hospitable inn staff was revealed and registered in Ryder’s mind, he started casting a hex on himself but didn’t manage to quite finish before a magic bolt was hurled at them. Jumping to the side to evade it, Ryder came to a stop on one knee after a roll on the hopefully moderately clean floor, only slightly bruised and singed.

Finishing his own spell of boosting up his reflexes, he gave his two companions within the inn a glance. They weren’t dead and Prosthetics & Bow seemed to be handling the dagger guy well enough. So, without further thought, Ryder sprang into action and closed in on the sorcerer with the staff.

Easily jumping on top of the counter, Ryder sought to leverage the higher ground by first aiming a sweeping kick at the sorcerer’s staff to disarm him or at least knock the physical means of defense aside momentarily. Long enough for the spear bearer to attempt an attack. He went for the sorcerer’s shoulder, intending to prevent staff shenanigans more permanently.

Meanwhile outside, Liah was still groggy after being woken up. Having no issue with staying behind while the boys cleared the inn. However a large snake came out of nowhere and started attacking Emrin just barely managing to block the attack. Liah yelped and bolted from the carriage, making her way next to Emrin as her familiar rascal grew to the size of a tiger, growling at the much larger basilisk. Liah started to summon, and suddenly water seemed to shoot out of the ground in a spiral, taking shape into a blue mongoose. Slightly smaller than the basilisk but much larger than Rascal. Directing her summon to attack, the mongoose sprang at the basilisk and tackled it, wrapping it’s own body around it as it bit its neck. And rolled away with it.

Sidney had been sitting quietly in a corner (or at least as much as she could) lazily writing a letter to her family back home. If it were a paper for class she would have been able to pump it out in less than twenty minutes but had taken the time to add unnecessarily gratuitous detail to the sights as they rode and generally ignored her fellow classmates. They didn’t get to travel so why not let them live vicariously a bit?

By the time they finally stopped Em-something had fallen asleep, only waking up when Arm-and-Leg got up to leave the carriage. Since she was still putting the finishing touches on her letter she opted to wait until properly finishing before getting out.

She was so immersed in her writing that she didn’t notice anything was off until the wall of a building exploded and a large serpent - no! A basilisk erupted from it. With one hand she grabbed the window sill of the carriage to leap up and the other for her bolt-action that had been slung over her shoulder the whole ride. During her flip into the roof she got a proper look to the other side of the carriage. Nothing was coming at them at the moment. Dead or waiting in case these guys fail? It didn’t matter at the moment. Big ass snakes and whatever was going on inside had the priority.

Scoping down on the serpent, it was now wrapped by a blue transparent summon that was keeping it off of the sleeping Em-something. Too risky for a headshot? Hm, not great odds. Miss and she’ll get mad, maybe alert others and weaken our position. No. Better odds. Moving from where the head was, she aimed closer to where the heart, lungs and other more vital organs. It may be a summon but most still responded like any animal when injured. The first round hit the center of its body while the second only just clipped it.

The basilisk struggled against the mongoose, it’s body thrashing. As it thrashed its tail, a gust of wind blew the debris from the destroyed inn towards them. Emrin put up another shield and cast a spell on one of Sidney’s bullets, increasing its speed and power. The bullet ripped through the body of the basilisk, and it collapsed momentarily, before being healed and raising it’s head again. After being healed the basilisk finally managed to get a hold of the mongoose and tear it off of its body, flinging it to the side.

As Liam threw the man with the daggers over his shoulder, he cast a spell, diverting the magical bolt around him. Rather than go back to attack Liam, he immediately struck at Ryder, redirecting his spear enough that it merely grazed the staff-wielder’s shoulder, rather than piercing it. Then with his other hand he made an attempt to slash Ryder’s throat. The staff-wielder took cover behind the man with the daggers and called out to the summoner.

“Calla! Come! We’re pulling out. Hold them off with Beck.”

The Summoner, Calla, looked annoyed but obeyed the order and quickly ran to join the other two. Her basilisk followed her, knocking Ryder out of the way and positioning itself between the group of three sorcerers and the Isunian students. The sorcerer quickly began casting a teleport spell.

“They’re getting away!” Emrin cast an air bolt but was blocked by the basilisk and the group of sorcerers disappeared. Emrin swore and then walked into the inn, looking at the aftermath.

“We need to search the bodies. One of them might have a clue to where we need to go. Search the inn too. There should be supplies for us somewhere.” She looked around her, "If you're not ok with touching bodies, then look for the supplies or other clues." She walked up the body closest to her and started searching through his pockets.

---

Ryder did not foresee the dagger wielder leaping to the staff guy's defense and was rather taken aback by it. Just as he was registering the interference on his attack, the dagger wielder launched his counter-attack. Without much time or inches to spare, Ryder managed to jump back and down from the counter before he had his throat slashed open. He might have joined the unfortunate tavern patrons in redecorating the place if it wasn't for his hex.

What the hell? Wasn't Prosthetics & Bow keeping this guy busy?

Though he didn't have time to dwell on that and the situation hadn't exactly turned disastrous yet. He might've lost his high ground but he had his bearings now and he had a very obvious advantage on his side. Going against a spear with daggers wasn't very wise.

However, just as quickly as the dagger wielder had joined the fray, they were calling for a retreat. Therefore, Ryder didn't exactly have time to demonstrate spear superiority because the big goddamn snake came crashing back into the tavern just as he began his attempt to repay the favor to the dagger wielder. He could register the basilisk coming but his body wasn't quite fast enough to change course mid-momentum. Thus, the serpent swept him aside and he slammed onto the floor on his shoulder.

Well, that'll bruise but it barely qualifies as an injury.

As one of the students' shouted her warning of runaways, Ryder quickly got back on his feet and flipped the spear in his hand to ready for a throw. Not the greatest strategy that, tossing your casting aide at the enemy but there wasn't really sufficient room for better ideas with the damn basilisk on the way. So he went with his instincts and tried to line up a shot at the sorcerer, he just needed a little opening and then-

Gone.

Frowning, Ryder lowered his spear as he took a quick look around just to make sure no more enemies lingered for some reason. Satisfied with the lack of murderers in their immediate vicinity, he leaned on his spear and stretched his shoulder as his frown deepened.

That did not go well at all. I would've had that teleport guy if I hadn't let the dagger wielder take me by surprise. I shouldn't have assumed-

The call to search the bodies and the inn jerked him back to the situation at hand and he redirected his focus on the carnage littering the floor. He wasn’t exactly in the business to be squeamish about dead people so he figured he might as well take on that task. Locating the corpse closest to him, he headed off to begin his mission of rifling through pockets for… something.

The man closest to Ryder groaned and coughed. He was lying on his belly and although had no external injuries, was close to death. He made a feeble attempt to drag himself slightly closer to Ryder, extending his hand toward him.

Well, shit.

Quickly taking the last few steps to close the distance between himself and the dying man, Ryder knelt down as he raised his voice to call out to the others without taking his eyes off the man. “Do any of you know how to heal!?”

Not wanting to move the guy in case of internal injuries, Ryder nevertheless tried to scan the man for any signs of damage even though he couldn’t yet see any. ”Where are you hurt?” he tried quizzing the patient himself in hopes he could help himself out a bit.

The man didn’t reply and instead handed Ryder a sealed scroll, “Hex… hold… seal to the hex.” He coughed again, “Be wary of…” The man coughed up a wad of blood and before he could finish his sentence, passed away.

Glancing down at the scroll as it was handed to him, Ryder opened his mouth to ask further questions about it but didn't get a word out before the incomplete warning was uttered. Ominous but not exactly unexpected. It would've been nice to know what this threat to their mission in particular this was...

With a troubled frown, he closed the now dead man's eyes and, after a moment, pushed himself back up to his feet. Directing his attention back on the scroll, Ryder shifted it in his hand a bit to get a better look at the seal. Assuming the hex meant the one Master Isac cast on them, He placed the seal against the hex mark and sure enough, the scroll unfurled to reveal its secrets.

It didn't take Ryder long to identify the scroll's contents and he lifted his head up to glance back up at his fellow students. "This man had a map," he announced to them matter-of-factly. That ought to be a rather good clue on where they needed to go.