They spent the rest of the day getting ready, helping Meti prepare something from what they harvested from the mineral bull and, once she finished with that, making other preparations. They still had to work out who would go where. Tahir and Dahlia had to find the final orb, Hasio could lead someone back to the orb in the tree, and they wanted to mix mages and aura users between them. Tahir counted himself as a mage, so that provisionally set the split of he and Theo, then Hasio and Meti, but they would have to determine if that would stay true depending on if Shukri managed to find them sizable help.
To their surprise, when they went back to the main square of the village, they found only Shukri there, sitting and waiting for them. “I was beginning to think you’d all gotten cold feet.” She stood at her approach, strapping her spear to her back. “To where do we travel?”
“So you’re our help for this?” Tahir asked. The group planned things out under the impression that Shukri’s help might come in the form of a small hunting party, but they understood that she might not have been able to get even that. “Not that I’m not grateful, but I figured you’d be leading a hunting party.”
“The other hunters are capable enough. The ones we have left have banded together in smaller groups and are sticking to the outskirts of the grove until more can recover. Regardless, if what you’ve spoken about planar rifts and arcane devices is true, then destroying these orbs is a priority, and thus, I am here.”
“We’re happy to have you, though this does change our plans a bit.” Meti said, and went on to explain their current arrangement, as well as their consideration for having Tahir and Hasio leading and wanting to keep a mage in each group.
Shukri looked between everyone, considering the situation for a moment before speaking, “It is a simple arrangement, isn’t it? I will go with the spirit summoner, and you three can go together.” She said, gesturing to Hasio, Meti, and Theo.
“I suppose you’re right.” Meti said, after a pause. “There is an inherent danger in just you two going, but I suppose we’re not much better off since we’re also not going with a full hunting party.”
“We’ll be fine, I think.” Tahir said. Shukri also caught him off guard with the suggestion, but the more he thought about it, the more it fit for the current situation. “We’ve seen her in action, between the two of us, destroying the orb and avoiding getting into any fights shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Okay, if you say so.” Theo looked unsure, but she didn’t challenge the idea. “If it comes down to it, I can just pick Meti up and run off with her. Hasio can turn invisible, too.”
“Then it’s settled.” Shukri said, hands on her hips with a smile on her face. Tahir also noticed that her tail had gone straight up, threatening to curl around her neck.
“Right, right, we’re all agreed on making very bad choices for ourselves.” Hasio said. “But since we’ve arranged that, we should move fast. I don’t know if the same guy will be checking a different place, or if it’s the same time each day, so we need to get moving before they catch on to us destroying the orbs, so we can maybe keep track of what they’ll do in response.”
“Before you go, Shukri, take one of these.” Meti pulled something out of her storage bag. A buckler, a small shield she could strap to her arm, although this one had the skin of the mineral bull layered over the metal.
“How peculiar.” Shukri said, as she took the buckler. “This must have taken quite the feat of craftsmanship to create. How does the skin stick to the metal?”
“I had Theo here create an adhesive.” Meti explained. “Alchemically created and enhanced, so it is strong enough to keep it on even in combat. You would need someone of immense strength, perhaps you, using nearly all of your aura to strengthen yourself to pull it apart, and I’m sure you are more than familiar with the hardness of the skin. I managed to create five of them last night, and planned to keep the last as a spare, but I believe you will make more use of it.”
“I am grateful. I tend not to fight with shields, they are usually bulky and unwieldy for me, but I believe I can work with this.” Shukri said, strapping the shield to her right arm.
“It is also hard to find material that will last when you are dealing with aura and magic, I am aware. Carrying a slab of pure adamantine isn’t exactly feasible unless you plan to fight with it. But the mineral bull’s skin provides quite a similar hardness, and I have enough to replace parts that are chipped off. In any case, a small shield is better than no shield.”
“Better to deflect than taking the full brunt of a hit to your aura shields when you can.” Tahir said, nodding in agreement. “With that in mind, we’re just about ready to go. I know I don’t have much of a right to say this, but be careful out there you guys, try not to be too reckless.”
With that, the groups left the grove in the same direction, to give the impression that they were also going out as a small hunting party to anyone who happened to watch them. Once they’d gotten out of the grove, they split up. Tahir summoned Dahlia to lead them to the other disturbance, while Hasio took Meti and Theo to the tall tree where he’d seen the orb the previous day. They split up with the gray of the overcast sky overhead, heading off in different directions for the same goal.
###
“So, Shukri, are you doing alright?” Tahir asked. Once the group split up, Dahlia began to lead them toward the location of presumably another orb. With a high chance whoever placed them hid them like they did with the other two. Dahlia’s pacifying presence would keep normal predators at bay, and Shukri would be able to tell if anything abnormal came close long before it reached them.
“What do you mean? Be specific, if I was not ‘alright’ I would not be here.” She replied.
“I mean, from yesterday. It seemed like a lot to deal with, especially with Hayat.” The hunters basically had to switch from going out and hunting creatures to a more defensive position to keep things from entering the grove. Not to mention, some of the hunters died and several were injured.
“Oh. I am alright. It is not the first disaster we have been dealt, and it likely won’t be the last. For Hayat, I simply had not seen him so injured since just before his wedding.”
Tahir didn’t say anything immediately, hoping for her to elaborate, when she didn’t, he felt the need to ask. “...His wedding?”
Shukri turned her head to look at him, and sighed. “Right, of course you wouldn’t know. Among hunters, the right to wed can be reserved, and they can call for duels to narrow and choose their suitors. Hayat, of course, got married when his husband finally defeated him in a duel. It is how my parents wed as well, and I’ve chosen a similar path. I will not tie myself to someone who isn’t stronger than me.”
You’re gonna be waiting an awful long time then, aren’t you? Tahir thought to himself. “Interesting. Where is Hayat’s husband, if you don’t mind me asking? Or your parents for that matter?”
“In the Sea of Grass.” Shukri answered. “We were traveling between the two places, when our shamans received an omen that one of our settlements was in danger. We had to rapidly split and travel between there and here to make sure we reached both places at an adequate time, and there wasn’t quite enough to make sure everyone could stay together.” Shukri shrugged. “I chose to go here. I preferred hunting here to the Sea of Grass, anyway. Perhaps I shall visit them once we know the grove is safe.” She brought her gaze to focus on him, appraisingly. “And after I make sure you and yours are properly rewarded for your help, should these orbs you’re leading us to prove to be the problem. Speaking of, what do you even desire in a reward?”
Though he kept walking, the question gave Tahir pause. He didn’t know how to answer immediately, so Shukri took the opportunity to continue speaking, “The smith wants metals, the alchemists wants herbs and such, that other boy seems like the fortune seeker, but you - Hayat mentioned to me that you lot didn’t even ask for coins. Which he found strange for a group that included Redclouds, so what is it that you are seeking? You are far too helpful for simple travelers seeking supplies. You in particular especially. You are helpful in hunts, and it is clear you’ve hunted before, but you are no hunter. So what do you want?”
She seemed more inquisitive than accusatory. At this point, Tahir didn’t feel the need to hide what he came to the area for. “For me? Some time in that leyline crossing in the Grove, and a chat with one of your shamans wouldn’t hurt. I would like to grow my spirit magic, and since I haven’t been doing it very long, talking to people who use it would be invaluable for me. I already learned an incredible amount from talking to a spirit mage in Isanthyr.”
“The elven city?” Shukri asked. “They barely let us in for trade.”
“My work for the Redclouds got us in temporarily, but by the time we left we had permanent visas.” Tahir explained, allowing himself to brag a bit.
“What work could your group have done to be honored so highly?” Her eyes narrowed.
“That will take a bit to explain.” He started with describing the Redcloud’s sponsorship, and finding the unicorn as the group traveled from Esharia to Isanthyr. From there, he told Shukri about his experience in the elven city. The gap in their defenses caused by the ruin and its void corruption, what would be revealed to be the maligno sending wave after wave of disposable creatures at the gaps in the barrier in order to break through, until it finally managed to sneak through and enter the final floor of the ruin to meet the group while they fought the cairn lord. In the same way he’d given the description of the events to the other Redclouds and the guards in Isanthyr, he didn’t want to go in depth, but Shukri seemed fairly interested in the events of each fight, pressing him for details.
He managed to avoid saying anything about quintessence, but he had to talk about nearly every other aspect of the fight, and quite a few things he had to leave off and tell her to ask the others about it later.
“So this Murabi fellow,” Shukri started, after he’d finished his explanation. He couldn’t have gotten anywhere without explaining Murabi’s role in things, and she seemed especially interested in Tahir’s recollection of Murabi’s fight with the cairn lord, or at least what Tahir saw of it. “you called him a mentor - was he the one who taught you that odd technique with aura that you used underwater?”
Tahir stiffened. He’d caught her surprise when she actually saw it, but between everything they found out since he hoped that she might have forgotten. “Yes. It’s something from his homeland and I’d hope you can keep it a secret for now.”
Before he could get into why, Dahlia stopped moving, and turned. “We’re nearly there.” She said, “The source of the disturbance is nearby, certainly.”
