With the destruction we had caused, and the suggested spike in difficulty of our quest, we decided to remain near the cleft as we made camp. It was time to make camp anyway. It would also give us a bit of an idea how many Undead were in the area and how much trouble we would have to expect, while preparing fortifications on the next day.
The evening’s discussion itself was surprisingly short. The natives could see the desire radiating from Kirl, the passionate wish to cleanse the land permanently. To do something that was simply right. The desire to do good was a powerful one, especially as it promised benefits to us, too, making it doubly attractive. In turn, the risk was impossible to estimate. My group had seen incredibly powerful Undead before, but the other group had only seen the weak Undead we had swept aside with little trouble. I had spoken in warning, but I wasn’t sure just how well my warning had been heard.
For the Travellers among us, the promise of increased rewards was a siren’s song, attractive even to me, and I had confidence that, if the worst happened, Sigmir and I would be able to escape. Being among the most powerful of a group had its advantages, when fleeing, one did not have to be faster than the lion, only faster than the slowest member of the group.
The night passed mostly uneventful, a few Undead trickling in, but no great assault, nor any of the Hunting Skeletons we had been facing during our journey through the Dorrian Mountains.
In the morning, I took Kirl, Adra, Myra and Mibo to the other side of the cliff, in order to construct some simple fortifications. Hopefully, that would give us a reasonably sturdy base to defend.
On our short journey, we didn’t run into any serious opposition, just a few skeletons that appeared to have recently risen and were quickly destroyed by one of the two daimons. Their way of battle was similar to how Sigmir fought, only instead of using pure, physical might, they were using elemental magic. That gave them additional, explosive damage but greatly limited their staying-power, both in terms of stamina and endurance. They simply couldn’t fight as long as Sigmir could, nor could they take as much of a beating and keep going, and that was assuming they had the same level. Regardless, they were enough for the short jaunt, leaving Sigmir and Rai behind, to keep things secured.
The other side of the cleft was just as desolate and decayed as the one we had arrived at. Dead trees, scattered branches and the wind whistling down from the mountains, carrying a chillingly cold air, filled with enough disturbing power to make even me shiver made the whole scenery deeply disturbing. No horror-movie could come even close to the visceral discomfort I was feeling. The others weren’t much better off, especially Adra looked pale and shaken, her connection to Nature and the land making her especially vulnerable. The same problem had occurred in the mountains, so I knew she could deal but made a mental note to inquire about her condition, simply to show support.
“Can you guide us to the best site for your ritual?” I asked Kirl, not certain what her ritual needed in terms of locality and space. She nodded, guiding us to the highest point above the cleft, roughly in the middle. There, she walked off a circle, maybe twenty feet in diameter, before turning back to me.
“Here, this is where I’ll perform the Ritual of Cleansing.” she told me, looking determined.
“And we will keep you safe while you do so.” I promised, my eyes measuring the land. It wasn’t really flat and there were a few dead trees in the way, but it would have to do.
“Mibo, Myra, can the two of you clear those trees away?” I asked, pointing the offending trunks out.
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“Certainly. What do you have in mind?” Mibo asked, looking slightly confused.
“You shall see. Please, get to work, as will I. Adra, please keep watch.” I ordered, before starting off a few feet away from the circle Kirl had pointed out, carefully creating a rune from Hard Ice. What I had in mind would need a rather massive amount of Astral Power, so having solid runes in place would make things easier. If there was snow on the ground, I would be able to use that but there was none, so I had to make my own.
Forming one Rune after the other and carefully connecting them in the dwarven style I had learned, I made my way around the circle, surrounding it with a large runic formation. By the time I reached them, the daimons had cleared away the trees, their strength coming in handy, and I was able to complete the circle in a reasonable time-frame. Still, after crawling around for a good hour, I was glad for the endurance-attribute that kept me from feeling too much pain.
Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, I stepped back, gesturing for the others to move back, too.
“This might take a bit of time. Please, guard my back, I won’t be able to defend myself.” I asked them, closing my eyes for a moment, feeling the prepared formation. It was the largest I had used, thus far, but it was simple, not a strain on my ability.
Focusing power through the crown on my head, I channelled Astral Power into the formation. A part of my mind was focused on that task, while another large part, together with Lenore, was focused on drawing in Astral Power from the Astral River around us and filtering the unpleasant Death-element out. That filtering was mostly done by Lenore, who took it into herself, her affinity allowing her to use it without much trouble. My own affinity was simply not high enough to use it without suffering for it.
The first few moments, the formation simply lit up, Astral Power gathering until finally, the concentration was high enough and the foundation was set. Hard Ice rose from the formation, my mind carefully forming it into the fortification I envisioned. Nothing fancy, simply a sturdy wall, with an opening at one spot and a walk-way up top. It would allow us to focus our defence on that one spot. Hopefully, the Undead would remain as unintelligent as they had been in the Dorrian Mountains. If so, the defence would be easy, especially with a ranged attacker up on the wall, giving me excellent vision and some protection.
Wiping off sweat, I turned around, looking at the others. The looks on their faces were quite similar to the way they had looked after I wiped out the Undead in the cleft. Apparently, pulling a small fortification out of thin air was impressive, making me wonder just how I measured up with other spell-casters. From what I’d seen on the forums, most spell-casters had their fixed tricks and very little when it came to the free-style casting inherent to the pure Magic-skills. Or it might be that it was portrayed that way on the forum.
“Let’s head back. My plan is to put up similar fortifications at the other two ritual-sites and I’ll need a bit of time to recover after setting them up.” I ordered, before explaining my plans further.
“This site will get four defenders, one of you,“ I pointed at the two daimons, “together with Olivia, Jakyl and Rai. That should give this group a good combination of staying-power, magical attacks and healing. In addition, Jakyl’s supportive effect can affect the largest number of people.” I explained, getting some nods in return, before continuing.
“On the other side, one group will be composed of Sigmir, Adra and Mal, the other will be composed of Gilo, myself and the other of you.” I finished. It wasn’t a perfect plan, but in my opinion, it would give us the best option. Putting Sigmir and myself on the same side of the cleft also added the nice benefit that I would be able to let Lenore fly over and, with reasonable difficulty, would be able to channel power over, if I moved close enough. It also made sure that if either of the lesser sites got overwhelmed, we could focus on one, while I had the ability to fly across the cleft if needed, reinforcing the major site.
In addition, we distributed the Travellers, our unique abilities adding an extra layer, even if there were some restrictions. If there was a better distribution, I didn’t know what it would be.
“If you think that is the best set-up, it will be done that way.” Mibo accepted, before looking at Myra for a moment, “Will you stay here? I will stay with the other group.” he suggested, getting a nod in reply. With that, the set-up seemed to be decided. With nods all around, we quickly started back to the other side of the cleft. I still had about two hours until noon and I hoped to get another fortification up before then.