The away team was surrounded by kudzu and other green plants starting to spread. At the front Tiffany walked forward carefully, projecting out calm to them all.

Abigail could see it all through her helmet. She usually didn’t bother with it in adventuring but for the siege she had all her equipment on. The helmet showed her the traces of magic coming out from the druid. Its guess was that the girl was trying to keep them calm and unbothered they were being stood on. The helmet wasn’t alive, but meticulous rune crafting had gotten it to at least recognise basic changes in the aether.

Albert was carrying Suncat on his back. They’d tried having her walk, but the kudzu seemed to recognise her as demonic and try to grow over her. They could just cut down the plants in their way, but they’d lose the element of surprise and then it’d all be over.

They were about halfway to their target when the battle began for the others. Abigail watched as a flash of something rippled across the aether over the kudzu. Her helmet sent her back confusion when it tried to interpret it.

“Amusement,” said Tiffany.

After that the magic running through the kudzu sprinted away. It looked like all of the focus was going towards the town. That made their travel time quicker as they stopped needing to sneak, but also meant they had to be fast to deal with the problem.

She picked up Tiffany and ran towards their target. Suncat jumped off Albert and the two ran with her. Ironically, the kudzu’s takeover made it an easier run. Instead of a forest to make their way through they instead had a wide-open area to make their way through. The kudzu was so thick that even through the vines it was like running on soft earth. It didn’t matter how fast they went though it would still be too long. The town wasn’t made of warriors, eventually there’d be casualties. Still, she wouldn’t go faster, running was fine but useless if they turned up out of breath.

A short run later and they made it to the elf. He was still sitting down directing the plants and only stood up when he saw them. He was in full leather armour, and he moved unhurried. Confident then.

“Surrender elf, there is no version of this fight you win. You’re outnumbered,” said Abigail. Mercy was practical here. If they could get him to stop before the fight, then they gained time.

The elf tilted his head. He seemed amused and Abigail realised he too was aware time was on his side.

“You set me up for my line you know,” he said.

“How’s that?”

“I’m not outnumbered.”

The kudzu they were standing on opened beneath them. Abigail leapt away before it could catch her. Tiffanys plants never opened as she kept them shut. Albert managed to dodge too, but Suncat fell through the hole that closed around her.

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Out of the other gaps, a hand made of plants pulled itself out. Four plant creatures crawled into the light and rushed at the group. They were similar to the golems, if a little less cohesive.

Albert swept out with his spear, the wind cutting off one of the things arms as it reached for him. Vines grew out of the stump and reattached the limb. Tiffany was holding hers back with her magic. An intense battle of territory going on between them. Abigail could only hope that Suncat was okay down there.

That was all the time she had for the rest of them before her own golem rushed her. She cut into it and sent a limb flying. She went to follow up when her helmet warned her of something to the side.

She brought her sword up just in time to stop the elf’s knife from plunging into her. He’d been aiming for the thin gap in her armour.

Her eyes widened. She hadn’t thought he’d be able to fight and control the plants. She shoved him back, but the golem struck at her again and she had to defend against it.

The fight continued and she tried to push through. Individually she thought that she could beat them, but together they were holding her off. She tried to burn the thing, but it would dance away whenever she did.

She managed a glance at the two children. Tiffany was making slow headway, the plants around her ripping at the golem and keeping it in place. The girl might win if she could keep up her concentration. She already seemed to be flagging.

Albert was the wind, diving across and cutting at the golem viciously. He was a prodigy with that spear and knife, but this was a bad matchup for him. The golem just kept regrowing faster than he could cut.

The elf rushed Abigail with the golem. They attacked her relentlessly, but she was able to block them. Her mind raced ahead. They hadn’t tried anything like this so far, trying to keep their stamina. Why would they do it now.

She worked it out too late, they were stopping her from moving.

Vines opened up around her and she sunk into the floor as they tied onto her legs. The golem raised its arms up to strike her down as she struggled against the vines holding her.

Her helmet warned her of a massive surge of aether around her. She grimaced. She wasn’t sure she could take that. She could feel the ground heating up around her. Wait. Warmth?

A pillar of flame erupted from beneath her, scouring the ground around her and burning away the vines. The elf danced behind his golem and let it take the brunt of the flame.

Suncat panted as she stood up. Dirt and bits of fire clung to her dishevelled state. The vines had pulled her down but there had only been a crawl space down there. The poor goblin must have been fighting against them the whole time.

With a hiss she swept flame at Alberts golem. It burned and fell to ash. She went to do the same to Tiffany’s but stopped.

Tiffany’s eyes were glowing. She walked up to the golem and pulled her hand back.

“You’re no druid,” she said, “you’re just a mage playing pretend!”

She plunged her hand into the golem, and it unravelled before their eyes.

Her eyes stopped glowing. She stumbled but caught herself and came and joined up with the rest of them.

The elf watched them all. He still hadn’t lost the smile of his face.

“My secret’s out,” he said. The comment seemed to amuse him greatly. The plants around him shrivelled as he pulled his own magic back to him.

Abigail was impressed, he’d mimicked druid craft by saturating the area in his mana. That shouldn’t even be possible. He must have made those plants specifically for such a thing. She noted that there was still a path of green to where the town fought. He was still pushing forward there.

The aether he’d taken swirled into his body, and he stood a little straighter. Infusing himself like that was also an odd way to use magic. It’s like he’d learnt a completely new school.

“Let’s see how well you do in a proper fight,” the elf said with a grin.

Abigail’s sword burned blue. The warmup was over, here came the real fight.