In life when you think everything is going your way the universe can be a right asshole and throw a curve ball to your plans. William was used to these curve balls. This kidnapping hit closer then he thought it would.
Hags were literal boogeymen near Runick. Dragging children down into the depths of the swamps into their lairs for dark purposes. The only thing given back as a pittance to grieve over were boiled broken bones slurped of their marrow. It is why the younger children didn’t venture far from village.
William knew he would have to deal with the hags eventually. But a coven was a different kettle of fish entirely. Hag covens in any sort of fiction were powerful entities. The usually selfish individualistic creatures would make a pact between themselves to grow their overall power. The crux of a pact made by selfish creatures is that if one falls the others scatter to the four winds to escape. All he had to do was kill one measly power upped hag and be on his way at least he hoped that’s what it would be. Then it was a search and rescue operation.
If William didn’t go after the children and at least try to recover them the older of the orphans might not respect him. This would set a dangerous precedent. William was to be their teacher, his influence would change their class into something only he could help with. He would rather have curious or aloof students than combative. Any child worth anything was pretty smart when they wanted to. Thus the need to look for the missing children.
This would be a difficult hunt, one he needed his best people for. Therefore after persuading the equite to dismount her sturdy warhorse with the promise of good food and a warm bedroll. He gathered a few materials from his workshop and ran around finding his companions. William had Kena, and Grock ride with him. Cluci would fly above giving a faster route northeast to where the legion had lost the children.
All haste was given and with the training of path finding the villages hunters had given Cluci they made much better time then if they had stayed on the main road. However Cluci’s training wasn’t complete nor perfectly memorized. Therefore as the party of good acquaintances rode onward and nights passed encounters were had with a few starved beasts but Cluci put them down without much problem one bullet through the head every time. One almost got to the horse but it wasn’t about that and kicked the damn things jaw. Cluci pity killed it. However it was an encounter with feeding swamp troll that finally clued William that Cluci was still inexperienced.
The fifteen year old Cluci decided to not check an indicator. It was an honest mistake evidently. Swamp trolls evidently indicate their territory to other trolls via a stack of four stones weird concept. This particular troll’s stone towers had toppled over due the now dead deer the troll had been snacking on. Cluci never saw the troll but the trio on the horse certainly did as they passed the rocky outcropping it was partaking its meal behind.
Kena got first whack on it. Her spell that was meant to keep the troll from moving via a gravity well worked but caused the corpse of the deer to be crushed splattering blood and viscera across the snowy swampland. The troll became enraged as its meal had been pulverized then tried to overcome the spell but failed at doing so. Grock then took out his air rifle and summarily place a bullet through an eye. William then created a bag of thermite and ran over to the hopefully soon to be dead troll. Hell Kena went the further mile and caused a loose rock to partially crushed the trolls skull in. William then placed the thermite on the trolls chest and lit it. The thermite summarily burned a two inch hole through the chest of the troll.
Cluci got a light scolding but in truth. It was a honest mistake. After this encounter the journey towards the the scuffle was light in the contact of other denizens of the swamps. It took the small group of four around a seven days to reach what looked like a scuffle on the main road. Instead of the usual legion march with eventual wagon ruts instead smaller boot prints were found along with some more unsavory claw like foot prints in the mud. Kena was able to pick up the traces of powerful magic.
William had told her about what the suitcase did and wondered if mana was a piece of the electromagnetic spectrum. It was a long shot, but he had taken leaps of faith before with his designs. Turns out he was correct somewhat. Kena just didn’t have the skills necessary to tell what type or which end of the spectrum. But she could see every spectrum all at once as a rainbow of color or lack there of. To make a story short she fainted the first time she used it and nearly fell off the horse. Thankfully she had Grock. He was riding caboose back to back with Kena. Evidently it was more comfortable to sit like that.
As Kena started sliding off he took his rifle and kept her from falling. William had to fix the barrel as it was slightly out of alignment but Grock held her like that for entire hour. After that episode William told her to practice the skill at night. While it wouldn’t reduce most other forms of light at least the visible spectrum wouldn’t interfere if she was in complete darkness. This helped a little bit as there wasn’t any visible light choking her vision. However, with the lack of visible light the traces and slow moving radiation picking out which were which required brute force.
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Kena would say what she saw and describe the areas or how the radiation was moving and William would slowly match each to its given name. The process was slow. So while she was squinting she activated the newly acquired skill. Kena seemed keen on not wanting to faint again especially when it was night. While it was slow going there are only so many types of electromagnetic radiation. By the time they arrived and found the kidnapping sight Kena had at least learned what could be rooted out as lingering magic.
To Kena’s description of the lingering magical energy it seemed to have multiple states but this was an academical matter. Right now it gave them a clear trail to follow as it retreated through the swamp. They would have to continue on foot and leave the horse. William had promised the equite food and lodging, but nothing on the state of her horse. However the horse should be fine against most beasts its kicks had broken many a jaw and rib.
Thankfully Grock was fairly strong for his race so their supplies were moved to various bags while removing the saddle. The horse was told to follow the road back to the big stone thing it had seen seven days ago. It gave a rudimentary answer but it at least left in the right direction. Without the horse their progress slowed as Kena was barely able to make out the faint trail of decaying mana. There were many times the trail seemed to disappear only to reappear on the following bank. Eventually the swamps and mires gave way to a copse of gnarled trees surrounding a small hill rising above the murky swamp.
Kena saw that the area was bathed in a dome of various magics. William had Kena give a maximum altitude to the dome to Cluci so he could scout out the area. While they waited William made a lot of just one thing. The largest glass jug Grock could throw at least twenty five feet away from himself. Kena could have done it but William needed her to keep an eye out for invisible foes stalking them as he spoke with the coven.
If Will could he would end this peacefully no need to rile up every hag in the entire area that would be suicide. Hags were notorious at having underlings of some sort. It wasn’t uncommon that a surviving member of a coven would do the token effort to at least annoy her coven members killers. In lieu of this he would try to be reasonable but he always had his checklist to fall back on. They had only checked a single box so far. They deserved the right to just hand back the children. But if they escalated, well he was prepared.
First he needed a good idea of what was going on around the lair of the coven. When Cluci came back he didn’t really know what to say it was a hill and some trees there was likely an underground area to the hill but he had no eyes he did locate two possible entrances. A larger cave entrance that seemed somewhat unused as grass was growing over the majority of dirt around the cave.
The other entrance was smaller connected to a path, funnily enough the one they were waiting on right now. Cluci advised the big dumb obvious hole. The other was likely a trap or both were. He couldn’t say without being closer. William added there might be escape tunnels under the water.
He would go in by himself and try to at least ask for children nicely if that failed escalation on their end was warranted. William told the rest to hunker down and hope they could just do this the easy way. So William went on a walk. Immediately after he had crossed the threshold of the magic dome he felt watched. William chuckled within his mind as he walked down the path to the smaller entrance.
Ha ha…So predictable a scrying spell of some sort probably. Well lets at least tell them they can’t pull their old granny routine. William then spoke directly towards where he felt the strange presence. “Forgive me, but it is rude to stare at a guest. For starting introductions I am William Willow and you have something of mine. I come not to bargain but ask for that which was taken is returned. I’ll meet you inside your abode I would advise for you to disable any traps or telling your possible underlings to stand down or hide them to surprise me.” The presence disappeared as he finished.
So William kept walking. Eventually entering the smaller cave entrance Cluci had found. He didn’t see any traps but he did see an old gnarled wooden door with an impeccably clean door handle. Approaching, William knocked on the rotting door and the door opened. When the door opened William thanked himself for the foresight to create some Carmex to lather his nose in. The place was rancid with rot and decay. But thankfully not corpse rot.
Beyond the door the dirt interior was covered in fungus and mold. Thin roots hung down from the ceiling giving shadows to the already dimly lit room. The only nice thing in the entire place was a large table made from the cap of a monstrous mushroom. Sitting at the table were three figures covered in all manners of rotted linens or various plant vines growing to create the semblance of tattered dresses.
The middle figure was massive in comparison to her compatriots. Its shoulders while sitting down were with Williams head while standing. The rest of its figure was hidden by a large hood. The other two unassuming hags were the same size but were vastly different in their appearances.
While one had the normal hag air around her green skin, long white hair, and a long curved nose that came to a point. The other was nearly invisible in the shadows. The only saving grace to giving her presence away was the fireplace that was burning behind her. Her skin was iridescently purple with long hair, black as night.
The larger of the three then spoke in a deep nasal voice meeting the stereotype for hags keeping to their bit as elderly ladies living in the middle of the swamp.
“This member of Drageth Coven welcomes Mr. Willow to our abode. Down to business, Mr Willow, why are you here? My…Our Coven, as far as we know has never come across you in our travels.”
William strode forward layed his hand on some fungus he recognized and turned the overly large mushroom into a very comfortable armchair. Taking a seat and folding his legs he then spoke in a stern but level voice.
"You have a number of children equal too or less than ten individuals they are a part of territories and advise you to release them I do hope nothing has befallen them or consequences will be applied."