Tahir could vaguely see larger things grabbing at and attempting to pass through the barrier, but the guards stationed directly inside it seemed to do a good job of keeping anything that large at bay. The sheer number of creatures caused several to slip through the gaps, and most of them immediately ran toward the ruin. Before any of them could reach, Tahir cast the soulflame spell on his sword, looking at it in wonder as the flame that sprang to life on his blade took on an eerie white color rather than the green he knew. Thinking on it, the Winged Serpent’s presence in his soul might have had an effect on the spell. Something for him to test later.

The elves at the ruin’s entrance fired on past Tahir and Meti, their arrows whistling by with the great force at which they fired. Tahir glanced back briefly, seeing black bows and heavy arrows, and guessed them to be made specifically for aura enhanced shots. Looking back, the wooden men that the arrows hit either staggered back, or fell as parts of them burst from the arrows’ impacts. I’ve got to get one of those. He thought, but focused on the few creatures that managed to get past the hail of arrows.

Sturdy and steady, Tahir held his stance firm. He had to use aura to keep himself at regular speed with the earth spirit, so he didn’t want to move around too much when he could avoid it. Keeping relatively still also let the ruin’s guards fire around him. Meti stayed back, shooting magic bolts at the wooden men before they could reach, and once they got close enough, Tahir swung out. With spirit enhanced weight, and not worrying about having to dodge away immediately after swinging, his blade carved through wood as if it was paper.

He kept swinging, dispatching a second, third, and fourth before they could get past him. The Winged Serpent fired bolts of divine energy from above, and used its own magic to wrap a divine shield around Tahir and Meti. With this arrangement, Tahir felt relatively safe, knowing he could take a few hits even if they swarmed him. Meti conjured a wide blue blade at the end of her staff, making it look like an axe, and rushed up to join Tahir. They could carve through them just fine when they came in smaller waves, but the situation escalated, and Tahir spotted a sizable crowd heading toward the ruin, about two dozen of them.

Rushing forward Tahir moved to cast a spell. Once he got it ready, he stood a few feet away from the oncoming crowd before he released it, slamming his foot onto the ground. The earth beneath their feet ruptured, cracks appearing as a localized tremor caused many of them to topple and fall. An intermediate spell made castable by the earth spirit’s affinity, and possibly a minor affinity granted by his blessing from Odium. While they tried to get up, he rapidly cast a second spell, letting a wave of fire from his hands envelop them on the ground. He then stepped back, to let a flurry of arrows and magic bolts tear into any that survived.

He had enough mana to cast a couple more spells, and plenty of aura, but he didn’t think they could easily deal with another horde like that. When he looked to the barrier, his eyes winded as what looked to be moving trees, though black and leafless, tried to break their way through the barrier. Elves on the other side stabbed away and fired off spells, but they seemed to have little effect on them.

As the trees crowded around, more of the wooden men slipped through and formed another horde. As they approached the ruin, Tahir readied himself to cast the same set of spells again, when a shadow passed overhead. Landing in the center of the crowd of wooden men, another tremor shook the ground, one caused purely by aura as Talibah stood amongst the group of fallen creatures.

“You alright back here?” She glanced back toward Tahir, fixed him with a confused look. Tahir didn’t know why - until he realized that he had the serpentine eyes and the white scales that marked the Winged Serpent’s bond. After he nodded in response, she raised her arms in a long stretch and gave a loud yawn. “What a thing to wake up to. The others are clearing their floors of the ruin right about now, yeah? Lets not cause them any more stress.”

She took off toward the barrier, a flash of pink that passed through several confused elves as she leaped through the barrier and cut one of the walking trees in half. A one-woman army, she drew enough attention outside the barrier that nothing else got through, at least nothing that the elves at the barrier couldn’t deal with immediately. Shortly after, the fighting died down. Tahir let his spells, and the bond with the Winged Serpent fade after thanking the spirit for its help. He glanced toward the guards at the ruin, and they both gave him what he believed to be appreciative nods.

Not long after, Hasio, Theo, and Tsekani’s team emerged from the ruin. As Tahir and Meti caught them up to speed with what just happened, the guards in the area asked them to return to the embassy for the time being. Much as they wanted to pry, Tahir and company decided not to argue with the guards, but they did run into Merenthyl as they were leaving. As Merenthyl had to run some tests in the area, she had to postpone the teaching of the soul sight spell.

They would have to try after their own delve into the ruin, or in the days following. In any case, they made their way back to the embassy building, with Tahir going more in depth about everything that led up to it.

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“Wait, you’re telling me you got Meti to scream?” Theo asked, out of everything they said, that seemed to catch her attention.

“I’ll admit I did act a little quicker when I could have explained.” Tahir replied, giving Meti an apologetic look. “Still, I didn’t peg you as someone afraid of heights.”

“I’m not afraid of heights, I’m afraid of falling. Especially when someone just grabs you and jumps off without warning.”

“I’ll be more clear next time, promise.”

“Next time, he says.” Meti glared at him, but Theo seemed more excited than anything.

“Oh! If Tahir did that with his air spirit, do you think I could learn to do it too?” She looked toward Meti, who sighed.

“Probably, just don’t get me involved until you’re sure it works. I don’t want to use my aura to break my fall.”

Tahir just smiled and listened as their conversation progressed. He didn’t want to say so he wouldn’t affect Meti’s mood on the subject any further, but with Theo’s elemental affinities, if she practiced solely on air for a while, she could be the first of them to learn how to fly. The train of thought on Theo and her aura made him remember something, though. “Oh right, we’ve been talking about everything that happened outside the ruin this whole time, but what happened to you guys inside?”

“Oh right, we fought a lot of weird things.” Theo answered. “Nothing too difficult, even Tsekani stayed back for most of it, although I think he was saving his mana for if something crazy showed up, but it seemed like a lot of weird animals.”

“It was…interesting.” Hasio added. “We went with them because we both used aura, but Theo fights more like a mage, and the other girl, Raline, went invisible around the same time I did. So fights had a lot of things running for the mages with us picking them off.”

“That Kazadi guy is a really good fire mage though!” Theo picked up. “He didn’t use aura from what I could tell, but still hit stuff with his staff if it ever got close. He even gave me some pointers when he saw I also used fire magic. I had a bit of a hard time explaining how I used it with aura though.”

“Think we could convince them to stand guard outside the ruin when we go to clear?” Tahir asked. At this point they had reached the Embassy, and moved to speak inside the lounge.

“I imagine so.” Hasio replied. “We’ll probably be getting paid extra for that too. Odd that they just kicked us out of the area though when they would have clearly screwed up without us.”

“Well, it’s lovely to hear such a flattering opinion of my city’s leadership.” A voice drew all of their attention as they entered the embassy’s lounge, and they were met with the sight of Fenian smiling back at them. “Don’t worry though, I personally believe they are just trying to save a bit of face. What you saw of them certainly wasn’t the best side, though I've only heard bits and pieces of what just transpired, so if I could trouble you for a bit, please do enlighten me.

Getting past the mild surprise at his appearance in the lounge, they told him of the recent attack, from both Tahir and Meti’s perspective just outside the ruin, and Hasio and Theo’s view from clearing the floors. Their sponsor listened on with rapt attention, and thanked them for telling him what they could about the situation.

“I was aware they were attacked when the first group of guards cleared the first floor, so I figured they would be better prepared, but it seemed like the attack this time around had significantly more combatants.” He mused.

“Does that mean the further we go down into the ruin, the worse the attacks will be?”

“It could be assumed so. But I did plan for this.” Fenian said with a grin. “I told them that hiring the services of mithral Redclouds was necessary to combat any unexpected variables in the ruin itself, but now that the cat’s out of the bag, I’m sure they won’t hesitate to employ the services of two Mithral members whenever one is in the ruin. Though they definitely won’t be happy about it - since they’ll have to pay more than they originally intended to everyone.”

“Do you think they’ll let Metilia and I use the leyline if we opt to forgo the extra pay?” Tahir asked. Much as the money would help, they still had plenty of gold from the first ruin they went into, and that said nothing about whatever they might find in this one.

“There’s a definite possibility there. It would certainly be good for you to be able to summon a spirit in a different area. Ah, speaking of which, since you mentioned meeting up with her as you left the ruin site, can I assume you’ve met with Merenthyl proper?”

“I did.” Tahir confirmed. “She taught me a lot that I didn’t know about spirit magic and left me with more than a couple warnings. She was actually in the middle of teaching us a spell when her spirit sensed that the attack was happening.”

“How lovely.” Fenian said. “Standoffish as she might be at times, I figured she wouldn’t want to leave a wayward spirit mage without any guidance. Heaven knows she’s seen her fair share of misguided fools. I believe I’ll pay her a visit myself once I bother the guards for any information they see fit to give me that you already haven’t.” With that, he took his leave, pausing in front of the door to the lounge. “I wouldn’t worry about the risk of any additional attacks reaching the ruin. With two mithrals and the city guard not wanting to look incompetent I’d imagine you’ll be safer in the ruin than out.”

And with that, he left. For the rest of the day, Tahir and Meti made their preparations for their own assisted delve.