Once the scribe recorded everything that the group of redclouds spoke about the upper floors, the party could speak about their experiences on the final floors. They decided to keep the details of the fight to a minimum, only that the maligno appeared just as they began to fight against the cairn lord, and that Tahir, Meti, Theo, and Hasio managed to dispatch the maligno, giving Murabi the opportunity to take down the cairn lord on his own. Between the divine power of the Winged Serpent, and Theo’s fire magic, it seemed more feasible that the four of them would emerge victorious against something on the same level as the being that Murabi struggled against on his own as a mithral redcloud.
With that out of the way, the captain of the guard thanked everyone for allowing him to get their reports in writing, and then let out a sigh. “If possible, I would ask that you not speak to anyone about the maligno. That it managed to sneak by our defenses in the midst of a battle of its own making is rather shameful of us.”
“What I’m curious about is what it went looking for the cairn lord for.” Fenian cut in. “Based on other reports that were summarily ignored as soon as they were submitted, we can probably assume it was behind attempting to kill a unicorn in the forests bordering Isanthyr, but would it attempt the same thing on something already withered?” The guard captain looked at him with a tired expression, not missing the decidedly unsubtle jab at Isanthyr’s guards.
“Maybe they wanted to join sides?” Tsekani offered. “Or maybe the cairn lord knew something that the maligno wanted to know. That’d be a bit of a stretch, though, considering the age of the ruin.”
“Who knows?” Talibah added in. “That thing would have had to be pretty old to get together an army as big as what’s been throwing themselves against Isanthyr over the past couple of days. Out in the woods with only Isanthyr and the nomads as neighbors and it probably wouldn’t cause enough trouble for anyone to be sent after it for a long time.”
Tahir let out a quiet sigh of relief, glad that the conversation quickly transitioned to talk about the maligno and the cairn lord rather than their fight. He didn’t want to have to explain his role in it in great detail, until he could get an explanation for the raging torrent of energies that made up his final swing. Not that he didn’t appreciate that it happened when it did, but having to admit that he relied on something that he had no real clue about to end the fight didn’t instill a lot of confidence in his abilities, and he already had to prove himself worthy of his gold ranking.
After a while, the discussion died down enough for the captain of the guard to clear his throat to gather everyone’s attention toward him once more. “As promised, a payment of 700 gold pieces will be delivered to the embassy to each of you, with an addition of a further 500 to Sir Tahir, Sir Liberalis, Lady Manicus and Lady Kouri. We are truly in your debt for minimizing the casualties in this issue in your aid at the barrier as well. If you have anything else you would like to request, you need only ask.”
Tahir and Meti looked between each other as the captain finished speaking, but Theo was the first to say anything “Oh! Could we get our temporary visas upgraded to permanent ones? I’d love to come back to Isanthyr at some point after we leave.”
“Done.” The guard captain replied with a nod. “To anyone here who requests a permanent visa. I can have that processed.” He looked around, expectantly for anyone else to speak.
“Would it be possible to allow us to use the ley line crossing?” Meti asked. “Both for raising our mana pools, and now would be an appropriate time for Tahir to summon another spirit.”
The captain’s brow furrowed, and Tahir had a feeling he wouldn’t like the answer. “Ley line crossing access for increasing your mana pool is possible, but I’m afraid the summoning of spirits is not something I have the authority to grant, even monitored due to the risk.” He looked as if he was about to explain, but a knock and the creaking open of the door drew everyone’s attention.
“Then it seems I’ve arrived at the perfect time, haven’t I?” Merenthyl strode into the room, closing the door behind her.
“Lady Merenthyl- have you finished your survey of the ruin and its surrounds?” The captain asked.
“Of course, I wouldn’t be here otherwise. There is still the pile of bodies just outside the barrier to look for any residual spiritual activity, but that will take a day in itself to look through, so I figured I would just give the news that ruin and the space inside the barrier is clear. Regardless, since the topic came around to spirit summoning, I will go ahead and give my approval for Tahir. He has proven responsible enough with his spirits to summon them within the city limits.”
“Could it be you’ve found an apprentice after all this time, Lady Merenthyl?”
“Hardly. He won’t live long enough to give that title any use.” She replied. “I simply gave him some instruction as a wayward spirit mage to make sure he didn’t get himself killed in the process. That he hasn’t gotten himself possessed with so little instruction of the art is a testament to a somewhat careful approach at the very least, so he has my blessing. Surely that will be enough?”
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“I- of course.” The captain assured. “I will simply have to submit the request. Shall I refer them to you if they have any objections?”
Merenthyl sighed. “Fine, I suppose they’ll deserve the earful they’ll get if they want to confirm with me. In any case, don’t let me take up too much of your time, I simply came to report that I’ve finished with my initial survey and leave.”
“Right, of course.” The captain turned toward everyone else. “For the most part, this meeting is dismissed, but I will hear any additional requests that anyone else has for the time being.”
As conversation picked up around that topic, Tahir left to go after a departing Merenthyl, with Meti and Theo not far behind. When she heard them walking up to her, she stopped and turned to face them. “Oh wonderful, the two of you have manners after all.”
“Right, thanks.” Tahir replied. Merenthyl told him her word wouldn’t matter all that much, but maybe she had been underestimating it. It seemed like her blessing was all he needed to actually summon a spirit. “We actually had something else to ask you as well, if you’re not busy.” Merenthyl shrugged, and allowed the three to speak. With her, they talked about their fight with the maligno in more detail. Particularly focusing on Tahir’s final swing, the turbulent force that used all of his energies.
“I can’t really tell just how much power it had.” Tahir said, before he unsheathed his blade to hold out for Merenthyl to see. “But it did this to my sword, which had held up fine until now.” An aura user would normally replace their weapons the more aura they gained. Weaker metals couldn’t withstand the amount of aura that could be infused into the users swings, and even someone with good aura control would only be able to limit the aura in their attacks so that their weapon wouldn’t break - and even then the weapon would dull much faster.. Even magical enchantments only had so much of a strengthening effect. With Meti’s enchantment, she made it to hold against his swings, which with his aura and the earth spirit brought him right around to the force of the average gold Redcloud. His final swing against the Maligno’s roots had to be at the level of platinum, or maybe even mithral.
Merenthyl listened to them speak, looking deep in thought but nodding along as they explained. “You are quite lucky, that is not a force that many would even see in their lifetime, even elves.” She said, drawing the full attention and surprise of the three. “Yes, I’m aware of what happened to some degree, only a little. What you used was most likely ‘Quintessence,’ the fifth energy.” She said, with a sigh, moved to lean against the nearest wall before she set to explain. “Across the multiverse, there are said to be four ‘main’ energies, outside of the energies of specific planes. Those are Mana, the energy of the void, Aura, the energy of the Body, then there are Elemental and Divine energies, which are the energies of the material and elemental planes, and of the Gods and Divine order.”
She paused, looking between everyone as if to make sure they followed along. “Quintessence is another energy that suffuses all things, but acts as a bridge between the others. In essence, it is an energy that is made of, and fuels itself with the others when they intersect. Little is known about it, because it is hard to consciously access, but as you have seen, it can create incredibly powerful effects if it is utilized. I imagine why it took all of your energies to fuel its swing is because you weren’t quite consciously using it. How could you? Not even knowing of its existence, but that would explain why it also took the divine energy of your spirit’s shield as well.”
That was a lot to take in for Tahir, his thoughts raced, thinking on whether or not he’d ever used this energy before. “If it’s made where energies intersect…is it because I use both aura and mana?”
“Likely, and also likely because your pools are so close together that they cause friction, as you’ve explained. Others who can freely utilize it don’t have that friction, but they are exceedingly rare, and exceedingly valuable. So much that I wouldn’t be surprised if every major royal dynasty on Itera began with someone who could use Quintessence. I will warn you, though, you would be wise to keep it a secret unless you learn to fully utilize it at will. You’d receive an infinite amount of support from any institution that knew you could use the energy if you could do so at will, but as you are now, they’re more likely to treat you like a test subject, and from what you’ve told me I imagine you would want to avoid that.”
Just the thought of the mages from the collective back in Balrech caused Tahir to shudder. “Right. I have no idea how I’d learn to use it, so I’ll just keep it between us for now. Do you have any idea how I might figure out how to learn to use it?”
Merenthyl shook her head. “It is not something I have seen, nor heard about. Those who can consciously use it usually already know how as soon as they can somewhat freely use multiple energies. I’ve read about people using it unconsciously, but nothing about any of them learning how.”
“Then you may not learn how to use it on your own, but you might still be able to use it as long as your energies are relatively close to each other.” Meti offered.
“While it would be nice, I think I’ll focus on something that I can actively grow in instead of grasping at straws.” Tahir replied. “Though that does bring up another question that I’ve been meaning to ask. Merenthyl, I originally got into spirit magic because my growth was stunted, but fighting with the spirits seems to have set my growth back to normal. Do you have any idea why?”
Once more, Merenthyl shook her head. “My best guess is that the bonds you have help ease the friction that the energies create within your body, but I cannot say for certain. If you ever discover the answer beyond that, do let me know. This is a topic of interest I have far more interest in than Quintessence.”
“Promise.” Tahir agreed. “I think we’ve delayed you enough for now, though. Thanks for answering our questions.”
Meti and Theo didn’t have any further questions they wanted to ask for the moment, and so Merenthyl began to take her leave. “I suppose I’ll see you at my place, whenever you deign to come and finish learning that spell.”