As the adventurers arrived and were dispatched, the area became more and more crowded. The long caravan started to move into position with the wagons forming a spiral in their order of departure. There was an impressive diversity of vehicles, simple wooden wagons both with and without a cloth roof, some tiny houses on wheels, and even a steam powered vehicle owned by an eccentric-looking gnome. The beasts of burden varied as well from horses to large bison-like beasts.
All of the groups looked to have a mostly balanced composition. Our group, which would sit in the middle of the caravan, was somewhat larger and had more defense and support oriented roles than the rest. It had two main healers, Vel and I, and several druids and shamans more focused on enhancement and support spells. Most classes had some way to mitigate damage, by either avoiding it or resisting it, or regenerate from it but they were inferior to the direct healing provided by specialized classes.
Which was why, once departure was near, the main and secondary healers for all the groups got together to get to know each other. The main healer of group one, Yuri, was a blonde human woman with a priestess class who looked nice at first glance in her white and gold robes but her eyes had this small glimmer of madness in them. She was … extremely devout to her god and loved talking about it, at length. In contrast to her, Sebastian was very laid back. He was the main healer for group two, a short Kobold shaman raised on the surface. His primary focus was a necklace of intricately carved wooden prayer beads around his neck. Vel and I were, of course, the main healers for group three and group four had a wood elf priest with messy black hair and a straight laced demeanor named Gaelin. He wore something that looked like a kimono with a long red skirt and a staff with brass rings attached to the top.
Finally, the healer for group five was Amelia, a short human girl with frizzy brown hair and a massive amount of freckles who looked at least a decade too young to be part of an expedition. She had stumbled and nearly fallen flat on her face the first time she had spotted me and continuously turned a very deep shade of red every time she snuck a glance at either Vel or me. It would have been adorable if she hadn't been the most prickly person I had ever met, even worse than a quillboar and pricklebear combined, which made her difficult to like. She kept quiet on the exact details of her healing class but when she performed a demonstration, I recognized the telltale signs of arcane-based healing.
It looked like I wasn't the only one either. Sebastian sent a wary glance my way and I gave him a subtle nod. There was nothing inherently taboo about arcane-based healing, I had asked Rose, but it was not a discipline commonly used for battlefield healing. From my own knowledge about the subject, I had more safeties built into the Reconstruction spell than actual healing to prevent any slip-ups from becoming fatal.
----------------------------------------
"Group one, get in position for departure," Ottar bellowed.
The cart drivers climbed in their respective vehicles and adventurers started to assemble around the wagons. Some mages and scouts sat next to the drivers or at the back of carts while the rest moved into formation. Ottar gave the all clear and the first segment of the caravan left the large square and the next one moved into position.
Once it was time for the third group, Vel and I moved into position. My presence unsettled some of the horses that pulled the carts but I found a spot near one of the moving houses. The large bison-like creature, steered by a gnome barely four feet tall, that pulled that particular vehicle was completely unbothered by the presence of a large spider.
"Greetings ladies," the gnome tipped his cap, "Gemlink Tinkwire, gnome engineer and watchmaker, at your service."
"Greetings Mister Tinkwire," I bowed slightly, "Liscura Vas-Maezra, healer and alchemist, and this is my fiancée, Velatha, healer and herbalist."
"Greetings," Vel gave him a wave.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
"The pleasure is mine," Tinkwire said enthusiastically. He pulled on the reins and the massive bison started to walk at a steady pace.
The caravan moved at a slow pace through the guild town and it took almost twice as long to reach the gates than on foot. While in the clearing around the pillar, I cast my usual array of detection spells and summoned Alan in his spirit crow form as well.
"Hello little guy," I scratched the top of his head, much to his delight. "Welcome back. Sorry, it's been a while since I summoned you, the guild has rules about pets in the city."
Greetings Mistress! Alan does not mind, plenty of rest.
"Glad you're feeling alright."
"What a beautiful specimen," Tinkwire exclaimed. "You are a summoner as well?"
"One of my class specializations," I replied, "he used to be a simple shadow familiar but evolved into a spirit familiar. He is an excellent scout."
"More eyes in the air are always welcome," I heard from behind me. "The jungle can be treacherous at times, I'm sure you know that better than us." It was a brown haired human woman, likely a scout and tamer from her gear.
"It's not that bad," Vel chuckled.
"Maybe if you've been raised here," the ranger smiled, "we don't hunt Taratect and Jagras for training on the surface. Maybe the occasional Direwolf at worst, happened a few times back when I was at my family's farm."
"I think they're just built different," a rogue said as she stepped from behind the cart. "I was in a party with a dark elf scout for a while, from Nersil I think. Said that she had to hunt an alpha by herself to become an adult."
"Everyone has to go through a trial after they unlock their class," Vel said. "Lis and I had to retrieve a relic from an abandoned fort a few days from our village."
"Except the fort wasn't abandoned," I added, "and instead was full of Drakonians so we had to sneak in."
"I stand by what I said," the rogue said with a smug grin, "built different."
----------------------------------------
With so many adventurers guarding the caravan, I counted at least eighty people and forty carts while Alan flew over, the danger from regular monsters was virtually non-existent. The scouts did their job well and anything that slipped by them was intercepted before they could reach the people and goods we were protecting.
There weren't many places where such a large group could stop and rest, it was a very bad idea to simply stay immobile on the path for prolonged periods, so people slept in shifts. Gemlink let Vel and a few other people from our group use his workshop on wheels to sleep and his wife, Bixee, steered the cart while he rested. Since I didn't fit inside, I instead slept on one of the open top carts that was filled with sacks of grain. It wasn't the most comfortable but there weren't many options.
After the second day, I started to read some of the books I had in storage while walking. I had enough spare mental capacity to both walk next to Tinkwire's cart, keep an eye on my sensors, and read at the same time. Vel started to ride on my back and do the same on the third day. After six days of uneventful travel, the caravan finally arrived at the first checkpoint.
The clearing where we stopped was large enough to accommodate all the carts in a circle formation though they had to form two rings instead of one. I helped the other mages and scouts put defenses and alarms in place around the camp while everything was being prepared. Everyone present, at least the adventurers, were seasoned at the survival aspect of the job. Fires were started in no time and soon there were a dozen different meals being prepared at once.
With the amount of magical defenses in place, it was unlikely the smells would attract the attention of nearby monsters. Sebastian had created a wind ward to contain them, Gaelin had placed several stones engraved with runes around to erect a defensive barrier, and I had placed some of my catalysts to do the same.
Vel had started to prepare the meal for our small party. The three merchants and a few others had contributed some of their provisions to the large pot of soup that was slowly simmering over the fire. Even if the smell couldn't attract any monsters, it certainly brought a few more people around our fire. The Tinkwire couple was there as well as a trio of human merchants. Sarah, the scout from the first day, and her friend Jane, the rogue, were some of the people I knew. I also found Jack, the gentleman thief, and his gnome friend Corbus.
"Jack," I winked at him, "it's been a while. Managed to mug some unwary adventurers?"
"You!" He pointed at me with a laugh. "Maria gave me a good trouncing for that stunt, made us promise not to try again."
"Or at least not to lose as badly as you did," Vel chimed in with a shit eating grin.
"You beat Jack and his band of scoundrels?" Sarah said, surprised. "I barely managed to get away with my purse intact."
"Don't try to ambush a spider," I smiled, "we're masters of the craft."