Demonic Magician

I crouched down near the wizard, where he had been propped up against the stone wall. The courtyard had been completely cleared of any roving guards, and the other Party were currently trying to help their rescued others down the stairs.

A shadow crossed me, and I looked up to see the elf standing with her arms crossed. “It’s not good for the brain to be knocked out for this long, is it?”

She shrugged. “Not sure he was using it, anyway.”

A fair point, but even so, I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of such trauma. “Perhaps I should stop hitting people with my head.”

“It is rather unbecoming,” Quinn added from the side, a neutral expression on his face.

Part of me wanted to apologize to him for that, again. He had earned it and got what he deserved, however. Would ruin the lesson to make amends more than we already had. He was right about it being unbecoming. I was a magician, not a tavern brawler.

We turned as Leyla and the others came down and out of the fort, into the light. They all looked tired and relieved. She stepped over to us while the others jostled their dizzied friends towards the road out of here.

“I honestly can’t thank you all enough… if we hadn’t been able to rescue them today…” she looked back at them. “Well, this was probably our only chance.”

I smiled and stood up to talk to her more politely. “It was a pleasure. We can always be counted on to fight against the Crimson Shadow.”

“Even so, I’m not sure how we can repay you.” Her brow furrowed.

“Contact details would be a start.” I gestured my head towards the fort. “One day we might call of your aid in return.”

“That is acceptable,” Leyla smiled and sent her contact information over. “We will be staying south of here, probably go to the town until we’re recovered before leveling again.”

I was glad they weren’t turning tail and running back to the first area. While it would be unfair of me to look down on Fiona and her group after all they’d been through, I still did. Leyla and her Party might be a few rungs lower than us, no matter their level, but if things started to become more than a five person job, it would be handy to have others to call on for assistance. A little army.

Not that we were even five people, of course.

We shook hands, and she gave regards to the rest of the troupe. Smiles and nods until they were out of sight, back onto the road.

“That wasn’t so bad,” Ren said before deflating. “Killed a few people, made some tentative allies. Have a captive for questioning.”

“We ought to search the fort for information,” I said, mimicking her expression. “They adore writing things down. Plus, looting the bad guys.”

“Thought you almost forgot.” She looked down at the wizard, before back at the stone structure. “Let’s get this one sorted out first, then we’ll do things as quick as we can. Getting to the dungeon today would be nice.”

Quinn squinted his eye up to the sky. “Assuming there are no other distractions, it should not be an issue.”

“Perfect.” I cycled through my Inventory until I found a bottle of water. Popping off the cork, I emptied onto the wizard. It just made him wet and soaked into his robes. “Huh, I was led to believe that sort of thing worked.”

“Maybe if I start chewing on him?” Wolf offered, only one of his eyes open lazily as a nap threatened to take him out of the investigation.

I shook my head. As much as that would be an easier option, these had been some of the least effective of the gang that we had come up against so far. Seemed unfair to punish them further. Well, they were mostly dead now, so perhaps that thought should have come a lot sooner.

Ren shifted beside me and kicked the man in the shin.

He stirred, his brow furrowed as he tried to get a hold of his senses.

“Didn’t actually think that would work,” she murmured, before getting ready to put on the good cop act.

I was already in the mindset, and I crouched down in front of the wizard, grabbing him by the collar of his damp robes and pulling his face closer to mine. “Wakey, wakey, fucker. Time for us to have a talk.”

“Max!” the elf complained, “Give him a chance first, he might cooperate.”

“The only thing he needs to do is stay alive while I get the information out of him.” My body temperature dropped, and I felt my eyes begin to glow. “You can do that, right? You prefer fingers or toes?”

“Fingers,” Wolf said, with his eyes closed.

“Wha-?” The wizard looked confused, still trying to put the puzzle pieces together.

“Here, let me try first.” Ren gently pushed me away, so I’d let go of our captive. “We just want to know what you were up to here.”

“H-holding strategic locations,” he murmured, unable to make eye contact with the elf.

“Oh, that’s good!” Her bright eyes tried to search for his avoidant gaze, seeing where his weakness was. “The Lady having you guard her progress as she marches on Candlekeep?”

He nodded, but tried to lean away from her, as if her eager stare was melting him. It was amusing to watch - as the good cop routine was seemingly uncomfortable enough for him to open up about the details, yet dislike the process.

Ren leaned in closer to him, as he near flattened himself sidewards on the floor.

“Anything more you can tell me?” she purred. “What were you going to do with your captives?”

“C-convert them forcefully,” he murmured, his own eyes closed now.

“By drinking her blood?” I asked.

No response.

“I bet you were waiting on the extra supplies, huh?” Ren pouted, despite him no longer looking at her.

He nodded and grunted.

We could really do with finding out how she managed to transport so much blood, nevermind how she came up with the stuff. It seemed unlikely it was literally from her body given the amount she would have to lose for everyone to get a regular sip. If we could disrupt the supply chain, then we’d potentially starve out the rest of the corrupted groups here. I quickly sent that message over to Ren, and watched as her eyes unfocused to read it, before she again looked at the wizard.

“Just one more question - you’ve done so well!” She almost smiled. “Who or where do you get your deliveries from?”

He was silent for a moment, squirming as if he wanted to work his way away from her and the pointed question. “Can’t say.”

I held my tongue. While I did enjoy being bad cop and leveling threats, Ren pretty much had this in the bag and any attempt I made at stealing the limelight would just dampen what she was achieving. The greater show was better than my own accolades. How I’d grown. The other two might as well be invisible with how much presence the elf held over our prisoner.

“Can’t or won’t?”

A little more squirming, and he sighed deeply. “Won’t. They’ll kill me.”

Ren rolled her eyes before returning to the act. “We could keep you safe. We’re much more powerful than any of her Parties.”

The wizard sucked at his teeth. It was undeniable that we were strong, having taken over their fort with little damage of our own aside from a dead Roger and the few cuts I had amassed. It was clearly a sticking point that he wanted safety. Perhaps with us, he could have it.

“We have space in the Party,” Ren continued. “We were all enemies or disliked each other at the start, but have grown to be a strong team. You could be just what we need.”

I pulled a face. We were all fast friends immediately, as far as my brain could remember. Sure, Wolf wanted to eat us, and Quinn was potentially something greater than an annoyance… Ren had even been a little harsh on me at the start… I forgot where I was going with this. Plus, she was putting on an act - I shouldn’t forget that.

His eyes opened, but he was still unable to look at her. Not her face, anyway. I narrowed my own eyes at him.

“R-really?”

“You have to give up that information first.” She held a finger up and wagged it. “We need to trust you, right? I want to trust you.”

The wizard licked his dry lips. Panic still in his eyes, but some exhaustion weighing in there from stress. He looked between me and the elf a few times. I remained neutral, not wanting to push him back into his shell.

“There’s a group of three. They’re fast. I’ll… I can send you over their route information?”

“You could? Wow!” Ren’s eyebrows went up, clearly impressed with how far he was willing to go. Her eyes unfocused as she looked at her Map. “That’s… amazing - oh, we didn’t get your name? Mine’s Ren.”

“Thallen,” he said, nodding energetically at the deal almost being completed.

“Well then,” she smiled, illuminating the area… or perhaps that was just my heart. “Welcome aboard, Thallen.”

She extended her hand out to lift him to his feet. He accepted, still some awkwardness in making physical contact with the elf. Ren stood and helped him up with her left hand. Her right came up quicker, burying a dagger in his neck.

Pain and confusion went over his face before he dropped to the floor, a river of red darkening through his robes as they soaked up his blood.

“Ugh,” she said, stowing the knife away. “Next time, you’re the good cop.”

“Sure,” I replied, a smile on my face as I looted his body. Mostly because I was recalling her smile, but deep down, I respected the violence. Probably an unhealthy thought to have, actually.

Quinn shuffled awkwardly. “Every hour that passes, I thank your graces that I only walked away from my folly with a broken nose.”

Ren shrugged. “You’re not evil, Quinn. Just a dumbass. You’ll note the only people we kill are the Crimson Shadow.”

I nodded as I brought up the wizard's loot.

[605 Gold]

[Intellect Mittens] [+4 Int]

[Mana Expert Ring] [+15% Mana, +15% Mana Regeneration]

[Clasp of Regret] [+10% Magic Damage, -10% Physical Damage]

The rest was surprisingly worse than what I had - or at least the Stat distribution wasn’t optimal for my build. Ah, who had I become? With a sigh, I stood and dusted myself off. Would need to repair my suit when I had fewer eyes on me.

“Let’s get this fort searched through, then.” Ren gave me a prod. “Wolf and Quinn take the bottom floor and keep watch. Trickster, you’re with me.”

I gave her a bow in response, and the other two grunted their acknowledgments. It wasn’t our fault that Wolf couldn’t make it up the stairs, so as far as making this go as quick as possible, the split made sense.

It was actually nice to step into the shaded area of the bottom floor, out of the light of the day. Something about being constantly in and out of combat made even a middling day seem humid. Plus, wearing a suit all the while didn’t help.

“Start from the top and work our way down,” Ren instructed me, to which I nodded. Pragmatic.

I led the way up the steps, past the dead bodies and furniture strewn around, our eyes glancing around for any obvious things to make a second pass over on our return. Eventually, for my thankful legs, we made it to the top, where the bunk beds were in the guard barracks.

“You really made a mess up here, huh?” Ren tilted her head at the group of corpses, blood painting half the room, and the Crimson I had split in half with the cannon.

“I guess I do what needs to be done.” I gave her a sheepish smile, but then was caught off-guard by the intense glare she was giving me.

She took hold of my shirt in her grip and pulled me over to one of the beds.

“Yeah you do,” she said.