Chapter 216

Now that they've identified their target, the bandits aren't holding anything back. They've started attacking the demons Misha summoned with everything they have and they're sending Rogue-type classes forward to try to ambush her and claim whatever reward they've been promised for taking down an officer of the Darklight Host.

"Keep your eyes out for rogues; I'm certain you're not the only one around that can turn invisible, and if you can flag them, with Pixie Fire or something similar, we can eliminate them in seconds." Cain directs Elmira, who is happily resting in his pocket.

"You got it, boss, I can detect invisibility pretty well, better than almost any other class, and if all I need to do is just hit them with a spell that makes them visible, that's no trouble."

Mythryll has joined in the fun as well, calling out her treants, probably unrecognizable by their enemies at this point, with the Shadow Aura they've gained and the change in appearance from vibrant green Fae forest to Haunted forest level gloomy and dark. Still, they're even more effective than before.

They also care little about invisible things, the thick roots, as well as Mythryll's Vine whips, grab anything they come in contact with, which includes one very unfortunate rogue, who has is invisibility canceled by the binding and is immediately burnt to ashes by the combined fire of a dozen demons.

"No wonder you said I just needed to make them visible. That was such a quick kill it didn't even look painful; he just vaporized."

A cry of victory goes up in the beleaguered Bandit force as their reinforcements arrive, another hundred bandits, all first Advancement level have reached in a group.

What they haven't realized yet, is that they didn't come alone. The snake kin that the Kone Clones called are right behind them, their light brown scales blending in smoothly with the sand of the desert, only the motion giving them away as an attacking force and not part of the desert itself.

"Don't get too happy yet; you're about to be ambushed." Cain teases the new arrivals, who ignore his taunts as the last hurrah of a man who knows he will die. They do respect his bravery, though. Even in the face of death, he's still joking about and not cowering away from the enemy.

Mythryll has finally been forced to exit the Carriage to get a better line of sight to cast from, distracting the bandits at the vital moment when the Snake Kin launch their attack. They're all focused on a third member of the Guild they hate so much having appeared that their backline dies without anyone noticing or raising the alarm. It's only when the bodies start to fall that they realize the giant Lion kin that Cain appears to be wasn't joking; snakes are ambushing them.

The clones of Kone are hidden behind the Nightmares since the size of the flame-hooved beasts is more than sufficient to protect the identical Beast Lords from view. The sight of them would be a dead giveaway to most that Cain himself is here somewhere. But with Su also in a small Forest Nymph form they're unfamiliar with instead of the much more recognizable Forest Dragon form, the attack has somehow managed to fool the attackers so far.

Bandits are falling faster than they can regroup; the combination of Holy Flame from Misha and her summons with the Venom of the Snake Kin is a devastating synergy that leaves no survivors. As for Cain himself, he's still playing the part of the carriage guard, standing in front of Misha and Mythryll as if blocking them and the carriage from attack. In reality, he's standing there to give Elmira a better view of the battle as she throws the occasional spell out and marks anyone who tries to sneak away, ensuring that they're targeted and destroyed.

Unlike the Pirates, these bandits are mostly all lower level than the summons, standing very little chance with even numbers and genuinely minuscule odds of survival now that they're outnumbered.

As the last of the holdouts fall, the Primordial Shamans report in again, no more signs of bandits in the area, so they're moving forward again to scout the road and surrounding dunes ahead for new targets.

"Good job, everyone; let's get this all cleaned up, and we can start our day. Can either of you dig holes well? Once we've looted the battlefield, I would prefer to give everyone a proper burial, even if it is just in the sand."

The treants are happy to help, using their roots and vines to scoop away large amounts of sand, making a roughly hewn pit down to the sandstone base of the desert. This area has a surprising amount of clay before reaching stone, but it's all bone dry, where in a normal situation, it would hold moisture very well.

The desert doesn't get much rain, but it must get some, so Cain wonders what is causing the area to be so unnaturally arid. Could it be a spell gone wrong? The aftereffect of something used as a weapon during the war, in the way that the dungeons are just time-based magic run amok? The thought keeps his mind and the Companions currently residing in it occupied throughout the cleanup.

The sun is nearly overhead by the time they're ready to go, so they settle back under the trees of the oasis, unwilling to push out in the midday heat without good cause and no longer in a hurry. With luck, the enemy will now come to them instead of hunting them all down one group at a time.

They move out mid-afternoon, deciding to follow a branch in the trade route that runs further west. It's less patrolled and, in theory, a better spot for bandits to hide out, so they've got high hopes that they might manage to find a few more groups before they reach Montauk, where they'll turn in the Quest to the Traveling Merchants Association and collect their experience rewards. If Red was right about the bonus being better than average, they should be able to wrangle at least a level or two out of it.

They're about to settle down for the evening when they get a message from Maggie at the Guild Castle. The scouts have reported an increasing number of people gathering roughly ten kilometers away from the walls. They haven't verified their identity yet, but they suspect they're bandits, along with a couple of smaller Guilds, who intend to work together to take the Castle and then merge into one large Guild. They're still waiting on someone or something, and they look settled in for the moment, but they've been arriving all day long now and may not stay that way past tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow morning seems to be a bit hopeful to Cain, who thinks it's more likely that they'll see a night raid tonight to attempt to take the castle under cover of darkness. The location is a good one, without any form of cover for nearly half a kilometer around the walls, so trying to get as close as possible before being detected is the best bet they have to survive.

And worst of all is that he forgot to turn over the Magical Cannons to Char, who would have been headed back through the castle anyhow, so they're all still in his inventory when they should be on the Castle walls ready to defend against this attack.

"What do you think about carrying the Carriage with a dragon and flying back to the Castle in a hurry? I've still got all the cannons that I picked up to reinforce the wall defenses in my inventory, and they'll be short on proper defenders." Cain asks the others once he's finished explaining the details of his chat with the Orcish Lieutenant in charge of Castle defense.

"That works for me; if they're bandits, they're still part of the quest reward, even if we kill them at the castle. It's got to be better than all this baking in the sun; Pixies are not desert creatures." 

"Make that two votes; I'm up for a castle defense fight. Plus, I'll get to try out my new abilities, upgrading the plant life inside the castle with the growth abilities my new class gets."

"That's everyone then. Are we taking dragons or those Dark Phoenix?" Misha adds the final voice to the motion to help defend the castle, and Cain mentally calculates the travel time needed and when the Bandits are likely to attack.

The best time is about 3 in the morning, so that the battle will be ending as the sun comes up, letting them attack in the dark, but have the advantage of the light to help them clear out the remaining defenders should they succeed, with time to retreat before the sun is up if they don't.

"I'll call Danni to bring us the Carriage, but we can all go back on the Phoenix, which is much harder to detect while it's traveling. I don't know who all else is there, but hopefully, Cixelcid has gotten Lickity to Sunnybrook, and they're not hanging out with the Spiders still.. She's got to be extremely pregnant by now, and the stress won't be good for her or the triplets."