Ichor Cell-Interlude 5 - Gathering storm
Boisterous laughter rolled through the tavern like thunder.
“—and then he just stood there,” The tall woman said between gasps, slapping the table hard enough to rattle the mugs. “Half his armour gone, ass bare naked, looking like a drunk that got robbed in his sleep. He proceeded to punch the thing half a mile into the mountain, and it took us the rest of the day to dig it out.”
“How was
I
supposed to know that the blasted spectator had
space
magic!?” the man across from her protested, still fuming about the event weeks later. “That set cost me most of my life savings, and only a few missions in, half of it gets scattered across the countryside!”
That only made them laugh harder. The dwarf nearly choked on his ale, while the red-haired mage at the end of the table had to wipe tears from her eyes. Their audience loved it too, smiles and chuckles abound in the crowd.
“Oh, relax already, Orlen.” Bram, the dwarf, got up in his chair to slap the man on the shoulder. “The set came with a tracking enchantment. You’ve already recovered most of it, so it’s not like it was lost forever.”
“But I’m still missing one of the boots!” Orlen exploded, sloshing his drink around the room. “Do you not realise that most of the enchantments on the armour are useless without the complete set? And I
can’t
complete it when the final piece is so far away it doesn’t even register on the tracker! A full set of Cataclysm Tier armour, and it barely performs higher than the Disaster tier!”
Vessa used her ice magic to block the incoming droplets of alcohol before smiling wryly at him.
“You’ll get it back eventually. We travel around enough that you’ll definitely get in range at some point.” She snickered. “Unless of course it got sent to another world entirely, in which case you’ll have to commission a replacement. My condolences.”
Orlen shot the ice mage a glare and briefly considered throwing his drink at her, before thinking better of it. Waking up flash frozen to his bed was not on his to do list.
Setting the mug down with a loud thunk, he took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. The crowd of spectators sensed the change in mood and quickly dispersed, leaving the party of four alone.
“Alright. Enough about that. We need to have a serious conversation.”
“About what?” Vessa asked, smirking into her mug. “Your tragic lack of fashion sense?”
Sera, the tall archer, grinned. “Or your terrible spending habits?”
“Both valid topics; I suggest we discuss each one at length.” Bram agreed, raising his drink.
Orlen groaned. “I swear you people exist to test my patience.”
“Alright, alright.” Sera raised her hands placatingly. “We’ll be serious. What are you thinking?”
Orlen swirled the contents of his mug, watching the foam twist lazily before it settled.
“I’m thinking that if the rumours are true,” he said at last, “days like this might become a thing of the past for us. We make a decision about what’s to come.”
A silence settled over the table.
Sera’s grin faded. “You’re talking about Ecrait and the Free Kingdoms.”
Orlen nodded.
“Of course he is.” Bram sighed, extending a pipe in Vessa’s direction. “Everyone’s talking about it. Five centuries of quiet, and now they’re ready to start killing each other again over some godly grudge older than the countries themselves.”
“I still don’t understand what the point of war even is.” Vessa lit the tobacco with a spark, nodding at Bram’s muttered thanks. “Unless the two countries massacre each other down to the last man, it’s not like it’s gonna massively affect the feuding gods anyway. Sure, they’ll lose a little bit of power as their believers die, but it all seems so… meaningless.”
“And there’s a gods damned sea between them, which means whichever country attacks first is almost definitely going to be at a massive disadvantage.” She threw her hands up in the air. “Why can’t the two divine dickheads just have a good old brawl and leave us mortals out of it?”
“Because they don’t want to.” Bram blew a smoke ring, the party pausing to watch it drift into the rafters. “Which leads us to the reality of the situation; we have a choice to make.”
“I feel like I’m missing something here.” Sera interjected. “Why does the two countries going to war affect us? Sure, we’re in Ecrait right now, but this isn’t our first time working in a country at war. We do what we’ve always done; keep our heads down, do more missions, and earn more coin. If anything, war is our most profitable time.”
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Orlen shook his head “That won’t work anymore.”
“Why?”
“Because although the situation is the same, we have changed.” He looked each member of his team in the eye. “It’s one thing for a country to let a disaster tier party roam around their borders while they’re at war. They have bigger things to worry about, and there’s a limited amount of damage we could cause if we decided to attack them.”
Sera’s eyes suddenly widened with realisation. “But now…”
“Exactly.” Orlen nodded. “We are Ashen Vow, the Cataclysm tier party.
We
might intend to ignore the war, but the powers that be can’t afford to ignore
us
. Never mind the fact that we would be a strategic asset for whichever country could recruit us, they simply can’t allow us to run around within their borders unchecked.”
“If we put our minds to it, the four of us could easily wipe a city off the map long before any reinforcements they send get there. Sure, there are people who can stop us, but those can be counted on one hand. Unless the gods themselves intervene, our party could do more damage to a city than an entire army in a fraction of the time.”
That brought a sombre mood to the table.
It was easy to forget how much they’d grown. Years of constant struggle had blurred together until every new challenge felt the same, only harder. The jobs had scaled with them, each one more dangerous than the last, so the strength they’d gained never seemed like progress—just necessity.
But now, looking back, they realised how far they’d come. They’d outlasted whole armies, fought creatures that once would’ve crushed them in seconds, and joined the upper echelon of this world’s power without ever noticing. Power had crept in quietly, turning them from mere pawns into forces of nature; ones that people wanted on their side.
“I suggest we leave.” Orlen finally spoke, breaking the silence.
Bram grunted, pulling the pipe from his mouth. “And go where, Captain? North is only the ocean and the Free Kingdoms, which defeats the whole purpose of fleeing. The East? You know how they treat outsiders. The city-states won’t touch us either—too afraid we’ll topple them by accident. We’d have to go into hiding the moment we set foot anywhere civilized.”
“Better fugitives than weapons,” Orlen said, crossing his arms. “I will not take part in a war I have no stake in.”
“This is all ignoring the fact that we might not have a choice in the matter.” Vessa interjected.
Orlen raised an eyebrow at the unexpected comment. “And why might that be?”
“The beasts in the mountains,” she said. “They’ve been behaving strangely.”
That drew the others’ attention.
“Strangely how?”
“They’ve gone silent,” she said. “You know those herds of mana elk that usually roam the northern slopes? Gone. Not a trace. The locals say the wyverns have migrated early—southward. And the passes that used to be infested with crawler nests? Empty.”
“That sounds to me like the perfect opportunity to leave.” Bram shrugged. “With the beasts gone, we’ll at least have one less thing to worry about as we make our escape.”
Sera frowned. “To add to that, empty could just mean winter patterns, a mana disturbance, or just a coincidence couldn’t it?”
Vessa gave her a look. “Coincidences don’t exist in our line of work, and it’s too early for winter. Some mana phenomenon could explain it, but I find that doubtful. I think something or
someone
is controlling them.”
Orlen frowned. “Controlling monsters?”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Vessa said. “Remember the Cradle War? Entire armies of altered beasts. If some scholars managed to recreate even a fraction of that power…”
Bram grunted. “Aye, and if pigs could cast fireballs, we’d all be roasted. Don’t start jumping at shadows now, lass. That was a freak accident and is impossible to reproduce.”
“I’m not fearmongering,” she shook her head. “Remember the stories. The monsters didn’t just appear out of nowhere back then—they
moved
. Migrated, gathered in places that were supposed to be lifeless. And then one day, they all came back.”
Sera also expressed her skepticism. “And you think something like that’s happening again?”
Vessa exhaled slowly. “I don’t know. But something’s been off in this region for a while now. The air feels… heavy. You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed.”
The others looked questioningly at each other.
“I can’t say I’ve sensed any of your so-called heavy air,” Bram leaned back with a grunt. “But you’re saying the mountains are about to spit out another catastrophe, and your bright idea is to stay where we are instead of leaving while we can?”
“No, quite the opposite.” Vessa rolled her eyes. “I’m saying that if something that big is brewing, then when the fighting starts, this place will be the first to burn.”
A quick discussion followed by a vote settled the issue.
Orlen nodded slowly. “Then it’s settled. We go.”
“Just like that?” Sera asked. “No plan? No destination? You really think that we should run away like some two-bit criminals fleeing into the night?”
“Oh, relax.” Orlen waved her away. “You’re acting like we’re planning on uprooting our lives and leaving everything we know behind. We’ve travelled through several different countries before; just pretend this is another extended trip.”
The tall woman hesitated then reluctantly sat back down, letting out a tired sigh. “Well, if you’re all in agreement, it seems like I’ll have to go whether I like it or not.”
“Stop being dramatic.” Vessa rolled her eyes, then looked at the others. “But you’re right. It seems we’re all in agreement. We go.”
Bram muttered something under his breath but nodded all the same. “Aye. Better to choose our own road than have one chosen for us.”
Sera pushed back her chair with a sigh, stretching her arms. “We’ll need to move light. If we’re lucky, no one will even notice we’re gone.”
“Like luck’s ever been on our side,” Bram said dryly. “It’s what we do when we get caught that worries me.”
“We’ll deal with that when it comes to it,” Orlen said. He looked at each of them in turn, a faint smile tugging at his mouth. “We’ve been through worse.”
They shared a look, quiet understanding passing between them. No grand speeches, no ceremony—just the certainty that they were not going to let others decide where their strength belonged.
When they left the tavern, it was with the easy rhythm of people who had made a decision they were happy with, a self-assurance that they had taken control of their future.
The night air was cool and still, the city quiet beneath the faint glow of the lanterns.
And in the distance, under that same moon, people planned and monsters gathered.
.
!
Interlude 5 - Gathering storm
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