Richter was shocked to learn that Yoshi, as a Battle Leader, had a baseline war party size of one thousand fighters! Everyone in the battle group came under the umbrella of the adept’s War Leader skill and benefited from all of the badges and promotions that went with it. Richter was placed in the center of the group to maximize coverage of this Sphere of Influence, and they took off.
Hisako and some of the other sprites had summoned their strike stags again, but Richter remained on the ground. He felt an instinctive need to remain on the same level as his people. As he walked, he tried to speak with as many of his people as possible. Always flanked by Sion, and with Alma flying overhead, his presence had a clear, calming effect on his people. It had been easy to forget as he dealt with his doubts and stresses that the men and women under his command felt the same fears. Yoshi was right. Many of them had never been in battle before. Seeing their lord walking around with an easy smile helped to put them at ease. Even the large form of the shale adder, slithering through the underbrush, was looked at fondly by his people. The snake had been accepted as just another show of their lord’s power.
Hours passed, and miles were consumed. Yoshi led the way, guided by a static copy of Richter’s map that one of the Scholars had made. As they traveled, Richter kept trying to “feel” his mana field like Hisako had told him to, but had no success. Despite being frustrated, he kept at it. He also occupied his time reviewing his new spells: Minor Slow Heal, Weak Mend Bone, Summon Weak Gold Fox, Weak Static Life Shield, Summon Minor Chokespore Arachnid, Minor Chitin Carapace, Weak Static Earth Shield, Weak Mirror Image and Weak Magic Missiles.
It was amazing how generous the Hearth Mother had been. Admittedly, he had been directly responsible for bringing back the pixie race, and thereby allowing the sprites to fulfill their destiny for the first time in millennia. He had also acted to merge the disparate sprite races back into their true bloodline, and thereby ends countless years of division and strife, but still, she had really hooked him up!
The summoning spells were awesome. His saproling, while useful, got its ass kicked on a regular basis. He had to hope that the chokespore arachnid would be able to pack a bigger punch. The improved healing spell would also come in handy. His 50% boost to Life magic meant that the spell was three times as strong as his Weak Slow Heal. His Life Mastery also meant that Alma could cast the spell, which could literally mean the difference between life and death.
The other spells were great too, and if he was being honest with himself, it was the shield spells that excited him the most. The biggest problems he had had with battles in the past were against mages that could utilize shields. It basically gave the casters carte blanche to attack without fear of retaliation. The seconds it took to take the shield down could let them fry you or freeze your internal organs. It was more than awesome that he could enjoy that benefit himself now.
The shields were also ‘static.’ Hisako had explained that it meant they had a fixed number of health points. Once those points were depleted, the shield was gone. The other broad category was apparently called ‘active.’ It included shields that you could continually feed magic into. It made for a much stronger shield apparently, but also carried a high risk of spell backfire if it did collapse. In a battle, that senseless state was as good as a death sentence. Richter was more than happy with his static shield.
Reading the description of the spell was also illuminating. The shields were great to have, but they seemed to have a serious weakness. The lower level ones anyway. The barriers would not stop attacks based on their own type of magic. It meant that if he came up against an Earth-based shield in the future, then his acid sphere and sonic attack spells should still be able to take the guy out. Even better, summoned creatures of that type of magic should still be lethal! He realized that this might be the biggest advantage for him knowing spells in all eight of the basic elements. His broad spell base would come in handy for his own attack spells. He should have enough Earth spells, for instance, to still be deadly even inside of his protective shield.
One thing that he hadn’t expected was that these minor rank spells would be so much more expensive. He had thought that his five hundred points of mana were more than adequate. If these costs were representative of the initiate level spells, then he was woefully underprepared for a magical battle. It was a good thing that he had his short swords. What was that old saying? Blades never run out.
Besides the cost, the only real downside he could see was that many of the spells were level ten. It meant they were too advanced to store in his Ring of Spell storage. The handy little band had saved his bacon several times. Being able to cast a spell immediately in case of emergency gave an amazing tactical advantage in any situation. Still, he wasn’t complaining.
The first phase of the journey was blessedly uneventful. Night fell, but the mist lights they took with them were enough to navigate the forest. Richter had been concerned that the lights could be seen in the forest, giving away their position, but Hisako had already foreseen that issue and had a simple solution. She cast a mass spell on all of the lights before they left the village. Now, anyone more than fifty paces from an individual light could not see it. It didn’t impede the sight abilities of those holding the globes, but it did create a strange effect. To the members of the warband near the front of the column, it looked like those in the rear were walking in darkness. Those in back had the same impression of the front. Weird or not, her spell made things much safer, and she said it should last for twelve hours.
Scouts were deployed ahead and around the warband. They periodically reported observing animals or low level monsters, but nothing stronger. As Richter had predicted, though, these creatures fled before the war party. While the sprites traveled in near-complete silence, Richter’s guards stomped, broke branches and cursed as they walked through the forest. If not for the movement bonus from Richter’s War Leader skill, it might have taken all night to reach the edge of his domain. Because of him, they left the mists after only about three hours. The mist lights stopped working, and the true danger had begun.
There was no natural demarcation that they had traveled ten miles, but the trees had gradually been getting less dense. It made travel faster, but also increased the chances of the war party being seen. Yoshi had made it clear that the goblins could very well have scouts placed throughout the woods. The Battle Leader tripled the number of scouts that were around the warband.