The Meet

The first day of the journey was relatively eventless, during the day the group walked around eighty miles before slowing down; at that point Nova agreed they should find somewhere to camp. Out of the entire group it was Lisa who was struggling walking so long. The others had all focused on strengthening their bodies and were able to continue fairly easily. Victor had offered to carry Lisa but his offer was condescending and highlighted her weakness. His comments had instantly made her upset and she had refused to be carried by anyone at all.

Either way with Nova letting them stop the group found a relatively sheltered area and set up some tents and made a campfire. The surroundings had been fairly similar throughout their journey so far; the air was hot and dusty and the ground dry and brown. Ares expected more of the environment envisaging large trees and rolling countryside.

"Tomorrow we will be heading through the rocky mountain pass." Nova said to the group as they munched on some dried rations.

"The area is rocky and dangerous; there have also been sightings of rock goblins too." She added a serious tone in her voice.

Ares had read about rock goblins in the library and was aware of their characteristics; the others were not however and Lisa was the first to ask Nova.

"What's a rock goblin?"

There was a slight look of disappointment in Nova as she responded.

"They are low level monsters around one meter in height. They are known to live in tribes of around 100-200 and are very territorial. They are fairly similar in shape to humans only they are very ugly and have rock like protrusions all over their body, they are grey in colour. The main concern is that they have very strong ability to scent humans and can track for miles." Nova explained.

"We could use the West Petal Vine to cover our scent and avoid them. Assuming there are any growing at the rocky mountain pass of course." Ares added.

A look of appreciation flashed over Novas face as she acknowledged his comments. Victor sat at the back a glum look on his face as he watched the exchange. He too had read about the rock goblins but did not think of the West Petal Vine.

Nova was very satisfied with Ares's comments. This journey was not just to assist the guilds but also to scope out potential in the guild; it seemed Ares had more than just magic potential. The group separated shortly after and went to their tents, before long, snores were resounding from the area. Only Nova remained vigilant as she sat by the campfire and stared into the dark night.

The morning came and after a short breakfast of yet more dried rations the group set off for the Rocky mountain pass. This was the only real barrier between them and the meeting point for the guilds. As luck would have it after a mile or so into the pass, the group came across a large quantity of West Petal Vines growing into the rockface.

Having made the suggestion Ares cut down the vines himself and pushed the sticky yellow pulp into a bowl. What wasn't written in the book was the pungent leafy smell which was coming from the pulp. Regardless after a few complaints from Lisa and Tracy the entire group excluding Nova had covered themselves in the stuff.

Ares approached Nova carrying the rest of the pulp preparing to offer it to her.

"I don't need that disgusting stuff." She said as he got close, turning her nose up at it.

"But." He began before being instantly cut off.

"Im a Spellcaster; evading some low level Rock Goblins is hardly an effort for me." She waved her arm and a black haze emitted around her instantly cutting her off from all Ares senses. He shrugged and stepped back towards the others who were all now grumpily looking at Nova. If she could do that for herself, surely she could have solved the need for them to smear this stuff all over themselves. Lisa and Tracy were particularly aggrieved. Despite this no one felt brave enough to challenge her.

The group made their way through the pass without issue and in the late afternoon after clearing the pass they found themselves facing a large area covered in tents.

There was probably hundreds of thousands of people here. An impromptu fence of wooden stakes had been erected around the perimeter of the group and Nova made for the entrance the others following closely behind.

"Guild?" A red robed man said as the group approached.

"Space Guild." Nova said flashing a badge from her pocket.

The man looked instantly disinterested and glanced over the others. The yellow pulp had thankfully lost most of its smell now, but instead a dry yellow residue covered each of them.

"Trash." The man muttered under his breath.

Nova clearly heard the comment as she stepped close to the man and grabbed his throat, lifting him into the air easily.

"What was that? You pathetic Adept." She said, her eyes narrowing a glow emitting from her iris.

The guard clearly not expecting to be manhandled by one of the members of the most pathetic guild felt instant shame. He managed to force out an apology as he struggled to breathe.

Nova hummed and then let go, dropping the Adept onto a heap on the floor.

"Where are the dark guilds situated?" She asked, ignoring the man raggedly breathing infront of her. He weakly pointed a finger to the rear of the area as he hung his head infront of Nova.

"Follow me." Nova said confidently striding in the direction the Adept had gestured. The group followed behind walking quickly passed the man still on the floor. All of them thought the same thing to themselves. Nova is a badass.

The group set up at the dark guild area and were informed by a mage from the Glass guild next door that there was a large announcement about the mission in an hour. An area in the centre of the tents had been allocated for this and every guild was expected to attend. The group cleaned themselves off making themselves slightly presentable before the announcement.

On the hour the group made their way through the tents and found themselves in a large open area which was packed with a huge crowd. A large raised stage was in front of them. Taking a glance around the other gathered mages Ares was more and more aware that the Space Guild had brought significantly less people then the other guilds. Just from the secondary guilds Ares could see thousands of people and there were tens of thousands of people dressed in the white and dark robes of the primary guilds.