The Aftermath 33.

The Kaldel Plains...

"What are they doing?" asks Lisell Maera the messenger who this morning has walked the five or so miles from where they've hidden what they stole during the night. And buried the body of the dwarf named Mac she killed, when they stole from the illegal wreckers in the nearby village.
"They're definitely searching" says Tamric Drubine the field commander as they lie upon the small rise less than a quarter of a mile to the east of the village.
"Probably for both the dwarf and what we took from them" says the nobleborn teenager from the feudal kingdom of Sarcrin as he watches the activity in the nearby village, through his brass, cylindrical eyepiece.
"Hardly any of them are working on dismantling those ships like they were yesterday" adds the young field commander in the armies of Farque, who has the messenger Maera lying to his right, while Beldane the cleric is on his left.
Tovis the war engineer is five miles further to the east, amongst some of the scrubby looking trees in that direction, where he has remained with the chests of gold and gems they stole from the illegal wreckers during the night.
"Wonder how long it'll be, before they turn on one another?" muses Lisell Maera who is more commonly called Lis by those who know her well.
"Before they realise that the dwarf couldn't of stole it all by himself" adds the attractive young woman who is originally from the city-state of Brattonbury.
"I'm guessing they're thinking that already" quietly says Tamric Drubine, who after a moments pause, continues with "Well i hope they are".
The young field commander, who improvised when Lis killed the dwarf named Mac last night. Couldn't of planned it better.
As now they've cast blame upon one of the illegal wreckers. Instead of just stealing from them, without them knowing who it could of been.
Now he's hoping ferment and suspicion has broken out amongst the criminal wreckers in the nearby village. Or at least amongst those who know about the theft.
As he suspects their leader, the plainsman named Arvelle. Is keeping the disappearance of some of their loot close to his chest, so to speak. And probably only told those that he can trust.
"I'm waiting for the moment they figure out magic had to be involved" says Beldane the cleric, who must admit, he wasn't entirely sold on the plan thought up by field commander Drubine.
But once it was executed, and they had the added factor of the dead dwarf thrown in on it. It's worked out far better than he would of thought.
And more importantly, worked out better than any plan of action, that involved confrontation against the illegal wreckers who brought down the Farqian warship they were traveling on.
Because no way the four of them could of done anything of worth against more than two hundred of the illegal wreckers, some of whom are spellcasters.
"They'll have to realise that the dwarf had magical assistance in taking that gold and gems we stole" adds the powerful cleric who is a member of the church of Glaine.
"There's no other way he could of disappeared without a trace" continues the churchman who hails from the kingdom of Nastell, which lies to the east of the Kaldel Plains.
"It's going to be trouble for those spellcasters when they turn up again" says the fighting cleric in the half plate armour.
"I'm picking the last one who left, will be the one who cops it" says Tamric Drubine, who glances at Beldane, and asks him "The one who teleported away, what's he?".
"A wizard" says the spellcaster who is originally from the duchy of Phelm in the north of the kingdom of Nastell.
The nobleborn teenager who is the son and former heir of a previous knight of castle Drubine, in the kingdom of Sarcrin, nods his head, then says "We saw him talking to that dwarf just before he left" he then adds "So I'm guessing suspicion will be cast upon him straight away when he returns".
"The wizard Davon" says Lis, who continues with "That's his name" the messenger in the scouts division of the one armies of Farque then adds "He like the mage, and the sorceress went off to find some potential buyers for the remaining magetubes, and the ships they're tearing down".
"Well, he's in trouble when he gets back if they think the dwarf had magical help" says Beldane, who drops his head down, as he adds "Looks like they're searching around the village now".
As they see some of the wreckers moving out from the village, searching the surrounding area. Looking for signs of the missing dwarf named Mac. While a select few, are also searching for their missing gold and gems.
Seeing some of the illegal wreckers making their way to the east side of the village. Tamric Drubine, or Tam as he's more commonly called by those who know him well, quietly says "We might want to quickly leave if they come out this way".
Both Beldane the cleric and Lisell Maera the messenger nod in agreement to that, as the three of them continue to watch the hive of activity in the nearby village, where a crew of illegal wreckers are based.
Meanwhile, nearly five miles to the east of that village. Amongst a patch of the scrub like trees that are found across the Kaldel Plains.
Tovis the war engineer stands up from the locker he's been sitting on as he polishes and hones his axe.
The young engineer looks away to his left, to where he hears roaring not all that far away from him.
Tovis, who hails from the kingdom of Druvic, returns his axe to it's belt loop. He quickly checks his hammer. Then makes his way through the scrubby looking trees. Making sure to keep well clear of the spot that Beldane is using for his gateway between here and the slight rise where the others are observing the village where the crew of illegal wreckers are based.
The war engineer, who once served a baron Harkonin in the fief Harkonin in the east of the kingdom of Druvic. Hops over the shallow grave where they buried the dwarf named Mac who Lis killed last night as they were stealing from the illegal wreckers.
The war engineer in the armies of Farque, who hears the roaring which is sounding off every so often. Gets to the edge of the scrubby like, almost bare trees. And looks around, and in the distance he spots movement.
It's a lion, a large male one, no doubt calling for it's pride, or calling out a warning to any potential males who are in it's territory, who aren't part of it's pride.
"Ah come on, don't come this way" Tovis the war engineer murmurs to himself, as he sees the lion, which briefly stopped, and sat down, has got back up. And is ambling in this direction. No doubt heading for the shade of the trees, as the day, which is much warmer than it has been recently, continues to heat up, on what's essentially one of the very last days of summer here on the Kaldel Plains.
The young engineer originally from the kingdom of Druvic sourly smiles as he sees the big male lion wandering in this direction. The big cat is taking it's time, and doesn't seem to be in a hurry, as it continues to stop every so often and roar.
"Should of had Lis leave her crossbow with me" Tovis mutters to himself, who doesn't fancy facing a lion with either his axe or hammer if the big cat comes at him.
The war engineer, who can throw his axe. Knows he'll have to get extremely lucky if has to throw it, if the big male lion decides to charge him if it thinks he'll make a good meal.
Go by the trees, and head around the other way you stupid cat, the young engineer thinks to himself as he watches the lion.
Who then rolls his eyes, as from the other direction, he hears more lions roar in answer to the male that isn't all that far away from the trees.
It must be the male lion's pride, as it roars in return, and continues on it's way.
"Go away" mutters Tovis who then sourly adds "Fuck" as the lion, more or less heads straight in this direction.
The war engineer waits to take his axe from the belt loop, as he figures any sudden move might give away his position, unless the lion has already spotted him, he hopes it hasn't.
Then he realises it has, as it's whole demeanor has changed. Because it's far more alert, and looking straight at the tree that he's half behind.
The young engineer originally from the kingdom of Druvic goes to grab his axe when he suddenly hears something behind him, he glances over his shoulder and sees Beldane the cleric step towards him.
"Looks like you've got a bit of a cat problem" says Beldane as he stands beside the war engineer, while the lion suddenly charges in this direction.
"You could say that" murmurs Tovis as he watches the large male lion run at them.
The fighting cleric steps away from him and the tree, takes a few steps forward, lifts his arms up above his head and makes a roaring noise, a really bad imitation of a lion roar.
The big cat stops in mid charge, then scrambles away to it's right. Hissing, and swinging it's tail in agitation as it runs, heading around the patch of trees, to find it's pride.
Tovis shakes his head as he watches the departing lion, then he looks at Beldane and says in a dry tone of voice "That threatening posture and roar of defiance of yours wouldn't of scared a house cat let alone lion".
The powerful spellcaster from the kingdom of Nastell, chuckles then says "It's good to have magic at your disposal" the member of the church of Glaine continues with "I gave it a little mental scare to get rid of it".
Spellcasters, Tovis dryly thinks to himself, who then asks the churchman "Why did you come back?".
"We all did" says Beldane as the two of them head into the patch of scrub like trees "They're searching outside of the village now, and were approaching the rise we've been watching them from" he follows that with "The field commander thought it was best to leave". Tovis nods his head and quietly says "Wise move".
The fighting cleric and the war engineer make it back to where Tamric Drubine and Lisell Maera are. With the chests of gold coins and gems.
The young field commander asks the young engineer from the kingdom of Druvic "You do a count?". As the war engineer was going to count how much gold and gems they stole from the illegal wreckers during the night.
"I gave up, there's a lot" says Tovis who gestures at the two ship's lockers, one of which Lisell Maera is sitting on, and he adds "Especially in those two".
The war engineer then says "I'm no expert on it, but I'm guessing in total there's more than enough to pay for another warship to be built for our fleet".
Field commander Drubine nods his head to that, then Tovis says "But that's not the interesting thing".
The young engineer goes to one of the small cask sized chests, and he opens it as he says "This is the interesting thing" followed by "Look at these".
"Looks like jewels to me" says Tam as he looks at the gems in the small, barrel chest as he couches down next to the war engineer who opens the second, small cask like chest.
It's Beldane who, when he bends down to get a close look at precious stones in the first small chest, that immediately recognises what they are, especially in comparison to the jewels in the second small, cask chest.
"Hell" says the powerful cleric in surprise "Spell gems" adds the fighting cleric with a shake of his head in disbelief at the amount of spell gems.
"They are?" says Tamric Drubine "They are" replies Beldane as all four of them look at the contents of the two small cask chests.
"I didn't know what they were" says Tovis, who continues with "But to even my eye, they look completely flawless compared to the ones in this one".
"That they are" says the member of the church of Glaine, who is the most popular deity worshiped in the north of the kingdom of Nastell.
"You can take anything from glass, well not glass, since it can never be completely flawless" says Beldane who continues with "But anything from clear crystal to diamonds, which are completely flawless. Cleanse them with magic, and they can be a spell gem to hold either spells or just raw power".
The powerful cleric takes a small thumbnail sized chip of crystal from the first cast, and says "This small crystal is worth more than".
He pauses as he digs around in the second chest, and pulls out a giant diamond, the size of a small child's fist, and adds "This diamond".
"Damn" murmurs Tamric Drubine while Tovis whistles in appreciation, and Lisell Maera shakes her head in disbelief.
"All because it's a spell gem?" asks the nobleborn teenager who hails from the kingdom of Sarcrin.
"All because it's a spell gem" says the fighting cleric, who then adds "They're quite expensive to say the least" who as he looks at the contents of the first cask chest, says "And there's quite a few of them in there".
After a few moments of silence, the young field commander says "I think we might of took more than we initially realised".
As he thought since they took only a handful of chests from the illegal wreckers, and left quite a lot of them behind. They didn't make that much of a dent in the fortunes of the illegal wreckers.
Turns out they might of took a fairly significant chunk of the wealth of those they stole from.
Tam who originally thought they might of took a tenth of the fortune the illegal wreckers had. Immediately doubles that and suspects they might of stole a fifth, or even a quarter of their wealth during the night.
"Well, this makes it more interesting" quietly says field commander Drubine "I think they'll be a bit more pisssed off than i thought they'd be" adds the nobleborn teenager from the kingdom of Sarcrin.
"Especially considering we've taken a large chunk of their loot" says Tovis, who picks up a spell gem out of the small, barrel cask chest, and adds "These must be the most expensive things ever".
"Pretty much" says Beldane the cleric "Anti-magic is worth way more" says Tamric Drubine in an offhand manner.
The fighting cleric in the church of Glaine grimaces at that. He's heard of anti-magic, but never seen it. As it's extremely rare, and in some societies, thought not to even exist.
How the young field commander knows about it, or even heard of it. As it isn't exactly common knowledge, even amongst spellcasters. Is more than a bit of a mystery.
"So I've been told" says the son and heir of a previous knight of castle Drubine. Who over the years has heard how members of the group acquired anti-magic in the past. And how they're worth an absolute fortune. Like as much as a small kingdom or city-state.
Even Dorc da Orc has that much in platinum bars stored somewhere in the lands Farque. Not that he knows it, as he pretty much forgot about it not long after they sold off the anti-magic they acquired. And in acquired, that would be stole. Or to be exact, what they took. And took by force.
As both Tovis and Beldane toss the gems back in the small, cask like chests, Tamric Drubine says "They'll badly want this lot back".
The young field commander briefly pauses as he looks at the other three, then he continues with "Once they realise they'll never get it back, I'm guessing they'll turn on one another, and turn on one another in a bad way" . . . . . .