The plan was simple, travel in a mostly straight line to the destination, then follow the cast for the remaining part. The guards need to keep an eye out for bandits and hostile tribesmen, and are stationed at regular intervals around the convoy. There were more guards than just the four guild members, most were not mages and just trained fighters, some were official emplyees, there was even a couple of independent mages. The head of the expedition was an old scholar, and he had a surprsingly efficient military strategy for the guard positions, the mages were placed on key points around the convoy with normal armed guards covering the rest, two mages in front of the cart, two at the end of the convoy, and one at each side. The whole operation was a couple dozen people, mostly scholars but with some survival experts to assure they would not starve. Two carts pulled by strange ox like creatures contained all the necessary materials for the travel and to set up the initial camp. More expedition would be sent later to bring more resources and make the travel faster.
At the front of the whole convoy were placed Marak and Lorus, mostly as the result of a mercenary challenging Marak, being almost killed in the process, and saved by by Lorus stopping the last punch without flinching. Neither of them was being serious and this display of power scared the others enough to not want to deal with either of them, Mitra and Axel watched on in horror as trouble started before the expedition itself, but decided to move on in different ways. The two guardians took the sides of the convoy, to keep an eye on the respective charges and because the normal mages wanted to be as far away from the two monsters as possible. The beginning of the expedition was surprisingly uneventful, after the first day of travel it was time for camping. Marak was drinking both his booze and mercury for fun, as was tradition for the two metallic friends, and Lorus kept him company by drinking a bit of alcohol and sharing stories of jobs or things they learned. The athmosphere was cheerful and light, only around specifically the two of them.
The rest of the camp was very different, the normal people kept very far from the human shaped creatures that decided to join the expedition. The remaining guild members sat only slightly away from the cheerful duo, less worried about the two and more about the other unkown. The archeologist and the gambler, each sent to make sure the mission went smoothly, and for different personal reasons as well.
"So, what brings you here on this fine evening? I was aware of Lorus but I was not expecting you. No offense of course I am just curious." Axel breaks the silence, attempting to gather information.
"I am an archeologist. This is part of my field. And Lorus needed... guidance." Mitra answered, half distracted by her research materials.
"I see, very fitting job for you then. I am simply here for negotiation, Marak is not very suited for it."
"Hey Lorus look, I found some snacks." Marak was proudly showing some camping gear with metal stakes wrapped in it. "It was very condescending of them to get them just for me." Marak was very happy.
"Going by your expression I assume you meant considerate." Lorus looked up from his notebook. "And I am fairly certain that's materials to build a tent."
"I gathered that." Mitra observed the scene with mild concern, for what exactly was not clear.
The night ended peacefully, and with only a minor loss of camping equipement. The first couple of days of travel managed to go similarly, the road was simple and still in familar territory, the rest of the caravan was even getting used to the strange antics of the two guards at the front of the line. That was until sometimes in the evening of the fourth day, they were about to leave what was considered explored territory. Some people blocked the road, they were armed and had clothes modified to be more resistant. Bandits, but only low caliber ones judging by the low quality of the makeshift armor.
"Leave your things here and nobody will get hurt." One of the bandits gestured to the surrounding woods as he spoke. "We have you surrounded, don't make this harder than it has to be."
The rection of the caravan in general was simply getting in a defensive position, they were waiting for a sign, a move by the bandits, an attempt at negotiation. Axel quickly glanced at the two people standing in front of the cart, Lorus was staring at the bandits with an almost confused expression, Marak was already getting ready to fight. Now was the time to act. "Gentlemen, I don't think you really want to do this, I am sure we can find a reasonable compromise."
The attempt fell on dead ears. "We don't do compromizing her, this is our turf and you are out of yours."
With a sigh Axel simply looked to the rest of the caravan gesturing to the rest of the guards to stay on the defensive. "Well, I warned you. Don't make to much of a mess and stay away from the cart please." Axel's words were not all directed at the bandit.
Those words were all that was needed to spark a smile on Marak's face, he turned to his fellow guard and Lorus upon seeing this also managed to smile in an uncharacteristic way for the usually pensive mage. And just like that, with a distortion Lorus was gone, the bandits had no time to react before a wave of metal swept them in the direction of Marak, who had already turned both arms to metal and was ready to hit.
With the resounding warcry of "IRON GOD DOUBLE PUNCH" Marak hit both of the thugs before they hit the ground. For a moment everything was still, almost everyone was stunned by the sudden flawless collaboration and ruthless efficiency with which the bandits were disposed of. Marak and Lorus on the other hand were surprised everything worked so well, they just did what came to mind and Marak was slightly disappointed the bandits did not seem to be getting up. A shaky voice broke the silence.
"W-what are we waiting for?! Attack!" The bandits were not bluffing about having them surrounded it seems. Not that it mattered, walls of stone rose up around the caravan shielding it from the attack. Loose stones started falling on the attacking bandits outside, not enough to be really harmful but enough to distract them.
On the inside of the walls one of the backline mages spoke up. "Should we help them? They are still ouside against who knows how many bandits." His question was accmpained by the sounds of screams and crunching metal coming from outside.
"If you want to help feel free to do so, but I am sure they can handle it." Says Axel as Lorus floats overhead while raining silvery spikes. Axel keeps lazily using his telekinesis to make small rocks fall on the other side, it seems to be more of an insult at this point than a tactical advantage.
"My walls provide a vantage point, if any of you have ranged abilities it would be more efficient to use them from above." Added Mitra, making a set of stairs appear on the inside of the wall.
Two of the backline guards decided to climb the stairs. The scene outside was a massacre, bandits laid on the ground surrounded by pools of blood and mercury, some had spikes still sticking out of them, others had smaller cuts. Many bandits had caved in bits of metal armor, others had literal bites missing from both weapons and helmets. Just as the horrified mages managed to climb up fully the last couple of bandits were being beaten up by Marak as Lorus was fighting one with a sword made of softly glowing metal. Marak punches one bandit a bit too hard sending him flying at Lorus that startled reacts by cutting him clean in two with his sword. The last bandit is hit by one half of his former companion and faints, Lorus is stunned momentarily by the sudden event, his sword melting away as he looks around seeing no bandit standing.
"Monsters..." The witnesses were frozen in place, staring at the battlefield. The two remaining fighters were covered in blood, but after the scene they saw the other mages were sure none of it was theirs. Axel spoke up from inside the walls.
"It seems the noises stopped. I would guess that means the battle is over." The walls lowered allowing the non combattants to see the scene too.
The bandits were no all dead, most were still alive even if barely, in total it seemed to be two or three dozen bandits in various states of distress, regardless they were definitiely neutralized. The old man in charge of the expedition started giving orders with surprising efficiency, as if it was not the first time he had to deal with this. "Clean up the road, separate the dead from the injuried and tie them up near a tree. I will call the guards, they should be here with a transport faster than what it took us. We cannot allow this to slow us anymore than it already has."
The workers are a bit shaken by the sight but get to work all the same. The weapons are gathered and put aside, until Marak decides to use the as snacks, since he was not allowed to eat the camping stakes. By the end of it the athmosphere ended up going back to the start of the journey, with the familiarity the other mages managed to develop disappearing completely at a glance. Lorus was also more quiet that night, at least for a while, until Marak started eating the gathered weapons still covered in mercury calling it sauce, that managed to cheer him up for a bit.
The next few days were more tense, being outside of known lands meant they had to be more careful, and the forest was getting thicker and turning into more of a jungle. The road they had been following was all but gone now and the caravan was struggling to go on, the old scholar however saw that as a good thing, it meant they where close. The mages took turns to make the path easier to travel, the earth was smothed out and freed of debris, the brances were cut and entire trees were moved. The process was not particularly extensive, just enough to not get stuck, but it still managed to attract attention. A couple of spears landed in front of the caravan blocking the path, they were dripping with a strangely familiar liquid, some figures concealed by the foliage followed. Unlike with the bandits the head scholar was quick to react this time.
"Wait, we don't need any bloodshed here. I studied the reports of tribes in the area, we should be able to negotiate peacefully." The old man stepped down from the cart and slowly moved to the front, he was advancing with his hands raised to appear as non threatening as possible. Lorus stepped aside to allow the old man to pass, while staring straight at the spears in the ground, Marak was on edge but not reacting violently yet. The tribe people were wary but the scholar managed to actually be understood somewhat, the scene was surreal for most but a dialogue was estabilished. The tribe did not display violent traditions from past reports and that is why negotiation was attempted, the result was an audience with the chief, they did not want to allow the whole caravan to see the chief however so a small team was formed, Lorus and Marak as protection, nobody complained, Mitra volunteered to study the tribe, and Axel made up some excuse just to keep an eye on Marak, the last people were the head scholar himself and a younger assistant that apparently also knew the language enough to speak it a bit.
The village was strange, at a glance it would seem like a textbook primitive village, but scatterd aroud the place were peculiarly modern objects. Some lamps and containers and the biggest thing, a very big room torn out of a building of sorts with metal beams sticking out and a metal door was standing in the back of the village surrounded by lamps and decoration, almost like an altar. Everyone was on edge, even Marak was strangely somber, the tribespeople all looked on with suspicion as teh group neared the tent of the chief, standing near the out of place room. The older man had a long discussion with the chief, using some kind of magic to speak the language fluently, the young apprentice struggled to keep up but managed to translate some key points for the rest of the group. They would need to stay until night, when the tribe would perform a ritual to ask their god for passage, if the ritual is successful they will let us go. It was a favourable deal, the god was not a violent one according to the chief, but some members of the expedition were even more on edge after hearing this, Marak went from simply quiet to being on edge and Lorus started feeling that something was very wrong about this, but this was not part of the job so the best they could do was try to stay calm and keep going.
The group sits around a campfire, food and drinks are made and the tribe cheerfully practices dances and songs for the riual. A single person, a young kid, sits in a broken cage and is not brought food or drinks, not does he approach to take them. As the older scholar is buisy with the chief Mita asks to the younger one for the sake of research. The random tribesman seems very uncomfortable about the qustion aked by the apprentice but answers anyway, the boy was punished for provoking the ire of the Shining Sickness, he was sent on the traditional passing of age ceremony and failed. Suddenly the music stops and the door of the metal room opens, a big container of a metallic liquid substance is dragged out to the campfire and a couple of warrior looking people fetch the kid in the cage. The chief openly explains the ritual, normally they would sacrifice an animal to the Shining Sickness and read the answers, but since the kid failed and angered the god he would be sacrificed instead to pacify it.
Everything made sense now, all the pieces finally combined, Lorus was sure he knew where he was now and it was not a good thing. He did not have the time to process that however before Marak snapped, with a bellowing roar the barbarian lunges at the chief, only a combination of Mitra making a wall and a what looked like a shaman making some roots converge on Marak manage to stop the metallic punch barely a hair from the face of the chief. The roots wrap around the barbarian and throw him away into the jungle and far from the chief, as the scholar scambles to calm down the situation Lorus finally understands what is happening and springs into action. The jungle is being destroyed, instead of simply going around them Marak is bowling down any trees in his way, the shaman is attempting to hold him back with roots and vines but the metallic barbarian tears them apart by morphing his hands into axes. Walls of earth start rising around the village and boulders fly in the direction of the fallen trees, Axel searches desperately in the provisions for a certain bottle.
A purple distortion flashes in front of the raging man, axe hand insinctively hitting whatever enters his range, only to be blocked by a silvery blade. "Marak please calm down, I promise you I can fix this." But the pleas fall on deaf ears as a metallic fist crashes against the blade sending Lorus flying several feet back. Back at the village the tribe is preparing some strange ritual, chanting and dancing around the vat of mercury, Axel finds the bottle of poison that Marak calls booze.
"Now we just need to knock him out and get this to him. We need a distarction to allow one of the heavy hits to get to him."
Mtra keeps throwing boulders, switching from attempting to hit Marak to area denial, she tries to make a perimeter around him to keep him in place. The paln seems to be working with the shaman reinforcing the gaps in the rocks with roots, but a scream spells the end of that.
"IRON GOD BELLOW" Metal spikes erupt from the ground all around the raging barbarian, they concentrate in front of him opening the path to the village. A blur dodges all of them while closing in, eyes sofly glowing an unfamilar silver hue.
Lorus grabs Marak by the shoulders, only for a spike shaped fist to go through him, but this does not stop him, the glow intensifies. "I really did not want to do this. CALM DOWN." The world stands still for a moment, the rage in Marak's eyes subsides, then he simply falls uncouncious. Lorus is left standing with a hole in his chest, that is quickly closing in a swirl of mercury. The glow shifts slowly from silver to red as he turns to the village. His voice is barely a wisper. "I can fix this, I just have to..." A small orb of light starts forming in his hand. "Quicksilver Soul Meld 100-" He is interrupted by a snake jumping in the air and wrapping around his arm. "Layla?"
The snake nods, which is odd for a snake so that's a pretty good sign. It does not talk, but it does seem to point to the village. The adrenaline starts to fade and Lorus finally has a moment to think, looking at his friend on the ground and remembering about the kid about to be sacrificed, he thinks about the first sight since his awakening, and the symbol that was on the door.
"I don't know why you are here, or why you are not talking but thanks, I probably would have regretted whatever I was going to do. Now I have a better plan, hopefully the tribespeople have pattern recognition skills."
Lorus walks back to the village, concentarting on being calm. The wall lowers to allow him in, Axel is the first to speak. "What did you do? How did you manage to calm him down without this?" he says while holding out the concentarted booze bottle.
"I don't know, but I have the feeling you will need that when he wakes up, there is no toxins in him now and from what I understand he kinda needs them to be calm." Lorus had no time to explain, he would need to understand himself first anyway.
Ignoring the following question about the snake on his arm he simply walks to the vat of mercury and starts controlling it making it float in the air in the shape of a ball. The tribe starts gathering weapons but the mercury on them is also absorbed by the growing sphere. The sphere morphs in different shapes and then gathers around Lorus, shaping around his wings, making something similar to an elegant suit of armor and a crown with sharp wings. The tribe is shocked until the chief starts chanting. The rest follow, praying for the forgiveness of the returned god.
The sun rises, the caravan proceeds as if the starnge events of the last day did not happen. After Lorus displayed his control over mercury the tribe recognized him as the god they worshipped, the head scholar thanked him for the brilliant idea of pretending to be a god, Lorus quietly accepted the praise but he was not pretending. Marak was still passed out and was being carried in the cart, surprisingly he looked peaceful in his sleep, he was even healed of the bruises from the fight. The kid that was to be sacrificed was assigned as the guide for the expedition on the order by the Shining Sickness, and was now leading the caravan to the designated campsite. Layla still in snake form was now around Mitra's arm, they seemed to be conversing even without the snake being able to speeak. Axel was extremely confused by the whole situation, he had to negotiate with the head scholar to avoid a reduction in the pay, or worse, so he had other things to think about but he could not stop staring at the god now leading them.
The site was finally reached, the structure was in sight and all the suspicions Lorus had were confirmed, it was his prison. The camp was set up and the payment was negotiated, both Axel and Mitra managed to secure future collaboration, but for the moment the expedition was over and the guards were free to go, the tribe would help in the research because the god ordered them to, or at least that is what they were sure of as Lorus said nothing about it. Marak woke up surprisingly calm for being completely sober.
"Hey Lorus, ya good? Ya're really quiet." Lorus was sitting on a makeshift chair staring at the prison, Marak joined him after waking up not remembering anything apart from a strange sense of warmth.
"I am reflecting, this mission may have been a mistake. And it's my fault, I should have predicted this."
"Wot? We did good man, the bandits 'ere nothing, an ya even got'us safe passage when I was sleepin'. Axel said ya fixed everythin'."
Lorus was unwilling to sour the good mood of hi friend so he decided to not point out that he also caused those problems. "Well, I appreciate the sentiment. Tomorrow everything will go back to normal and time will start flowing again."
"I know wot ya need! Ya need a toast, lemme get the Moonshine" Marak did not even wait for an answer and poured out two mugs of Centuple Moonshine, the mugs almost melted from the sheer intensity of the drink. "To us, an a job well done"
Lorus was reluctunat, but in the end the optimism was contagious. "Fine, to us. Things are already going back to how they were. Maybe changing would not be too bad but we all need time."
After the camp was done and some simple celebration finished a transport was called, since the road now was marked the travel back would be in the city by the end of the day. With nothing more left to do for the moment Mtra approaches Lorus. "So how did you know it would work? The broken translation of the apprentice was not much to go on when it comes to replicating the exact image of a god you don't know."
The question took the pensive man by surprise. "I did not know, but i suspected it. I saw it in a book, this book." Lorus took out the book he had with him since he escaped, opening it to a page that showed a drawing very similar to the appearence he took at the village. "Why is Layla so quiet? If that is Layla, it would not surprise me if I got attached to a random snake in that state."
"Fascinating, I hope you will allow me to study that back at the guild. And this is in fact Layla, she is just very far from the original so her abilities are diminished. Clone magi has a variety of uses, I can explain better during the ride home."
"Thanks, but I think I will fly back on my own, I feel like I have been here too long already. I would offer to carry you but I know you prefer avoiding that." Lorus was tired, and he did not want to look at the prison anymore. "I promise I will try to explain as much as I can, just not now."
And so the expedition ends. A brief window of chaos in the calm the guild memebrs had gotten used to. The next day things would go back to normal, but the door has been opened and it will not close so easily.