My opening gambit settled things, though not quite in the way I had intended to. While there was quite a bit of shock and awe going around those in the group who weren’t used to me, it mostly manifested in a changed distribution of effort. Instead of staying in one large group, we split up, with my group providing close protection for the clerics while Mal and her group took over the lead, leaving some thirty metres between the different groups, That way, their group was able to do some fighting on their own, gaining experience without my group trivialising the encounter.

Watching them make their way through the forest had its own charme, it was quite interesting to simply observe. Their team-work was quite solid, with Gilo scouting some distance ahead, the rest following behind in a tight formation, leaving Mal in the back while the two Daimon’s were on the sides, ready to move into any direction. It was a different paradigm, suited for open areas that made sneaking up on them hard. In tight spaces, where the terrain might hinder them from adjusting, it might get problematic. But not here.

Their tactics were quite simple, Gilo used gestures to warn the others if she spotted an enemy she wasn’t able to comfortably kill on her own and one of the Daimon-Siblings alongside Jakyl moved up, taking care of things. If necessary, the second Daimon-Sibling joined them, leaving only Mal to provide overwatch and cover, warning them in case of emergency. That tactic left Mal rather open to ambush, but to ambush her, you’d need an intelligent foe, with the capability to evade detection by Gilo and Mal, that also had the ability to take her out near instantly. Risky, but they made do, mostly by having her move up somewhat close to the fighting.

Their tactic remained steady, leaving us out of the fighting and bored, until there was a change. Instead of the usual gesture I had noticed, Gilo used a different gesture, her fingers flashing and Mal made a short, affirmative gesture in reply. Curious, I stopped the others, leaving the space between the groups open instead of catching up, while Gilo, quite some distance up ahead, took out a slim bottle and took a short sip from it. Just from the movement, I was quite sure she couldn’t have drunk more than a single mouthful before putting the cork back into the bottle.

For a moment, nothing happened with her and after that moment, she suddenly moved a great deal faster than before. Not blindingly fast, the distance between us was far enough to allow me to keep track of her easily enough, but at close range, that might have been different. She moved with a speed and agility that only Rai could match in the group and even he would need to push himself. It was quite impressive, though I had no doubt she would be paying for the enhancement after the potion wore off.

With her newly enhanced speed, she gave up any pretence of stealth, dashing forward, throwing small objects as she went, hitting something ahead and off to the sides. From the spots hit, skeletons began to rise, not just a few but an actually larger group, some thirty skeletons, gathered in a reasonably small area.

“Interesting.” I muttered, curious how they would handle that, as none of her companions appeared to move forward to support. Not that they needed to, Gilo was weaving through the bare trunks, just staying out of reach of any skeleton coming too close but drawing them in, quickly. It was a classic tactic I recognised from other games, though it wasn’t one I would be willing to use in Road to Purgatory, where a single mistake might be enough to get hit, tripped and murdered in short order.

Looking over to Mal, a grin appeared on my face and for the first time, she was readying her crossbow, a complicated mechanical monstrosity, with springs, cogs and wheels, almost steampunk in its appearance.

I wasn’t able to see what she loaded, but I was quite curious. Bolts were no use against skeletons and given that Gilo had gathered all those skeletons together, I was suspecting some area-of-effect.The dim glow visible in Lenore’s magical sight was promising an interesting show, especially as it would give me a better idea on the efficiency of Mal and her Alchemy. How much of its power was simply due to applied magic and how much was that power amplified by the physical catalyst. If the efficiency was good enough, I was curious if there was a way to use physical catalysts in my own sorcery.

Mal called out a warning, just as the Skeletons were nicely bunched together, and Gilo took off, putting on a burst of speed, directly away from them. At the same time, Mal raised her crossbow far too high, making it look like she was aiming somewhere into the trees and pulled the trigger, launching a projectile on a beautiful, ballistic arc. Just for that arc, I was willing to applaud, the crossbow must have some mechanism to manipulate the finely, and the two of them must have trained together quite a bit, as the arc ended right in the middle of the skeletons, the bolt striking the ground.

And disintegrate in a thunderous explosion, strong enough to topple two of the bare trees, scatter a whole lot of deadwood and, most important of all, destroy the bunched up skeletons. Curiously, there was no fire in the explosion, from where I was watching, it appeared to be purely concussive force or sound or something along those lines. Destructive, but there was no sudden wildfire to worry about. The tree-loving elf in me approved.

“Beware, we don’t know if the sound will draw in more foes.” I quietly warned. My warning wasn’t loud enough to be heard by the group up front, but from their movement, they were well aware. Their formation opened up, letting Gilo into the middle, while the three rest looked outward, vigilantly watching for any threats. Looking at Gilo, I was reasonably certain that she was resting, possibly waiting out the duration of the potion, or trying to avoid any additional backlash.

“Let’s catch up, I don’t think there’s anything coming.” Adra suggested, looking around. “And maybe, you can help the Hafling, she looks like she’s suffering.” she added and I had to agree. In the thirty seconds, Gilo had stood in the middle of their formation, the look on her face had gone from composure to tension, sweat beading on her forehead despite the somewhat chilly autumn air.

“Not bad.” I complimented Mal, when we joined them. “That grenade was almost as destructive as your coffee.” I added, getting an amused glare in return.

“But Gilo, you don’t look too well, backlash?” I looked her over, noticing that there seemed to be faint vibrations in her legs, reminding me of the state I was in, after one of Mrs. Wu’s most brutal sessions. For a moment, I truly sympathised with the halfling.

“I will be fine in a minute.” she insisted, wiping off the sweat. For a moment, I considered helping her anyway, if my suspicion was correct and the problem were overexerted muscles, curing her would be well within my capabilities but ultimately, it was her body. If there was an emergency and we needed her active, I would simply do as necessary, but if she wanted to be stubborn and suffer, so be it.

With a shrug, I stepped back, observing as the shakes faded, but there was no doubt in my mind that some exhaustion remained. It made me wonder just how wise it was, to let the weaker group deal with things and accumulate fatigue while depleting their resources, but at the end of the day, it mattered not. Even if they depleted all their resources and turned into utter dead weight, my group was capable enough to fulfil the mission, or at least retreat if necessary. Still, I made a note to discuss it with the others during our next rest.

It took another five minutes until Gilo was recovered enough to continue and during that time, only two undead turned up and were quietly dispatched by Rai, not that the other group really minded.

Continuing on our way, we moved back into the observing position, letting them deal with things, until we reached the area around the Shadow Cleft. Here, even the thirty metres between our groups were an unnecessary risk, one that I was not willing to take.

At first, there was a look of rebellion on Jakyl’s face, a look that quickly vanished, when a spectre appeared out of a nearby shadow, howling towards him, dark claws reaching out to rip into him. It never made it, though not due to one of his allies, before he could do much more than raise his lightly glowing weapon in an effort to defend himself, a beam of darkness struck the spectre, dispersing it before it could do any harm.

“Playtime is over. We have no idea what is lurking here and taking unnecessary risks would be just stupid.” I warned, squashing any objections as we moved forward, to start clearing the Shadow Cleft.