“We should be careful when selling things created with magic,” Valerie noted as she turned towards Regis. “We don’t want to draw too much attention to us for now. Your transmutation alchemy and crystalmancy skills are way too rare and valuable to go unnoticed.”

“She’s right about that,” Quentin agreed. “We can sell them in small amounts, saying that they were looted on our travels, but if we sell too much at once, people will start asking questions.”

“Using clear quartz sheets for a greenhouse wouldn’t draw that much attention,” the dark elf noted. “Unless someone used an identifying spell on it, they wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between glass and quartz.”

“Do they even have greenhouses here?” Amanda asked the awkward question.

“I don’t think so, Letty shook her head. “I’ve only seen regular farms around here so far. It would be nice to have one though. I could make raised planting beds or even those column-mounted ones.”

“We studied some of those at the architecture design evening classes,” Regis remembered the fond memory. “I should be able to make some of them for you out of sandstone.”

“Alright,” Quentin dragged back everyone into their current reality. “We should get going and buy the necessary supplies as soon as possible.”

The team grabbed their bags and walked over to the teleportation gateway. Regis felt his amulet vibrate for a moment as they stepped inside the half-finished gazebo, making sure that nothing reached outside the runic circle.

“Are you ready?” He asked the others and as he received a firm nod, the spell weaver pulled out the talisman from beneath his shirt.

Focusing his mind on the image of Escroft, he felt a strange connection form between himself and his goal. The circle and its symbols began to glow with a faint light that turned stronger by the second. Five seconds after the dark elf began to channel his power into the gateway, the entire group disappeared in a flash of light. A sudden nausea and vertigo took all of them as the light subsided and they found themselves standing on the rune-carved stone tile of Escroft.

“I think I’m going to hurl.” Fabien muttered before his breakfast decided to take a look at the outside world at a rapid pace.

“You okay there?” Amanda asked as she patted the infernal youth’s back, holding over a waterskin.

“Halt!” they heard a firm yell from behind them. “Drop your weapons and state your business or... oh. My apologies sir paladin.”

The owner of the voice was one of the guards whom they met during their first time in the village. He seemed to have immediately recognised Quentin the moment the others shifted out of the man’s view.

“We weren’t expecting you to visit us again so soon,” the soldier said with a relieved sigh. “Mother Delcine will surely be glad to see you and your companions return unharmed.”

“Thank you for your kind words.” Quentin nodded as he and the rest of the group finally shook off the side effect of the teleportation.

“To be honest,” the man kept on speaking as he lead the warband towards the local church. “A lot has happened in the past couple of days. We received word from the keep that the royal army is sweeping the land for any roaming monsters. After that, a huge pillar of light rose into the sky a few days ago. Then riders came from the other side of the bridge, claiming that they were looking for a group of strangers under the order of Lord Vidal.”

“Interesting,” the paladin nodded along as they reached the temple. “Did they tell you why they were looking for these strangers?”

“They have robbed his lordship of something really valuable. At least that’s what we were told, but they didn’t explain it wholly. They did mention that it happened at the fishing outpost not that far from here.”

“I hope no one got hurt,” Valerie said with a convincing fake worry in her tone. “We travelled through that fort as well and the people there were kind and simple folk. They were of great help, trading some smoked fish and other supplies with us.”

“We weren’t told the details,” the guard sighed. “But from what I understand, only his lordship’s personal servant got hurt.”

“He must have agitated the robbers,” Regis shook his head. “He did seem like an irritating fellow.”

“On that, we can agree,” the guardsman whispered as the warband headed inside the small chapel while he turned around. “I shall return to my duty. Farewell.”

They gave him a slight nod before heading towards the end of the chapel, a familiar figure standing in front of the altar, talking to a dozen or so small children. When the old priestess noticed them, a warm smile showed on her otherwise stern face.

“Welcome back,” she said after waving the children to silence. “I didn’t expect you to return so soon. Was your task successful?”

“Greetings Mother Delcine,” Quentin gave a slight bow as he and the rest of the group greeted the priestess. “We did succeed in finding what we are looking for, but we have returned in hopes of a successful trade.”

“You came back to trade? What do you need? If it’s within reason then I am sure we can be of assistance.”

“We need supplies,” Regis answered her inquiry. “Food and plantable crop seeds to be precise.”

“I see,” the priestess nodded. “Are you trying to aid a settlement in need?”

“More like a wiped-out one,” Amanda cleared her throat. “The village’s territory got corrupted by dark magic, so no crops survived. We managed to cleanse the land and the water, but with everything corrupted, there’s a great need for any kind of seed that would grow fast.”

“Our druid stayed behind to perform a land fertilizing ritual and she will be able to help raise the first harvest fast, but we have no seeds to use.”

“What kind of seeds do you require, and how much food?”

“Root vegetables and greens would be the best,” Sophie joined in the conversation. “Berries too. Our friend said that the bushes could grow and bear fruit quite fast, even with their size.”

“As for the food,” Quentin sighed. “Anything is fine from smoked fish to vegetables, as long as we can get enough to last about five days for two dozen people. We are willing to pay for it by any means you accept from coin to our skills.”

“Well,” Mother Delcine hummed as they left the church. “With the area beside the river clear of the fallen and the bridge repaired, we can easily get our hands on fresh fish, so that can be traded. Our vegetable supplies however dwindled by quite a lot during the past weeks, so we can only trade away a little of it. As for the matter of the seeds; we have plenty of those. Beans, carrots and cabbage seeds are the ones we stored the most of, but there are a couple of other plants you can get as well. If you need grains, we could at most spare a pouch of barley and rye for now, maybe some wheat.”

“Half a pouch of each would be more than enough to start the farm plot if Letty works her magic right. A handful of seeds from the rest are all we need.”

“That much we can spare. I’ll talk to Faulk about preparing what you need. Ask for the price...”

“You don’t have to worry,” Regis drew the attention of the priestess. “We are more than willing to pay a fair price for it.”

“I most certainly hope so,” Delcine nodded. “When you were last here, sir Quentin claimed that you were a professed loremaster and that you are proficient in enchanting.”

“I am indeed a novice enchanter,” the dark elf admitted. “And I take it you require my skills.”

“I am,” she nodded. “That is if you have a way to enchant our gates.”

“Do you want me to strengthen them?”

“I do, but before that, I hope that you could repair them the same way you did with the bridge. The threat of the fallen might have lessened, but they did plenty of damage to our defences and now the beasts of the wild are returning.”

“I will do what I can, although I specialise in equipment, not buildings.”

“Thank you,” the elderly priestess nodded as she turned toward one of the buildings. “I’ll see to it that your supplies are ready by the time you finish.”

“We should split up,” Valerie noted. “There are three gates to fix up, so we could pair up to make things go faster.”

“Sophie and I will take the eastern gate.” Amanda noted.

“I will go to the north one.” Quentin stated as he headed out with the infernal woman following him.

“I guess that leaves us with the southwest gate.” Fabien sighed as he watched his sister’s happy smile as she and the paladin walked away.

“We should get going,” Regis noted. “That gate won't fix itself.”

The two of them headed over to the southwest gate that had obviously seen better days by the looks of it. He cast charlatan’s wisdom on it, letting out a sigh as he read the description that appeared in his field of vision.

{Reinforced Oak Gate (damaged)}

{Building rarity: common}

{Building quality: ordinary}

{Durability: 357/500}

{Defence value: 45}

“Its durability is a bit over three and a half hundred out of the original five hundred.”

“No wonder it looks so beat up,” Fabien noted as he ran his fingers along the opened gates that had dozens of claw and weapon marks on them. “Do you have everything you need to enchant these?”

“I brought along a few elemental stones in case we needed those to pay for the stuff we need.”

“I have to admit,” the storm knight hummed. “That priestess sure is ruthless when it comes to trading. We barely asked for some food and a few pouches of seeds, yet she’s asking us to not only repair their gates but to even enchant them. How much do you reckon it would cost if it was measured in coins?”

“Even a simple durability and defence value increasing enchantment would cost between five and ten silver from what I know. Infusing both of those into three gates along with the repair cost would be somewhere around one gold.”

“And how much do you reckon the stuff we asked for is worth?”

“That’s not how it works,” the dark elf shook his head as they cast ‘minor mending’ on the gates. “The price of any product is always influenced by the demand for it, as well as the amount left in stock. We came back all the way here for supplies, which makes it obvious that we’re desperate. That makes it easier for Mother Delcine to ask a higher price for the supplies, especially if they are running low on the stuff themselves.”

“Not that we can be certain of that.”

They kept repairing the gates while Fabien quietly grumbled on about the exaggerated price they’d have to pay for the small amount of food and seeds.

“Still; I kind of feel bad about lying to a priestess of all people.”

“What part of it was a lie?” Regis asked. “We told her that we needed seeds for a wiped-out settlement struck by corruption where there were no crops left. We told her that we need enough food to last for about five days for twenty people, but we never said anything about there being that many people. None of the things we said was a lie, we just didn’t tell her everything.”

“I guess you are right. What about the matter with that nobleman? He sent people all the way...”

“It only proves he’s desperate,” the spell weaver remarked as the gate finally returned to its former glory. “Those soldiers made up the story about some strangers robbing their lord, but they kept it purposefully vague to not arouse too much suspicion. Not that it will help too much. I’m pretty sure that the locals sent word to the keep about the beam of light.”

“And you think that they will send over someone to investigate?”

“That’s what I would do. Anything capable of creating phenomena like that must be of high value or power and the royal army would not miss the opportunity.”

“All the more reason for us to shore up our defences and to lay as low as possible.”

“True. Let me meditate a bit, then I’ll enchant the gates.” Regis noted as he sat down on the small wooden stool provided by a guard earlier.

After a few minutes, his arcana reserves were replenished enough that he could begin enchanting the gates. The spell weaver took out a couple of earth elemental crystals from the bottom of his knapsack and began to infuse the rune of ‘durability’ into the gate. Not long after, a grey rune appeared on the gate and he cast charlatan’s wisdom to check the results.

{Reinforced Oak Gate}

{Building rarity: common}

{Building quality: ordinary}

{Lesser enchantments: 1}

{Durability: 600}

{Defence value: 47}

“Its durability went up by a hundred points while the defence value increased by two.”

“What exactly does that defence value even stand for?”

“It means that the gate can take a hit up to forty-seven points worth of damage before it would begin to degrade. Anything above that will decrease its durability by the amount beyond said number.”

“I see,” Fabien nodded. “I never imagined that even something as ordinary as a simple gate would have such a complex system behind it.”

“I gave up on trying to understand or to take these things too seriously the moment I confirmed that magic was indeed a thing in this world. It makes almost everything possible while at the same time, most of the things don’t make a lick of sense.”

“True enough. What about that defence rune you mentioned earlier? How much do you think it will add to it?”

"Only one way to find out,” the dark elf sighed. “It was originally meant to be used on armours, but the side notes did mention that it could be cast onto doors and gates as well. Walls are different though. They have a separate enchantment of their own. And it's a costly one at that. It would need a thumb-sized earth elemental crystal per cubic metre.”