As the sun began to creep over the horizon of the Fey Realm, Tristan headed down to his workshop area and used his new Perfect Harvest spell to assist in his collection of the medicinal herbs. Taking them to the alchemy station, he set to making potions and imbuing them into elixirs. The more herbs I powder and boil into the solution, the more potent, he reminded himself.

He elected to go with the measurements that would require the most ground herbs, but the knowledge of how powerful the supreme variant of the healing and essence elixirs more than cemented the wisdom of pooling his resources.

The resulting quantities that he then performed the Infuse Elixir spell upon were enough to make three of each type – essence and healing – both types the supreme variant. He ensured they were sealed tightly in the vials before getting his gear ready. He had to add an additional leather strap to hold the staff, but within a short order he had all his weapons and gear on his person. Going to the dirt circle, he glanced around for anyone who was returning to the Mortal Realm with him. After waiting a few minutes, he shrugged, poured essence into his ring, and returned.

Immediately, as the crashing of the waves met his ears, he felt the band around his ear vibrate. Spinning his essence crucible, he poured essence to the silver cuff around that part of his anatomy. And a panicked voice met his ears. Felicity's voice. "The Archon's been captured! Where have you been?!"

Tristan began running toward the town, "I just got out of the Fey Realm. Shandra, you were with him, ri-"

"Can't talk," quietly came through. "Obadai poisoned…Unconscious." It was Shandra's voice, but it sounded like she had been beaten – out of breath with broken ribs as her words came out in pained gasping whispers.

"I'm tracking them," Felicity barked. "They are taking Obadai and Shandra into the desert."

The Admiral's voice came over the bangle, "Lord Tristan; orders? We have coin to hire mercenaries, and sailors; but they aren't good in a desert chase."

"I have coin," Tristan replied. "Felicity, keep tracking them."

"They won't see a thing!"

"Admiral," Tristan continued, "I want you to go right to the Bountiful Bounties stall in the market."

"I'll head over right now."

"I will meet you there. Captain Bitters? How is your voyage?"

The Vantir captain replied tersely, "Terrible mess your Archon's in. We're a bit aways from Schlarz. Three days at most. Then on to Yustat to deliver your letter. Your nymph friends are very pretty, by the way; they brought us the box that the Admiral has been filling me in about."

Good, Tristan thought. At least something is going right. "Keep the Admiral informed. I'll be in the market soon. Admiral? Tell the Bountiful Bounties representative we need all the guild members they can spare. Offer them two-thousand gold – I'll use my personal reserves. We're going on a rescue mission."

"Aye aye. Getting on the longboat now."

"Felicity, what were the exact events that you've been able to cobble together?"

She began a rapid rundown of events since Tristan left for the Fey Realm. She had spent most of the day post-Tristan's departure causing havoc in the marketplace – tipping over coin containers and products, while snagging samples all the while. The Archon and Shandra had left the ship and went into town, wanting to explore the markets a bit after their day trip to the temple mount. The Archon was sampling some products from a merchant stall when he collapsed. He and Shandra were then dragged away by the merchants.

"Then, they got carried up the cliffs. Guards chased, but the kidnappers had an essence-weaver who turned the stone stairs into a slide. I flew after them. Right now, it's twelve of them, on foot, heading across the dunes towards a big hill."

Tristan spun his essence crucible and used his disguise form to change his features to that of his Kingdom of Bhant, tan-skinned Human appearance. Getting into the market, he beelined for the stall he had visited before. He saw the Springthaw half-breed Perry, who was just lounging at the stall next to his fat fairy dragon. I must have beaten the Admiral here, Tristan thought.

He marched up, "Hey! I need the Butchers."

Perry glanced up, "Who are you?"

"I'm that Elf from a few days ago – bought the earth dragon stuff from you."

"Oh…new disguise?"

"Yes. I need every Butcher at your disposal. My friends were kidnapped-"

Perry scratched his head, "I heard some commotion about that. Someone ruined a set of stairs leading up the mountain to the desert above."

Tristan reached into his coin pouch and pulled out five hundred gold coins. "Another one-thousand, five-hundred will be paid out once my friends are saved."

Perry's eyes went wide, and he glanced at the fat fairy dragon next to him who shrugged and spoke to Tristan, "Two-thousand total for a rescue mission? Normally that's not-"

Tristan reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of sapphires he had snagged from the Fey Realm bushes, slapping them in front of the fairy dragon, "This will sweeten the deal. Hurry. Every minute they go further from reach."

Perry scooped up the gemstones and gold, putting them into a small burlap sack. "Let me close up the stall real quickly."

As he was closing up shop, Admiral Yokain came up with four sailors all carrying weapons. "Stand aside," he said to Tristan.

"Admiral, it's Tristan," he replied. "Disguised in case of assassins."

"Understood." He looked to Perry who had finished packing up shop, "You already hired them?"

"Yes. He's taking us to his guild members now. Go back to the ship with the crew. I don't want to risk them on a rescue mission. I'll contact you if things go awry and we need to hire more mercenaries."

Perry glanced over and waved, "Let's go! If time is of the essence." He took off at a jog, and Tristan followed.

They raced through the market, the fat fairy dragon flapping lazily overhead. They approached a stone structure carved into the cliffside, with the same Butcher's Bounty emblem etched into the stone above a massive, two-paneled door. Perry pulled out a key, fit it into the lock, and opened the door.

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Leading Tristan inside, he shut the door behind and then waved forward. "Come on and you can meet the guild."

The interior was what Tristan expected. Stone walls and ceiling, with a smooth floor underfoot. There were hunting trophies all about – primarily long teeth, claws, and other offensive natural weaponry of the creatures that they hunted. The area was pristine, and Tristan saw an Orc woman who was sweeping the floor. She had deep, brown skin like the color of an oak cask. She glanced up, and her tusks slightly protruded up from her lower jaw, but they were filed down. "Perry, you're back before the shop's supposed to close."

"Special offer," he said as he pointed to Tristan. "His friends were kidnapped-"

"We aren't some detective group."

Perry raised the bag and clinked it, "Five-hundred gold coins, plus fifteen-hundred more upon completion, and a ton of sapphires." He dumped it out onto the one of the tables, and the orc woman's eyes went wide. "Go to the east wing, I'll go to the west. Meet at the elevator." He glanced at Tristan as the woman ran through a door. "We have a private elevator that uses a series of wound springs." He pointed straight ahead, "We'll meet you over there. Through the door, and then down the tunnel. Wait at the locked door."

Tristan nodded as Perry took off down the tunnel opposite the woman went, shouting, "We got a contract! Big payer! Hurry up and get the gear on!"

The fat fairy dragon flew over to the table and began counting the coins, "You're rich, you know that?"

Tristan dropped the Disguise Form, and the fairy dragon dropped the coins and his eyes went wide. "That's right," Tristan stated. "I rule the Fey Realm, now. You're going to work for me for a bit."

"Yes…sir," the fairy dragon replied with a sigh. "What do you want me to do?"

"You are going to be flying above us – keeping an eye out for threats."

He sighed again, "Easy enough. Come on, let's get to the elevator then." The fairy dragon scooped up the gold coins and gems into the bag, threw it into a storage dimension full of similar burlap bags, and then flew forward. Tristan followed close behind, and after going through the hall door, down a tunnel, he came up to a heavy metal door with two locks.

Footsteps echoed down the hall, and he turned to see Perry leading a group of armed and armored individuals. Their gear was all custom, made from monster parts. Carapaces, hides, chitinous plates, and even scales. Their weapons, also, were custom – made from the components of slain creatures and monsters.

Behind Perry another group ran up led by the Orc woman. She approached Tristan, "Proper introductions; I'm Tisha, leader of the guild branch here in Plint."

"Tristan Winterbloom, Lord of the Fey Realm. My kidnapped friends are a half-breed but mostly Human Archon, and a Fallthorn Elf. My fairy dragon is tracking them." He tapped his ear, "I can talk to her across vast distances, so we aren't going in blind."

She glanced at the fat fairy dragon, "You got the money?"

"The up front stuff and the gems, yeah."

"Good enough for me." She looked back to Tristan and grinned, "Let's chase us some kidnappers."

The elevator ascent was rapid, and when Tristan emerged with the first group he had a chance to take in a desert. He had never seen one before, and the vast, open space with the clear sky above was something breathtaking to behold. He did not feel the oppressive heat that set in, thanks to his consumption of fire dragon blood. But he could see the shimmering upon the air, and could smell the rank sweat that quickly began to pour off of people around him.

Spinning his essence crucible, he vented his essence much to the relief and thanks of the Butchers around him. The vast, copious amounts of sand was disconcerting. How am I going to fare footwork wise in this? I've only trained and fought on relatively solid ground.

The rest of the Butchers got up the elevator, glanced at him as the icy cascading cool air flowed from him, then shrugged. Tisha looked at Tristan, "Where to?"

Tristan poured essence into his crucible, "Felicity, I'm at the start of the desert. North side of the town, with Butchers."

"What good are people who cut up meat going to be?"

"No, the monster hunters. I got their help in exchange for some money. Directions now."

"Go North. When you reach the old, ruined tower that is partly buried, go West. They were heading to a hill earlier – well turns out that hill was a stone structure partially buried in sand. I'm flying around above it."

Tristan nodded and looked to Tisha, "Ruined buried tower to the North. Know it?"

She nodded, "Several of them are scattered around Plinth in the desert. North, West, and South." She turned to her Butchers, "We go North!" As they began moving at a brisk walking pace, she walked up alongside Tristan, "So…Lord of the Fey Realm, eh?"

Tristan nodded tersely, "Yes."

"Interesting. Why would someone kidnap your friends?"

"Possibly to draw me out," Tristan replied. "Regardless, my money is good."

"I don't doubt that," she replied. "Two-thousand gold is a hefty sum. Five hundred on the down payment alone? These two must be valuable, or you have to be rich."

"Both," Tristan replied. "Come on, we must make haste."

"If you can increase the cooling area a bit, we can probably move faster."

Tristan nodded and spun his crucible faster, feeling it slowly drain as he vented more of the icy deluge out into the air. The Butchers around him seemed reinvigorated by the brisk cold, and the group picked up the pace.

As they reached the tower, Tisha pointed out tracks in the sand, "It's not been windy, so we still have some trails to follow."

They turned West, and Tristan inquired about the tower and the history of why it was destroyed. Perry interjected to explain. "Plinth used to be a slave-city-state under control of another city-state called Leros further West. A powerful wizard helped free the Plinth from Leros' control, and he sundered the land around Plinth, making it into an inhospitable desert. This included destroying the towers."

"A righteous cause," Tisha stated. "That was a few hundred years ago. Bringing an army to recapture a port slave city through the desert was seen as a fool's errand, so Plinth has been left to its own devices. Now it's a profitable trade port. Hence why the Butcher's Bounties set up a guild headquarters here."

The sun began to set as the group came into sight of the enormous mound that Felicity had mentioned. Tristan saw her flying over head, and he let out a whistle, then waved. She flew down and landed on his head, panting as she splayed out on his skull. "So…hot…" The shimmer surrounding her faded as she dropped her invisibility.

The fat fairy dragon flew down and landed on Perry's shoulder. "What's she got to say?" the fat one asked.

She looked over at the other fairy dragon with disgust before hanging her head over the side of Tristan's head to look at him. "There's a door on the South side. A big one."

Tisha frowned as she gestured to her Butchers to stay on guard, "How many?"

"Twelve went in taking our friends," Felicity replied.

"Money?" the fat fairy dragon asked.

Felicity shot a glare at him, "You should be honored to help our Fey Lord out of the goodness of your heart!"

"Felicity, storage dimension please."

She sighed, opened it, and Tristan reached in, snagging the larger money sack. He pulled out a few one-hundred gold pouches they had already split up funds into, and handed them to Tisha. "The other thousand when the job is done."

She grinned and tossed the bags to her allies as Felicity closed the storage dimension. "Well, let's get to it."

The Butchers began moving towards the mound, and Tristan followed them. He spun his essence crucible – which was at about half capacity from the day's travel – and pushed the power into his socks to activate Discharge Shock, his sword to activate Dragon's Doom, his Starmetal Maul to activate Lucky Instinct, and into his armor to activate Scales of our Foe. That tapped him dry, and he chugged down one of the supreme essence elixirs, reverse-spinning his crucible to suck it into his being faster.

Supreme refills about three-quarters of my essence capacity, he thought. Next, as they got ever closer to the dune and the sun continued to slowly descend, he performed the gestures and spell phrases required to cast a few more spells: Armor of Ice, which stacked on top of his Scales of our Foe, encrusting his body in razor-sharp shards. The backlash of icy crystals that would impede movement he simply brushed off. Next, Near Miss to ensure he would not fall victim to projectiles he did not know were coming at him. Last, drawing his sword, he ran his left palm along the sword, muttering, "Feel the power I have claimed," as he cast Elemental Imbuement with the focus of smoke elementalism. The weapon was wreathed in thick, grey fumes that hid the true length and deadly reach of the weapon.

Perry glanced sideways as he finished his suite of combat preparation spells, "That's impressive."

"And it's only First and Second Order spells," Tristan replied.

"Ah, just a mage?"

Tristan nodded, "For now."

The Butchers reached the Southern edge of the dune-covered structure, and a hole had been dug – a small channel into the dune, which revealed a large, wooden door. Tisha looked over at Tristan, "Rescue time. But to be clear – if it looks like we are going to die, we flee. We are mercenaries, not martyrs."

"Fair enough," Tristan replied. "Do it."

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