Look like a Surcram? Teryn repeated. As he spoke those words, a lightbulb went off in his head. He knew what to do now. It was a risky plan, but it was the best shot they had. Thanks for the help.
The image of a well-groomed man shrugging. Mention it.
Isn’t that supposed to be ‘don’t mention it?’
No. By all means, please mention it. To everyone. The same disembodied grin from before.
Teryn’s face contorted in a half-frown. I did.
With renewed confidence, Teryn turned to his companions, words flowing out of him at last. “Alright, here’s the plan. Our only hope is to send in as small of a force as we can and to sneak past the Surcrams undetected. So Valeria and I are going to enter the complex alone. The rest of you will stay out here and create a diversion of some sort. Talon and Lyrad will stay here as well to guard you.”
As the words ‘stay out here’ passed Teryn’s lips, the younger wizards thanked the gods and a whispered “Yes!” resounded through the group.
“Well, actually,” Teryn continued, “on second thought, I will need one other mage to go in with me. That cylinder could be heavy.”
He had no way to know how big the item was, but having ‘mega’ in the name gave him the impression it wouldn’t be small. The grins and relieved faces faded, morphing into frowns and looks of sheer terror.
Teryn kept going, pretending not to notice. “I am going to need someone with Illusion magic to help me. Aldrek, I believe you have it. Will you do me the honor of going into the complex with us?”
All the other wizards returned to their happy grins and some of them broke out smoking pipes before Teryn slapped them out of their hands, giving them a do you want to give us away? look.
Aldrek, who usually missed all the conversations, heard that comment and almost went into a state of shock. “Y-y-you w-want m-me t-t-t-to . . . go with you?” he asked, face white as a sheet.
“Yes,” Teryn said, nodding. “Don’t worry, they won’t even know it’s you. We are going to disguise ourselves as Surcrams, or, rather, you two will disguise yourselves as Surcrams and I will go invisible. All we need to do is enter the complex with our disguises, steal the megacylinder, and get back out.”
He bit his lip and his eyes rolled back into his head for a moment like he was remembering something, then he returned his focus to the group.
“When we take the cylinder, the beasts will probably all try to attack us. That’s when I need you guys out here to create a diversion – cast a floodbath, a firetree, anything that will cause a lot of noise and damage in a short time frame. That should hopefully make the Surcrams think the attack is coming from outside the base and increase our chances of escape.”
A hush fell over the group and everyone gave him a blank stare. All save Talon, who was in a corner leaning against the trunk of a tree, arms folded in front of him, looking like he desperately wanted to say something. But the big man was unusually silent. Teryn took it as a good sign.
“Um, Mr. Teryn, sir?” Tont finally broke the silence.
“Yes?”
“That sounds like a great way for you to get out unscathed, but won’t that leave all of us out here pretty vulnerable? If a full contingent of Surcrams comes swarming out of their base looking for an opponent, we . . . we won’t stand a chance.”
The light in Teryn’s eyes faded. He had to admit Tont was right. That was the hole in his plan. He scratched his head for a moment and opened his mouth to speak, but Talon finally chimed in, cutting him off.
“If that happens, try to kill as many as you can to stall for time. I’ll contact Coontan in the interim and get us teleported back there to safety.”
Talon’s words seemed to set the minds of the other wizards at ease. Teryn was grateful for his quick thinking. “Alright, now does everyone understand the plans?” he asked. They all nodded. “Good, now let’s get started, shall we?”
Afterwards, he took Valeria and Aldrek aside and explained to them that he’d get them a proper image of a Surcram to copy. Aldrek in particular still looked quite shaken, but to his credit, the boy merely nodded.
Teryn cast a nothingsight spell on himself and went on ahead to get a good view of a Surcram for Valeria and Aldrek to copy. He no longer had Valeria’s ring to help him, but it no longer mattered. During his recent travels, he had spent considerable time practicing advanced magics with Terwain. At least, when he wasn’t spending his time snuggling with Valeria. The thought brought a smile to his lips. Even spells as advanced as nothingsight came easily to him now.
It didn’t take long before he found a Surcram scout hiding out amongst the trees. He concentrated on it and drew a mindpic of it for Valeria and Aldrek to copy, then he headed back to camp.
He fussed over the mindpic of the Surcram for a moment, not sure what to think. The beasts were actually nowhere near as menacing-looking as their reputation would have him believe. For sure, the Great Dragon had been right when he’d said they were wraith-like. Even the mindpic was rather hazy and gave off the impression that a roiling gray mist covered half their bodies.
Other than that, they were quite similar to giant scorpions, just without a corporeal form. It looked like even a glow-sword could fly right through one without hitting anything. Part of him wondered how the creatures even breathed, but then he realized that maybe they didn’t have to. They were magical, after all.
The only parts of the creatures that looked solid were the tips of their massive pincers and the
