I don't have much reason to trust the sorceress, yet she doesn't seem to be lying.
“Well, I guess we follow.”
The shimmering gateway floats slightly above the ground. I don't see any clue as to where it leads, only a white glow. Hesitating only slightly, I enter the portal.
Immediately, I emerge to the sound of water lapping riverbanks. The journey was dizzying despite its short length, it takes me a short while to bring everything into focus. One of the men bumps into me from behind as they begin to emerge from the portal itself.
After getting my bearings I look around, I've been here once, a long time ago. 'New Lake.' It was formed before I was born, but is so called because one of the previous owners of Midrange Keep created it when, out of some amazing miscalculation, his engineers were digging a channel to draw water to make a moat for the keep and, somehow, ended up drawing the water here, many furlongs south of the castle. The lake was created in what used to be a rather large and deep valley among the wide and hilly plains of this area. The fishing was good here until Iztram had come to power. Renaming the lake after himself and overfishing it until naught was left. Nobody has bothered coming around since, I suppose they're giving some time for the fish to come back.
Looking toward the delta that leads into the lake I see the Lady and Sephram, as well as something very odd. Several acres of the delta are completely covered in a gem-like substance. What used to be rough sand or silt, was now smooth with angular rises and falls. The variety of color is also a jarring change in the terrain. No longer just tans browns and greens, the entire spectrum must be represented now. The area is also slightly darkened even accounting for the approaching sunset, except for a faintly shimmering wall of light around the whole area.
The men look uneasy, something like this isn't natural. We don't have training to deal with magical issues of this scale, and there are only a few wizards in town that work for us.
Moving to get a closer look, I turn to the Lady and ask, “What happened here?”
“I found out about this just recently myself actually,” She responds, “I had been collecting clay from here for a while. One day I had found a sword sticking from the ground. I don't know why, but I had a bad feeling about it so I let it be. For my next several visits I found the area near the sword to be crystallizing. I decided to observe it for a few days, the last of which saw an explosion of growth. It went from about two acres to over seven in one night. That's when I placed this mana barrier around the area.”
“And you think the creature got past your wall?”
“No, I think it got out before I sealed the area off. I had noticed strange effects on some of the carnivorous plantlife, but once I saw some of them taking on frog-like or bird-like aspects I actively began destroying them, lest they grow larger or mobile and become dangerous. There might be more, if one managed to escape before my vigil on the place.”
“What about this sword, where is it?”
“I left it there in the middle, you can't really see it from here, though.” She points off into the distance.
“Is it safe to walk along this ground.”
“I wouldn't know. I prefer to levitate, it keep my shoes from getting dirty.”
It is just now that I notice that she's been floating a few inches off of the ground this whole time. Though her gem studded boots still seem to be supporting her weight on some unseen platform. I'm not sure I want to walk on this terrain, especially if this stuff has been growing.
Sephram speaks up, “Allow me to test the safety of this ground if you wish to explore it.”
“A wonderful idea, I'm sure you can handle anything unpleasant that may happen,” responds Lady Averdine.
“Two copper says something bad happens.” Mario whispers behind me. Betting, some of the watchman use it as a means to make light of something that's too serious, others use it to get better meals.
“I'll take you up on that.” Gordon this time.
“Five copper says he'll be able to handle it, if something bad happens.” Sam bets.
“He's pretty decked, sounds like a fools bet to me.” Mario responds, and then the rookie accepts the challenge.
Drawing both of his swords, each glowing with what must be layers of enchantment, Sephram steps past the magical wall. It oscillates and lets him through.
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