Vess hoped so.
Rushing wind and shadows. Felix clenched his gut, close to activating his Adamant Discord. Wyvora had tensed as he'd grabbed her, probably not expecting it, but she relaxed as they dropped. Felix tried to take that as an encouraging sign.
The wind whipped up at them and Felix flared his Manasight to its limit. Green-white steamers flowed by them interspersed with a miasma of black-grey clouds and a spinning cyclone of dusty brown. It was beautiful and hypnotic, but Felix couldn't lose himself in it. Like Harn said, he could sense nothing below fifty feet, as if the Mana simply disappeared. He had to prepare for the worst.
They hit. Something tore.
And Felix was standing atop a grassy hill while sunshine filtered through wide emerald fronds above him. He blinked and turned. Behind him was a cliff carved to show a fierce creature rearing up. It had the scales of a lizard and features of a big cat. A cave was bored out from between it's hind legs, and Felix could hear the soft sigh of the wind as it moved in and out of the opening.
"Holy hell. That was," Felix struggled with the words. His Perception flared, quickly finding Wyvora standing in the woods to his left. He also could tell the entire hilltop was devoid of monsters, even the tiny insectoid kind. "Why are you so far away?"
"The wards choose the placement of arrivals," she said with a shrug. "A Blessing of the Raven that prevents undue harm."
That...makes sense. Felix started walking back to the cave, which was only twenty or thirty feet away. "Okay, then we need to tell them it's fine to come through."
A hand brushed his shoulder, as if Wyvora was nervous to even touch him. "You cannot. If they are worthy, then they will pass through on their own. If they are not, then they will not."
"What? That's stupid. And you didn't mention that before," Felix growled. "My people stay with me."
Felix stomped to the entrance of the cave, only to find the opening had vanished...and two Henaari had appeared out of nowhere to level their spears at him.
"Who is this trespasser, sister?" one asked. She wielded the same sort of hooked polearm Wyvora used, but looked a great deal older. Iron gray strands threaded through her braids, and there was an ancient depth to her wide eyes. The other was younger, but no less steely in her regard. "Why have you brought an outsider within this place?"
Felix felt his anger and worry flare up, their careful wrappings beginning to smolder as he regarded the Henaari around him. Pit shrieked, his own fury on the pyre.
"Peace sisters, peace!" Wyvora put her hands up, palms out. "This is an outsider that I encountered in the forests, one of great Skill and power. He"
"Has he confused your Mind, sister?" the younger one asked, edging forward. The spear closed in on Felix's ribs.
"No, but the"
"Outsiders are not allowed. What if the enemy had seen you?" the younger said. She was clearly older than Wyvora in addition to being familiar with the woman. "You should have killed him."
"She tried," Felix said through his teeth. He hadn't fully transformed in a while, but they way they were talking made him want to bear his fangs. "Where's the cave gone? I can't sense it."
One of the hooked spears jabbed at his arm, slicing through his shirt and leaving a bloody cut.
"You will speak only when spoken to, outsider. Your kind is not welcome in our camp," the younger guard hissed. "Speak out of turn again, and it'll be your neck that I open up."
Pit screeched in offended rage, and for a moment Felix was tempted to release the chimera on them. That smolder burned brighter. Yet Felix bit back his immediate response and tried to consider things calmly. Carefully. The younger guard was level 43, while the older was level 55, and the both of them were in upper Journeyman according to his Eye, though the elder one seemed stronger than that. Likely she had a couple Skills already Tempered into Adept. Their weapons and armor were built to match their power, and were plenty sharp enough to cut him, though the wound on his shoulder had already healed. He shifted his body, presenting neither of them with a good angle.
"You must understand, Ifre, he"
"He shall go before the Matriarch," the elder guard said before turning to finally address Felix directly. "You will step away and follow. If you dare to step out of line, I will gut you myself. Do you understand this?"
"Yeah, no," Felix said, and unleashed Adamant Discord.
Lightning burst from him in all directions, hitting Wyvora and her two friends, while the connection between him and his targets hardened into steel. He hurled them into the cliff face. Stone shattered and their bodies bounced off and onto the ground. Wyvora took the hit the best, using some sort of Skill to blunt the impact. She stumbled to her feet, only to find Felix's khopesh at her throat.
"Now open that cave before I tear it apart myself," he snarled, and Pit cried out in fierce triumph.
Vess ground the haft of her partisan into the stone again. She had created an impressive dent already, and if the wait continued she'd likely bore straight through the ledge.
"WhatWhat's going on?" Kikri asked.
Vess glanced in the Elf's direction, only to notice the area around them was suddenly brighter than before. Far brighter. Vess stepped to the edge, where Harn was chuckling.
"See? Kid's got this."
The once infinity seeming cavern had become a narrow chute, and fifty spans below them an opening let in a large amount of sunlight. Among all that light was a man with eyes that flashed a brilliant sapphire.
"C'mon down. Thing's have gotten complicated," Felix said.
Vess grinned.