[h3][center][color=6ecff6][u][b]Augis[/b][/u][/color][/center][/h3]

Augis peered through a brass spyglass from the edge of the clearing, observing as the "champions" were summoned.  It was a last ditch attempt to save Silver Sun, to summon those from beyond to aid them.  Assuming these folks were chosen carefully, it could work.  It was the same logic he employed when he made a deal with that unknowable entity from beyond the stars- that someone from outside Nova Terra could be trusted to not have a stake in any of the other other settlements at Silver Sun's expense.  There was always a chance it could backfire, but the only alternative was an inevitable doom for the settlement.

He watched carefully as they plummeted to the ground.  For a moment it looked like they were falling too quickly, and that they might hit the ground at high speed.  This worry only lasted a split second, as the arrivals' descent was momentarily halted right before crashing into the clearing.  What was much more surprising was the transformation of one of the arrivals into a massive serpent.  Even with the midair stop, the snake came down with ground-shaking force, knocking Augis off his feet.

"What in the world were they thinking," he complained to himself as he got up and dusted himself off, slightly annoyed that his white robes were now covered in dirt.  "Why would they change into something that would hit the ground with even greater momentum?  Unless, perhaps their momentum was conserved in the mass change," he briefly wondered aloud.

Recovering his monocular, the warlock looked through it, observing the new arrivals and waiting for Lila to greet them.  At least one of them, a swordswoman from the look of it, had fallen directly onto the snake, but neither she nor her impromptu cushion seemed injured.  One of them lay motionless on the ground.  [i]I hope that one's not dead, it'd be a tragedy to perish so soon after being summoned[/i], Augis thought.

"DRAGON!" shouted another of the arrivals, a child who seemed quite distraught at the sight of the serpent.  The child fled from the snake, slinging what looked like some spell or grenades at the serpent.  The time for passive observation was over; Augis needed to intervene.  Even if the snake looked like it could handle whatever was being thrown at it, and even if this little girl was more capable of taking care of herself than her stature suggested, they couldn't let her run off into an unknown world.

Muttering an incantation to call upon the power of his patron, Augis invoked a spell of levitation on the child, intent on halting her hasty and unnecessary retreat by suspending her a meter in the air.  He remained at least somewhat concealed behind the brush, intent on not giving himself away before Lila could explain everything to them.

[@Styrgwyr]