"Don't see many mesmers doing that."

Kasmeer smiles. "Well, no, but that's because our minor is aggression so we tend to go for barriers that explode or reflect things back. You know, to keep it fun."

"Bet I'd be an elementalist. Might pick up a couple of warrior tricks too, though, I've always found that taking out a sword is a good backup plan for if someone thinks you're useless without your magic."

"Bullshit," Bol says confidently. "If he's taken out his sword, something is terribly wrong and someone, probably him, is going to die."

"Thank you, Bol."

"...do, ah, sorcerers? not typically use swords where you're from?"

"I am quite good with a sword, thank you. It's just that, um, generally I am up against opponents for whom 'quite good with a sword' is approximately meaningless, and you need to be either 'able to call down a searing holocaust of flame' or 'extremely good with a heavily enchanted sword'."

"And you can't cast searing holocausts of flame with a sword?"

"I can... cast them with a sword in my hand... but that doesn't sound like what you mean? Arcane magic doesn't use a. Focus. Like that. Except in the very specific cases where it does."

"Oh! Well, I suppose it's possible to use magic without anything to focus it but I don't think anyone does it, it's much easier and better with a focus. And we also often inscribe specific spells onto our weapons to... Maybe I should preempt this, how many spells do you usually carry with you at a time?"

Mental math...

"Forty across the six circles I've got. Plus twelve cantrips. Um, cantrips are the eensiest spells and you can cast them as many times as you want, the other circles I've got... between seven and nine uses of each circle per day except my highest, which has five."

"...I really need to stop expecting things to be similar."

"You got that one right. You have limited uses of spells per day?"

"Yeah - it's not actually much of a limitation anymore, when I was just getting started adventuring it was more of a problem because I'd run out of Fireballs and have to throw Magic Missiles instead, but these days I can generally get by, it's rare that I need to burn through everything in one day."

"...I go through dozens of uses of various spells in a single fight."

"That's... uncommon... where I'm from? Generally if you're qualified to deal with an enemy, the fight will be over in a few minutes at most. I don't know if that indicates that you folks are worse at dealing out punishment or just that your enemies are better at soaking it. Maybe both?"

"Maybe we could check against a training dummy! We would probably need to compare you to an elementalist."

(The sounds of whatever encampment they are walking towards start becoming noticeably clearer, and the jungle starts becoming sparser.)

"I'm game."

(His wings twitch at the camp sounds. Safety in numbers!)

And a bit further there is indeed a camp there!

...it may not look like camps Haruk is used to.

It's not very well-hidden, even though it is placed in a somewhat defensible position between a couple of closely-spaced cliffs. "Inside", if it can be called that, is an open space with enormous iron pillars and awnings covering specific locations, as well as various makeshift iron tents and houses serving as barracks. A workshop is visible across the camp from them, with multiple people working on enormous metal contraptions of various sorts, and the center is taken by a tarp-covered open-plan mess hall.

The ways in and out of said camp do seem pretty fortified, though, if not with brick-and-mortar or anything so mundane: medium-high electrified fences, an open space between them that is covered by an energy field, and one enormous energy turret to either side of said entrance, both individually manned by people in light armour. There are also two other soldiers, again one to either side of the entrance, standing at attention holding rifles. Both of them are feline-people—charr—and both of them salute the group once they approach.

    "Commander!" one of them says while the other gestures in the direction of the forcefield, making is dim and vanish. "General Soulkeeper told us she wanted a word with you when you arrived."

"I'll go talk to her, thank you, Crusader Emberweld."

"What exactly is the utility of an iron tent," Haruk whispers to Taimi.

"Oh not much at all it was just what we had left to build stuff with after Mordremoth destroyed our entire airfleet and peppered the landscape with the hulks of every one of our airships," she whispers back.

"...but the forcefield generators were left intact?"

"No we built them from the wreckage, too."

"Huh. Excellent work then."

He's tempted to pat her on the head. He does not. Instead he follows the Commander.