by C. M. Carney
Mana Cost: 40 Casting Time: 5 seconds
Duration: 10 seconds/level Cooldown: 5 minutes.
You have learned the Spell Sticky Mud.
Sphere: Earth Magic - Tier: Base.
This spell will transform a ten-foot square area of stone or earth into a sticky cloying puddle of mud that traps all creatures with Strength or Dexterity less than 20. Creatures with Strength or Dexterity above 20 are slowed by 100% minus their Strength or Dexterity (whichever is higher) for the duration of the spell. Trapped creatures are 100% (minus their Dexterity) easier to hit. Slowed creatures are 50% (minus their Dexterity) easier to hit for the duration.
Mana Cost: 40 Casting Time: 5 seconds.
Duration: 5 secs/level Cooldown: 5 minutes.
You have learned the Spell Shatter.
Sphere: Earth Magic - Tier: Base.
This spell sends a tremor of tectonic energy through any item touched. Depending on the level of the caster it can have a wide range of effects, including shattering glass, cracking stone and even shattering bones inside opponents. Effects are dependent upon a wide variety of factors.
Mana Cost: 40 Casting Time: 2 seconds.
Duration: N/A Cooldown: 5 minutes.
The range of Earth Magic spells was impressive and Gryph and the others all bowed their head to the elderly dwarf woman in thanks and respect.
Tifala awakened Lex, Vonn and Ovrym’s affinity with Life Magic. Outside of Gryph, Ovrym had the highest affinity for the sphere. Yrriel had already promised them an ample supply of basic stat potions at cost, so Gryph hoped to have no need for a dedicated healer. Ideally Gryph wanted the adjudicator to continue to focus his mana use into his martial skills but knew the Realms would likely dash that hope.
Tifala also taught those who were able several Base Tier spells.
You have learned the Spell Detect Death Creatures.
Sphere: Life Magic - Tier: Base.
Creatures whose main affinity is Death Magic exude a subtle aura of decay and putrescence. This spell allows the user to detect Death creatures within 10 feet, plus 5 feet for every 5 levels of Life Magic Mastery. The user will not only detect the presence but will know the general direction of the creature. Death creatures include all forms of undead.
Mana Cost: 40 Casting Time: 2 seconds
Duration: 1 minute/level Cooldown: 5 minutes.
You have learned the Spell Life Shield.
Sphere: Life Magic - Tier: Base.
Life Magic concerns itself with the preservation of life. Life Shield is one of the most potent defensive spells in a Life Mage’s arsenal. When cast it projects a shimmering field of translucent silver green energy that will absorb and deflect damage.
The field will last until it has taken damage greater than its health score. A caster can make the shield static or active.
A static Life Shield will have health equal to 10x their level of Life Magic Mastery. It cannot be replenished. After a static shield is cast, the user may cast other spells, attack with weapons, or perform other tasks as normal.
An active Life Shield starts with the same statistics as a static Life Shield, but its health is bolstered at the rate of 2 x Tier per point of mana spent. The user cannot perform any other function while powering an active shield and must keep concentration or risk mana feedback.
Mana Cost: 40 Casting Time: Instantaneous.
Duration: Until Health depleted. Cooldown: 2 minutes.
You have learned the Spell Twining Vines.
Sphere: Life Magic - Tier: Base.
Upon casting, Twining Vines will explode from the ground and wrap themselves around creatures designated as targets by the caster. Those caught cannot move until they break free or hack through the vines. Each vine will do contraction damage of 5 (+1 per Tier of Life Magic Mastery) per second for the duration of the spell. 5 (+1 vine/5 levels) vines are generated per casting. Vines will attack those designated as targets in equal number unless the caster chooses otherwise. Additional effects become available at higher Tiers.
Mana Cost: 40 Casting Time: 2 seconds.
Duration: 1 minute plus 5 secs/level. Cooldown: 5 minutes.
In addition, Tifala taught the spell Minor Healing to Lex, Vonn, and Ovrym. Tifala had already taught the spell to Gryph during their battle versus the Aberrant.
Each newly minted life and earth mage thanked the Masters. Reynglain left, aided by Thaldrain’s strong arm. Tifala walked up to Gryph. She rested a gentle hand on his forearm. It took a moment for her to look up at him as she struggled to say what she needed to say.
“I know,” Gryph said. “You’re not coming with us.”
Tears welled in the corners of her eyes. “I am sorry, but …”
“You need to find Wick.”
She nodded and looked up at him in relief. “I know you think I am crazy, but I can still feel him.”
“You’re the sanest person I know,” Gryph said. “And you will have whatever help you need.”
“Thank you,” she said and squeezed his arm.
“Where will you go?”
“Home. His family deserves to know, and from there I can track down a certain wizard.” Gryph gave her a confused look. “The one who taught Wick how to summon Xeg.”
“You’re not …?”
“Going to kill him? No. I want him to teach me how to do the same.”
“What? Why?” Gryph said in shock.
“I need to know where he is Gryph. If I can summon Xeg, perhaps he can tell me if Wick is … damned to the chthonic realm.” The words were hard for her to say and Gryph’s heart tore open for her.
“I have something that may help,” Gryph said, reaching into his bag and drawing out Wick’s Ring of Binding Fellowship. Gryph explained what Grimliir had told him and saw the expected range of emotions cross her face.
“So we know nothing?”
“We know his soul still exists,” he said, pouring every ounce of his sympathy into his voice.
She looked up at him, a stoic smile crossing her face. “I never doubted it.” She looked down again, as if she did not know what to do or say next. “I will travel with you to the Barrow. If Simon cannot send me to Erram directly, it is only a few days journey.”
“A dangerous journey. Let me send a cadre of warborn with you.”
“No. They are still adjusting to being awake, struggling to find their purpose. They need to find their own path, not be servants to mine.” Tifala rested a hand on Gryph’s forearm again. “Or yours.”
Gryph nodded, knowing she was right. “I need to know you’ll be safe.”
“I will face down the hordes of the Abyss to find Wick. Do you believe any mortal threat could stay my hand?”
“No, no I do not.” He smiled grimly, but a terrible guilt filled him. She reached up to caress his face, and he bent to one knee looking her right in the eyes. He saw her fierce determination there. She nodded and smiled, tears filling her eyes.
“Wick made his choice, and as much as I hate it, he made the right one. None of us would be here without him.” The tears fell down her cheeks, but her gaze was firm. “You want to feel worthy of his sacrifice? Go save Brynn and kick Aluran’s ass. When I bring Wick back, you can tell him grand tales of your victory.”
“You have my word,” Gryph said.
“I will see you in the morning.” Without another word she turned and walked down the hall to her quarters. The quarters she should have shared with Wick.
22
The others waited until Tifala turned the corner, giving her grief and her words the respect they were due. A bit of the heaviness in the air departed with her. Gryph turned to the others.
“If we're going to do this, we must know the skills, spells, talents and other abilities the group possesses. We need to be tactical, strategic. We need to decide here and now what roles each of us will play.”
“So, I believe my skill set is best suited for deputy commander of Gryph’s Gang,” Lex said, raising his hand. “So
I vote for me as second in command.”
“Errat is new to, well, most everything, but that does not seem like a good idea.”
“Seconded,” Vonn said.
“Dude?” Lex said sending an irritated scowl at Errat.
“Nobody is second in command,” Ovrym said, his tone ceasing the debate. “Gryph is in charge, end of story.”
Gryph nodded his thanks to the xydai. “I want you all to know before you agree to come with me, that we will probably be going toe to toe with a god. If any of you wish to back out, now is the time. I will not judge you for it. This is my fight.”
“It is our fight,” Ovrym said and pushed his fist into the space between them. A moment later Errat did the same, and then Vonn.
The others stared at Lex who paused for a moment and then followed suit. “It’s not like I have a choice, anyway.”
Gryph pushed his fist in too and a warm rush of emotion pulsed through him for a few blissful moments before Lex ruined it by smacking his fist into the others and then pulling it from the circle.
“Fist bump,” the NPC said, as he expanded his hand and made an explosion noise.
The others stared for a moment, before Errat made both fists explode, once, twice, three times. Each one causing the warborn’s innocent grin to grow wider. He turned to Lex, like a child seeking a compliment.
“That’s awesome guy, but I hope you have other skills.”
“Errat is very good at many things. Errat can Bake bread from fungus. Errat can Weave with silk. Errat can…”
“Great, you’re a giant bald June Cleaver,” Lex grumbled.
“Errat not know what a June is, but Errat is also very good with an axe, so Errat can cleave very good.”
Lex opened his mouth to say something, but then shut it again and looked up at Gryph with a gaze that begged for aid. "Ask a stupid question…"
“So try and limit the stupid questions from here on out and maybe we’ll be able to keep this conversation relevant,” Gryph said. “Lex let's start with you. What are your skills and talents?”
“He’s the priest of a dead god, so he doesn’t have many,” Vonn said.
“Oh yeah, Mr. Dickhead, how’s this then?” Lex activated his Analyze skill and stared at the shifty rogue. “You are Vonn Sennig, a 37th level half elf by way of an Aegyptian father and a sea elf mother. Your Specialty is Arcane Trickster, which means you heighten your thieving skills with magic. You've earned a Calling as a Templar of the Source which is some kinda religious knight. You have an idiotic mission to ‘recruit me’ to serve a higher power. You call this higher power the Source which you think is some kinda god.”
“It is God, big G, and the Source is much, much more than that,” Vonn said without a hint of irritation at Lex’s dismissive, almost blasphemous, tone. “Someday you will see the light. I have faith.”
“Sure, whatever buddy. Anyway, you have a slew of skills typical of the shifty rogue archetype, including Stealth, Light Armor, Short Blades, Thrown Weapons, Dodge, etc. Your Specialty also grants you some abilities I’d call telekinetic. My guess is you used them to break into places and steal shit.”
Vonn nodded without a hint of guilt or shame.
“Anyway, your Calling gave you access to Order Magic, which helps you understand and manipulate the structure of things. You’ve got some cool spells, including Order Bolt, which is great for pew pew and Cowl of Insight, which allows you to sense anomalies in the fabric of reality like secret doors, invisible creatures and people’s lies and secrets.” Lex paused and looked at Vonn. “Is that how you…”
“Knew Gaarm had impure affections for farm animals? Yes.”
“Woah.” Lex’s eyes went wide in appreciation and then squinted down to slits. “Wait a minute, you’re using it right now.” Vonn grinned, but said nothing. Lex shook himself like a man chilled by a cool breeze and returned to his Analyze.
“Okay, you also have a bunch of cool sub-skills from your Specialty that will be real helpful if we need to ‘sneak, sneak, stab stab’ or ‘sneak, sneak, pilfer, pilfer,’ which I plan to.” He nodded knowingly at Errat, who grinned.
“Lex!” Gryph eyed the Ordonian, who pouted, muttered something about Gryph being no fun, but continued.
“I’m having difficulty seeing what sub skills your Calling grants you, but I keep seeing the word temporal.” Lex’s eyes went wide. "Dude, are you a time traveler?”
“No, even the gods cannot travel through time. The power required to alter the fabric of space-time is inconceivable. Even if we found the energies required, it would be impossible for any mortal mind to tame.”
“So not true guy, I did it.”
“You got stuck in a time loop which is nothing more than a burp in the fabric of space-time. And you didn't do anything, you were pulled along for the ride like a piece of trash in a raging river.”
“I was stuck in God’s burp?”
“A childish analogy, but if it makes you feel special, then sure.” Lex scowled, but Vonn ignored him. “What I can do is sense likely future events, echoes in time and I have a limited ability to draw from weaves of time that lie close to or intertwine with our own.”
“Weaves of time?” Ovrym said, his voice raised in alarm. “The Prime have long tried to manipulate time.”
“And thank the Source they cannot. But all potentials exist within the Source, so it is possible to glean insight into every eventuality.”
“Woah man, you're talking about parallel dimensions, like Sliding Doors.” He looked at Errat. “Gwyneth Paltrow was great in that movie.” The warborn smiled and nodded at Lex, obviously not understanding a word that had come from the NPC's mouth.
“Moving on,” Gryph said, earning a scowl from Lex. After a moment he turned to Ovrym.
“Okay, so you’re an Arms Magus, which is basically a badass Jedi meets samurai with a sword that can absorb mana. Your Long Blades, Dodge and Light Armor skills are right up there with Vonn’s. You have some incredible skill with Thought Magic which you learned from the Order, a bunch of space guys whose mission is to hunt down and destroy the Prime. You can sense lies, defend against mental attacks, create convincing illusions in the weak minded, add psychic damage to that sweet sword of yours and even convince someone’s brain they’re paralyzed.”
Vonn nodded his head in appreciation and Lex whistled. “You sir, are awesome. I’m glad we are friends.”
“We are not friends,” the xydai said, his face grim.
“Okay, glad we’re casual acquaintances who wish each other no ill will?” Ovrym said nothing and Lex could not hold the man’s gaze for long before deciding his shoes needed inspecting. Gryph almost felt bad for his NPC when he saw Ovrym’s lip curl up in an amused smirk.
“But I promise I will do my best to stop you from accidentally killing yourself,” the xydai said.
Lex turned his gaze back to Ovrym and then glanced at the others. “See, he does like me.”
The others neither agreed nor disagreed and several seconds of uncomfortable silence filled the air.
“Okay then, well let's move on. Might as well go with me. Hi, I’m Lex, I’m a movie buff and a repository of ancient knowledge. I am a Master of Analyze, but don’t feel obligated to call me Master Lex or anything like that.”
He paused for effect, got none and moved on. “I can also Commune with this dimwit cube named Rubik, who is a quadrata from the Realm of Order. We have a complicated relationship. Sometimes he gives me good information and sometimes he steals and eats my eyeball. So, let’s only talk to him if we really need to, okay?”
He rubbed a hand to his chin as if considering what else to say. “Oh yeah, I’ve got this awesome hammer I like to smash skulls with and apparently my god, with a small g, was this dude named Cerrunos, but he’s dead so I kinda got screwed in that department.” He grinned at Vonn. “I have a base tier spell called Flames taught to be by this crazy effer named Arno, so I guess I’m the resident fire mage.”
“You can
not be our fire mage,” Ovrym said.
“Why not?”
“Fire magic is wild and difficult to control. You have neither the clarity of mind, nor the strength of spirit to tame fire,” Ovrym said. “You’d as likely burn us all to death as you would help us.”
Lex nodded his head in agreement. “Right. You might be onto something there but trust me before this is over we’re gonna wish we had us a pyromancer.”
Lex turned his gaze on Gryph, and an odd combination of irritation and apprehension built inside the player. Lex was many things, but his ability to dissect someone’s personality was unnerving. Back on Earth, Finn Caldwell had spent much of his life hiding his true nature. He may now be the warrior mage Gryph, but some traits were hard to lose.
“Then we have my main man Gryph.” Lex clapped Gryph on the shoulder. “Back on Earth he was a total badass, like James Bond meets Jason Bourne with a dash of Sam from Cheers for everyone’s beverage supping pleasure. He’s raw around the edges when it comes to magic and such, but he’ll get the hang of it. As you know he has a Prime Godhead, which is pretty rad. If he survives long enough he could grow up to be as cool as Aluran.”
Vonn coughed into his hand, deterring Lex from foisting more praise on the god who would kill them all if given the chance.
“Anywho, he must be the luckiest guy in the Realms, cuz his weapons and equipment are redonkulous, like oddly overpowered.” He looked at Vonn. “Maybe you’re right guy, maybe this Source of yours is looking out for my boy.”
“It is not my Source,” Vonn said. “It is THE Source.” His voice sounded calm, but it held a twinge of holy furor.
“My point is, that Gryph here, apart from being our dear leader, could be a tank, a healer, or a distance fighter with those knives and that spear. He could fill just about any role we need.”