Fire Magic
14.0
28.0
SKILL BONUS: Resistance to Counter Mana Manipulation, Magic Absorption, and general Magic Resistances of -5 per skill level. 50% failure rate of all counter mana manipulation or mana absorption attempts to Fire spells you cast at Novice rank, 80% at Journeyman, 100% at Master, and further bonuses to be discovered past the Master rank.
MASTERY BONUS: Fire Magic Damage Reduction Equal to Skill Score in Fire Magic. Current Fire Damage Reduction: 28. Damage Reduction is applied to every instance of damage.
Light Magic
8.0
8.0
SKILL BONUS: Light magic spells can cast the Biomancy spell school without penalty for lack of Lore at -50% to the penalty at Novice, -80% penalty at Journeyman, and -100% penalty at Master ranks. Above those ranks unknown bonuses are available.
MASTERY BONUS (Not Gained): Can automatically scan a living creature and know everything about their biology at no mana cost and with no cool down. Certain limits do apply.
Dark Magic
11.0
22.0
SKILL BONUS: All dark magic comes from summoning creatures from the Shadow or Dark plain. These creatures are remarkably cooperative with those that understand and accept them. As such it is easier to control Dark Summoned Creatures than any other magic type. Novice Level: Doubles the number of Darklings you can control. Journeyman Level: Quadruples the number of Darklings you can control. Master Level: The number you can summon directly is multiplied by 10.
MASTERY BONUS: You can now appoint Overlords who can control other minions who do not count towards your total summoned.
Average Magic Skill
10.0
17.8
Knowledge Enchantment
1.0
1.0
Knowledge Spell School Enchantment: Enchantment comes in two kinds that you know of, Charged, and Passive. No bonuses have been discovered. Master Enchantment and craft wonders that even the Gods would covet.
Healing (Acts as Knowledge Spell School: Biomancy)
3.0
3.0
Healing: Counts as: Knowledge Spell School Biomancy: Sometimes called the healing magic, Biomancy is used to heal, cure, and remove all negative effectives on living tissue. +1% to all healing done while using a Biomancy spell, per skill point. -1% to all cool downs of Biomancy spells per skill point to a maximum of 50%. (NOTE: as you do not have true Knowledge Spell School Biomancy, these bonuses only apply to spells that Heal in the Biomancy school). Master Biomancy, and the mysteries of all life will be laid before you.
Knowledge Spell School: Abjuration
2.0
2.0
Knowledge Spell School: Abjuration. Sometimes called Support or Shield magic. Knowledge of abjuration spells allows you to manipulate, alter, and enhance any known Shield, Support, or other Protective spells. -10% cool down to all Abjuration spells per 2 skill points, bonus starting at 1, max -50%. -10% cast time to all abjuration spells per 2 skill points starting at 1, to a max of 50%. +1% chance of successful casting for all abjuration spells per skill score to a maximum of 100%. Master Abjuration magic, and not even the Gods can cause harm to those you love.
Golem Crafting
5.0
5.0
Rune Writing
1.0
1.0
There was a lot of information, and as I read through the different Skill Bonuses and Mastery Bonuses I had gained, the more it all seemed to weave itself together. The more the diagram I had seen in the elven library weeks ago made sense. Everything had an opposite, but opposite did not mean opposition in every aspect. Neither did it mean innate good or evil. I had felt anger and a desire to cause pain both wielding fire and water magic for instance, and yet I had also felt a deep-seated need for freedom while wielding both. They were distinctly different flavors of the same substance, not opposite really. Not in a way where they wanted or even truly could destroy one another. But opposite as in two charged magnets. Only in using them together and understanding and using both could one understand either of their natures more perfectly.
The more I read through them and examined my own experiences with the different Types of magic the more I realized how each was more a part of a tapestry. An element of the whole rather than one item in a collection. It made me smile, like putting another puzzle piece in place and finally being able to see what the finished puzzle would look like. Even if I hadn’t yet finished piecing that puzzle together completely.
Grinning and taking some notes in my journal, I moved on. There were two more sections of my character sheet I still needed to examine and do some maintenance on before I could get to my waiting notifications. After I did that, it would be Golem crafting time. But for now, it was time to look at my equipment.
Gear
Weapon
Damage Bonus
Attack Bonus With Weapon
Quality
Durability
Rarity
Sparks: Sword +1 Attack, +1 Damage, 1
1
17.25
Good - Magical
100/100
Unique
Damage
1d8 melee + 1d8 electric
((Damage Bonus + Skill Lv + Luck + Strength ) * Quality) * Mag Mod
Magical Modifier
1.5
Damage Bonus
Attack Bonus With Weapon
Quality
Durability
Rarity
Wizards Staff of Elemental Fire
Special: Spell Slots 29. +5 fire damage to all spells cast through it. Jet of flame 4 / day
Armor
Total Defense
Magic / Armor Bonus
Quality
Durability
Rarity
Magic Robe of True Casting
10
5* / 5*
Good - Magical
50/50
Uncommon
NOTES
Reduces chance of negative feedback from failed Ritual spells to 0%, failed spells by 50%. *See item description for more details.
Jewelry
Effect
Quality
Durability
Rarity
Util'cil, Named Ring of Warding
+10% resistance to Mental Manipulation, Immunity to all tier 2 scrying attempts. More to be discovered.
Masterworked, Sim'ol Wizard Matched Set 1/5
500/500
Rare
Locket of Radiant Water
+2 concentration bonus when casting water spells, and +1 to all effects of water spells cast by the wearer.
Good - Magical
8/10
Uncommon
My staff concerned me. There wasn’t a lot of information there. However, when I thought about it I realized the staff was primarily a spell storage and augmentation weapon, anyway. When I thought about just smacking someone with it, it brought up only slightly better than normal stats for a staff. When I thought about casting Jet of Flames 1 through it, everything in the entry updated. Sighing in relief , I moved on to the other pieces of my gear. I realized just how impactful the Locket of Radiant Water had been in my early golem crafting efforts, and I wondered why it had been in the clutches of the necromancer. Of course, it had also been an ancient temple for a lost dwarven pantheon, so perhaps it had something more to do with that.. My eyes fell on Util’cil, the named ring. Supposedly another piece of that matched set was down here in the northern Torish barony.
Where, I did not know. But I was determined to find it, if possible. The little I had read about it when I was with the Elves of Lo’sar had shown that while the ring had been left with them, The Jewel of Kradish had been left with the humans. The other pieces were scattered among the various small tribal allies that Sim’ol had made during his time as a wizard. Supposedly they were all to the north of Lo’sar. At the time the Green Elf stronghold had been only a tiny outpost, scratching out a living in the
middle of nowhere. The rest of the set included a cloak, a second ring, and a pair of shoes that counted as one item.
I also went through my mundane items, like the boots I had on, my cloak, the backpack, and several other things, just to ensure their durability was high enough to still be reliable. I didn’t want to need to use the rope to climb up a cliff, if it had a high chance of breaking and me falling to my death. After I finished, I did the last major character maintenance thing I had to do before I got to notifications and then my experiments. I opened up my Class Screen. Not wanting to get into the class quests just yet, saving that for last as I was sure it would inundate me with information, I opened up the Class Skills tree.
The three branches appeared, Companions, Arcane Power, and Powerful Relationships. I had only purchased the first level of each of the branches, and then one Class Skill named Imbuement I had purchased under Arcane Power. Radiating off of Imbuement were three options lit up and ready, while several dozen more were dull and grayed out. Each one listed a different form of knowledge skill. They were Knowledge Spell School: Enchantment, Knowledge Spell School Abjuration, and Knowledge: Rune Writing. One of the greyed out options was labeled, but it was still grayed out. Knowledge Spell School: Biomancy.
Shrugging my shoulders I looked to see how many class points I had available and found the total was right where I had left it, 102. I focused on the first option, Knowledge Enchantment, and found the description.
Class Skill: Knowledge Spell School: Enchantment. Effect: Increases your Knowledge Enchantment skill by 1 Skill Point. Cost: 10 Class Points. Restriction: Can not be used to change your current Skill Modifier Level from current level “Novice” to the next level “Journeyman.” Cost increases exponentially per Skill Point gained this way.
The other two options, Abjuration and Rune Writing, were practically identical. Okay, these are some powerful one time boosts. Should I use them now? Or wait to push myself right to the edge of the next Skill Level? My thoughts raced as I looked at the different options. The only one option I knew I really didn’t know enough to experiment and grow the skill was Rune Writing. I really didn’t even know where to start with that. About the only thing I knew was that during the crafting process, adding runes to things ended up making them more effective. I knew only a few dwarven Runes, elven Glyphs, and human Sigels. While I had mixed them before on my staff, I didn’t want to do anything too high level before I knew more.
Gritting my teeth at the cost and hoping that I was going to learn enough to make actual progress, I purchased my second Skill Score in Rune Writing. My vision filled with a new screen. A simple list of Runes, Glyphs, and Sigal’s that I was familiar with, and the rest of what I now knew were the basic Human, or rather Torish Sigal’s.
As I looked through the list, my mind filled with how to imbue the Marks, as Sigals, Runes, and Glphys were called, onto items I was making more effectively. This was not the same thing as Enchantment, though clearly it was related. But, where enchantment directly imbued an item with a spell weave, Marks were far simpler. Where Enchantment was a fully painted picture with a purpose, Runes were more like a single pixel in an image. However, if given highly magically active material runes could be ‘hijacked’ by the material and act as an expression of the material’s nature. I also learned that Marks were far more difficult to break than an enchantment, whose spell weave could be destroyed without breaking the item.
I then read through a few of the other options under the other two sections, but in the end decided I wouldn’t spend any more. But I had some ideas about what might be the best way forward. I took notes on those thoughts in my HUD’s journal. One Class Skill in particular under Powerful Relationships made me smile when I read the more detailed description. I took meticulous notes and scratched out a few plans before taking a deep breath and opening my Class Quest screen. Notifications filled my vision. I allowed the information to swim over me, and I took it in at a steady pace.
Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest “Know They Friends 2” By analyzing an ally successfully. As this was done with the ally in question [Zed] consent, the benefit is altered. Reward: 50 Class Skill Points. Alteration [replace reward]: 20 Class Skill Points, and 2 Skill Points added to your Analyze skill.
Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest “Your First Quest” by granting the knights of the houses Jagiar, Bradstone, and Gregory a quest. Bonus Objective Achieved: For giving more than a common quest, and offering rewards truly worthy of Heroic feats the Reward is doubled. As this quest was successful for both recipients, the multiplier is increased by 1. Reward: 30 Class Points x 3 = 90 Class Skill Points.
Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest “Your Second Quest” by granting your companions and allies a common quest. Status of Quest: Active. Reward: Commensurate with success of the quest. Unknown at this time.
Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest “Mastery of Magic 2” by mastering Dark Magic. Reward: 150 Class Skill Points. Penalty for use of a magical learning aid is negated by revelation of the learning aid’s purpose as a trap.
Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest “Mastery of Magic 3” by mastering Force Magic. Reward doubled for being the only person to truly master Force Magic on this Layer of Ethria in 300 years. Reward multiplier increased by 1 for being one of only two beings to learn the Force Magic Mastery and Skill Bonuses on this Layer of Ethria in over 289 years. Reward: 450 Class Skill Points.
Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest “Your Second Dark Lord” by confronting and defeating a being who has mastered Dark Magic and who has malicious intent towards you and your allies. Penalty applied: You have not slain the sorcerer, as such your reward is halved. Learn this lesson well, wizard, leaving enemies behind you is a deadly practice. Reward: 100 Class Skill Points. Halved from Penalty, 50 Class Skill Points.
Sweat beaded on my brow. I whipped it away as I grinned from ear to ear. Several very interesting opportunities opened up for my Class build, but for now I put it aside. There were two more notifications I needed to read. I pulled them up as a knock came at the door to my room.
Quest Update: Sir’s Jagiar and Brastone, as well as Sire Gregory, have successfully saved several people from harm in the forest outside the city including a family member of one of their vassal houses earning the reward you so generously offered them. Provide them or their appointed house representatives with the reward before the day is over to successfully complete this quest. Failure to do so will result in extreme Class based penalties.
“My Lord Wizard? You have visitors.” Came the voice of the butler as I got to my feet from where I sat on the floor.
“That I do, show me the way, please.”
Chapter 7: Construction Projects
"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." - Thomas Jefferson
The Traser Estate, City of Sowers Vale, 4th Novos, 2989 AoR
It was snowing when I entered the courtyard. The ingredients I had ordered through the house staff were in neat piles, on trays, or small work tables the staff had provided me. The two things that I wanted to focus on were front and center, their half destroyed bodies laid carefully on a blanket on the cobblestones.
“This is what I’m going to be working on, gentlemen. The repair of these powerful golems will aid in our attack on the sorcerer.” I said as the two elderly men who I had met at the front door just a few minutes ago followed me out into the back. “But I did not bring you back here to show you my pet projects. Just a moment and I will find your family’s rewards.” The two men nodded. They looked almost like twins, both tall, black-haired, weathered, almost leathery skin, both wearing stoic expressions. These men had once been knights but had long since retired their oaths as their bodies failed them. Now they led their houses, and ensured those like their sons and grandsons who were now off to war were treated fairly.
I walked over to the pile of i
ngredients and began rifling through them until I found what I was looking for. I pulled the pouch of crystals from my pocket and began to work. “Sire’s Hugal and Stigal, I apologize, but I am not familiar with either of your family’s histories. I am new to the city, been here only a little over a week so please forgive my ignorance.” Both men nodded. “Sire Hugal, you represent Sir Bradstone and Sire Gregory, yes?” The old man nodded. “And Sire Stigal, you are Sir Jagiar’s grandfather?”
“That’s right.”
“Perfect, thank you for clarifying. I have just a few more questions before I present the reward. I want to ensure it is perfect. I have a question about your houses. Do either of your families bear a particular affinity or affection for an element?” Both men looked at me, then at each other, and then back at me in confusion.
“Apologies Master Wizard, but I fear my friend and I do not understand your question.” The taller and slightly fatter Sire Stigal said. His house heraldry was a simple set of deer antlers on a green field was emblazoned on the front of his clothing.
“I mean, if say, I gifted your family a powerful magical guardian, what would fit your house’s tastes most?” I asked as I turned and began assembling the needed ingredients. Just then I was bending the Torish equivalent of chicken wire into the right shape for what I had in mind.
“I know little about magic, Master Wizard.” said the shorter, skinnier Sire Hugal. He was slightly bent over and needed the help of a cane, but the man was still a proud if retired knight. His house heraldry was similar to Stigal’s, with antlers replaced with a set of boar tusks on a yellow field. These were the middle ranking nobility. Those that did most of the fighting, bleeding and dying when war came. These were those houses that fulfilled the oath and purpose of the noble class, protecting those beneath them. I was determined to provide them with the protection they had been deprived when their young men and women left. “But neither of our houses bear any ill will towards magic users, like some in the higher nobility do. I have worked with plenty of spell slingers in my day during wartime. One healed my arm” he motioned towards his left arm. I nodded in acknowledgement as I worked.
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