Combat Abilities
Novice:
Beast Bond I: Establish a fleeting beast bond with targeted beast (Novice).
Truesight: Enables the caster to see in all light conditions and pierce illusions (Novice).
Base:
Calm beast: Calms beasts within the targeted area (Base).
Mind over matter: Increases all body attributes of the caster (Base).
Teleport (self): Teleports the caster to another location in his direct line of sight (Base).
Blend: Camouflages the caster into his surroundings (Base).
Barkskin: Fortifies the caster’s skin giving him natural armour (Base).
Flaming Hands: Causes the caster’s touch to inflict magical flame damage (Base).
Restore Health (Self): Restores the caster’s lost health (Base).
Water Armour: Creates a protective layer of water around the caster that replaces equipped armour (Base).
Civilian Abilities
Novice:
Basic Scrying: Allows the caster to view a distant area. (Novice).
Base:
Inspiring: Increase the regeneration rates of all minions and vassals (Base).
Channel Essence: Allows the caster to channel essence to minions and vassals (Base).
Show Hostiles (map): Shows the movements of nearby hostiles on the player’s map (Base).
Show Portals (map): Shows nearby portals on the player’s map (Base).
Crota
What is Essence? This is an often-asked question. One pondered by philosophers and commoners alike. The simplest answer is that essence is a form of energy, one that springs from the spirit. Spirit at heart is synonymous with Life. All life forms; lower, higher or celestial; be they sentient or not, possess spirit and therefore generate essence. This includes every tree, plant, animal, sentient, god and demon on Myelad.
The essence produced by lower lifeforms (animals, plants, trees), which is by far the greatest percentage of essence, is normally diffused freely into the world, and is commonly referred to as natural essence. On Myelad however, this essence is trapped and channelled through the essence wells.
The essence from thinking beings is refined (how is unclear) into higher forms of essence such as divine and magical essence. The amount of essence any one sentient generates is governed by its Spark – from A Treatise on the Nature of Essence by Sorceress, Lillian Aimes.
Kyran stumbled forward. Lacking equilibrium, in a strange body, and bombarded with new sensations, he staggered about drunkenly – and fell. He caught himself on a jagged rock and pain flared in his hands. A message flashed into his mind, shouting for attention.
1 minor damage sustained, 9/10 HP remaining.
He anxiously blinked the message away, concerned less with the negligible damage to his hand, and more with the potentially fatal dangers lurking around him. Still on all four limbs, he scampered backwards, until his back encountered resistance. Tense, he scanned his surroundings for any sign of threat. His efforts yielded naught. It was pitch black and eerily silent. He strained to penetrate the darkness. To no avail. The moments ticked by, and the silence and darkness continued unabated. His fear spiked and his imagination ran wild, conjuring up phantom predators, ready to spring at the slightest provocation. Panic had almost overwhelmed him, before he remembered the truesight spell. Relief swept over him. He could banish the darkness.
Scarcely had this thought occurred to him, when knowledge of the spell filled him. He tore open magical pathways between his spirit and body and directed essence into his eyes, reforming them to penetrate darkness and illusion. The essence joyously answered his call, greeting him like a long-lost friend.
Kyran experienced a sense of déjà vu, as if this was an action, he had performed countless times prior. The sense of the essence was so familiar, that of a phantom limb, a missing part of himself, long lost, now returned. He was not sure how much credence to give these feelings. Were they true memories, or the result of his new body? Nonetheless, he revelled in the feel of the essence as he channelled and manipulated it. His vision cleared and light returned to his world. Another message flashed into his mind.
New ability used!
Ability: Truesight
Skill: Air magic.
Description: This spell enables the caster to see in all light conditions and pierce illusions.
Rank: Novice.
Cost: 40 Essence.
Execution time: 5 seconds.
Area of effect: Radius of 1m x skill around caster.
Duration: 10 minutes x skill.
You have cast truesight. At an effective skill level of 2.6 you have gained truesight to a range of 2.6m. Remaining duration 26 minutes.
Kyran looked around anew. He was in a lifeless chamber, filled only with old bones and crumbling mortar. His fear and tension drained away, leaving him weak with relief. His back was braced against the base of a towering oval ring. Glancing at it, he received a message.
Crota world portal (locked closed).
World portals are marvels of modern essence engineering that allow instantaneous transport between each other. Each world portal is powered by an essence well. This portal has been locked closed, and can no longer be used to traverse Myelad. Entry through this portal is only possible through the spirit world.
The portal was the only structure of note in his vicinity. The floor consisted of granite flagstones, many of which were upturned and broken. It was over one of these that he had tripped and cut his hand.
He looked down at his hands and felt wonder anew. He flexed and opened them. They felt completely natural, but were most definitely not the hands he remembered from back home. His new fingers were long and nimble, and narrowed gently at the tips. His skin was a rich brown colour and free of any wrinkles and blemishes. I am freshly minted he thought, fear forgotten in the excitement of his new self.
He lifted his hands to feel out his face. It was smooth to the touch, with no hint of facial hair. His eyes were round, wide and tilted upwards. His mouth and nose felt little different from that of his previous human self. His ears were long, pointed and most startling of all, moved when he flexed them. His hair, when he pulled it forwards for inspection was long, thick and forest green in colour.
He stood up cautiously. He was shorter and a bit closer to the ground than his human self. He estimated his height at just over five feet, shorter than the average human male – he had no idea how he measured up against other elves. An elf. Unbelievably, he was an elf. An elf who could cast spells. He pinched himself, to be certain he was not dreaming. This is the stuff of fantasy, marvelled Kyran. Or considering my surroundings, maybe nightmares.
He was dressed in fitted brown pants, shirt and leather shoes. He wriggled his toes within his shoes, they felt comfortable and sturdy. Standing, he saw that the debris littering the floor was mostly bleached bones, broken weapons and decayed armour. There were hundreds of skeletal remains. If the surroundings beyond were similar, then thousands must have died here. It dawned on him that he stood at the centre of some ancient battlefield. A shiver of dread ran through him. Caution reasserted itself. Wary once more, he assessed his situation. He appeared to be in no immediate danger, but from the strewn remains scattered about him, a safe haven, this was not. And I am an elf (he couldn’t help but going back to that). In whose mind, game messages popped up. So, the Overseer had spoken true; he was in Myelad and more specifically, the city of Crota.
So, what now? If what the gods had led him to believe was true, then despite any lack of immediate danger, Crota was dangerous. Dangerous enough that those omnipotent entities had sentenced him here to die. They considered his fate sealed. Unfortunately for the gods, Kyran was not going to roll over easily. He was too stubborn for that. His callous treatment at their hands had angered him. Gods, though they may be, they had not the right, not to so summarily decide his fate. He would challenge them. He would survive, if only to spite them, and then… well, then he would see�
� So, for now, his primary goal would be to survive. And to escape Crota. But where exactly am I?
A map unfurled in his mind. It was richly detailed and textured – and most wondrous of all, fully three dimensional. It appeared as a mental construct within his mind and incredibly, did not impede his vision. Even with his inner gaze focused on the map, he remained peripherally aware of what was occurring in front of him. On the map, his position was shown as a solid blue dot, surrounded by a brightened area that corresponded to the range of his truesight. Outside of this circle, the map was greyed out, but still showed the floor plan of the buildings surrounding him. He realised it was the map of the citadel provided by the Overseer.
Player’s Map: The Player’s Map is a virtual representation of all areas and locations known to the player. The player’s surroundings (area within his direct line of sight) are shown in real-time. Other known areas are shown as last seen by the player. Unknown areas (areas not discovered by the player) are not shown.
According to the map, he was in a large room with two exits. His current location was labelled ‘The Portal Room’. One exit was to the east, and through a narrow corridor, led to a small room labelled, ‘Citadel Guardroom 5’. Beyond this was an endless maze of rooms and corridors. The other exit was to the west, and through a similar corridor led to the ‘Mine Guardroom’. Beyond this point the map was blank. Kyran supposed that this was because he didn’t have any knowledge, direct or otherwise, of that area.
After further deliberation he cast show hostiles. Knowledge again unfolded in his mind, and he instinctively understood how to cast the spell. He channelled his essence outwards and created a bubble of awareness around him, which he linked to the construct of the player’s map.
New ability used!
Ability: Show hostiles
Skill: Scrying.
Description: This ability reveals the location of nearby creatures on the player’s map. Creatures that are hostile to the caster are shown in red. Neutral creatures are shown in grey and allied creatures in green. Note, only the default state of a creature’s race is shown. This is based on the race’s affinity and alignment parameters. Individual creatures may deviate from this norm based on their particular views and experiences. Warning: creatures that are hidden or protected from scrying are not revealed.
Rank: Base.
Cost: 80 Essence per hour.
Execution time: Instantaneous.
Area of effect: Radius of 20m x skill around caster.
Duration: Infinite (activated ability).
You have cast show hostiles. At an effective skill of 0.7, this spell reveals hostiles in a radius of 14m around the caster (75 XP gained: 75/2000 Civilian XP).
He reviewed the map again. His circle of awareness on the map had expanded significantly, but other than that, there was no change. Hopefully this means that there are no hostiles in my immediate vicinity, he thought.
Further experimentation revealed, that with mental commands alone, he could freely zoom in or out, and scroll through the map. Navigating through the map revealed that the portal room was deep underground, located in the lowest level of the Crota citadel. Above this, were five more levels of subterranean rooms and corridors before reaching the ground floor.
Knowing where he was made Kyran feel better, a little less lost. Buoyed with this knowledge, he examined his surroundings in earnest. The room was roughly twenty metres on all sides, and but for the portal and debris on the floor, was empty. He walked up to the portal and inspected it closely. It was constructed from an unknown metal and covered in arcane runes and precious gems, none of which he had the means to pry off. He wondered if his inventory contained anything that might help.
At this thought, another player interface opened in his mind, one that that showed the contents of his inventory. It was empty.
Inventory
Storage Capacity: 0/200 kg.
Contents: Empty.
The inventory is an extra-dimensional space that exists outside of Myelad. It is accessible only by the player, and is used to store items, weapons, armour and other inanimate objects. On death, all contents of a player’s inventory are dropped. The storage capacity of your inventory is solely determined by the attribute: Strength.
The player interfaces are astonishing, he thought. They activated seamlessly, at thought alone, and did not hamper any of his other faculties. He continued his examination of the portal. He walked through it, but felt nothing unusual. It did not give off any vibrations, or show signs of mystical energy, least none that he could sense. Curious, he applied the insightful ability to the portal.
New ability used!
Ability: Insightful
Skill: Not applicable (player ability).
Description: This ability allows the player to perceive the characteristics (attributes, skills, traits, abilities, defences, etc…) of items and creatures. When applied to items this ability works in conjunction with the player’s skills (the degree of information perceived is determined by the relevant skill). When applied to creatures, the information perceived is determined only by the player’s level. This ability is always successful. Warning: This ability does not work on advanced and major players (champions, demi-gods, and gods).
Cost: Special ability that requires no energy.
Execution time: Instantaneous.
With his mind, he reached out and mentally probed and analysed the portal. This however returned the same message he had received previously.
A World Portal (locked closed).
He wondered at this. How was the portal locked? And more importantly how could it be unlocked? In the room itself, there was no obvious means to do so. Perhaps, the answer lay elsewhere in the citadel. He would keep an eye out. Or perhaps, the answer lay with the mysterious essence well, the portal’s power source. Where, and what was it? He had no means of divining these answers, but he would note them, and perhaps, if the opportunity presented itself, he could find a way to unlock the portal and circumvent the dangers of Crota. He doubted however, that escape would be that simple.
He returned to his inspection of the portal. He focused on the individual gems, and applied insight to each.
Found: Precious gems (4 x large diamond, 8 x large sapphire, 8 x large emerald, 5 x large ruby).
Type: Item.
Weight: 0 kg.
Rank: Rare (An item’s rank is an indication of its scarcity).
Special Properties: May store essence.
Description: Precious gems are a valuable commodity that may also be used in magical constructs to store essence.
Satisfied, he crept to the west exit. At the exit was the rusted ruins of a heavy metal gate. The thick, reinforced bolts that held up the gate had been sheared off completely. Studying the wreckage, Kyran wondered at the force that had so completely destroyed, what, by all appearance, was a heavily fortified gate. He peered through the exit into the arrow-straight corridor leading to the mine guardroom. From the little he could see, the corridor, like the portal room was bare of any furnishing and likewise covered in debris. Next, he studied the east exit. He found it no different from the west.
Content that no threat lurked outside the portal room, he returned to his investigation of the room itself. He systematically scavenged through the debris. Many of the bones were not human and had bite marks. Kyran picked up one of the non-human skulls for closer scrutiny. He had no idea to what it race belonged, and insight failed to provide a response.
The skull was brittle with age and looked to have been here a long time. It was twice the size of a human skull and had a long, central horn above the eye sockets. The horn curved forwards gently and ended in a lethal tip. From the upper jaw, protruded two sharp fangs. It must have been menacing in life, thought Kyran. He shuddered and kept searching. After what seemed like hours (but was in reality no more than a few minutes), he finally uncovered something that triggered his insight.
Acquired: Rusted steel knife.
Type: Wea
pon (one-handed, short).
Weight: 0.3 kg.
Rank: Common.
Damage: 1-2 Piercing damage.
Condition: Brittle.
Description: A general purpose, single bladed utility knife that is commonly used for cutting or stabbing. This item is brittle and very close to breaking. You do not have the skill (one-handed weapons (short)) to wield this in combat.
Even though the knife appeared near useless, he was encouraged by his find. He kept searching. After an hour he found three more usable items.
Acquired: Rusted steel longsword.
Type: Weapon (one-handed, long).
Weight: 1.2 kg.
Rank: Common.
Damage: 1-2 Piercing or slashing damage.
Condition: Brittle.
Description: A longsword is a straight, double edged bladed weapon that may be wielded with either one or two hands. This item is rusted and close to breaking. You need a skill of at least one in longswords or one-handed weapons (long) to wield this in combat.
Acquired: Rusted darksteel chainmail vest.
Type: Medium armour.
Weight: 7 kg.
Rank: Common.
Armour: 5 armour.
Condition: Brittle.
Description: A chainmail vest is chest armour made from interlocking metal rings woven into a fine mesh. Darksteel is a rare alloy of iron that is superior to normal steel in terms of durability and hardness. It is named for its distinctive dark greyish colour. This item is brittle and very close to breaking. You do not have the skill (medium armour) to wear this.
Acquired: Chitin helm.
Type: Light armour.
Weight: 0.5 kg.
Rank: Common.
Armour: 2 armour.
Condition: Good.
Description: A helm is protective headgear made from metal or leather. This helm is open faced and made from chitin. Chitin is an extremely durable substance created from the carapace of insectoid creatures. You may equip this.
Crota Page 7
