by Sean Oswald
Nonetheless, Dave thought back to the one meaningful conversation which he had with the royal mage on the subject of magic earlier that morning.
“So, Gunidar, I know you don’t like answering questions about this, but I’m trying to understand. I’ve learned five schools of magic, and my daughter has learned five, but how many distinct schools are there? Dave asked. He had managed to trap the man by standing in the doorway at the end of one of the meetings Gunidar had attended. Dave let everyone else out but then blocked the mage’s path.
Having only the choices of speaking or pushing over a noble of the kingdom, Gunidar Sauer seemed at first to be leaning in favor of the push before eventually settling back down into a chair with an exaggerated sigh that made his mustache wiggle. “That is an age-old question. Most non-mages don’t know the difference at all or, if they do, think difference is broken down between holy magic from the true gods and generic magic. Although many of the serf’s think that there is also dark or fiendish magic.”
“But what is the more educated understanding?” Dave asked annoyed by the dismissive tone which the royal mage used.
“If you had attended the Royal Academy, you would have learned all of this. Your son likely will learn it in his second year there unless he displays great talent for magic, which I have not heard anything about,” Gunidar replied.
“Look, I know you only answer to the king, and I am not trying to get you to teach me magic or share any super-secret information, but I am the Baron of this land, appointed by your king, and you will answer basic questions with common courtesy. Or do you hold yourself above common courtesy?” Dave spoke without a shred of anger showing through, just a cold steely tone which showed just how serious he was. The two soldiers who Emily had insisted follow him everywhere both moved hands to their weapons as they could sense the threat within the words.
“Pfhh …” Gunidar once again sighed melodramatically, making the long-hanging ends of his gray mustache wiggle like a snake, and rolled his eyes. He paused for a good twenty seconds before continuing, “So be it. I could just give you the simple answer and tell you that there are seven schools of magic: Abjuration, Charm, Conjuration, Divination, Essence, Evocation, and Shaping. That is probably the most commonly taught concept, and from a simplistic point of view, it is accurate.”
Dave sat down at the meeting table next to the mage now that he was clearly into lecture mode. As pompous as the man could be, he clearly knew more about how magic worked here, and so it would be foolish to squander this resource.
“The second most common view is that there are eight schools, with Enchantment being the eighth,” Gunidar continued.
“Wait, I thought that Enchantment was a skill that was used for creating magical gear. Mira has that skill, and her master is considered to be the best living enchanter amongst all the moon elves. His skill apparently even outstrips his current level tier somehow,” Dave interrupted to make sure he understood what he was being told.
At first as he interrupted, Gunidar was clearly annoyed, but as Dave got it all out, the mage became intrigued. “So wait, there is an elven enchanter here who has an enchanting tier beyond his level tier? And your daughter is his apprentice?”
“Yeah, and if you answer my question here, then I will be happy to introduce you to Hiroto,” Dave said with a grin.
“It’s such a shame how little contact we have with the other races. What might we learn?” Dave didn’t respond to the mage’s question because the far off look in his eyes made it obvious that Gunidar was speaking to himself.
“Err sorry, yes, well to finish answering your questions. Yes, Enchantment is a skill, but some believe that it is also a school of magic comprised of spells which do things the others cannot do and that those spells have to be implanted into items. Yet, even then, the answer is not absolute. There are potentially other schools of magic, and many classes possess magical skills which are unique to their class. For example, some believe that Meta-magic is a school all to its own, but other magical skills, like Captain Smart’s Forced March skill, are simply deemed to be a derivative of Shaping and Evocation Magic.”
Dave interrupted again at that point, “Wait Evocation? How is it Evocation–I thought that was like my lightning bolt spell?”
“Yes, yes, of course lightning bolt is an evocation spell. The school description offered by Eloria when you first gain access makes that pretty clear, but you should learn, if you haven’t already, that everything is not always what it seems. Evocation is quite simply imputing energy from outside into the process. Otherwise you might argue that your lightning bolt was simply gathering the electrical charge around us and condensing it into a more powerful charge. This could be argued to be Shaping Magic.” Gunidar paused to see if Dave was following. “Maybe, though, your education doesn’t include an understanding that there is an electrical charge to everything including living beings.”
Dave was too caught up in what this could mean to be worried about the man’s condescension. “No, trust me, where I come from there are people with a very detailed understanding of that, and every child is taught the basics in schools.”
“You mean every noble child?” Gunidar asked.
Annoyed but not wanting to get off the subject, Dave replied, “No, every child–there is no nobility where we come from, but back to the matter at hand. So why would Mira’s skills cause it to be its own school of magic while another class like Max’s wouldn’t?”
“It has to do with the extent and uniqueness of the class and associated skills. The real question though is, how does a school of magic get recognized? Is it an official school if a certain number of people recognize it? Or does there have to be a notification from Eloria attached with it? Which of course only brings up the larger issue of how Eloria sends out such notifications. Is it the Gods doing that, or is Eloria sentient in some way? But you didn’t ask about that, and we literally don’t have time to talk about that now. So the real answer to your question is that, for practical purposes, there are seven schools of magic, but they may be many more.” Gunidar’s passion about magic seemed to finally overcome his annoyance with having to answer Dave’s questions.
“Okay, so you’re right. That is a lot to think about, and I’m sure you have had many more years to think about it than I have. Just one last question. Are there any other ‘schools’ of magic which you believe exist?” Dave made air quotes around the word schools which was undoubtedly a gesture lost on the royal mage.
“I don’t mean to be vague, but I am still learning more. I would deem Meta-Magic to be its own school and possibly Spirit Magic, but that could just be a derivative of Essence. I clearly think that Enchantment Magic is a school, and there is probably a school which encompasses so-called acts of god,” Gunidar answered before saying, “Now, if there is nothing further, Baron Murkwood, I have other things to attend to today.”
“Thank you for taking the time to answer me,” Dave said as if the man had had a choice in the matter. He barely restrained himself from rubbing salt in the wound by formally excusing the mage and simply sat there until he left.
Dave had been tempted to offer Gunidar access to some of the Tier 4 spells in Turgur’s book in exchange for some Tier 3 spells but ultimately decided he didn’t trust the man. Now, whenever he was arguing with Mira about the spells each would get or even while he was making choices himself, he would think about that conversation. It also left him with a determination to find time for using his research skill. He intended to research how to make prosthetic limbs for Kraden in order to not only help the man but also as a way of aiding Emily’s quest. He also had visions of developing an electrical lighting system, running water, and so many other daily life improvements for Eris’ Rise, things that he felt were just barely out of his grasp and only needed some research to learn how to incorporate what he remembered of earth science with the magical systems of Eloria. That was to say nothing of the ways in which he was hoping to improve the crafts li
ke the smithing, fabric design, and alchemistry or his plans for ways to improve both the offense and defense of their soldiers. His mind was practically awash with ideasm and so he had to focus on the present.
Now, it was a new day, the fourth day after the battle. The scouts couldn’t find any enemy troops, but oddly enough, the few trails they found all led to the south in Duke Holstein’s lands. None of the military leaders, human or elven, could figure out why elven rebels would flee into human-controlled land. The fact that a group of human mercenaries had attacked Eris’ Rise right before Dave got there was also suspect. It was obvious in the meetings that each of them had their own opinions about what was going on, but no one had addressed the elephant in the room. Dave needed more time to think about it, so he was glad to be going on a patrol rather than a meeting this morning. It had taken a lot of debate with Emily to get her to allow Jackson to come along with him, and Dave was a bit ashamed that he still hadn’t revealed what was going on with Jackson, but he didn’t want to think about that.
Instead, he looked back over how they had divided up the spells from the two books so far. Emily had learned the Lesser Heal spell, which she also taught to Mira, but that and Abjuration were the only schools of magic his wife had picked up. Dave and Mira just needed to find time to teach some of their Abjuration spells to Emily, if she would ever stop moving about the village. She, probably smartly, wanted to wait till she could learn Tier 3 spells before picking up any other schools of magic. Both Dave and Mira had advised her that was a solid plan.
Mira learned the spells Shrieking Alarm and Minor Mule Disk while Dave had learned Minor Scan: Secret Doors and Minor Mirror Strike. That wrapped up the last of the Tier 1 spells in the book they found in the dungeon. By agreement after a lot of arguing, they had agreed to work their way up the list of spells since it was mostly the Tier 3 spells that they were fighting over.
Just thinking about it was enough for Dave to bring up the spell descriptions from those two low level spells.
Minor Scan: Secret Doors gives the caster the ability to detect secret doors. Any mundane secret door, no matter how masterfully crafted, can withstand this spell. However, if the door is obscured through magical means, this will cause a contest between the power of this spell and its caster against the power of the magic and its caster/creator which is obscuring the door. If the caster of this spell fails to penetrate another magic, they will have no idea that such a failure occurred.
Mana: 40
Duration: 1 minute per level
Range: 3’+3”/level
Cast Time: 1 minute
* * *
Minor Mirror Strike: Creates an exact duplicate of the last melee strike performed by the caster. Duplicated strike must have occurred within the past 2 second/level. The target of this spell must be one which was not hit by the mirrored strike or by a prior casting of Minor Mirrored Strike relating to that mirrored Strike.
Mana: 25
Range: 10’+1’/level
Cast Time: 1 second
Cool-Down: 20 seconds-1/level.
Dave actually felt a little bad about having taken the Minor Scan. Sure it could prove useful in dungeons and such, but it wouldn’t really have mattered if Mira took it how and taught it to him at some point other in time. It wasn’t like he was going to be treasure hunting anytime soon, not with all the work he had to do in Eris’ Rise. The Minor Mirror Strike spell, on the other hand, seemed like it had been custom made for him. Neither Mira nor Emily were able to deal enough damage with a melee attack to make that spell really valuable for them, at least not at this time. For Dave though, it was just another way to combine magic with the existing skills he had, and best of all, it had a quick cast time, so it wouldn’t really interfere with his other actions. His mind was already churning with possible uses for this spell.
The 1st Tier spells had actually been very easy to divvy up as had the healing spell. Dave and Mira argued a bit more about the Tier 2 spells, but in the end, Mira simply had a lot more time to learn spells than Dave did, so he only insisted on the ones he felt he could most use. One of the interesting things was that some of the spells did the same thing as another spell in the other book. One book having been created by a human and the other by an elf, it was interesting to see the differences and similarities. For example, there was the human spell, Gazelle’s Grace, and the elven counterpart was Feline Feet. They didn’t do the exact same thing in that Lesser Gazelle’s Grace enhanced not only the target’s Agility but also their foot speed and jumping ability, whereas Feline Feet increased both Agility and Dexterity while providing a mild increase to climbing and the ability to always land on your feet. Dave ended up taking the Lesser Gazelle’s Grace for the mobility he hoped it would provide him while Mira, who was already very mobile, chose the Feline Feet spell just because she was hungry to learn all the magic she could. She couldn’t actually learn it yet because she hadn’t put points into Shaping magic, but the spell was still being reserved for her.
The same sort of similarity existed between the human Endure Elements and the elven Lesser Elemental Resistance. The former was more of a longer duration buff which provided some resistance to heat, cold, and electricity. The Lesser Elemental Resistance was shorter in duration and only provided resistance to a single element per casting, but that element could be chosen, and it provided significantly more resistance. The decision about who got what spell here was a bit harder. Dave certainly got into more combat, or at least that was his intention, but in the end, he couldn’t deprive his daughter of a spell that might help her. Again, it also helped that Endure Elements was a shaping spell since it modified the recipient of the spell whereas Lesser Elemental Resistance was an abjuration spell because it created a protective barrier. Both, of course, were of the two schools that Mira hadn’t learned yet, but Dave was pushing her to learn Abjuration next.
As for the rest of the Tier 2 spells, Dave took Night Eyes since his vision was far worse than Emily and the kids’ at night and Fleeting Fury as it was a melee boost. He really hadn’t had time to learn any more. Mira took Spirit Sight and Gauge Caster as further expansions of her detection abilities while also adding Lesser Irresistible Joke as crowd control and Tainted Breath for its damage capabilities. It was probably a fair split, but Dave couldn’t help but want to learn all the spells. Now all he had to do was find time to learn the others from Mira. Thinking about that, he reviewed the Tier 2 spells he had picked up.
Lesser Gazelle’s Grace: Channels the wild spirit and energy of a gazelle into the target. Target gains Agility 10+ 1 / 2 levels. Additionally, movement rate is increased by 10% after factoring the extra agility. Target gains the ability to leap vertically 2x and horizontally 3x further than previously possible after factoring in the extra agility.
Range: Touch
Duration: 10 minutes + 1 minute/level
Mana: 40
* * *
Endure Elements: Target gains resistance to cold, fire, and electricity of 10+1/level. Target is not bothered by weather conditions ranging from -50 degrees to 150 degrees or by wind, snow, rain, or even hail. Such conditions are effectively ignored and treated as temperate sunny weather
Range: Touch
Duration: 1 hour
Mana: 35
* * *
Night Eyes: Target gains the ability to see in very low light. Light is still required, but now the target is able to see in 1/10th the light previously needed for any given task
Range: Touch
Duration: 1 hour
Mana: 25
* * *
Fleeting Fury: Target gains furious energy elevating both their emotional state and combat speed. Target will feel more hostile towards known enemies for the duration of the spell and may have difficulty restraining from attacking them. This is not the equivalent of a berserker rage but merely a heightened emotional state which will affect each target somewhat differently. Attack speed will be increased by 50% for the duration, effectively causing m
elee blows to fall faster. This does not increase perception of time or any other aspect necessary for combat but only allows the body to move faster when it is attacking.
Range: Touch
Duration: 1 minute
Mana: 35
Cast Time: 1 second
Cool-Down: 10 minutes.
The real issues of contention were the Tier 3 spells. Between the two spell books, there were twenty-one spells and very few of them seemed anything but awesome. Now that Dave had agreed with the splitting of the lower spells, he had to decide what to do with these. He listened to Mira’s arguments and even let himself seem to be persuaded at times, but if he was honest with himself, most of the time he made the decisions ahead of time. That was part of why he insisted on keeping the spell books in the bag of holding he was carrying.
There were two Essence Magic Spells: Life Salve and Abolish Disease, which Dave planned to let Mira have. He chuckled at his own thought process, very magnanimous of himself to let her have spells that he could never use. He predicted there would be quite a struggle over some of the others later.
His older children were busily walking over to him with the members of the designated patrol for the day. Ozakai, the elven military leader, was next to Eisuke and a druid. Just behind them were a pair of paladins, and Baron Eikhorn and his son were with their bodyguard. Dave’s two guards were already with him. Dave was a bit surprised that neither of the paladins were the primary leaders but figured that Jaselm was still pretty weak from the condition of his lungs, and Sir Mun Hagen was probably staying back to continue working on getting concessions from Emily for his church. While he didn’t envy what she would have to put up with, it would hopefully make the patrol today more pleasant for him.
