With their adversary successfully vanquished, the victorious wizards stand together.
Well, except for Larry, who is still on the ground and in the arms of a depressed gentleman. He remains in that position instead. Nevertheless, they all begin to draw from the leyline, and, with the wizard guy gone, it proves much easier than beforehand.
[Halesey's affinity roll: 6-->5-1]
Halesey, proud victor that he is, is the first to receive a generous helping of magic - and a very nice helping it is, too! He attunes himself with surprising ease to the magical power of the location, feeling for a moment like he's floating in some astral void before the sensation of power wafts into his nostrils and floods through his body like a cold shiver that then turns into something like a concentrated caffeine burst. Flush with success, he opens up his binder and is generally beamish and wordless toward it.
~Very nice work - a bit reckless, but nonetheless effective. The best and most reliable weapon against sorcerers of all kinds is to beat the snot out of them, it seems.~
Halesey wonders if there's some kind of ritual he could get here. That sounds like something useful.
~Not exactly a ritual, you know, but you do have some more magical power to work with now - you see, magic is a part of you now. You can use it... carefully and in little bits, of course. You're not quite at a level when you could regulate what spells you get - that's a little later, but right now, you can improve yourself in a way that's a bit easier than regular self-improvement - magic-assisted, you see. And all it takes is an effort - not even all that much of an effort - of will to do it. Simple. Hang on, let me put it another way.~
Suddenly, Halesey is struck by an unusual awareness of his own capabilities, his strengths and weaknesses. He is a pitiful mortal right now, he realizes, but this can change - all that's needed is time, effort, and more than a little attunement of his being.
Halesey has received 1 stat point! Add it to one of your stats.
Larry, meanwhile, tries to do the exact same thing as Halesey before him.
[Larry's affinity roll: 3+1]
He feels the leyline and gets a very good idea of its power - limitless, really. There's so much of it he could bathe in it for the rest of his days, actually. He begins to greedily bask in the invisible, yet radiant power, finding that it feels very much like being hit with a wave of liquid sunlight. As he feels generally content and illuminated, the voice in his head pipes up.
~STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING RIGHT THERE!~
Larry wonders why.
~YOU WILL PERISH HORRIBLY, MORTAL! BESIDES, YOU DON'T NEED POWER! NOT AT ALL!~
Huh?
~YOUR POWER'S LIMITLESS AS IT IS! YOU CAN INVOKE MAGIC TO BEND REALITY OVER BACKWARDS AT ANY POINT! ANY GIVEN POINT! TROUBLE IS, YOU, LIKE MANY OTHER SORCERERS, ARE A PUNY FLESHLING, A SACK OF ORGANS THAT, BY ALL RIGHTS, SHOULDN'T VERY WELL BE ABLE TO ALTER REALITY AT ALL!~
~THEREFORE, YOUR COMPETENCE IS NOT A MATTER OF POWER AT ALL! IT'S MORE LIKE ATTUNEMENT! FUN PROCESS! YOU BECOME MORE MAGICAL, AND MAGIC HELPS YOU WITH ANYTHING YOU LIKE! HANG ON A SECOND, LET ME JUST...~
Larry feels an unsubtle twist in his composition - something changes, a void appears somewhere unquantifiable. Moments later, the void fills, and from this void flows the very stuff of dreams - magic, mana or whatever, he would guess - Larry is struck by a feeling of expansion, though not of a physical sort, or of a purely mental one, either. Long story short, it feels really weird, and he has this sensation of having some vague resource in excess, like finding and keeping a one hundred dollar bill you've found on the street.
And when you've got a resource in excess, that can mean only one thing - time to splurge!
Larry has received a stat point! Spend it wisely or amusingly!
Elizabeth is the last one to capitalize on the opportunity, hoping to get a scrap of the leyline for herself.
[Elizabeth's affinity roll: 4+1]
It's surprisingly simple to do this, Elizabeth realizes, but there's a catch. The power just floods into her, but it promptly flows out as well, leaving a subtly nauseating feeling. Hm. Perhaps she has some sort of capacity for magic, and-
~that's quite correct. you're not here for power, not exactly. you're here to get exposed, in a manner of speaking. changed, also. it's pretty easy. think harmony, and harmony happens. just one small step...~
It's true. Elizabeth feels something change within her as the magic works upon her, a certain alteration of perspective and the sweet feeling of adaptive change both take hold in her mind.
~and you become more magical. better living through magical exposure is the name of the game. sadly, this is as much as you're going to get from this leyline, at least in its unrefined, wild form. still pretty good for a start. bask in the silence of victory for a moment, and let the magic flow through you.~
They say that you become more different with the passing of each day - Elizabeth finds this to be particularly true now that she has some real, honest-to-goodness magic in her. She feels, if not totally different, then at least definitely improved somehow, energized, more capable. Adapted.
Elizabeth has received a stat point! Allocate it as soon as it is convenient to do so.
Author
Topic: The Forgotten Art: Approaching the Nexus (Read 267421 times)