You decide to go back to your old routine for a few days, until your cut heals at the very least. This involves your usual lessons and a few research projects you’ve decided upon based on what you’ve already learned. Whilst you don’t make much progress with your learning you quickly rediscover a basic treatise on magery that points towards a more theoretical work on mana and a chapter on the fundamentals of fire magic.
The book on mana describes a lot of what you already know, mana is theorised to be both a quality of the blood of humanity and a limited well of authority used to command spirits. It is believed that every human’s blood has the potential to create mana however, only those trained in magecraft can actually build a well of power in which to store this mana. It is not unknown for magic to manifest within those who cannot store mana, but this tends to be sporadic at best. On the business end less can be tested and theories abound, what is known is that mana gives spells the force of command over spirits which then act out the intention of the spell. The leading theory on why this is the case hypothesises a time before history when all things could communicate and a contract made between humanity and the spirits which has stuck and compels spirits to obey. On the subject of storing and regaining mana, an mage’s aptitude with magic expands their capacity to store mana however this does not increase the rate at which the power within the blood is converted to mana. The text does point towards other books which purport to explain techniques which can be used to draw more mana from the body over a shorter period of time. Although it says that learning this method can be quite costly in mana as using it is not without investment and that it is only really effective if a mage’s mana reserves are nearly empty, especially for novices. This information is different than the advice is Path to Power and you wonder which text is the more accurate.
The book on fire magic you read on the next day contains instructions on how to conjure fire, you take this up in your spare time as well as learning to conjure earth from Arbus, and while you don’t learn the spell straight away, practicing a new spell does almost immediately give you a deeper understanding of magic, all this practice seems to be paying off, in your finesse and ability to store mana if not in any new spells.
The next day you wake up without pain for the first time in a few days, you sense that your mana reserves are at the level where they would have been full if you were as much a mage as you were a week ago, but you’ve come along in leaps and bounds since then and you reckon you could store quite a bit more power. On top of that your new-found skill helps you finally master the summoning of stone. Arbus is very pleased with you and says that he would like to help you on the next step of your magical career. He explains that whilst the basic spells are commonly found in spell books most spells are best learnt by modifying the basic element of the spell manually into a new spell, for example he explains how you could modify your stone summoning spell to summon a stone shield, a stone tool or simply to launch the stone in the direction you wanted. He asks you to go away and think about which spell you’d like to practice modifying and to what purpose.
You decide to take the afternoon to go out about town. The news of events in the sewers have leaked into public knowledge. People know there’s something down there that’s murdering people and that the paladins and night watch are hunting it down, theories as to what it is vary but you hear the truth mixed in with more outlandish ideas. There is also gossip that the king is sick, and perhaps fatally so, he has not been seen in court for two weeks and concern is starting to show. People are not overly worried though, as the king is old and his heir is well liked and competent. He has been making more public appearances lately. However the day watch seems to be patrolling more often about the city and guarding passageways that were not guarded before. On top of that you hear faint murmurs that the current heir is involved in some way in the disinheriting of the former heir, the king’s eldest son has not been in the city for some time as he has been abroad leading a mercenary band, reasons for his exile are unclear but rumours are that a king who had led an army might be superior to an administrator, these voices aren’t too loud though.
You return to practice your fire spell, but achieve little progress. As you drift off to sleep you go over the things you have to consider, should you wait to fill your mana reserve the rest of the way? How could you best modify any of your current spells to get something that could be useful in the next few days?
Health: 10/10
Mana: 11/13
Will: 11
Skills:
Competent Magical Theorist (d8)
Great Mage (d11)
Novice Necromancer (d6)
Proficient Scholar (d10)
Novice Handyman (d6)
Novice Negotiator (d6)
Competent Observer (d8)
Adequate Manipulator (d7)
Items of import (ask about what else you might have that makes sense):
The Path to Power (+1 to summoning corporeal undead) (Hidden in your room)
2 gold, 9 silver and 4 copper coins worth of coinage
Dagger (Hidden in your room)
Cutlass (Hidden in your room)
Leather Armour (Hidden in your room) (+2 armour)
1 Rat zombie (d4)
1 Child Skeleton
1 Mana potion (d4)
Arbus the Sage (your mentor): Trusting, he has worked with you for many years and so trusts your capabilities and has insight into your character.
Bral the Labourer (Your father): Doting, he cares for all her children but has a special place in her heart for the son who will make something of himself even if he sees you rarely.
Ta the Labourer (your elder sister): Cordial, you still have contact with Ta who wants little from life, though she has always been wary of the lust for power she saw in you.
Jia the night watchman (your elder sister): Good, you two share the same drive to better yourselves you both recognise that in each other and respect it.
Ifeus the star mage: Unknown, she is an independent mage with whom Arbus corresponds with most often as such you have run some delivery’s to and from her tower.
Valo apprentice to Apras the fire mage: admiration, Valo and Apras are in the employ of the temple. Valo is a couple of years younger than you and holds your magical knowledge in awe.
Cai apprentice to Didor the Druid: Rivalry. Cai and Didor are in the employ of the kingdom. Cai is about your age and she has a drive similar to yours, this has led to a sporting rivalry which has allowed you to pick up some practical magecraft and her to be schooled in more theoretical matters.
Bind Corpse: Creates a skeleton or zombie servant of varying power. The power depends on the soul’s strength and the skill with which you cast the spell.
Cost 1 Mana.
Difficulty d (4+number of bound undead servants)
Control Undead: Gives you direct control over one of your undead minions for a few hours. It is recommended that your control be returned to your person manually.
Cost 1 Mana
Difficulty d(strength of the undead minion)
Speak with Dead: Allows you to communicate with ghosts.
Cost 1 Mana
Difficulty d4
Pain: Attempts to remove a soul from a target human with harmful and painful consequences. More effective with skin to skin contact.
Cost: 2 Mana
Difficulty d(targets best magic skill)
Arcane Shield: Creates a shield which deflects the actions of spirits of a certain type.
Cost 1 Mana.
Difficulty d4+number of active shields
Spirit Sight: Allows you to see the spirits in an area, determining their numbers and movement
Cost 1 Mana
Difficulty d4
Message: Compels the wind to carry something roughly the size and shape of a parchment a considerable distance
Cost 1 Mana
Difficulty d4
Slow blood: Thickens the blood of a living being, rendering it sluggish and eventually unconscious
Cost 1 Mana
Difficulty d4 or relevant skill
Vicious Growth: Accelerates and controls the growth of a nearby plant, which dies when the spell has ended.
Cost 1 mana
Difficulty d6
Light: Forms a ball of dim light that can be controlled for a while, will momentarily blind someone if summoned in their face.
Cost 1 mana
Difficulty d4
Summon stone: Summons a fist sized stone with the rough shape of your choice.
Cost 1 mana
Difficulty d4
Author
Topic: (SG) You are an aspiring necromancer. (Read 6004 times)