Ar'Kendrithyst

Erick walked up to the main counter of the Wayfarer’s Guild, saying, “Hello. I’m looking for Guildmaster Apogee.”

The young incani man on the other side paled a little, as he said, “Master Apogee has retired. His son, Guildmaster Oreellico, is currently upstairs. Would you like to see him, instead?”

“That’s Apogee’s son, right? Fork Oreellico, I assume?”

“Yes, sir.”

“If he is available, then I will see him, instead.”

- - - -

Erick entered into a very different office than the last time he had been here. Where once were boxes and knickknacks waiting to be put into those boxes, there were now shelves of travel journals and maps and stones of a dozen different varieties. Some of those stones glowed with reds, others with blues. Some were crystals, while others were fossilized seashells.

Fork Oreellico sat behind his desk, with stacks of paper in front of him and a small, glowing globe to the side. Fork was a brownscale dragonkin like his father, but unlike Apogee, he had no horns. He did have small ridges down the sides of his scaled head that were almost horns, but those were rather common among dragonkin. If he had a tail, Erick couldn’t tell. He could barely tell the man’s age. Maybe he was 40? Maybe?

As Erick entered, Oreellico stood from his chair. No tail.

“Hello, Guildmaster Oreellico. Congratulations on your promotion.”

Oreellico smiled, speaking with a deep voice, saying, “Thank you, Archmage Flatt. Apologies if you came here to see my father, but you’ll have to settle for me. Is there something I can help you with? A transportation issue?” He gestured to the chair across his desk, as he sat back down, saying, “Please, sit.”

Erick sat, saying, “I fear I have driven your father off with hints that I wanted to know more of his planar experience, but I suppose I will have to settle for never knowing his story, and that is okay.”

Oreellico looked to want to speak in the middle of Erick’s words, but he just smiled, and nodded.

Erick continued, “So what I’ve actually come here for, is to see if anyone could help me with a Spatial Magic problem.”

“Oh?” Oreellico perked up, then glanced over to Poi, asking, “Please, close the door.”

Poi did so. The noise of the ‘loading docks’ vanished; swallowed by stone and dense, well fitted doors.

Erick said, “I want to try and create a [Teleport Spell] spell, so that I can redirect attacks like the Red Dot away from the city, if such a thing should ever occur again.” He added, “I have completed the ‘Recreate [Blink] Quest’, if that helps, so I know a little bit about what it takes to make a new Spatial spell, but I did that on my own, with some hints from a very, very old book, and the minor insight of another that I had to use an Elemental Body skill. I’d go to the libraries or Oceanside to answer this question of mine, but there is way too much math in all of the modern books I have ever read.”

Oreellico’s eyes gleamed bronze as he said, “I want to help you with this. But. If you do, someday, either far in the future or just around the corner, actually manage to make that [Gate] spell you threatened before, I want to know how you made it, I want your help in making it myself, and I want the chance to properly administrate whatever economic boon comes from recreating a possible [Gate] Network, with percentages and such to be determined later. In the case where I am not able to create the spell myself, I want your help to gain 5 more levels so that I can purchase the Class Ability myself, or complete the Quest for that Ability.” He added, “I do not know what the Quest requires, at this time, but if we work on the problem long enough, I should be able to gain the quest. If we are completely unsuccessful, then there are no requirements for either of us.”

That was a lot, right there. Erick had not expected such a thorough response, or such caveats. Oreellico certainly knew what he wanted, though. Erick wasn’t opposed to any of Oreellico’s plans, but, it would be a good idea to know what he was getting himself into before he began this partnership…

And that’s what it seemed like to him. A ‘partnership’, of some sort, that would likely change a great deal going forward, if everything happened how Erick suddenly wanted it to happen.

Erick said, “I agree, but I need to know some possibly sensitive information, first.”

“Of course.” Oreellico sat back in his chair. “Ask away.”

“What level are you? How hard would it be to gain 5 more?”

“59, and I have been that for 12 years. I have combat skills and defensive skills, but I have tried to kill monsters of a higher level and have only gotten injuries for my time.” Oreellico said, “An escort to any central part of Quintlan would likely gain me the required 5 levels, unless you know of another acceptable way.”

“Have you managed to recreate any of the other Basic Tier Spatial spells?”

“Yes. I have done both [Blink] and [Teleport]. I achieved them through the use of [Air Body], and very little math, though you should know that the math common to Spatial magic is rather necessary to make higher tier spells. [Teleport Object]. [Teleport Other]. I’m sure a [Teleport Spell] magic would be similarly complicated. Or maybe not, if you were to just use a theoretical [Gate] to swallow the target.” He said, “I don’t truly know how that spell works, either, but I have some educated guesses.”

“Educated guesses are fine.”

“I have a question, then, if you’d permit me.”

Erick nodded. “Go ahead.”

“Since you have recreated [Blink], which Elemental Body skill do you have?”

“[Lightwalk]. I made it through my [Familiar], as well. There was no actual risk involved. I just need to know how to work the spell, and with the trick of it all figured out, I brute-forced the solution.” Erick patted Ophiel on his shoulder, saying, “He exploded a few times, but he got better.”

Oreellico’s calm, yet interested face, broke into a huge smile. He laughed, saying, “This is good! I wondered how you managed to not kill yourself. A brute-force solution! Amazing. I have to say, Archmage Flatt, I am very glad you walked through my door today.”

Erick smiled. “I see that I should have come here, sooner.”

“Are we agreed then, with regard to the exchange of services? A mutual exchange of knowledge and technique in exchange for the Wayfarer’s Guild gaining financial control of this theoretical [Gate] spell?”

Erick reworded what Oreellico said, a little, saying, “Provided we can come to an amicable arrangement regarding the division of revenue, I could easily see myself being comfortable working to achieve [Gate] with you and the Wayfarer’s Guild, especially if you and your guild are instrumental in helping me acquire the spells I wish to acquire. I won’t allow financial control over the spell itself, especially with regard to myself using it, but any theoretical [Gate] network would be under your control.”

“Sorry, I misspoke. You are correct. Control over the network, not over your person.”

“Agreed.”

“Excellent. Then we are agreed.” Oreellico chuckled, then smiled, and said in a deep tone, “If you had tried to come to my father with this desire, he would have denied you, for he hates being reminded of his homeland in all ways. His loss is my gain.” He added, “I can draw up the preliminary paperwork by tomorrow, but would you like to get started now? As a show of good faith, I will give to you my understanding of [Teleport], with no need for any recompense until we can finalize the paperwork.”

Erick felt a spark of happy joy. He did not expect this series of events, at all. He said, “I accept. Thank you.”

“I can only give you my own understanding of the spell through my use of [Air Body], mind you.”

“Perfectly fine.”

Oreellico nodded. “The ‘secret’ to [Teleport] is easy enough to explain in minutes, but the execution kills most people, so usually we tell prospective wayfarers to never attempt such a thing, and to keep this secret to themselves. The Script makes magic safe, but this is an attempt to recreate the spells that form the Basic Tier of the Script. This magic is certainly not safe, at all. But, if you can brute-force [Teleport], I have high hopes for our partnership. As a warning: I lost an arm making [Teleport]. It was still considered a rousing success.”

Erick nodded.

Oreellico continued, “By being a breeze through the use of [Air Body], and letting yourself go, you will experience a diffusion of the senses that will enable you to be in many places at once. The secret of [Blink] is shutting off all your senses and feeling your way through that heightened positioning, and then to consciously select the one that you wish to occupy, that was not your original location.” He asked, “Does that sound familiar?”

“Almost exactly what I did, but with a bit different understanding from my own.”

Oreellico nodded, saying, “That is normal. Everyone speaks of the experience slightly differently, but all have a few things in common. The plurality of location. The shutting of senses. The opening of the eyes in a new location, away from the original self.

“[Teleport] is the exact same thing, but spread across hundreds of kilometers.

“But [Air Body] does not allow the user to be in more locations than your own general locality.

“So, we have a conundrum. This is solved by extrapolating the plurality of your location to other theoretical versions of yourself that might have existed, if you had taken a slightly different journey. If you would have gone left down the road, instead of right.

“Now that you are down the right hand road, you just become the breeze that would have been on the left hand road.”

Erick sat there, thinking. Oreellico’s words sounded very, very familiar.

Oreellico said, “It is a very difficult concept for some people to think upon, let alone experience, and that says nothing of the difficulty of actually producing [Teleport]. Achieving [Teleport] is half-trick, half-delusion, since you both are, and are not casting magic at the secondary location.

“This spell recreation is easier for some wayfarers than others, since the idea of wanting to take all roads and see all paths is a natural thought. For others, the way to recreating [Teleport] is through their desire to move forward, to see where the wind takes them, while simultaneously knowing that where they end up, is nowhere near where they would have been if not for any of a hundred different small, daily obstacles, like rocks on the path, shifting their destinations this way or that.

“Succinctly put: [Teleport] is expanding your Elemental Body to where it would have been, if you had been somewhere else.”

Erick smiled, a little.

Oreellico continued, “I achieved this Recreation Quest when I had an epiphany regarding where I wanted to have lunch. At the time, there were two restaurants that I thoroughly enjoyed, but I had trouble deciding which to eat at. I had already been working on this quest for a while, so what I did, was go to a random spot of the Crystal Forest, and flip a coin. I let the coin land on the sand, without looking at whether it was ‘crown’ or ‘rad’. After a nice lunch in Portal, I [Scry]d the coin. It had landed ‘crown’. I should have gone to Outpost.

“And that’s all it took.

“In that moment, I realized I was not where I could have been. It may seem simple in the telling, but for me, it was a timeless moment. Trying to describe that moment is like trying to describe love, or to paint a sunset; millions have tried, but there is always more to say, more to experience. So I will go with the simple version: It was then, that the briefest application of [Air Body] brought me all the way to Outpost, and staring at the ‘Quest Complete!’ notification. I had traveled over 3500 kilometers in a single [Teleport].” Oreellico paused, then said, “After that moment, I was truly a Wayfarer, though I had already possessed the Class for five years.”

Erick smiled, thinking. He said, “Thank you for sharing that with me.” And he meant it. Oreellico’s words sounded deeply personal, but also full of hope.

“Ah!” Oreellico smiled, saying, “But this is transaction, yes? I have seen the good you have done, but this time, the entire Wayfarer Guild, every single branch across all of Glaquin, will come together and make this work. If you can truly recreate [Gate] outside of an impossible Ability Quest, we will change the world.” He spoke with hope in his voice, “We will recreate the backbone of what this world was meant to have, and no one will take that from us.”

Erick felt a happy sort of sadness, at those words.

Oreellico sat back in his chair, and waited.

Erick asked, “I have a tangential question for you: How is it that Spatial Magic involves so much math, but you explaining it like that sounds so much better?”

Orellico laughed. “I worked for years on the maths side of that quest. Forces, distance, the curve of the world and the speed of rotation. The prevailing winds and the threads of intent already saturating the manasphere; all of it plays a heavy role in proper Spatial Magic. I did not attend arcanaeum, but our guild has many tutors. For me, the math was part of how I was able to be in two places at once, but that is hard to explain without the math.” He said, “Now I have a question for you: How did your [Blink] recreation go?”

“For my first attempts I tried using wardlight illusions to copy Ophiel, before placing him upstream in the flow of mana.” Erick said, “That ended in quite a few explosions.”

Oreellico paled for a moment, then laughed in nervousness, and said, “I would imagine so!”

Erick continued, “It wasn’t till I got [Lightwalk] and I used [Hunter’s Instincts] that I realized that everything about the experience of being an ethereal being was subjective. Recreating [Blink] past that was rather easy. I just had to realize what I was doing.”

Orellico nodded, solemnly. He glanced to Ophiel, on Erick’s shoulder, and said, “It is good you have this method. I have heard young Wayfarers speak almost as you have, without regard for the maths of the Spatial Mage. If they come to their senses and learn the maths, I usually hear that they are doing well. If they are foolhardy and brash, I usually never hear from them again, for they have invariably gone on to join Everlin Etherspray in the Ocean.” He said, “I am sure I don’t have to speak of this to you, archmage, and it would be insulting for me to do so, but untrained Spatial Magic is rather deadly. I told you I lost an arm completing the Quest for [Teleport], yes? I lost that arm because when my body resolved back to flesh, the location where my arm would have been was occupied by a wall, so my arm never resolved.

“The [Teleport] in the Script has many safeguards to prevent such an event. But trying to recreate [Teleport] has no such safeguards.”

Erick smiled softly. He said, “I am aware of the danger of making new magic. Thank you for your concern.” He stood from his chair, saying, “But I am sure you are busy, and I must get back to work, as well. Thank you for your time.”

Orellico stood from his chair, saying, “Anytime, Archmage Flatt.”

Erick said, “We’re going to be working a lot together. Call me ‘Erick’, please.”

“Then I would be honored if you would call me ‘Fork’, Erick,” said Fork.

“Fork, then. See you later.”

- - - -

“He knew about Everlin Etherspray, too!” Erick said, as he diced vegetables on the kitchen counter.

Kiri sat at the kitchen table, drinking a beer, beside a covered ceramic bowl. The dough she had made still needed twenty more minutes to relax, before she could start turning it into pasta noodles. Sunny, her vibrant green couatl-ish [Familiar], lounged around her shoulders.

Kiri said, “That’s not surprising. If anyone has access to whatever legacy Everlin Etherspray left behind, it’s the Wayfarer’s Guild.”

Erick smiled wide. “Yup.” He cut onions, and said, “It’s just so amazing, though. Looking back on it, maybe there was magic back on Earth, and I just never saw it as such. Almost everything he said triggered a memory of something I’d heard of before, though in a very different way than how he spoke.”

“I’m actually more surprised that [Air Body] didn’t create some sort of higher tier magic.” Kiri held out her beer, saying, “You see? That’s what is most concerning for me. Why is [Teleport] still a Basic Spell, since is is clearly derived from another spell.”

“Maybe the Elemental Body skills are representations of natural magic that belonged to the Old Cosmology?” Erick said, “That was the distinct impression I got when reading about Everlin and the elementassi.”

“Oh. Well.” Kiri said, “That makes a lot of sense. I guess I never thought of them that way— But that still doesn’t make sense! [Teleport] should be a tier 2 spell.”

“Eh. I’d imagine that the Elemental Body skills are the secret to many different basic magics.” Erick said, “And that’s another thing I don’t hear about! How do you make a [Force Bolt]? I bet a good, actual archmage, could spend all their points on Stats, and remake everything else from scratch.”

Kiri tilted her head back into a full-throated laugh, her eyes glowing green as she said, “My gods! Maybe! Ha!” She said, “Not many people had those skills back at the Tower, but at Oceanside, almost everyone had one. Air was the most popular, by far, but [Water Body] was a close second, but no one talked of remaking any Basic Tier magic. Maybe this is one of those deeper secrets.” She decided, emphatically, “It has to be!” She asked, “But how to prove this theory? That book where I read about Replication Quests said almost nothing except for the fact that the Quest existed.”

“I still have all those bargains of trade I have yet to collect on. Other archmages would likely know.” As Erick stirred the onions into a large pan full of sizzling ground beef, he said, “Opal offered to teach me [Ward Destruction], anyway.” He asked, “Have you seen Poi? He would know how to contact Opal. Or... Silverite would know. … Or practically anyone in charge, I guess.” He added, “But that’s for another day. There’s too much to do, right now. OH! And I learned what it takes to get Particle Mage.”

Kiri’s eyes became pale green orbs of light, as she focused on Erick with a laser intensity. She played it calm, though, simply saying, “Oooh?”

“Yeah. I’m not going to repeat those requirements out loud, ever, but you should qualify, and if not, then we can work on that.”

Like some great weight released from all of the world, Kiri smiled, her eyes going soft, back to their normal dark green. She chugged her beer in one waterfall moment, then set down the mug and ripped the cloth off of her resting dough, saying, “Let’s make some pasta!”

Erick smiled, asking, “So have you been down to the war room area, lately?”

Kiri tossed flour onto the kitchen table, and slapped the dough down, as she said, “Nope! But let’s go after dinner.” She paused. “Or are you going to try and make [Teleport]?”

“I’m already doing that, right now.”

- - - -

Magic was truly a miracle of multiplicity.

Ophiel rode sulfurous skies over mountains made of fire and ash, twisting and rising and falling on plumes of heat, while he also rode ocean waves far down south, where mimics ate kelp on sandy beaches and monsters of the depths tried to snatch at his [Stoneshape]d surfboard.

Elsewhere, Ophiel watched over a market of people buying fresh produce, while simultaneously spraying spells at mimics all the way over in the Wasteland, just so he could be doing something productive with his use of mana.

Another Ophiel taught a different Ophiel about subjects both of them already knew; this was an orcol, this was a wyrm, this was a Shade, and that dark splotch watching from that shadow to the right was either Melemizargo, or someone who was about to have a very bad day for deigning to interrupt Melemizargo’s spying.

Another Ophiel was looking over plans for an artillery spell. He didn't fully understand what he was looking at, but that was okay. Life was about learning, and failing, and then getting up and trying again. And since Ophiel was more than able to survive almost any possible failure, save for the failures of Erick, Ophiel was happy to try and learn whatever he could, just so that he could save the indispensable from dying his only death.

Bipeds watched as Ophiel’s gentle touch changed the land from black sand to black clay, and deepened the dirt into a depression, fit for the beginnings of a lake. Maybe.

Another Ophiel, flying high over unimportant and unnoticed land to the west, cried tears of [Call Lightning] for those he would never see again. He cried for Valok, and for Krakina, and even for Apogough. He let loose with song and rain that thrummed the sky and cracked the twilight air with bright white lightning. He cried for all the horrible things that had happened to everyone he had ever seen working on the Farms. He remembered singing for them while they were working hard, and now he sang for their souls, praying that they were at peace, wherever they were.

The desert eagerly drank his tears; the land here could only ever thirst for more. Mimics reached up to the rain while agave vibrated in time to the lightning crashing overhead.

Another Ophiel watched from Erick’s shoulder, as dinner was made and served, and the sun dipped down outside.

Another Ophiel watched Spur from above Erick’s Tower, inside the Restful air of the house, bloomed out to his full height and stature, with a hundred eyes that pointed in every direction. He would watch and protect, as he had always done.

And somewhere along the way, each of them began to gently glow, like a perfectly crafted lightward.

And somewhere along the way, and only lasting a brief moment, there had been more than 10 Ophiel; the maximum allowed by the spell.

- - - -

A blue box interrupted dinner.

Special Quest Complete!

You have remade a Basic Spell.

Since you already have Teleport, have this instead:

+1 point!

With his fork stuck in twirling pasta with a cheesy sauce, Erick said, “[Teleport] has been remade.”

Teressa laughed. Poi smiled.

Kiri said, “Holy shit.” She asked, incredulous, “How?!”

Erick teased, “I’m sure you’ll figure it out. You have all the clues I did, and you have Sunny. Now you just need an Elemental Body skill.” He turned to Teressa, smiling, asking, “But we were talking about your day. Sorry to interrupt.”

Teressa seemed to light up, faintly smiling as she said, “Anyway. Long story short: the five stores were getting robbed, and no one knew how, but all the Guardmaster needed me for was ten minutes, and I had the suspect in my sights. Well. Everyone thought it was only one or two people, but it turned out it was actually five guys! And then we got them all.” She added, “Not quite as fulfilling as knocking a wyrm on its rotten arse, but still worthwhile.”

Erick asked, “What happened from there? I still don’t know much about the justice system except that people either get executed or exiled.”

Teressa said, “Well, those five guys are locked up until a judge can pass sentence, but they’ll probably get off easy. Detective Wash, one of the guys in the Guard who I work with, he says that apparently, the five stores they were targeting were responsible for some black market dealing, and those guys were trying to get back what was stolen from them.” She added, “It’s a whole drama, and everyone is probably lying in some way that they believe to be true, but no one killed anyone and nothing truly bad happened, so the black market might get dispersed or let alone. I don’t really know. That’s all out of my hands.”

“Huh. Okay.” Erick asked, “What’s for sale at black markets, anyway?”

“Drugs, mostly,” Teressa said.

Poi added, “There’s also unlawful magical items.”

“Oh yeah.” Teressa said, “Blood Magic items are always popular, but most of them are harmless, so we look the other way. Change the shape of your nose, or the size of your— Uh. Well, you know. Anyway. Oh. And necromancy. Can’t forget the necromancy. You can pay people to call up your dead relatives to have one last chat, but I’ve heard that decays the soul, so you only really do that to people you hate.”

“Hence the illegality,” Poi said.

Teressa said, “Silverite has a very strict mandate against necromancy of any kind, either way, so those kinds of offenses get treated rather harshly. Actually. Did you know that some of the stuff they do is legal in other parts of the world, but not here?” She smiled as she added, “We’re always catching some people doing something that they had no idea they shouldn’t do.”

Erick said, “Sounds like you like it. I’m glad.”

Teressa chuckled a little, and said, “It’s nice, but this here is the primary concern. [Witness]ing for the Guard is just a nice side-gig.”

“Still.” Erick sipped his beer, saying, “I’m happy for you.”

Teressa smiled. “Thanks.”

Kiri just remained silent, in thought, as she ate her pasta.

Erick said, “This is good pasta, Kiri.”

“Hmmm,” she said.

- - - -

With the three moons outside the windows, and wardlights blazing inside, Erick probably should have gone to the war room to see what sort of developments Candlepoint was getting up to, but he had work to do, and experiments to undertake.

He had just finished his newest batch of plus-25 All Stat rings, not half an hour ago, so those went out to the various higher powers around town, through Ophiel. Poi cleared the way, first, of course. Couldn’t have Ophiel just blipping in front of people; that would not go well.

Silverite, Mog, Sirocco, and Liquid, each got a set of ten rings. The average was 25 Stats, but some were stronger, and some were weaker, while some were sized for orcols, and most were sized for everyone else. He didn’t know the archmages of Spur, but he knew of them; he had left word with Silverite that he had rings for them too, if they wanted them, but they would have to come to him, and he had questions.

Everyone was busy, though, so Erick mainly just left the rings in the care of the appropriate people; they’d get to their recipients when they could. Erick didn’t mind. He was busy, too.

He began by standing in front of his blackboard, with a beer in one hand and a piece of chalk in the other, asking, “How best to achieve the destruction of Candlepoint with one spell?”

Kiri, standing in front of her own blackboard, also drinking a beer, said, “I would say fire. But that would not work. The only thing that seems viable is your [Withering Slime], as long as you could keep the city solid, that is.”

“Right… All those idiot adventurers and otherwise inside the city. Can’t go killing people.”

“Well… Uh.” Kiri said, “I meant more that [Withering] is already the perfect anti-monster spell. Though it could be stronger. It couldn’t kill the Grand Ruby Mimics, after all.”

Teressa chuckled to the side, drinking from her keg. She said, “But you gotta destroy it all, Kiri. Killing the monsters doesn’t do shit. They’ll just come back.”

Kiri leveled her gaze at the larger orcol woman, who always said she didn’t like magic. Kiri asked, “Why are you even here?”

“I can be here if I want!” Teressa sloshed her keg at Erick, saying, “He said I could!”

“She is allowed to be here, Kiri.” Erick smiled. He added, “Anywho! Big explosions? Seems kinda fun? But that won’t kill a Shade, will it.”

Teressa said, “Eww. No. You’re trying to kill a Shade? I thought you were going for big boom magic. You can’t kill a Shade with magic.”

“Why do you say that?” Erick asked.

“Killzone ain’t no mage, and he’s the only one I know that can go fist-to-fist with a Shade and not get splattered across a city block.” Teressa added, “Sorry, Boss, but you ain’t a Shade killer.”

Erick said, “Killzone was supposed to show up for a special Stat item, and I’d love to ask him how he kills a Shade, but he’s not here right now. So how does he do it, Teressa?”

Teressa frowned. “I’ve… never actually seen it happen.”

“You want to give him that giant gem, don’t you?” Kiri asked, “What does it give?”

“Yes.” Erick said, “And I have no idea what it actually does. Nothing I put it in actually gives me Stats. I’ve tried a crown and a necklace, but both applications were untenable, even if they had worked.”

Teressa said, “You know what? Let’s get the man on the line! He might be able to come over. Don’t know until you ask, right?” She stood up, walking to the door, calling out, “Poi! Get the General to come over! They’re fiddling with magic to kill Shades!” She frowned as she got to the door, then went out of the room, muttering, “Where is that blasted man. I know he must hear me.”

Kiri ignored Teressa. “I saw that Poisoner from the Wasteland. How about some poison light-based spell? Can you do that? You once warned how ultraviolet light causes cancers, didn’t you? Seems like a logical step, there. Light is, after all, the best way to kill a Shade. I think.”

“Oh. Now there’s an idea.” Erick thought for a moment, then said, “But the appropriate [Ward] would block it. So. Maybe not. I do like the idea, though. It might be useful for when [Withering] doesn’t cut it, like with the mimic infestation. Even if that doesn’t work for Shades… I should make that spell, anyway.”

“If you’re doing a physical spell and not a weather effect, the most you might have to worry over is an [Absorption Ward], and those affect everything, so any Particle Magic interaction would suffer the same negation effect as normal magic interaction.” Kiri said, “So don’t worry about [Ward] blocking a… A [Cloudlight] spell, or whatever.”

“Oh. That’s what you mean. Hmm.” Erick thought. He said, “Still not a Shade killer, though.” He threw an idea out there, “How about... Take a rock, and throw a [Massless Ward] on it, and then accelerate the rock to the speed of light, but pop the [Ward] the exact moment it strikes the target. Or maybe don’t pop the [Ward] at all? Hmm.”

“… That seems like [Rock Bolt] with extra steps.” Kiri said, “You can get that spell up to rather high damage numbers, but the rock ultimately disintegrates due to wind friction.”

Erick frowned a little. “I’d need to keep the wind off of it, too, huh. Oh! I could turn the rock into light!”

“… Can you?”

“With [Lightwalk], sure!” Erick shrugged. “Probably. That would require some more testing.”

Teressa returned to the room with Poi in tow, a refilled keg for herself, and two more mugs of beer for Erick and Kiri. She handed them off, smiling, saying, “And here you go.”

Erick took his beer, saying, “Thanks.”

“Thanks, Teressa,” Kiri said.

Poi said, “Killzone cannot join you tonight, but Silverite thanks you for the rings. Guildmaster Zago and Mog also thank you. All three of them said variations of ‘we will find a way to repay this kind gesture’, with Zago having the longest thank you of all. Hers included mention of the Wasteland.”

Erick shrugged. “Good luck to them, I guess. These rings might be special right now, but they won’t be that way forever.” He turned to the blackboard behind him, and began writing, “In fact, a lot of things seem special right now, but I plan on making them prevalent enough that Candlepoint looks like trapped trash compared to Spur.” He had only gotten to ‘recreate Stat fruits, just after ‘big light beam weapon’, when he paused. He said, “You know… I really should see what’s down there by the war room before I go making plans.” He set down the chalk. “In fact. Let’s do that right now. And where’s the nearest, best ‘town hall’ or whatever, to hear the latest news.”

Poi thought for a moment, before saying, “I don’t think there are any town halls this late at night. We would have to go to the next one, tomorrow, wherever it might be; I’ll find out. Now might be a good time to visit the war rooms, though, when they aren’t so busy.”

Teressa shrugged, saying, “I’m ready,” as she cast a tiny [Cold Ward] on her chair and set her keg inside. “That’ll keep.”

“Me too,” Erick said. With a gesture, and a cast of [Cleanse] over himself, thick air spilled away from his body. He shivered, and frowned, as a tiny headache threatened behind his eyes, but whatever drunkenness he had was gone. He said, “Convenient, but annoying.”

Kiri set her own drink aside with a sigh, as she [Cleanse]d herself. “Just drink some water before we go.”

- - - -

The Mage Guildhouse was open all day, every day, though the people who manned the counters and walked the halls were rather different at night than who Erick was used to seeing. And the security was a lot higher than usual. Guards, in silver armor, stood around the outside of the building, and a few places inside. An orcol man at the receptionist desk confirmed who Erick was, which was rather easy and basically just involved a ‘hello Archmage Flatt, what are you interested in today?’, before directing a young purplescale boy to guide Erick through to the war rooms down below.

Erick, Kiri, Poi, and Teressa passed two checkpoints to get to their destination. The first checkpoint was just a pair of people in silver armor, who nodded as Erick passed. The second security area was down at the bottom of the stairs in front of the war rooms, and involved guards at the entrance to every single room. The purplescaled boy scampered back up the stairs, as Erick and company walked forward.

The guards down here seemed to guard the location, while also popping every single [Scry] eye they saw. And there were a lot of [Scry] eyes. Every single second, more and more eyes popped into the air, before getting popped themselves. There was a measure of security, but Erick felt that they really could have been doing better.

The crowd down here was not overly large, but it almost reminded Erick of an art viewing, only without the tiny cheeses on crackers, or flutes of champagne in everyone’s hands. There were a lot of discussions going on, between smaller parties here and there.

Erick glanced in to the first room on the left. A large wardlight map of Candlepoint had been crafted into the center of the space. Markers pointed at the various structures, listing what they were. Wardlight pictures had been hung on the walls, showing different angles of various positions around the shadowy city. Erick only really read ‘Version 5’, hanging below the map, to know that a map of the place was almost useless; Candlepoint could change its geography at will.

The second room held the same list of monsters that was in Candlepoint’s Adventurer’s Guildhouse. Erick had already seen the list. He did not spend long in that room, but he did check to see if ‘Converter Angel’ was still up there. It was. But when Erick was ready to move on, Teressa stuck by the board, her eyes a little wider than before, her stance a little more full of anger.

Erick turned back, asking, “What do you see?”

Teressa almost said nothing; Erick could see a hatred taking form across her face. But after a moment, she whispered, “Cursed Babbler. Only 2 darkchips. Ha. That’s a lie.” She added, “They only exist inside Ar’Kendrithyst… Until they don’t.” She breathed. She asked, “Why is Candlepoint sending people into the Dead City to kill some of their larger threats?” She pointed up at ‘Crystal Griever’. “4 chips.” She pointed at another. “Changeling Vine, 3 chips.” She said, “All monsters only inside— Oh.”

Poi frowned.

Erick guessed, “They’re not just inside the Dead City anymore, are they?”

Teressa’s demeanor turned dark, as she went silent.

Kiri asked, “So where are they? They’re not here, and they’re not in Frontier or Kal’Duresh… or maybe they are?” There was a woman near the board, with a mage guild badge on her chest, who was slipping new blocks onto the monster kill board. Kiri said, “Excuse me.”

The woman asked, “Yes?”

Kiri pointed at the names in question, asking, “When did these go up?”

The woman glanced at the board. “Sorry. I don’t really know. Most of them have been on here since the beginning— Oh. Cursed Babbler. I know that one. That one has been here since the beginning, I’m sure.” She guessed, “Either the Shades seeded them outside the Dead City, or they want people to venture into the city. We’re all pretty sure it’s the latter.”

“Why do you say that?” Kiri asked.

“Go visit the other rooms.” The woman pointed across the hallway, saying, “That one, in particular. We got news about Umber Street during the morning shift. Apparently the place is almost like Candlepoint but with different offerings.”

Erick immediately went to the room across the hallway. Five other people were there, but only three of them were looking at the boards in front of them. The other two were guards standing near glowing metal runes carved into the walls; anti-[Scry] runes, from the looks of them. As Erick entered, those runes dimmed, as Ophiel squawked on his shoulder.

Whoops! Ophiel was always technically [Scry]ing, wasn’t he? Erick patted the little guy, as he produced a dozen more eyes, trying to keep his eyesight intact.

The guard to the left almost said something to Erick, but the other guard interrupted, “Just fill it with more oil, Faroi.”

Faroi, the first guard, went back to his rune, and picked up a large stone jar from the ground. The two guards began filling the runes with oil, returning a brightness to the metal.

Erick went to the first of five boards.

This first board held all the ‘basic tier’ rewards, such as daggers that cut better or staffs of fireball; basically anything Erick could have made himself, if he were better at enchanting and had the requisite spells himself. All of those items cost between 1 to 15 darkchips, or between a thousand to 15,000 gold. The prices were inflated, for sure, but were mostly normal. Erick briefly looked at the 5% Reduction Pearl, thinking it would be a good idea, but then ignored that board.

The next board held ‘lesser prizes’. Some of these were self explanatory, like the ‘Cloak of Invisibility’, but when the names of the items were not good enough to describe what the item did, there were small descriptions next to the listing. Some of those descriptions were guesses, and labeled ‘guess’. Others were labeled as ‘known’. A small section of those prizes was devoted entirely to boots. Boots of the Juggernaut. Boots of Wall Walking. Boots of Ceaseless Flight. Boots of Radiance.

Several of the boots looked to be derived from the movement skills of the Elemental Body skills. Erick had never seen those sorts of enchantments in any of the magic stores he had ever visited, but maybe that was only because the vast majority of people in the world did not have an Elemental Body skill at the correct level to make the boots. Erick assumed that most people would either continue on to the full Elemental Body skill, and not choose to stop halfway. He would have to try his own hand at the ‘Boots of Radiance’, later.

Teressa scoffed, “Boots of the Juggernaut. As if.”

Erick asked, “Unmovable movement, in boots, eh?”

“Yeah.” Teressa said, “It’s the main reason to choose to be a Juggernaut. But to put that skill in a pair of boots that could fail or be taken from you, while your team depends on you being an unmovable object? That’s asking for trouble.”

Erick agreed, as his eyes lingered on the ‘Staff of Hands’. He needed to try Cooperative Casting with Ophiel, even though every book that had mentioned the subject had said that [Familiar]s didn’t work for Ritual Magic. Whatever! Maybe everyone was wrong. Crazier things had happened.

Erick moved onto the ‘Normal Prizes’ board. Here, were all the Stat fruits.

Strength, Vitality, Willpower, and Focus. Meatdrop, Blooddrop, Oceandrop, and Dewdrop. Each of them cost a hundred darkchips. Each of them raised their associated Stat by 1 permanent point.

And then there were the other ones.

Sundrop, for Dexterity. Rockdrop, for Constitution. Foamdrop, for Charisma. And finally, Stardrop, for Intelligence. Each of them cost a thousand darkchips.

Beside that board, were known effects of some of the Stats, and one large warning, that ‘Only one Stat can be unlocked. Attempting to unlock a second will instantly turn a person into a shadeling.’ Erick lingered on that warning for a moment, before reading more.

Dexterity

Applies a % reduction to all HP costs, after all other reductions.

Constitution

Applies a % damage reduction, after all other reductions. Side effects are being physically more resilient to all outside effects.

Charisma

Applies an unknown, insidious alteration to all social interactions. People are friendlier to you, without any conscious control. The full extent of this Stat is unknown at this time, and can lead to many horrific events.

The Mind Mages are investigating. Beware this Stat.

Intelligence

Unknown. For sale only in Ar’Kendrithyst.

Erick said, “Well that’s fucking ominous.”

Kiri grumbled in agreement.

Erick briefly glanced at the fourth board. It was labeled ‘Greater Rewards’, and was full of unique items and costs. ‘Undertake a trial to become a Shade’ was one of them. That horror only cost a person 100,000 darkchips. ‘Learn the secrets of magic’ was another; also 100,000 chips.

‘A personalized artifact’. Variable cost.

While Erick was still reeling from the fourth board, he moved on. The final board held quests with darkchips as rewards, instead of items for sale. There were only three quests up there, right now.

Hocnihai’s Legacy. The life’s work of one of the greatest Warder Archmages of Veird has been written, and locked away. Deliver this knowledge to Candlepoint and be rewarded.

Trials of the Dark Dragon. Find Melemizargo in the Underworld and engage him in witty conversation. Maybe something good will happen.

To Touch the Sky. Build an airship that can safely leave Veird and survive outside of the manasphere.

Erick erupted, “Ha!” He asked, “They want to leave Veird?!”

Anhelia spoke up beside Erick, “That’s one theory.”

Erick turned. Anhelia was a dark grey wrought incani, with backswept horns, a slick dress formed from her body, and a devilish smile. She was the information broker of Spur, and she was one of the only people of this city, with a modicum of power, that wanted every single Shade dead and gone; just like Erick. According to her, the Dark Dragon killed her grandmother, mother, and too many of her children to think about. Erick had no reason to disbelieve her.

Anhelia smiled.

Erick said, “I’m glad you’re here. I’d like to talk to you about some important matters.”

Anhelia nodded. “I have a room upstairs we can use.”