Ends of Magic

The next morning wasn’t particularly early, but it felt that way. The Heirs made their preparations with an air of finality. They had a leisurely breakfast and did some packing while going over some final details.

There was one specific topic they’d left to this morning - mental protection. If they were worried about being attacked by Giantsrest, they had to expect more mental attacks. So, they needed to have as much protection as possible from mind magic.

Khachi was confident in his own [Unwavering Zeal] to protect him from future mind-magic. It had let him repeatedly shrug off Taeol’s [Dominate], and Kia had told him about some more tricks since then. Divine magic was apparently well-suited to defense against that kind of threat, reacting automatically and violently to mental intrusion.

Sarah and Aarl both had skills that spent a class resource for that purpose, and they’d ranked up significantly in the last fight. Nathan wanted to hear about their full class Development, but that was going to have to wait until they were well out of Gemore. Stanel had provided the next set of Insights for their mental skills last night, and they were waiting for their next encounter with mind-magic to Develop the protection.

The person who had needed the most help was Stella. She’d had an expensive amulet that had protected her from mental spells during Taeol’s ambush. But it had been reduced to slag in the process. That kind of overloading was the weakness of such devices. Well, that and the fact that they could simply be removed. Before they left, Kullal handed Stella a half-dozen more of the pricy amulets. She’d promptly handed one to each of Sarah, Aarl and Khachi.

They wouldn’t wear the amulets for most purposes since it would prevent the advancement of their anti-mental magic abilities, but they could be used in a pinch. Or if Stella’s amulet was overwhelmed, they’d have a spare to put on her, by force if necessary.

Soon enough, it was time to go. They would come back to Gemore eventually. But it might be months. Or years. It all depended on how the current conflict with Giantsrest worked out.

It felt like they were bidding goodbye for some time though, and the goodbyes to their parents were solemn. It reminded Nathan of parents dropping off their kids at college. Though with a lot more danger of death.

–

The Heirs left Gemore without visiting the Adventuring guild. They weren’t escorted, and they didn’t say anything special to the guards, just waved them goodbye as if this was a standard patrol. Nathan knew that the Guardians were watching from somewhere - ready in case there was an ambush just outside the gates of Gemore.

The Heirs made for the eastern transit road, quickly crossing the killing field and entering the space-distorting road. They were heading toward Giantsrest purely because that seemed like the least likely place for an ambush. There were no villages to the East. No jobs aside from those targeting Giantsrest, like what the Giantraiders did.

And so it wasn’t a place where potential ambushers were likely to set up. And the Heirs expected to easily get lost in the hills to the southeast of Gemore. It was a territory rife with dungeons and monsters, but that just gave them more places to hide.

Ok, also more things that can kill us in our sleep, but there are always tradeoffs.

The overall plan was to loop down to the southern villages over the next week or so - the land down there was hilly and rough, with lots of crags and caves to hide out in, as well as a never-ending supply of problems for Adventurers to take out.

They’d hopefully all hit level 81 before too long, and have a bit more power to work with. Nathan was just hoping his level 81 class choice could be made without impending doom forcing any particular decisions.

Though it’s one way to not get stuck in analysis paralysis. That hasn’t happened to me in a while - I mostly had that issue quashed even before I came to Davrar. And all the combat training has helped a lot.

The transit road trip was uniquely tense and boring - Nathan was expecting mages or Stalkers or something, but nothing happened. He knew that the Eastern road was patrolled the least because the only people who used it were Adventurers, but they didn’t get attacked.

As the Heirs left Old Gemore, they paralleled the massive and ruined walls for some time, heading south. After a little while they chose a valley at random and headed for it.

As soon as they left sight of Gemore, the Heirs relaxed a bit. They were in dangerous territory, as evinced by the occasional dungeon they passed, but it was anonymous dangerous territory. For anybody to find them here, they’d be able to find them anywhere. He’d asked a few questions about scrying last night, and to scry somebody you either needed intimate knowledge or something with a strong physical connection to them - like a lock of hair or a vial of blood.

Regardless, they were probably safe. Getting out of Old Gemore had been the dangerous part, and it had only been a few days since Taeol’s failed ambush.

Most of the dungeons this close to Gemore got cleared out a while back. They want to give themselves as large a bubble of safety as possible in case all the dungeons wake up during the Ending of History.

Now that he wasn’t concentrating quite so hard on avoiding an ambush, Nathan looked over at Aarl. “So. Developments? You teased us with it last night. Now I want the scoop.”

Sarah shot Nathan a confused look. “The scoop? Is this like ‘out of left field’ in that it’s absolutely nonsensical?”

“Out of left field makes complete sense! You just need to understand the sport it comes from! But baseball is… maybe not the easiest thing to explain. I’d much rather hear about your class Developments.”

Aarl cut in cheerfully. “You heard the important decision, Nathan. I took [Master of Many Weapons], and Sarah took [Headshot Gunslinger]. The most notable skill was…”

“Hey!” Sarah cut him off. “It’s mine, so I’ll tell of it.” She held out an empty hand, then rolled it over like a magician performing a magic trick. She was now holding a pistol bullet. “I can spend my class resource to create ammunition for firearms that I’m familiar with.” She bounced the bullet in one hand. “It’s a large drain, and it shifts my weight towards depending on these weapons more and more.”

She shrugged and tucked the bullet into the dimensional storage. “I also got that skill that lets me see through fog and darkness while aiming a weapon. Some of my other class skills Developed as well, becoming specific to guns but further improving their range and power based on the Insights you taught me about shooting at range. I have great expectations for these new weapons.”

Then she smiled a cheshire grin. “And the last class skill rewards me with Focus for headshots, or strikes against similar weak points.”

So to sum up, a gunslinger with nearly infinite ammunition, a resource that lets her do bullet time and who is rewarded for shooting people in the head. I kind of wish I could let Sarah loose on the Call of Duty servers or something. Sounds hilarious.

Khachi whistled. “Class skills that return class resources are a powerful boon indeed. That seems a potent combination.”

Aarl wore a theatrically mournful expression, but was clearly quite pleased for his sister. “Meanwhile, I am merely a [Master of Many Weapons].” He pulled out the force saber in one hand, one of the pistols in the other. “My new skills allow me to proficiently wield a weapon in each hand, controlling each without distraction from the other. Another enhances my toughness to match my armor, when that armor is flexible. And the last gives me proficiency with any weapon I lay my hands on.”

His mouth twisted slightly. “I am following the path of my father, and with weapons equal to many in his arsenal. The weapon-proficiency skill is one that can further Develop, to incredible heights. But I find myself thinking of what could be.” All of a sudden the shotgun was in his hands, and he caressed the weapon. “This strikes as hard as any fancy trick with an enchanted chain or the dozen other weapons my father keeps.”

Nathan reassured him, “I’m sure there will be some problems that can only be solved by blades. Especially enchanted ones.”

Aarl nodded, and the gun returned to his dimensional storage in another flicker of motion. “I have a good deal of ammunition, but I may rely on Sarah for replenishment if we are truly gone from Gemore for months.”

Khachi stroked the wispy hair on his chin. “But we have yet to ask the most important question.”

The rest of the Heirs looked at him, and Khachi did his best to look wise and mysterious. Sarah prompted him. “And that would be?”

Khachi gestured at the barren landscape around them. “I see no dining halls. What food have we brought, if we are to spend months in the wilderness?”

Sarah, Aarl and Stella spent a moment inventorying their food. They’d been given extra by their parents, but it was maybe a few weeks worth, not months. They’d mostly finished the Siegeboar meat, and it was on the verge of going bad even inside a dimensional space. Nathan felt a bit panicked. “Should I have been paying attention to this? I wasn’t paying attention to this! Should we go back?”

Khachi chuckled. “It would have been difficult for you to impact this, for you cannot carry a meaningful amount of provisions without a dimensional space.”

“No, but I could have made sure everybody else was packing their own spaces!”

Sarah’s expression and tone were resigned. “I presume you have extra rations?” The big wolfman nodded, fighting to restrain his grin. Sarah let out a deep and melancholy sigh. “And they’re all dried oats.”

Khachi burst out in a deep and rolling laugh. “Mostly. She made me promise to not bring up the topic, in return for providing syrup and other seasonings. And we can always hunt the nindine.” He gestured up the slope, to where they could see a number of four-legged creatures eyeing them.

The nindine looked basically like gazelles, or small deer, with a pair of small horns pointing up. Alert, agile and without a ton of meat on them, they looked very annoying to try and chase down.

Well, the Guardians did say I needed to work on my mobility for my build to truly shine.

Sarah pulled out her rifle. “Time to get some more practice with this beauty.”

Nathan held up a hand. “I think I want to try chasing them down. This is going to be rather embarrassing, and you can shoot one after they all get away from me. But I need to improve my mobility.”

“Sounds hilarious.” Stella gave him a thumbs up. Nathan looked uphill, gauging the terrain. “Well, what are you waiting for?”

Nathan sighed, then started jogging uphill.

With my muscle enhancements, Stamina and [Sprinting], I should be superhumanly good at this. Maybe trying to hunt with bare hands won’t be so bad.

Nathan did not, in fact, get close to the nindine herd. They scattered away from him with ease, leaping over rough terrain with what had to be magic-assisted leaps. Nathan was just about to drive them over the crest of the hill when one of the larger buck’s heads exploded mid-leap.

Stamina only a quarter-full and red faced from a mixture of exercise and embarrassment, Nathan returned to the Heirs carrying the hoofed herd animal, handing it to Aarl for a quick butchering and storage of the meat in a separate pouch that was easy to clean.

While Aarl was busy, Nathan turned to Stella. “Were those things using wind magic to jump around?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I’ve heard the really old ones can fly, but they tend to stick with the herd. They can also be dangerous if you corner them - those horns can pierce steel if they wind-jump at you.”

“Why didn’t we learn about them in the Adventuring trainee course?”

Sarah broke in, carefully examining the barrel of her new gun for signs of residue. “They’re not something Adventurers deal with except to hunt for food. They don’t attack people unless cornered, and they’re too skittish and hard to catch to be livestock.”

Then they were off, intending to find a protected campsite or cave to camp in. The goal for at least the first few days was to drop off the map entirely. They’d [Message] back to Gemore in a few days, to find out if there were any jobs they should take. But for now, their job was to disappear.

A few hours later, Nathan noticed another herd of nindine. With a sigh, he again stalked toward them.

This would be a lot easier with a stealth skill. Then maybe I could get closer before I had to start running.

Mid-tier Sprinting 8 achieved!

—

They kept walking into the scrubby hills and low mountains, the land getting slowly more arid as they traveled farther south. The dungeons continued appearing on all sides, which was just ridiculous.

There are so many of those things! It’s like there are zoning laws and this is a high-density zone.

More and more of the dungeons were active. It wasn’t always easy to tell, but when you saw a giant face of a baby carved into a cliff face and the eyes were backlit by blue flame, it was a bit of a giveaway. Or the steps that climbed up to a tall tower atop one hill that flickered with continual lightning, a small but permanent stormcloud around its base.

I’m really curious about those - but I know the rules about dungeons. Maybe we’ll pick one and go in if there’s a Delve day soon.

As the day wore on, Nathan spotted a cave that wasn’t too close to an active dungeon. It was only a few hundred yards from a giant pile of rubble that looked like it had been exploded, crushed and partially melted some time in the past. But that wasn’t an active dungeon! It was probably an ex-dungeon somebody had decided not to deal with. But a stream of clear springwater bubbled out of the base of the wreckage and flowed past the mouth of the cave, so it looked like a good spot for them to establish themselves.

The stream itself was surrounded by trees, which also grew around the mouth of the cave. As they approached, Nathan spotted a few wood Stalkers in the cave, observing them silently. They looked weird - the same six-legs and faintly glowing third eye as other Stalker variants, but with flesh made of knotted wood and toughened bark.

As the Heirs moved to the entrance the Stalkers withdrew, clearly planning to ambush the Heirs farther into the cave. Stella torched the cave for ten minutes, leaving it nice and roasty and giving them some pre-lit firewood from the Stalker corpses. The place was musty with organic refuse, but some wind magic and elbow grease solved that problem.

Stella had only earned a couple of levels from that, but the Heirs had secured a place to stay. They set about making the cave comfortable; mostly Stella, using stone magic to make flat areas for bedding and seating, then forming a firepit just around a bend from the cave mouth.

Turns out magic is pretty useful.

Sarah and Khachi set about setting up their gear, while Aarl went out to cut more wood. Nathan explored the cave, his [Notice] and a dim torch helping him explore the dark environment. He leaned on his hearing as he walked, paying more attention to that than his vision. He could tell that the cave proceeded backwards a ways, but it didn’t seem to open up into a large space given the lack of echo of his footsteps.

Nathan followed the twisting cave back until he ran across a barricade of rubble. But the rubble wasn’t natural stone.

That looks like the same stone as from the ruined dungeon above. I’m not sure I’m pleased that the cave connects to it. There’s nothing obviously dangerous - but it’s the unobvious stuff that gets you.

Nathan paid extra close attention on the walk back, noticing a few small cracks in the rock as he exited the vicinity of the ruined dungeon. He certainly couldn’t fit through them, but he couldn’t say that nothing could.

The Heirs were starting to roast some nindine over the fire as he returned. With a grim look on his face, Nathan relayed what he’d found, ending by saying “... the rubble looked Edrani to me, we could get attacked by animated armor or golems. I’m not sure we should remain here.

Khachi looked thoughtful, but Stella scoffed. She walked thirty paces farther back into the cave, then started molding a foot-thick wall to block the cave. “See? Nemesis slain.”

Nathan eyed the wall without feeling especially reassured. “Aren’t Edrani golems supposed to be incredibly strong? Like able to bust through stone walls strong?”

Stella turned away from the new back of the cave, dusting her hands. “If they come through the wall we’ll certainly hear them coming, and be able to get out if we need to. I was thinking about blocking the front of the cave, but it’s probably a better idea not to in case we need to leave in a hurry.”

And with that, they settled down to a cozy evening in their new campsite, arguing over old subjects and asking Nathan for more stories of Earth. He’d started dredging up other stories to tell the Heirs, and it felt appropriate to pull out some things he remembered from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

He hadn’t been a fan of those stories when he was young. An active imagination and a fear of the unknown had left a young Nathan scared stiff of the things that might exist in the dark places away from streetlights. He’d wanted magic to be real so badly - but the flipside was that he’d been terrified of it being real, but unfriendly.

Of course, now I know magic is real, and have the tools to fight back. Rather literally, as far as magic itself is concerned.

The stories themselves didn’t make much of an impact on the Heirs - they kept searching for a how to the stories, instead of losing themselves imagining the many scary possibilities that could exist if you took the stories at face value. But Nathan supposed that wasn’t surprising - the Heirs had been training for years to understand a problem so that you could defeat it. And a lot of the scary stories just sounded like weird magic or strange monsters to them.

Which was fair! There was some stuff on Davrar that was honestly scarier than these stories. The Soul Eaters alone were just… nightmare fuel.

And the Stalkers! Magically stealthy pony-sized lizard-things just waiting to jump out of the shadows and rip your legs off! And the bigger ones could shoot magical projectiles from their third eyes!

Nathan found himself grumbling about how hard it was to tell the Heirs a scary story because their world was already rather scary. Then he stopped himself, and they started talking about more productive things.

Like what to do over the next few days.

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Magic Absorption 8

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 2

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 5

Class: Spellbreaker Juggernaut level 72

Stamina: 733/820

Juggernaut's Wrath

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Juggernaut's Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 1

High-tier Earnestness 7

Mid-tier Sprinting 8

High-tier Spellsense 5

Mid-tier Notice 10

Mid-tier Identify 8

Mid-tier Dodging Footwork 6

High-tier Enhanced Memory 5

Mid-tier Lecturing 6

Mid-tier Tumbling 3