“That Spell you showed me feels like part of the Titan’s maze,” Mirage said.
A Valkyrie wearing Tyr’s emblems appeared nearby, making Mirage start, but Ebusuku and Amdirlain were already in motion. A throwing knife, its tip having dug into the Valkyrie’s throat, reappeared back in Ebusuku’s hand. Amdirlain had instantly re-formed into a standing position, arms shaped into blades. Catching only the end of Ebusuku’s blurred motion, Amdirlain stopped herself from launching at the arrival. Wide-eyed, the Valkyrie froze and glanced between the two of them.
“Teleporting right next to either of us isn’t the best idea,” offered Ebusuku dryly.
“My apologies. I shall keep that in mind. I hadn''t expected such nerves within Amdirlain’s Domain,” the Valkyrie stated, the wound on her throat already sealing.
Ebusuku smiled, her gaze flitting across Amdirlain’s still-ready posture. “True security has been a rarity. While the Domain feels wonderful, safety isn’t something we’re used to enjoying.”
The Valkyrie bowed to Amdirlain, whose arms were suddenly normal. “Amdirlain, a group of Fomorians wish to speak with you. The one leading them says her name is Morgana. Though she looks Human, the rest defer to her.”
“No apology necessary. Sparring with Ebusuku had me all keyed up,” Amdirlain replied and moved to clasp the Valkyrie’s hand in apology. “I’m sorry you got injured. Thank you for the message. Which boundary is she at?”
“Towards the valley’s nearest end, close to where the Dwarven visitors arrived,” she replied, giving Amdirlain’s hand a grateful squeeze before she vanished.
“Teleporting bird brains,” grumbled Ebusuku.
Mirage gave her a playful smile. “You’ve feathered wings now. Does that make you a bird brain?”
“I think your magical theory lessons will need to be extremely detailed,” retorted Ebusuku, though her smile softened the words.
“Guess that means I’ll get to peck away at all your knowledge,” Mirage countered, her smile echoing Ebusuku’s own.
Amdirlain left them to it, reappearing on the Domain’s edge well clear of others but in plain view of where some groups had gathered. Beyond her Domain’s border, she saw Morgana standing before dozens of armoured Fomorians and wondered why they were human height. She could see the Valkyrie, who’d almost caught Ebusuku’s knife with her vocal cords, walking towards the group. The moment Amdirlain stepped across her Domain’s border, Morgana looked directly at her and nodded, the gesture one of the politest she’d given.
Approaching the gathering, Amdirlain spoke up, not waiting for anyone to address her. “Morgana, what brings you here?”
“A few matters from my Liege, that I’d prefer not to discuss near another’s Celestials,” Morgana replied, giving the nearby Celestials a flat look. “Especially not outside your Domain, Amdirlain.”
Amdirlain smiled at her still prickly attitude and motioned those nearby to relax. “You are welcome if you’ll swear never to harm my Petitioners.”
“On my Oath to my Liege, I shall abide your Domain’s rules and protect you and your Petitioners while within. If I fail in this, I will submit to your judgement and his wrath.”
The group behind her didn’t hesitate to echo her words, and Amdirlain nodded. “My thanks. Please, come in then. How is your Liège?”
Morgana didn’t answer until Amdirlain had led her across the Domain’s border. “He is attending a convocation of his kin for the next few decades—if it finishes by then. He planned to secure everything in stasis, so we were already ready to be away.”
Amdirlain frowned in confusion. “Would a stasis field hold in Limbo without him maintaining it?”
“His hoard is no longer in Limbo,” replied Morgana flatly. “He moved it beyond reach.”
“What sort of matters did he expect you to assist me with?” asked Amdirlain, skipping away from the topic as quickly as she could.
“Your new Celestials. He noticed them as he was preparing to leave and changed our instructions. He ordered us here to assist you with whatever training we could. The rest I would like to discuss with you and your new Solar.”
“Where had you been planning to go?”
Morgana looked at her sternly. “That is my Liege’s business, which I’m not at liberty to discuss.”
“Still as nice as ever, Morgana,” quipped Amdirlain.
“You have a strange choice in companions—and who you trust—so I hold on to what I’d otherwise share,” Morgana said, quashing a flicker of amusement in her gaze.
“Ebusuku is this way,” Amdirlain said, picking the shortest path towards where she’d left the others. “How did you know a Solar teamed up with me? I was told outsiders couldn’t scry into a Domain.”
Morgana shrugged lightly. “It wasn’t scrying within, rather your Domain’s energy. My Liege has experienced such shifts previously. He reviewed the memory and significance with me.”
“He’s been spying on me?” Amdirlain asked, surprised at Azex’s continued interest.
“It would be more accurate to say he had others monitoring your Domain’s state,” Morgana replied.
Torm spotted the approaching group, leaving the Hound Archons to practice and seeing their path headed over to join Ebusuku. The few words exchanged had Mirage rising to her feet and joining the Ranger trainees.
“Morgana, interesting to be seeing you again so soon,” Torm stated politely.
Morgana looked at him with careful consideration before she replied. “Your promotion suits you, Torm. However, since you are Tyr’s representative and not a member of Amdirlain’s Domain, my Liege’s words are not for your ears.”
“I trust Torm,” protested Amdirlain.
“Torm, with all respect to you, Amdirlain, above all else is always Tyr’s Servant. While he has treated you far better than certain Human and Elf gods, my Liege’s concern is that whatever is heard, Tyr will know if he wishes it. He seems inclined to treat you fairly, but has trusted his kin incorrectly and might again to your lasting regret. My Liege instructed me to keep them both separate from this matter,” replied Morgana. “Have other interests among the Norse not already caused you pain?”
Regardless of how other Norse tempers might have fared, Torm remained calm and simply nodded. “Azex is right on the matter, Amdirlain. Others have already shown themselves careless with your safety, and I’d not risk giving them an opening through me again. I’m glad you are conscientious in your duty to your Liege, Morgana—especially where it involves Amdirlain’s safety.”
Motioning back toward the buildings, Torm vanished, and Morgana directed her attention to Amdirlain and Ebusuku. “Would either of you care to put concealments in place?”
Ebusuku glanced at Amdirlain and with her nod quickly set multiple spells in place, their energies far cleaner in True Sight compared to her castings in the Abyss. When she finished setting them in place, Ebusuku looked at Morgana curiously. “You’re an interesting looking Dragon.”
“I’m an Arcane Drake; I wasn’t born a Dragon. It is also not a matter for the current discussion. Azex has contacted the two former Fallen as per his debt for your story. Neither is safe for you to be around because of your current nature. Their advice for you was simple though, the redemption path is unique for each Fallen. Finding your path begins in the Cloister’s vaults, on the Plane of Decay, known as Ijmti.”
“The Cloister of the Fallen?” asked a surprised Amdirlain.
When Morgana nodded, Ebusuku hissed in annoyance. “Well, that’s not good.”
“Why?” Amdirlain asked. ”Aside from the fact that my flesh started coming apart almost instantly when I arrived there.”
The set of Ebusuku’s mouth highlighted her worried gaze. “Approaching them could easily be fatal, and they won’t be inclined to send a message to say it’s fine to walk free. They’ve no love for Demons, and I had some close calls with their members. Now you have the form of a Fallen, you’d be fine—except for that Sigil. Are you sure you won’t remove it?”
((Remove it please, Amdirlain.))
“No, I’m going to get your progenitor free as well,” insisted Amdirlain, aware Laodice was listening. “Plus, she isn’t the only one that needs to be freed.”
“Her gratitude isn’t something you want any more,” cautioned Ebusuku.
“I’m not doing it for her gratitude,” Amdirlain said, with a tight smile. “It’s the right thing to do, plus it will weaken the bitch. All the innocents she tricked and imprisoned in the Abyss, payment for that is well overdue.”
Ebusuku looked about to argue the point before she pulled a face. “Well, that’s honest.”
“If the path of redemption starts in the Cloister’s vault, are they protecting something because they’re all trying to follow the path?” asked Amdirlain. “Morgana, would you be able to get in touch with Azex? I’d like to know if there is a safe means of introduction suitable for my situation?”
Morgana looked at her curiously. “Why?”
“The Redemption Path sounds like they seek a way to make up for however they fell. Not sure what I’ll have to do given I’m cursed. If there is the slimmest chance that bringing down Balnérith and freeing one of Titan’s Servants might help some of them, wouldn’t it be mean if I kept that to myself?” asked Amdirlain. “The first part alone might interest some.”
“Or they might dispose of the key once done,” warned Ebusuku. “Titan’s Servant? Where is the Titan’s Servant?”
Amdirlain’s expression twisted with her outrage. “Lady Balnérith has them trapped.”
“Amdirlain!” exclaimed Ebusuku. “When were you planning to share that information?”
Amdirlain paused and clicked her tongue thoughtfully. A memory of the care that Laodice had taken in hiding her gender had her gaze flick across Morgana’s escort before she replied. “Heck, they keep telling me to leave them there. You mentioned the Sigil and the first comment I hear from them in ages is—remove it please.”
“You hear them? You didn’t mention this information in your tale either,” accused Ebusuku.
Amdirlain gave her a contrite look. “Oops.”
“Share information. It could be the difference in ensuring your safety among them,” Ebusuku grumbled, glaring at Amdirlain in frustration, not buying into her look for a moment.
“True, but even if I learn how to contact them, I’m not strong enough to survive on Ijmti.”
“We’ll certainly need to work on your resistances then,” stated Ebusuku. “I’d like to hear the story of how you met this Arcane Drake and her Liege. Afterwards, I think I’ll show you something that will probably provide a focus outside the Abyss, while you get stronger.”
Amdirlain raised an eyebrow at Ebusuku, who just shook her head in apparent refusal. At a snort nearby, Amdirlain glanced at Morgana and found her smiling at them both.
“Can Torm re-join us now?” asked Amdirlain tersely.
“Since he knows what happened. Where should the others set up?” asked Morgana, gesturing at her escort.
“There is a Dwarven architect named Malnar, she’ll be down near the building giving builders orders and usually carrying sheaves of parchment scrolls. Please do me a favour, and ask her to arrange some houses for you. Just nothing fortified, please,” requested Amdirlain, adding a mutter. “She keeps wanting castles.”
“What’s wrong with an enormous castle?” the guard asked.
The look they received from Amdirlain was pure frustration. “Don’t you start!”
* * *
Elemental Plane of Earth
Ebusuku spun with a dancer’s grace, unhindered by the armour she wore. An Earth Elemental’s blow missed by the width of her sabre. The evasion added momentum to her next attack; the blades twisting with her motion carved deep cuts along its side. Trying to engulf her, the Elemental’s body collapsed to the ground, but teleport had already carried her behind its telegraphed attempt. It dove into stone, but both sabres struck faster and left rubble behind. Even with the foe destroyed, Ebusuku continued her flowing movements, and after a moment with no other Elementals having appeared, her blades vanished.
The shrug that followed was all the prompting Amdirlain needed. “That was another Greater Elemental. I take it they''re still around three thousand experience?”
Ebusuku nodded thoughtfully. “My Profile shows the totals changed by just over that. I’ve still not seen the combat summary message you mentioned. Well, we know the Affinity process isn’t the key, so fighting together is the next step we talked about. Likely, it’s just as well if you had to teach someone Affinities that would hamper those not wanting to gain Wizard. Unless they had already determined their four Classes, your help would push them down a path not of their choosing.”
“Actually, just because it hasn’t worked yet, doesn’t mean it isn’t part of the requirement,” remarked Amdirlain, before her tone turned teasing. “Hopefully, we can work together enough that it counts us as a party.”
“I’ll let you soften them up then,” Ebusuku replied, gesturing for her to take the lead. “I wasn’t expecting Morgana to offer to train Mirage full-time, especially with the looks she gave the various Norse Celestials.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“For some, I feel the same. Tyr and Eir are actually the only Norse gods I feel I can genuinely trust. Even if my Profile says the Norse are Allies, I’m sceptical about all the others after Odyis,” advised Amdirlain. “The feeling that some are being minimally helpful isn’t filling me with confidence that they’ll be around for trouble that doesn’t benefit them. Him sending a Valkyrie my way that’s caused problems elsewhere—and then wanted to kill me—didn’t endear me.”
“Fair-weather friends?” questioned Ebusuku. “Good to take care in avoiding a Greater Power’s name. You should know, the one whose name you said, is also aware of what you said afterwards. So now he knows you don’t completely trust most of the Norse Pantheon. Eir doesn’t have the power to do the same, but he certainly knows.”
Amdirlain frowned as she considered the mix of behaviour from Temples. A few jumped to help get people re-established, while others had dragged their heels. “Perhaps he feels the same after what he told Torm. The tale of what Tyr endured for Fenrir—and the battle with the others—I’m told is nearly true; even Eir joined in that fight out of fear. He’s got a bunch of fair-weather friends himself. I want arrangements made so that Tyr is safer than Set. I’m not making the same arrangements for the others, and I’m glad he can hear me say it.”
“What did you have in mind?” asked Ebusuku.
“I’m known in two other worlds, and the Elven Courts don’t have a God with a Portfolio containing Justice among them. See if there is way we can get him known on them as well. I got their names out of my Profile; let me know when they’d be useful.”
“I’ve got some texts that might provide guidance, but I didn’t bring them with me. Have you talked to any Elven Celestials about this? Their help would make it simpler,” Ebusuku noted.
“Perhaps I should introduce you to Rana and you two can have a chat,” considered Amdirlain, tapping a finger to her lips. “Though they made my names known on another world, aside from Rana, none of them have made any direct approach to me since I became a Fallen; even though they sent many Ljósálfar to help with the survivors.”
Ebusuku smiled at the thoughts revealed by her expression. “I’d like to meet the Celestial that inspired you to kill a God. Though I have a question; are you sure it’s Torm you should share affections with? You have a cute Elven Celestial just waiting for you to give a come hither. Who knows, he could be pining for his saviour in silent awe.”
“I don’t take Torm’s feelings lightly, Ebusuku. I wanted him to stay, even if he understands Morgana’s suspicion. He gave me trust and respect when I expected none to be given. He makes me feel that I can reach a better place, by the trust and undemanding love he gives me. I respect Rana for the seriously sick experiences he endured and survived with his sanity intact. What he survived left its mark, and he told me himself he’s no longer the same individual he was before. I wouldn’t risk him feeling obligated to a rescuer even if Torm wasn’t around. I learnt the hard way relationships aren’t renovation projects,” objected Amdirlain, Ebusuku’s teasing breaking her chain of thought.
Laughing, Ebusuku motioned Amdirlain’s attention back to the surrounding chamber before heading for the largest passage. “Look for veins of darker stone, rich with Mana; they’ll thicken towards concentrations of energies. True Sight makes this far easier. Using Mana Sense, everything blends together with the power in the region. It was a challenge to focus past the noise to find the right ones, now it’s clear just at a glance.”
“So your Planar Scholar Knowledge-”
A guffaw of laughter from Ebusuku cut off Amdirlain’s statement. “Yes, it’s an evolved version of Planar Lore. Farhad told you I spent lots of time outside the Abyss. I’ve travelled on every Plane I could, anywhere to avoid going back. We’re not playing the ''guess secrets questions'' game still, are we?”
“Only if you want to,” replied Amdirlain.
“It’s not the same challenge now I can sense you,” commented Ebusuku.
Amdirlain snickered at a sudden mental image. “All my Celestials get to peek into my underwear drawer.”
“You actually wear any?” retorted Ebusuku.
“No, but that means they’d all be in my drawer.” Amdirlain’s counter earned laughter from Ebusuku, so she waited until it eased before continuing. “You fight like you’re dancing.”
“Torm commented you moved like a dancer when you’re trying to prolong a fight,” noted Ebusuku, pivoting between rocks on the group, and then flowing back the other way. “Fighting is a dance, a deadly dance woven with other dancers. Feel the rhythm of their movements, flow around them, become one with them. There will come a moment in the dance when you feel it could end. That’s your opening to use. Don’t force one from impatience; you’ll waste energy or fall into traps.”
“What Classes have you had?” asked Amdirlain curiously, wondering where that perspective came from. “You only mentioned some.”
“The full list for my Base Classes was: Fighter, Assassin, Bladedancer, Wizard, Elementalist, Blademaster, and Arcane Blade. While the Prestige Classes were: Final Night, Spellblade, and Ascended Spellblade.” Ebusuku said. She’d rattled off the list without pause until she noticed Amdirlain had stopped in thought. “Problem?
[Final Night:
Most Assassins operate primarily from stealth kills. These are trained to handle the swirl of battle as well as operate via infiltration. These assassins see their targets meet their end with fierce resolve, regardless of the means required. The Prestige Class is for those focused on achieving a kill, whether by stealth or open combat.
]
[Bladedancer:
This evolved Base Class is available to those whose training has focused on a quick, fluid fighting style. It requires training in both acrobatics—or better Skill—along with a non-heavy blade Skill, at Master rank to gain the Class. ]
[Blademaster:
This evolved Base Class is available to those with Senior-Master Rank in one or more blade Skills. It expands the individual’s understanding of sword techniques towards allowing any blade to be used with the same finesse as their primary weapon.]
[Arcane Blade:
This evolved Base Class is only available to those who’ve gained both the Spellblade and Ascended Spellblade Prestige Classes. Having learnt to wield magic and blade together, the line between the two has blurred into one. Combining magic and physical combat is second nature to those who’ve gained this class.
]
“No, no problem. I was considering Analysis’ information about classes I hadn’t heard of previously,” answered Amdirlain.
Ebusuku frowned in confusion for a moment and gave Amdirlain a wary look. “That Skill is strange. I used it on some of the Norse visitors and found I simply knew their names along with details about them, not the messages you see. Though when I tried it again, I learnt more about them. A talent for knowing names, indeed.”
“The higher it levels, the more you’ll learn. I gained a bunch of levels using it on Profile sections. There are some tricks I found out. You said your mother forced you to take your initial Classes, but everything beyond that initial Prestige Class extends either Fighter or Wizard,” said Amdirlain. The amused look from Ebusuku as she changed the subject back earned an eye-roll. “I take it the selection she forced on you was Assassin?”
“Both Fighter and Assassin were her choice—in a way. To mother, everything dies and we should be ready to kill it. She wanted all her daughters to not hesitate in ending another’s existence,” replied Ebusuku. “She wanted me to take the Succubus Class as well; to prove the weakness opened by another’s desire. I at least won that argument and got training until Fighter became an option, though I only took it because she was growing impatient with me. If she’d been patient, I would have held out for something rarer than Fighter.”
“So what draws you to Fighter and Wizard type Classes?” Amdirlain asked.
“I’ve always enjoyed fighting; the physicality of it, being in motion, putting myself in danger,” admitted Ebusuku. “There is always something stronger or nastier. Thus, I sought to be faster and smarter than my foes, not trying for wins by brute force. When I’m neither, I hope I’m at least smart enough to run and get clear with minimal risk. Assassin taught me to study my foes, and there are many foes with magic at their call. Once I got the Final Night Prestige Class, I studied magic with relatives before I choose Wizard and Bladedancer.”
A large chamber ahead provided them a gathering of Earth Elementals to fight. Amdirlain glided in among them. There were no minds she could feel within the Elementals, but she focused on their physical movements. An open hand guided a surge of rock past her turning form. Spotting loose rock among a limb smashing down, she moved past, and her return strike dug into the gap. Ebusuku followed and took advantage of the shattered extrusion left in Amdirlain’s wake, and its remains sprayed across the ground. Boulders and stone slabs moulded into the forms that rose before them, and Amdirlain flowed through the gaps that remained. Habits she developed kicked in repeatedly and Amdirlain punched straight through foes, or shoulder checked them into rubble. Not letting the mistakes shake her, she simply tried again with the next opponent.
[Combat Summary:
Small Elemental Earth x33 (50%)
Medium Elemental Earth x20 (50%)
Elemental Earth x 12
Large Elemental Earth x21 (50%)
Greater Elemental Earth x14 (50%)
Total experience gained: 271,200
Agile [S](30->31)
Erotic Dance [Ad](1->3)
]
I''m so not asking.
Amdirlain ignored the amusement from Ebusuku when the fighting ended and simply provided the tally. “It says two hundred seventy-one thousand, two hundred experience.”
“I jumped from three thousand, and change in each class, to over fifty thousand. So when focused on working together, we get the same amount of experience. We’ll have to test if the effect persists if I fight separately soon, since you and Torm spent weeks fighting together.” said Ebusuku.
“Do you want to try that now?” asked Amdirlain, hoping she could catch Sírdhem and the others to speed them along. “I should-”
Ebusuku’s raised palm stopped her mid-sentence. “I can guess where your brain went. No Abyss jaunts at the first sign of success. There’s something I believe you should see.”
“Okay fine, I was thinking about Sírdhem,” admitted Amdirlain. “But how did you know?”
“You’ve got a particular frown that shows up when you’re thinking about anything related to the Lóm?. The only ones among them that need help are Sírdhem and the others whose Classes you purged,” explained Ebusuku. “I’ll teleport us closer to what I want you to see, if its still operating. It’ll still be a bit of a trip.”
Ebusuku set them down in a chamber whose floor angled at a steep gradient and pointed towards a corkscrew passageway near its top. Her mental commentary about the Plane continued as they went, prompting the system to mark off increases in Amdirlain’s knowledge. The twisted passage widened occasionally into pseudo chambers, but the area remained empty of foes. It wasn’t until it started widening properly that there was any hint why the region was so empty. True Sight showed the net of the wards across the chamber’s entry point, and Ebusuku took her time making an opening in them. A Spell expanded a tiny gap in the wards and allowed them both to step through them without risk.
Ahead, the sound of whips and cries in various languages started echoing to them. Amdirlain reached out with Telepathy and ground her teeth at what she found. Moving to the chamber’s end, she found it connected them to a ledge near the roof of a giant cavern. Below them, vast numbers of slaves laboured at mining a massive vein of twisting metals. Tall reddish skinned overseers—who looked almost human in loose-fitting clothing—strolled about, their whips opening bloody wounds across the backs of those that slowed in the slightest. Guards clad in chain armour walked among them carrying huge mauls over their shoulders. They looked over the slaves with gazes unwavering in their boredom despite the misery about them.
There weren’t just a few hundred slaves in sight, rather endless thousands. The misery she felt in the minds below made the cavern stretch onwards like a diseased wound in the earth. Along the closest wall, she could see the operation clearly and watched brigades of slaves carry heavy loads back from the seams to chutes that plunged downwards. The miners were an odd collection of species whose names she didn’t even know; while most were bipedal, many weren’t even vaguely humanoid.
Amdirlain looked at Ebusuku with disbelief in her eyes and touched minds to avoid the risk of being overheard. “Who runs this mine? Weren’t you teasing me about adding to my to-do list?”
“You said you preferred fighting Demons, so I wanted to show you that the Abyss doesn’t have a monopoly on evil. I had to re-see experiences to understand them properly and see the choices I’d ignored. Now you know there are other places you can fight evil. In the Abyss, Mortals will be rare; while with the Dao’s slaves—never mind the Efreeti’s—there are potentially millions to save.”
“How big is this mine?” Amdirlain asked, wide-eyed in horror.
“They don’t have one mine, Amdirlain, but this one is likely hundreds of kilometres long by now. The Dao run mining operations like this all over the Elemental Plane of Earth. Unlike entities from the Outer Planes, they can travel to the Material Plane relatively easily. They raid them and capture planar travellers when they can—even binding Elementals. Those enslaved that they don’t have a direct use for, they sell to the Efreeti. It’s how they built their empire, and the reason outsiders name their civilisation the Great Dismal Delve.”
Amdirlain gritted her teeth as she fairly shook with suppressed rage. “I can’t turn my back on this Ebusuku.”
“I’m not expecting you to, Amdirlain. True, I doubt we can ever free them all, and I’d disregarded it before. Caught up in my anger, I didn’t consider others’ suffering; even if I had understood it, I wouldn’t have seen the point of trying if I couldn’t finish the task. Now I know it makes a massive difference to those we do free,” declared Ebusuku, the cold, predatory look from the Sisterhood’s planning room replaced by burning intensity.
The horror died as Amdirlain’s gaze shone with a matching determination, and she nodded to Ebusuku before turning her attention to the miners. “Were there other aspects to that decision?”
“Lots of parts, but I didn’t understand how Mortals felt, and I know I never tried. I was a Demon, and it disgusted me.” admitted Ebusuku, as memories of self-loathing tickled at the edge of their connection. “Compared to hating your existence, what did they have to complain about?”
“I hated being a Succubus,” retorted Amdirlain, and winced at the unintended accusation, but Ebusuku’s mind reassured her.
“Yet it didn’t keep you from trying to help others,” Ebusuku said, resting a hand on Amdirlain’s shoulder.
Picking out one of the Dao that seemed to monitor the guards, she quickly compared him to one of the smaller guards for perspective.
[Name: Artostes
Species: Genie (Dao)
Class: Fighter / Overseer / Wizard
Level: 55 / 62 / 61
Health: 6,942
Defence: 446
Magic: 81
Mana: 8,845
Melee Attack Power: 427
Combat Skills: Dagger [Ad] (23), Maul [M] (12), Unarmed Combat [M] (2) - Various Spell Lists - Affinities: Earth, Mental, Various Innate Power.
Details: Recently promoted to the senior overseer of an extended region of mining operations, the rise in pay is still insufficient to cover the debts his family is accumulating after having moved to the Sevenfold Mazeworks. Overseer Class is a Charisma-oriented base-support Class and provides assorted Skills to make others feel inferior so they can be ordered around more easily. Unlike other support classes, it produces nothing but more work for others and encourages credit taking activities unless the individual possessor overcomes this tendency.
]
[Name: Cyrus
Species: Genie (Dao)
Class: Fighter / Slaver
Level: 15 / 22
Health: 837
Defence: 45
Melee Attack Power: 61
Combat Skills: Maul [Ad] (3), Unarmed Combat [Ad] (14) - Various Innate Power
Details: Not yet old enough to warrant marriage proposals, he is currently on the lookout for beddable slaves for his quarters. Enjoys candle lit walks over the backs of the suffering, the romantic screams of a good whipping, and suffocating inferiors with bad farts. Really, you want his shoe size?]
Wake up on the wrong side of eternity this morning?
[Perception [M](43)]
Poor you, try it from this side. Did the Titan give you more work to do?
[Perception [M](43)]
Analysis
[Genie (Dao)
Details:
Members of this species tend towards self-centred and avaricious personalities. Frequent allies of the Efreeti, they possess only contempt for Djinn, Marids, and Jann. Non-Genie species are inferior and so unworthy of their consideration. While they customarily will return acts of fairness and kindness dealt them by others, on a one-for-one basis, they always seek to discharge these debts as quickly as possible, even if by encouraging situations that allow them to be helpful.
The species is immune to any Power using Earth Mana Affinity and possesses a wide range of illusionary and earth manipulation powers. If imprisoned, they gain a limited ability to alter reality for the benefit of others, excluding another Genie. Such ‘wishes’ are fulfilled in the most twisted way possible, and they can give Devils lessons in loopholes. Like all Genie species, they fear the loss of their freedom above all else, but the Dao find pleasure in inflicting such loss on others.]
[Collar of entombed will:
The magic in this collar activates when the lock is closed. A focused enchantment, it forces the wearer to obey orders given to them, and fight anyone preventing them from fulfilling their orders. The enchantment doesn’t change the being’s awareness, rather ensures they know every second that another is in control.]
“The collars have enchantments that force them to follow an order, and resist those stopping them from doing so.”
“Analysis! It lets you determine magical properties that easily?” asked Ebusuku and grimaced at Amdirlain’s nod. “Awkward, it means we can’t open a Gate and usher scores out at a time. If we Teleport them somewhere, they could lash out at each other.”
Amdirlain shrugged as she considered the problem. “We need to shatter the collars in a wide area before we do.”
“There are spells that could handle that, but I never learnt them,” Ebusuku said. A guard backhanded a miner below them for no apparent reason, and Ebusuku’s gaze burnt hot. “In the meantime, are you up for using your Inventory?”
“The moment they see you, they’ll order the slaves to fight you,” cautioned Amdirlain.
A snorted response was a sufficient reminder of Ebusuku’s experience. “That’s what Teleport is for, plus I’m an excellent dancer. I don’t let others step on my toes.”