Ends of Magic

Nathan scanned the area. They were to the side of a tall outcrop of pale reddish rock that crowned the hill, with the view down the slope blocked by a fold in the rocky landscape. He talked through the premise for his idea. “The constructs are in eight groups, doing a search of the place where we fought the group of scouts. If we stay here then they’ll find us in the next half hour.”

He waved his hand dismissively. “It doesn’t really matter if they attack immediately or pull back, as long as we can hold against that smaller group. What happens after is that the rest of the groups reform and hit us at once. They might hit us sequentially, but that would be awful tactics and might let us defeat them in detail.”

The Heirs were nodding. Everything he’d said made sense, and so Nathan continued. “So they’re going to attack us here, in this terrain, most likely in one overwhelming wave. And we need to survive and kill as many as we can.”

This time the round of nods were slower, less confident. Stella gestured impatiently for him to get on with it.

So he did, with a smirk. “We can still run, and maybe we should. But we might be able to take them all out here, if Stella can figure out a specific insight of Lightning I have for her, and we can protect her until the primary attack arrives. What do we say?”

Stella started dancing in place, the picture of excitement. “Yes! Let’s do it.”

Khachi looked around, considering. “By the teachings of Jolba, we should flee. We have killed the problem and bought its respite.”

Aarl and Sarah shot each other a series of complex looks. Aarl was the one to speak. “If this works, then we’ll level from it, and be better able to survive against the next Giantsrest ambush. Or the next dungeon. And we’ll save whatever Adventurers might die against that swarm.” He directed his attention to Nathan, “Will it work?”

"We have a little bit of space. If this doesn’t pan out, there will still be time to run or hide."

The [Divine Justicar] shook his canine head. “Kia said that we would burn our own path. I just hoped it would be a wiser one. But now we’ve managed to drip blood in the eyes of an Old Gemore construct army, and intend to fight it.” He sighed, resigned. “Speak your aim, Nathan.”

With Khachi’s agreement, Nathan hurriedly spun to Stella, reviewing the concept he meant to teach her. “When you first learned about electricity, you used force shields to contain and conduct the mana. I’ve seen you playing around with the interaction between lightning and force. How well do you understand that?”

Stella’s grin didn’t waver. “Lightning mana can’t go through a force shield. It will follow it though, if I set the other potential on the other side, then the electricity will flow along the surface. I’ve been wondering if I can make force-blades that carry a lightning charge. But the edge is slippery, the voltage gets lost there. I’ve been working on that with magnetic mana, but it doesn’t work well with a moving force construct.”

Nodding, Nathan thought about that. “Great. What limits the size of spell you can cast is how quickly you can channel mana, right? The thing preventing you from destroying that entire army with lightning is that you can’t cast quickly enough? You’ve got an absolutely stupid amount of mana with all of the crystals from the last Dungeon.”

Stella’s brows knit, trying to follow where he was going. “I can only channel enough mana for a lightning bolt every few seconds, and it takes even longer if I’m also casting shields to protect us from the constructs’ spells. If we’re fighting a ton of constructs then I’m going to need to focus primarily on defense.” Then the mage smiled with satisfaction. “But yes, my mana supply is blasphemous.”

“So if you channel all of the mana out ahead of time, it’s ready to go?”

Stella shook her head. “I can’t control it for long. None of my spells are that stable. A spell that’s meant to explode gets harder and harder to control as you put more mana into it.”

“But what if it’s a spell designed to be stable, so the mana is external but ready to be repurposed?” Nathan wasn’t quite in full socratic dialogue mode, because he genuinely didn’t know if his idea would pan out yet.

She can’t spend a lot of time practicing, not for what I have in mind.

Her response was a bit disappointed. “You can’t really change the spell weave once you cast it. You should know that - we’ve talked enough about magic. I suppose if it’s raw power it can be guided by another spell, but I can’t put the stored mana into a complex spell. It would be crude, a waste of power.”

Nathan nodded. “I think crude targeting is ok, so long as you can protect the Heirs. What I want to explain is something called a capacitor - I think it will let you store a ton of electricity mana, ready to be unleashed. And force mana seems like the perfect way to store it.”

The red haired mage’s eyes darted around as she raced ahead of his line of thought. “You’re saying that I can channel lightning mana into a stationary force-shield, then use it later. It might work, but I’d need a huge shield. I can’t cast force too far away from me yet. It would leak a lot around the edges - so I’d need to spend a lot of focus holding it together. Is that all a capacitor is?”

Shaking his head, Nathan explained in greater detail. “Not quite. You understand you have two areas of charge, and there’s a potential across the shield, and that potential is where you store the energy of the mana.”

Nathan could tell that Stella was understanding what he was saying. “How strong the force is will let you store a more powerful charge before the force shield breaks. But how big it is will let you store more charge. You can maximize the area and minimize the exposed edges by making it a big loop - if you fuse the ends together then you only need to worry about two edges instead of four. Then if you curl it into a big spiral you can pack all of the edges together and all of your exposed edges will be in a smaller area.”

Stella’s eyes were literally blazing with excitement. “Could I make it a sphere, so there are no exposed edges? And if surface area is what determines how much charge can be stored, then I can make it convoluted, give it lots of deep indents to help it store electricity mana!”

Mid-tier Lecturing 8 achieved!

Nathan shrugged. “You know, I had something closer to a giant cylinder in mind, but an indented sphere would probably work so long as you can get the mana out at the end. Make it as big as you can, so you can unleash it when you need to. Or make multiple, I don’t know. You don’t have too much time.”

He looked around at the terrain. “And make it on the otherside of the outcrops - we don’t want the constructs to be able to see these things before we use them. They’ll probably attack them if nothing else, and I don’t think these lightning-storage-balls will survive very many attacks. All it would take is a single crack for them to explode.”

Stella didn’t respond, already starting to focus on her magic.

Nathan turned back to the rest of the Heirs. He’d been vaguely assuming they’d be paying attention, but instead there was a low argument going on between Aarl and Sarah. Aarl had pulled out the armor from the Edrani Empire dungeon, laying the metallic robe on the ground.

Nathan caught Aarl slashing his hand. “... need this. Can’t always use Stella or Khachi for a shield against magic, and this armor will be able to protect me from what those constructs aim my way.”

Sarah’s response was just as furious. “Or it could kill you. Nathan couldn’t tell if it had a curse on it. Our father was clear. You do not use items you don’t know.”

Aarl gestured at Nathan, then at Khachi, who was watching with concern. “But he didn’t have these allies. If it is cursed, then Nathan can break the magic before it kills me. And Khachi can heal any wounds. I need this to fight properly. I’m supposed to let the enemy break upon me. I can’t do that if I need to be behind the shields to fight. And Stella won’t be able to shield us this time, she’s busy with Nathan’s surprise.”

Sarah looked over to Nathan. “Convince him this is a bad idea.”

I’m actually not sure it is. It’s risky, but not that terrible of a risk. And having Aarl able to take a hit - he’s much better at this kind of upcoming combat than I am.

Nathan shook his head. “I don’t think it is cursed. And with me and Khachi here, it’s less risky than it could be. I’m just worried we won’t be able to test how good the armor is.”

Aarl’s face didn’t lighten - if anything, he looked even more serious than before. “Ok. I’m doing this. Nathan, I’ll tell you all is well every few seconds. If I stop, then get this armor off me.”

Sarah threw up her arms in frustration, but stayed silent as Aarl quickly stripped off his lightly-enchanted leathers. Soon enough, his lithely muscled form was standing just in his underclothes. Nathan couldn’t help but notice how hot Aarl was as he the younger man stared at the armor.

Teammates, Nathan. Drama in the team would be an absolutely terrible idea. Teammates. No matter how hot Aarl is or how cute Stella is when she’s figuring out new magic. They're also too young for you.

Aarl moved to put on the armor, but as soon as he grabbed it it sent tendrils of metal climbing up his arms. Nathan started forward before he remembered the armor doing a similar thing to him earlier.

The wiry man’s face was nervous as he watched the strands of metal coil up his limbs. “I’m fine. It’s not hurting me.” He continued to reassure the rest of the Heirs as the armor flowed over his body. It only took twenty seconds - much less time than it would have taken to don and secure normal armor.

You know, I hope this doesn’t take over his mind. We didn’t think of that.

Aarl looked down at the suit. The metal covered him like a second skin from shins to neck, extending down his arms to the wrists. He flexed his arms and did a few quick hops, demonstrating that the metal flexed smoothly, the strands of the weave sliding over each other soundlessly. The sigils were active and glowed a faint gold in the bright sunlight.

Sarah looked impressed, but before she could speak Nathan pinned Aarl with an intense look. “Aarl. What was the first spell Stella cast on me?”

Aarl blinked at Nathan, then frowned. “She tried to trip you with a force spell back in the dining hall.”

Nathan nodded. “Do you feel normal? I’m going to touch your head, see if I can feel if there is anything mental going on with the armor.”

Aarl nodded, looking suddenly hesitant. Nathan stepped forward and put a hand on top of his short-cut hair, closing his eyes and extending the magical senses that [Magic Absorption] granted him.

There was something there. Strands of mana extended off the suit of armor and towards Aarl’s brain. But they didn’t seem to be mental magic intending to control somebody - Nathan had felt that before, and it felt slick and slimy. These reminded Nathan more of rigid constructs, awaiting manipulation. Ways for Aarl to control the armor, not for it to control him.

High-tier Identify 3 achieved!

I suppose debugging a friend’s armor minutes away from being swarmed by an army of war-constructs counts as a dangerous enough situation to help with skill ranks.

Nathan withdrew his hand. “I think the armor will respond to mental commands. Try telling it to do things. Maybe starting with a helmet.”

Aarl looked down at the armor. More tendrils flowed up from the neck and encapsulated his head, while clear goggles of force magic formed over his eyes. Sarah shook her head. “I suppose it is a treasure from a dragon’s hoard.” Then she punched Aarl in the shoulder before shaking out her hand with an aggrieved expression. “It was still a dumb decision.”

Then they all jumped at a crackling explosion from where Stella was working. The noise ramped up, and the Heirs spun to see a cascade of lightning connecting a hovering ball of force to the ground. The sheet of incandescent light burned for nearly twenty seconds before petering out, leaving a glassy trench in the ground only twenty feet beyond Stella.

Now that’s a lot of power.

Once the sound from the bottled lightning was gone, they could hear Stella’s swearing. “...Muckgrabber’s asshole. Tie a rope around a Castlebear and pull, you Algoa-damned ghoul. I’ll throw you to the hydras and start cutting heads until there are too many pieces to count. Drown in Giant’s blood you...”

Nathan stepped up next to Stella, gently poking her in the shoulder in interrupting the tirade. “Can you fix it?”

She jumped a few inches, then shook herself. “Yeah, though I’ll need to remake the force spell.” She waved a hand, banishing the cracked construct that looked vaguely like a brain made of blue glass. “I need to pump in less lightning or make the force stronger. But to repeat prophecy, it’s stable, and I can cap it with a magnetic construct. With the proper spell structure I should be able to guide the lightning no matter how much there is. Benefits of understanding resistances. It won’t be much more guidance than a direction.”

Nathan nodded. “Good enough. We’ll keep them off you until the main force arrives.” He turned back to the rest of the Heirs. “We don’t have much time, they probably heard Stella’s spell misfiring. Khachi, stay near Stella. I want her focused on rolling out the welcome mat to the main force, and you need to protect her until it arrives. Sarah, if we’re staying here you might be best served by getting to a high point. Can you handle that yourself?”

The tall woman nodded, then started bounding up the nearby rock face. Each of her leaps looked gentle, but they rocketed her up the cliff as she moved from ledge to ledge.

Then Nathan turned to Aarl, armored and looking like a metallic Black Panther. “And we move fast and break things. Listen for Stella or Khachi to tell you to get to cover. I don’t think you want to be in the open when she lets her new spell go.”

I’ll stay out there though. Sounds like fun.

Nathan and Aarl got in position, hidden in some broken rocks on the approach to the Heir’s chosen battlefield. Nathan kept shooting glances back at where Stella was assembling her mega-capacitor spell. She was doing a good job positioning them behind the outcrop - he could see the flickering light of the mana reflected off other rocks, but couldn't see the magical constructs themselves from here.

After a couple of minutes, he heard the sound of metal striking stone, and signaled to Aarl, who gestured his readiness.

The first of the eight groups has found us. We need to convince them that this won’t be enough, that the rest need to bunch up into a single attack.

Then a wave of scouts poured over the rocks, and battle was joined. Nathan activated his Rage and leapt from hiding to grab the tail of one and swing it like an oversized flail to smash into two others.

Now this is podracing. Or…I know what I mean.

Nathan continued rampaging through the scout constructs, ripping off legs and absorbing all of the magic they threw his way. But there were strike constructs behind the scouts, and one barreled towards him. It was ten feet tall, with six legs tipped with wicked spikes that slammed into the stone like jackhammers. The head was large and triangular, with a single bright eye in the center of the head. A malevolent red light shone from the eye, and a slot opened up above it. A familiar whine sounded from that opening.

It’s the same launcher as those turrets from the Last Dungeon of old Gemore. High-velocity metal spikes incoming.

Then a high-caliber bullet penetrated the singular eye and bounced around inside the metallic body, making the larger construct jerk and fall. A small external explosion showered the area with metal fragments and sent foul smoke into the air.

But Nathan couldn’t pay attention anymore, as he juked a spike from another one of the large constructs, flipping himself into the air and smashing down atop a scout construct. The next enchanted spike glanced off his ribs at a shallow angle, leaving behind a deep graze and cracking bones that healed up in the next moment.

A flanking war machine toppled from a bullet to the eye as Nathan tumbled past a few more attacks, leaping off one scout construct. He leveraged his [Slow Fall] to soar over a carpet of the smaller attackers, coming down on the legs of one of the strike constructs and snapping a joint with a precise kick.

Mid-tier Tumbling 10 achieved! Congratulations, you have maxed out this utility skill! It cannot be improved any further. You must achieve Insight into this skill to develop it to high-tier.

But the strike constructs were fast, well-armored and vicious. He tried to find a weak point on the bottom half, but it spun and threw him back with sweeps of the sharp-tipped legs. Then the joint Nathan had broken snapped back into place, and it jumped towards him on two legs to jab the other four limbs at him like hydraulic spears.

The strikes bracketed him, and he couldn’t dodge or block them all. Nathan ducked the one heading for his head, accepting the one that pierced his side. Nathan grabbed onto the intrusive limb, siphoning all the mana he could from the enchanted metal. He was expecting the construct to pin him, but instead it reared back and flung him skywards.

Why did it do that?

From his new vantage, Nathan understood why he’d been thrown into the air as a dozen strike constructs aimed up at him. He would have been a clay pigeon without [Slow Fall] to jerk himself downwards and out of the path of the first few spikes that flew his way.

Aarl cleaved through two of the larger constructs while they were distracted, but the next few seconds were still a blur of motion as Nathan spent stamina like water to avoid the cascade of metal projectiles fired his way. He jerked himself down again and then held himself in place, before pulling himself diagonally sideways. The scout constructs were also sending volleys of magic his way, and Nathan tried to steer into those, to replenish his Stamina.

Stamina: 2559/3030

Which is still absurdly high.

High-tier Slow Fall 8 achieved!

High-tier Dodging Footwork 3 achieved!

Not a lot of footwork involved there, but definitely some dodging.

Then Nathan was close enough to the ground he could accelerate freely downwards, slamming into one of the armored constructs with Davrar-enhanced momentum. Nathan’s bones cracked, despite being boosted by skill, rage and Talent. The construct was slammed to the ground below, but the armor held frustratingly firm.

It’s three inches of enchanted steel. I'm not strong enough to bash through that. Yet.

Even if the construct's body was in one piece, Nathan’s attack had clearly broken several of the enchantments that animated it. The war machine staggered drunkenly to its feet before a bullet penetrated the weakened top casing.

Nathan looked around at the surviving constructs, baring his teeth as he surveyed their reduced numbers.

We’re winning this. I just hope Khachi and Stella are doing ok. I’m a little busy here!

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Magic Absorption 9

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 3

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 8

Class: Implacable Antimage level 91

Stamina: 2934/3030

Antimage’s Impassivity

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Implacable Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Improved Antimagic

Strenuous Agility

Hand-to-hand Expertise

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 3

High-tier Earnestness 8

Mid-tier Sprinting 10

High-tier Spellsense 8

High-tier Notice 3

High-tier Identify 3

High-tier Dodging Footwork 3

High-tier Enhanced Memory 7

Mid-tier Lecturing 8

Mid-tier Tumbling 10

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