“Resurrection, spells – a group of spells belonging to the School of Necromancy Ha! They allow the caster to bring a dead person back to life.
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- Oh c’mon, you've tasked an apprentice evoker with writing this. Find a High Necromancer if you want it written better. Making the experiments on that subject is far above my pay grade!
Due to a very high dependence of those spells on the will of a deity and expansive material components, definitive research was difficult to conduct. Most of the presented information was achieved after extensive retrospective analysis of available data.
The effectiveness reduction that applies to spell when used by various types of spellcasters has been discussed in the article ‘Healing, spells’.
Revive, 3rd circle – this spell uses a mix of mundane methods along with delivering minuscule amounts of magical energy to vital organs, which may allow them to function again. The exact classification of this spell is still a subject of controversies as apparently, it won’t work on those who had already died – see the discussion in appx. 929.
Raise Dead, 5th circle – closes mortal wounds and brings a target back in a severely weakened state. That spell won’t recreate missing body parts – if a body is missing crucial elements, like its head or its heart it will fail. The caster is severely weakened and may need to rest for some time before being able to cast any spell again. A creature who had been turned into an undead can't be raised by this spell.
Resurrect, 7th circle – closes mortal wounds and brings a target back in a severely weakened state. While it recreates missing body parts, at least some fragments of the body are required to cast it. The caster is severely weakened and may need to rest for some time before being able to cast any spell again.
True Revival, 10th circle – a cleric (or a druid, means unknown) may call forth upon his god to intervene and send a deceased back, even if there is no longer any trace of the fallen’s true body. The caster needs to know a name of the creature.
It is of the utter importance to not confuse spells from this group with other necromancy spells, like Animate Dead or Create Undead.
For reasons unknown, creatures staying dead for longer periods of time before a resurrection occurs are more prone to forgetting larger parts of their lives. There is no known successful resurrection occurring after more than 30 days have passed since the death. Creatures resurrected between 21-30 day are usually living, but in a catatonic state – theories discussed in appx. 1142.
Gods were unwilling to provide definitive answers for this phenomenon (or those to whom they provided them were unwilling to share information).
No definite memories of an afterlife have been collected from resurrected – yet its existence was confirmed by those who travelled to the Outer Planes.”
- the excerpt from ‘Encyclopaedia Arcana – R’
During the next few months, many things have changed.
After Ion’s little magic show his uncles started to believe that he was a Gifted and decided to support his education – he finally had a proper spellbook, was granted access to the city library where he could read about history (if someday he decides to search for ruins, he needs to know where to find them!), characteristics of various wizards' guilds (as he began to think that joining one might be necessary at some point) and many other topics.
They also managed to buy him two scrolls with new spells he decided would be useful. Of course, within the price limit they set.
His first choice was a Fireball. It was a staple spell that every wizard knew, so he also wanted to! His suggestion was firmly rejected and another condition was added - the spell can't be deadly. Ion believed that Fireball might be still too hard for him to learn so he didn't push the topic any further and instead opted for something different.
After some discussions, they settled on Illusion spells, as Mariana and Steven deemed this school of magic relatively harmless. Ion had to force himself to keep a straight face when he heard that statement. Like that he received scrolls containing Illusory Image – a defensive spell with which he could create 3 illusions of himself and a cantrip Minor Illusion – just another utility for everyday life. Honestly, finding and buying spellscrolls was much harder than he expected.
During that time he also made it to a 2nd circle, yet lately his dreams were useless when it came to learning new spells – he has only learned Arcane Lock (but it required quite a lot of gold coins that would be destroyed on cast, too much for him to even try the spell for real). Vision-he was currently occupied performing researches, casting spells far above his current understanding, or engaging in political plays between other wizards, using mostly utility spells that Ion had already known if any at all. Gruesome or boring, depending on a vision.
As Ion was no longer hiding his abilities, he began using his magic more often in daily life – Mage handing basically everything, casting Feather Fall instead of using stairs, Fiery Arrow to start a fire when it was needed, heating, cooling drinks and cleaning clothes or a room with Prestidigitation.
As for the war, Riksian forces recaptured Fallpoint after a few months of the siege but suffered heavy losses. Orcs protected the fortified city valiantly and the biggest factor in retaking it was the damage done to its defences that hadn’t been fully repaired since orcs captured the town two years earlier.
Some strategists were perplexed as the amount of warriors orcs fielded to defend Fallpoint seemed relatively small – the city was basically the only point that allowed safe and fast passage of the troops in and out of the Orcish Lands, it should have been better garrisoned. Many speculated that a warchief leading orcs had lost his position after suffering losses on Rikse's territory and clans returned to their infighting.
After the victory, the king’s advisors were arguing about the future course of an action.
First, the most conservative group claimed that they should just fortify their positions and get rid of scattered orcish warbands still roaming through the south-eastern part of the kingdom, hiding in the forests and in Trolloc Mountains.
The second camp was of opinion to use the opportunity that previous victories opened, ally with the dwarves and raid, or even claim some of the orcish lands.
Third, the most radical faction even wanted to relocate forces from Easthorn; as the Phenyth Kingdom was weakened, facing raids of various barbarian tribes on their borders, and from Ironward; as elves were happy hugging their trees and kobolds weren’t a big threat. Then they wanted to use overwhelming forces and launch a fully sized assault on the Orcish Lands, capturing few main towns and establishing a connection to the sea. Some even wanted to thin Saltgarde's garrison for the same reason, but for majority looming threat of beasts from the Arcane Wastelands was too great to even consider their idea seriously.
While fortifications of Fallpoint were being strengthened, Gerard, along with many other soldiers under command of the House Cloyd were allowed to take a temporary leave to see their families. Fresh troops were already on the way to reinforce that position.
Soldiers from Windhelm could consider themselves lucky; those from more faraway kingdom's parts didn’t have such luxury.
**Gerard**
When Gerard returned Windhelm, he moved towards his sister’s house, hoping to reunite with everyone – as it was an early evening he assumed that everyone should be there.
Yet, when he entered the house and was greeted by Mariana’s family, they informed him that Ion was probably still in the library; he spent so many time there that it became his second home recently. They offered him to take time to refresh himself after his travel, grab something to eat and wait until Ion returns, but he decided to meet him directly – it was two years since he last met his son and couldn’t wait any longer.
He went to the library building, which was almost empty now; one hour before its closing not many were willing to pay an entry fee as they would have only a short span of time to search for information – only those wealthy, or those already having an unlimited subscription were inside. Since his promotion to a brigadier during the siege of Fallpoint, he could afford some extravagance. Sometimes. Gerard moved inside, passing between shelves in search for his son.
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As he moved towards a strange light coming from in between the shelves, he heard a quiet, but still barely audible within silence enveloping the library whisper “...I have enough of the ‘Basic Human Anatomy’ for months. Hopefully, it wasn’t wasted time and it will help me understand…” he heard a sound of a falling book “...wow, ‘Evocation Principle’?” the voice was clearly agitated, and sounded familiar now “So they really have some books about magic there? I checked everything already in my first week, and there was nothing!”
Entering the next corridor he could see a figure of a lean, but a well-toned young man, with black hair that would require some trimming soon, at least judging by nobles standards. He was wearing neat clothes, flipping fast through a book he was holding. Floating a little bit behind his head was a glowing ball, which was a source of light he saw earlier, on his left side three tomes were levitating on each other. There was also one book at his feet, seemingly forgotten.
“Ion?” he asked, getting the youth's attention.
“Dad? Are you finally back?” his son answered, dropping the book on top of the stack he was levitating and running to hug him.
“It’s been a long time,” Gerard answered.
**Ion**
On their way out of the library, Ion began to bombard his father with questions, about the war, orcs and magic which was used on the battlefields. Sometimes, for the moments, he could catch a passing sight of confusion on Gerard’s face, yet didn’t have a clue about the reasons.
Before they could leave the library he had to put all the books he was holding back to shelves, as it was allowed for a subscribing patron to take only a one outside.
Earlier, he wanted to borrow the ‘Travellers Guide for Earthen Call”. His previous researches told him, that not just a one, but two powerful Wizard’s Guilds had their headquarters there. However, after spotting the ‘Evocation Principle’ which he confirmed was really a book about this school of magic he couldn’t leave it behind.
On their way back towards uncles' place – as Gerard stayed in their house; he decided to rent their old flat when leaving with the army – Ion has learned, that his father, in regards to his battle accomplishments, attained a position similar to that of minor nobles.
Also, he could get hints of him having developed a crush towards Ilsevel Windchaser. She was a half-elf acting as a representative general for forces supplied by Easthorn and he met her for the first time during the siege of Fallpoint.
Apparently, they had an argument after Gerard loosely interpreted her order, deeming it unreasonable.
She couldn’t order him and the forces under his command - at least in theory - as Gerard served under the banner of Windhelm, not Fallpoint. When she questioned him, he told her that into the face, in quite harsh words.
Ilsevel seemed to leave a deep impression on Gerard – and Ion thought that she also kicked his ass during a duel that followed their quarrel, even if his dad claimed that it ended with a draw. Strangely avoiding Ion’s gaze saying so.
They met for a few times after those events. From what Ion had read in the library she could have some ties within nobles in Vrolan Dynasty as it was common for their nobility to have a trace of elven blood. He also remembered seeing the Windchaser name somewhere among books about this country, but couldn't recall the details.
Inside, Ion cheered for his father; he was alone for so long after mother's death.
**Gerard**
On the way back from the library Gerard was baffled. His son changed so much during those years he had spent on the frontlines. Almost too much. It was not just Ion's casual attitude with which he was levitating books towards library shelves, using spells to clean his fingers from ink stains, trying to portray events he described using some illusion spell. During his life as a soldier, especially after his promotion in ranks, he spent some time amongst military mages. After reading the most recent letters, Gerard was partially prepared to see Ion behaving like one of them; maybe not to that extent, but it was still within his expectations.
What truly confused him, were the questions Ion asked. Sure, Gerard expected his son to be interested in battles against orcs, he even prepared stories about some heroic deeds done by soldiers.
Yet Ion wasn't keen on such stories. His son said that such tales should be left for bards.
He was asking about amounts of troops each army fielded, weapons and a positioning of casters on the battlefield both armies used. After Gerald revealed that he had been raised almost to a top of the military command chain, Ion’s questions became even more strange; which spells were used for an attack? Which for a defence? How were they countered? Were casters trying to break enemies morale with an alpha strike, or were they sparing their mana, only casting spells to finish off the enemy? How many casualties were in each battle?
Those were the questions he would expect during military briefings, not a reunion with his son. When Ion started asking about numbers of captivities taken and their fate:
“Were they sold back? Enslaved? Used as a sacrifice to fuel a ritual magic?”
Gerard was almost frightened by his son's last question. What had he learnt by reading library books to even suggest such a thing casually?
At least, Ion seemed to not mind Gerard being interested in Ilsevel; his son seemed even quite eager for them meeting. After all, kids often hated an idea of their parent dating someone after their partner died.
****
During the next few weeks, Gerard was busy between catching up with his family and having various duties that required his presence within the duke's castle.
According to what Gerard heard from the duke (who was kept informed by magical means by his court mage about what is happening in the capital), King Justen I wished to just turtle up in the Rikse Kingdom, willing to leave orcs alone. He considered launching an invasion on the now weakened Phenyth Kingdom instead – old grudges were still there and a territory where humans lived would be easier to control, its cities richer and better developed than orcish tribal villages.
Yet, when he asked his Royal Diviners, both wizards and clerics, about the best course of an action for his kingdom, their answers forced him to change his plans. While they were unable to foresee anything specific – not that rare for the Divination magic, especially when considering hostile casters actively clouding spying attempts with its usage – they still caught glimpses of what might happen.
Mages saw orcish armies marching through fields of Grasshaven, human villages burning, soldiers fleeing. Clerics interpreted signs given by the gods, telling that ‘orcish horde is a great threat to the Kingdom’ and that ‘legions of orcs are still gathering yet should they have time to prepare their attack, human cities would burn’.
Faced with such prophecies, the king reluctantly ordered to move forces from Easthorn towards Fallpoint which would serve as a rallying point for the kingdom's forces before a counterstrike on the orcish territory. They would coordinate their attack along with some dwarven clans who wish to secure passage towards a northern part of the Hatzokh’s Spine (as orcs called their mountains) to settle a new colony there. Other friendly clans offered to provide human troops with weapons from their forges, which considering dwarven usual behaviour counted as great assistance in Riksian war efforts.
A large chunk of Ironward’s garrison would also be moved to Grasshaven as the king suspected that visions about burning city outskirts originated from the possibility of scattered warbands moving towards the kingdom’s granaries.
Gerard was torn, having his own decision to make – being forty years old, he could either retire from the army, taking a pension and living quite comfortably – which he would surely do just a few months ago – or continue his military career. Asked earlier, even if he still loved a thrill of battle, he would decide to stay with his family. However now, by staying in the army, he could better support Ion’s ambitions of becoming a wizard – he had no doubt that it would be expensive.
Having a high rank also allowed him to borrow from the best of enchanted weapons and armours owned by the duke, which would greatly increase his safety on the battlefields. In fact, even his high rank alone was a protection by itself, as the army was accompanied by a few clerics who could really bring people back from death; such powerful and taxing spells, requiring not only expensive materials but also an agreement of deities they served would only be used on commanders, not common soldiers. With Uther blessing their war efforts, resurrections of fallen champions after the battle weren't that rare.
Finally, staying in the army would allow him to continue meeting Ilsevel…
**Ion**
Ion walked toward the duke’s castle, clad in expensive looking clothes, his brand new Arcane Focus in a form of a small rune-covered golden pendant with a crystal on his neck. It was a gift his father bought him after returning.
Arcane Focuses allowed wizards to cast spells by channelling parts of their mana through them, enabling to perform spells without having to use most of the material components, depending on the quality of said focus. Even if his was of basic quality, able to substitute only for most simple components, it would be of great help in combat situations, where every move needed to be as efficient as possible. Not that the young wizard knew many spells requiring advanced components yet – of Ion’s known spells only gold dust essential for casting Arcane Lock was out of his focus ability to mimic.
No more carrying fireflies, feathers, copper wires, bells and various other shit inside his pockets ever again! Sometimes literally shit, bat’s to be precise, as according to the ‘Evocation Principle’ it was a component required to cast Fireball. Which sane wizard would be using that instead of a focus?
Ion eagerly awaited a moment when he finally manages to make it to a 3rd circle so he could cast this spell. With the focus of course, he wasn’t a type chasing bats for their faeces.
Getting the Arcane Focus from Gerard also triggered something – in an instant when he touched it for the first time, he suddenly recalled Vision-he spending hours in the laboratory, developing rune patterns for an item. Then, for another blink of an eye vision shifted, and he looked at the beautiful floating disc, hovering above the back of his left palm. It consisted of four runed metal parts, with more runes formed from energy appearing between them and radiating outside of the item.
Even if memories lasted but for a brief moment, he was sure that Vision-he managed to create a very powerful Arcane Focus. Mesmerized by it, Ion decided to try if he could recreate it, alone or with help of some artificer. Another goal on his list.
He greeted guards – recently he was a sort of a regular guest as his father was now spending a lot of time in the castle, being in charge of coordinating forces that would move to Fallpoint. Should more soldiers from Easthorn arrive at Windhelm, they would continue onwards together.
As for Gerard himself, after long discussion within the family, it was decided that him still being in the army was for the best. Aunt Mariana seemed to also catch his attitude towards Ilsevel and wasn’t going to stop her brother, especially seeing that Ion was okay with that.
As he moved through the courtyard, Ion hoped not having to meet with the duke’s 3rd son again. Maybe older ones were decent – at least according to Gerard – but the behaviour of the youngest was infuriating for Ion. He would like to destroy his petty smile with spells, shatter that guy confidence… and he would definitely try to do something stupid like that, if not for the memories of Vision-he, providing him with one of the basic laws of the world: one who is weak must endure.
Not even weak in terms of personal power – Ion was sure he was stronger than the duke’s son – but weak in terms of connections, backings. Even if Ion would put that guy in the line, what would he achieve? Create an enemy? Someone willing to stop his father’s career? Maybe even willing to send assassins after him or bend the laws to make it appear that it was he who wronged? No, one must strike only when sure of a decisive victory – or when possible gains justify the risk. And what possible gain could he obtain setting himself against an arrogant son of the friendly duke in a childish quarrel?
Entering the training grounds, he spotted his father amongst other warriors, watching as they trained.
When Gerard spotted him, he immediately said: “You are late today, change to your training clothes and let us begin.”
Ion grabbed one of the training spears and dispelled the illusion, his expensive outfit immediately turning into a plain training clothing.
“I’m ready.”
Why would he even bother wearing something like this just because entering the castle?