Sammy set aside her scouting expedition temporarily to focus on a few other pressing matters. Ash had just arrived in Geirkos, and there was a grand organizational affair underway (headed in part by the Cat Sith Morgana) involving her and other wizards of the order to conduct their first ritual. It was something of a test flight. She wanted to pack as much power and mana into [Magical Invention: Mana Items] to produce a solid item.
She arrived at the Great Oak to see a circle already waiting around the tree. Twelve casters to boost the spell, and twelve apprentice helpers to assist with MP drain. The apprentices thing was somewhat new to Geirkos, a funded project of the Brain Trust headed by Zephyr and Morgana to exploit the potential of Followers inclined and/or talented toward wizardry.
When she queried Jeeves just how many they’d accrued, he replied that it was up to 34. Two of the twelve contributing caster levels were level 1 Wizards of great talent who had recently been such apprentices. One was a young woman by the name of Penelope who’d been a servant girl in the Tin Chicken before it was destroyed. She blasted through the Runebooks in days, hyper-obsessed. She was considered a genius. Another was a gentleman who had also recently become a priest.
Wow! We’re bringing all the magic together. Exactly what I wanted. The next Domain will be all too natural!
Sammy took her position at the base of the tree, touching a branch and thanking the spirit briefly. She nodded to Ash directly out from her and began the spellcraft, holding out her hands to levitate the sapphire stone that was the focus of creation.
Twelve staffs raised around the tree, and mana charged visibly at their tips, then in a network around the circle. Incantations began, a simple chant alternating between casters and contributors, who also made hand signs, as their mana was pulled through them into the staffs.
The energy channeled toward Sammy, and she directed it into the sapphire, her incantations becoming like a song on her lips to focus it.
Caster level thirteen from the last creation, plus four from the ritual users, plus two from circle prep and material sacrifices, plus two from preliminary time spent, plus three from the gemstone. Twenty-four, minus four for the regeneration capacity. We’ll add another hour for plus two. So twenty-two.
The primary bulk of energy wrapped into the gemstone, condensing and compounding as it became its own regenerating source. The group went into a trance as they settled in for the slow drip feed of mana, squeezing a little more in with each breath. Time died quickly in the heat of the afternoon as they kept up continuous incantations.
Finally, it was complete, and the mana item became charged and ready. The base mana cost was 220, times 8 then halved for the ritual cast, so 880 MP was distributed. Apprentices contributed a total of 38 MP only. Sammy contributed 200 (knowing she recharged the easiest among them), leaving 642 distributed unevenly between the rest.
Items are veeery expensive to make.
Regenerating Mana Storage Item of capacity 22 MP has been successfully created. Regeneration is at the normal rate (1 MP per hour) and only one item in a certain radius will regenerate. It may be manually recharged at will.
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New Quest unlocked: “Ritual Beginnings” — Lead and complete a total of three different arcane spell rituals involving 12 or more, of a final caster level 15+. ● Rewards: 7 exp in [Wizard], Ritual Cast+1, bonus rewards for other participants of all three rituals. Plus 2 exp in [Wizard] if each ritual obtains caster level 20+.
Smiling, Sammy placed the sapphire at the center of her belt, which fused to it and locked it in place instantly. She inclined her head to the gathered. “Thank you, all. Well done.”
They bowed in response, and Ash replied, “It was my pleasure, Your Majesty.”
“Everyone, be ready for more of these sorts of rituals. I gather most of you acquired quests, too. If not, you’re about to. I charge you all to join me in more and study to do so to the best of your ability. We will build on this beginning and you will prove your power to this end. Gain knowledge, coordinate, conspire, and develop your mana pools. Capice? Everybody now!”
“Capice!” came a chorus in answer.
“Okay! Now then — rest up and recharge, my Sparrows.”
Ash had quickly gotten more plugged into Sammy’s realm, eager to communicate with so many promising agents despite her prior warnings about information leaking about who she was. That was generally kept mysterious. But it was clear that Ash could not resist the knowledge dangling at her fingertips.
Despite that the man had been essentially an enemy not long ago, Ash knew of Zephyr and had been almost a fangirl in her excitement to work with him. They were fast ‘mind space’ comrades and Ash was soon thereafter adopted into the Brain Trust.
It turned out that Ash had not really even heard about the more recent events related to the Dominion, all happening when she was on the run and ignorant. She had much to say on the True Sage and such matters.
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“It is nearly catastrophic,” Ash sent to her in a bubble of excitement and various conflicting, disturbed feelings. “His Hon- er, the Sage, to do so much so far from the Dormancidia — he’d consider that a vile and terrible waste. What has been described to me is essentially not even worth Inquisitor One’s life in what is known of the Sage’s praxis and outlook. Recall that he was not there to save a far better leader when he faced Redberry. It is odd that he was so desperate to have a contingency for Inquisitor One. It just doesn’t line up with my assessment of him.”
“The Dormancidia,” Sammy mused. “This is his big inverted pyramid?”
Ash was shocked. “You know about that? Well. Not technically correct. The Dormancidia can be considered the bottom portion. Or top, depending on how you look at it. The structure as a whole is simply known as Below. It is mostly shrouded in mystery, even for us. The Inquisitors. Most of us. I wasn’t high enough to know about the inner secrets.”
“I saw the structure from the spirit realm. It looks… formidable.”
“Unassailable, essentially. It has accessible, protected paths from the topmost portions because some souls do come and go. It is said none go without being changed, and past the uppermost level, you cannot return… you, anymore.”
Sammy had an involuntary shiver. “If I know anything about Big Bads, I have to think his bosom buddy understudy got sent for torture down there or something for his failure.”
Ash seemed to take a moment to consider this. “The Sage doesn’t make such decisions lightly. The further down, the more risk of twisting someone into a far less-useful husk. While it is said his arts are perfection, people are not, and react differently to alteration. Essentially, he has never been able to make it an exact art. But perhaps the extent of failure would warrant it. It seems likely he will be a threat, regardless. Based on the vision with Orswyth. Something we’ll need to prepare for, obviously.”
Sammy was amused. “The Brain Trust has been quick to get you up to speed, hmm? Good. I need you. Another thing that vision showed was Big Daddy Sage holing up and not participating even up to his damnable front gates. For some reason. What do you make of this? Why did that happen? Did I punch the shark’s nose in that reality somehow?”
“Maybe, maybe not. I think he led you by the nose into a simple trap culminating into what the Sage of Truth did. He baited you and made you think you were winning. The True Sage prefers to use the least energy possible to accomplish something. He’ll lose an infinitude of battles to accomplish whatever his agenda is. Which is not necessarily clear, which is why I don’t say ‘to win the war.’ ”
Ash took a moment for a deep breath. “It’s vital to understand what history we are aware of in regards to him. To conquer all the lands he did and slay their gods required great sacrifice and cost, in the end essentially destroying his body from what it endured, not to mention the malus of time itself. To save himself and attain true immortality, he became reliant on his construct, which is partly made up of and fueled by hordes of the heroic dead in preservation sarcophagi. What exactly he is, I don’t know. A lich? Perhaps. An inversion of life in some way. The ultimate Undead, his soul fully preserved. Or transmuted.
“Realizing he could no longer do it all alone due to the limited resources that were even worse with distance, he aimed to build up his sagely society in power and work through them. Failed experiments and false hopes abounded. The most promising was the late Sage of Truth, poured into over centuries of preserved life. A second age of conquest began his reign. The borderlands, the west, and northward, too. The northeast. The Pine Coast.
“But he failed in the disastrous invasion of Valuwei after multiple attempts and failed abysmally against the minotaurs. The Sage almost lost all hope. He was taken Below, presumably the deepest of the upper levels, and modified. Success was mixed and he likely lost too much of himself. He became fearless and ruthless. He went over the mountains to conquer the Southlands.
“It started off successfully in the cities but floundered in the wildernesses, especially the swamps. The rest you should know. He went after Redberry, who was wounded by him but managed to still best him. I am very familiar with the analysis there. He could have prepared himself much better, or simply have stuck to a slower, more logical attrition without risking himself. Most claim it was hubris that killed him. I think it was a lack of fear and self-preservation.”
Sammy digested the little nuggets of intel. Lots of things she knew, some she kind of knew, and some of it was new new. “So the True Sage had to cut corners to be immortal, eh? Interesting.”
“As you might guess, he attained incredible power. The development of [Entropy] was the penultimate of this, but its costs were terrible on the flesh. He spent centuries in relative seclusion keeping death at bay, and then finally beating it. Seclusion and questing, I suppose.”
“Selling what was left of his soul, more like.” After a pause, she asked, “I actually don’t know entirely what the Sage did after the Redberry situation.”
“The Sage retreated from everything and everyone after the death. He was disappointed in the entire society, and his protege, such as he was, had been the last thread of his hope. He went to sleep in seclusion, to torpor, and his famous last words to Central were that we had no potential and were worthless.
“As I understand it, in the process, he withdrew most active avenues to avoid the Spell of Forgetfulness and deepened its global bite, dooming the greater civilization to decline. Why exactly, I’m not sure, though it would seem petty nihilism. Those connected to Central still had some default protections, and the more powerful sages had their own means. Most who analyze the matter are dire about the long-term consequences to society, however.”
“Holy fuck, that explains a lot. A bunch of old men suddenly getting older! But then… ugh. I think I maybe woke him up with my reality fuckery. Don’t ask, by the way.”