“Be thankful mortals, for I have deigned to grace you with my presence once again!” I joked as I strode into Café Oblivion and headed towards our table.
Derrick made a show of swinging at something by his ear, before finally slapping it and muttering, “Damned mosquitoes, always buzzing around where they, OH HEY MARTY! Didn’t see ya there.”
“Touche.” I chuckled as I plopped down into a seat. “Ugh, I think I deserve a nice bit of cake after poisoning myself for two days. Any recommendations?”
“I’m sorry, I thought I heard something crazy. Are you poisoning yourself in game?” Phoebe asked. “And if so, you want the triple death by chocolate.”
“Yeah, found a nice little ritual to make me almost immune to poison. Two days per five levels, and tomorrow starts the poisoning via Death’s Knell.” I said, looking through the menu before coming up to Phoebe’s recommendation.
“That’s some.” Jon started before I interrupted.
“One second Jon, there’s description of chocolate here that I have to put my full attention to.” I said, before looking back at the menu.
“Just like Phoebe. Oof!” Jon muttered.
The description looked perfect. Three layers of chocolate cake, separated by an orange flavor enhanced chocolate frosting. The top was covered with shavings of dark chocolate as well as orange zest. “Lord have mercy, and please don’t judge me for what I’m about to do to this cake.” I muttered as I ordered it, and dug right in.
“I really hope I haven’t walked in to someone doing things that need to be censored with a cake.” We all turned to see Emily standing there with her hands on her hips. I guiltily wiped chocolate frosting from my mouth, before shrugging and turning back to my cake. Emily could wait.
“Hah! Don’t bother just yet Em, Phoebe is the same way when she gets that kind of cake. Last time I tried to get a forkful of it, she ended up stabbing me.”
“Shush.” Phoebe said, elbowing Jon. “Don’t interrupt cake time, you know how important it can be.”
“So, what brings our illustrious game manager down here in the trenches with the rest of us?” Derrick asked her.
“Some clarification of an email from Marty here. We got in contact with Rycran, and he is all for publicizing the rematch between the two of them. Do you want to do it on the first day or the last day?”
“Last.” I said between bites. “I will keep a few tricks up my sleeve for him, but he can get some hints from the message boards. That’ll make it fair.”
“Very well, we will put out a game wide announcement for the new dungeons. Which reminds me, are the rest of you wanting to go back into your own dungeons? They lowered the limit to three days instead of seven.”
“I probably would, but I need to evolve first.” Derrick said.
“I’m out.” Phoebe answered. “I’m already on a long quest chain, and though I don’t have a time limit on it I still want to finish it as swiftly as possible.”
“I’m in.” Jon said simply.
“Great. How soon should we start?”
“I need at least two more days of training before I can go in.” I said.
“I will need that long to make it back to my village, I assume I need to be there to be transported to the dungeon?”
“Yes Jon, that’s a requirement. And I’m glad that you two can go at the same time. So, in three days the dungeons will open. You will get one day to prepare, but the light siders will also get their own day’s warning. After that, three days of battle. For you, Marty, Rycran’s party will be the first one allowed in on the last day. We will be doing a live stream of it, and placing bets all over the game world.”
“Sounds good. Wil they have all communication cut off? Not that I think Rycran would cheat, he seems like a stand up kinda guy, but I don’t know about his fellows.”
“Yes. All communication except party chat will be cut off, and once they enter the dungeon they will have one minute to get their entire party there. Anyone outside of the dungeon after that initial minute gets kicked from the party to prevent cheating through that avenue. Anything else?”
“Not that I can think of, I’m just excited to get this going again. We are still allowed to play psychological games, right?”
“Of course. Since it is also a second tier dungeon, you will have a blacksmith on hand to forge additions to your traps and any gear you will need. Your food won’t give any bonuses, but any gear you bring will give you boosts. Players, should they manage to kill you, will get drops from you but you won’t lose your equipment.” She said, all business. “Oh, and make sure you sell your first death as hard as you can, as there will be a special drop for whoever manages to kill you.”
“Sounds like fun.” Derrick said. “Any idea what these special drops will entail?”
“I do, but am bound not to tell you. Just say, that it will be fantastic and something everyone will want.” She said with a smile. “Ok, my work here is done, unless you guys have noticed anything you need addressed? Great, I will be around should you need me, and I’m always just an email away.” Once she was gone, we all relaxed just a little bit.
“Huh.” Jon said, commenting on our relaxation. “Guess she still comes across as a boss, no matter how friendly.”
“God, that’s what it is. I like her, she’s friendly but you’re right. It’s the boss aura.” Derrick said.
“So, how goes your quest Phoebe? I heard you mention it to Emily.”
“Pretty well Marty. I’ve gained a few levels, but more importantly got a clue to the first of the Full Moon Kings that was referenced. Unfortunately, I have to head up north.”
“Too cold? And why are you sure it’s the north?”
“Yeah. I hate the cold. But the clue was this: Fur as pale as the full moon’s glow, this stellar creature points to the directional star you need to follow to find him.”
“Sounds like a lovely riddle, but I’m not quite sure how you get head north out of that.”
“Ah, not a fan of constellations?”
“Not really.”
“Ok, stargazing one oh one. There are a lot of creatures that are named in the stars, but one of my favorites has always been Ursa Major, which means Greater Bear. Two stars in that constellation point to Polaris, the North Star. So, basically head north to find the bear with pale fur. I’m heading up there to find a shapeshifting polar bear.”
“Huh, that makes sense. Any other things it could be? Is there a South Star?”
“No, there’s no South Star.” She chuckled. “Just the North Star.”
“Ok then. Sounds like you are in for some fun times. Good luck staying warm. So what about you Derrick, still exterminating bandits?”
“Pretty much. I have half a mind to try and boost my level by exterminating a small town or two, but it would be too much of a hassle. I’ll have to stick with the bandits and wild animals.”
“That’s too bad. You got the worst of the experience detriments, and you can’t even get a major quest line. Have you tried emailing the devs about that?”
“Yep. They said they were working on some quest lines, and making the trolls a little more interactive, but there’s nothing they can do to fix my situation.” We all lifted a glass to his misery, and just relaxed for the rest of the night.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The next morning, I headed out after settling for a ration instead of a meal from Alnoss. I didn’t want to waste the good meal if I ended up vomiting, as I had no idea what the poison would do to my body. Djarleen wasn’t at her store, so I headed down to the barracks and saw her loitering near our training building, keeping company with Shrik.
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” I said as I sauntered up, chuckling as Shrik jumped away just a bit.
“Watch yourself apprentice.” Djarleen warned, narrowing her eyes at me. “I hold your life in my hands for the next few days.”
“Sorry Djarleen, I just couldn’t help getting under Shrik’s skin just a bit.”
“Oh, feel free to do that, just don’t use me to do it. Do you know how long I had to work just to get him this far?”
“You have my word, I’ll leave your relationship out of it.” I said, hand on my heart. “Sorry Shrik, but I need to borrow her for the day. She is the only one with the skill to keep me on the verge of death, without actually killing me.”
“That’s fine Angus, I just wish that keeping people on the edge of death wasn’t in her skill set.”
“Why does that worry you dear? You aren’t thinking of straying, are you? Because you know what will happen if you do.” She smiled sweetly, and both Shrik and I visibly shivered.
“Shrik, I hope you never had any harem fantasies growing up, because if you did you might want to let them go. Yesterday.”
“Nope. Never. Not gonna happen.” He replied, then turned and left at a rather brisk pace.
“Do you really have to terrify him so much?” I asked Djarleen as I made a hole for us to enter, slightly better than the one from the previous day.
“Yep. If he doesn’t fear my wrath more than the enjoyment he gets from straying, then he is going to stray. We can’t have that.”
“I, guess that sounds logical? I dunno, something just seems off but I can’t put my finger on it.”
“Either way it isn’t your problem. Now, sit down here in the middle and enter your meditative state. When you are ready, I will apply the first dose. You must start to counter it immediately; I can’t stress that enough.”
So once more I found myself meditating before being poisoned. It must have been the practice, as I easily slipped into the trance required this time. Something had changed from those first days though, something hard to put a finger on. My mana was still denser, as that had become an automatic response by this point, but still that wasn’t quite it. Did my mana seem to. . .hunger? It almost seemed like a predator, patrolling its area and just waiting to pounce. Then there was an intruder.
On the backside of my left hand, I felt it launch a terrible assault. This was far different from other poisons, and I scrambled to counter it. Hunt it down and destroy it before it could do the same to me. Other poisons had specifics they acted on, but those specifics tended to be clustered in certain areas. This poison ripped through whatever it came in contact with. My mana was on a desperate hunt through a forests floor littered with detritus, trying to find ants that were constantly scurrying about. Once I had the idea to form something akin to a fire break, and completely encircle the affected area, I was able to slowly move forward and study what the poison was doing.
“It’s ripping apart the cell membranes!” I murmured in shock. The little basic biology and chemistry I recalled from high school finally good for something, I watched in fascination as part of me battled to keep it from spreading. The poison was a catalyst, moving from membrane to membrane and literally ripping it apart, but it wasn’t consumed in the process. This left it free to move on to the next membrane, leaving devastation in its wake. The inner portions of the now dead cells served to hide the poisonous agent, but that wasn’t all. It also served as raw materials for a second set of compounds, that were salvaging what they needed to make more of the catalyst that started it all.
Dear god, this poison was the stuff of nightmares. It would exponentially grow stronger the longer it was allowed to act, and even if you managed to cure the part that was slaughtering cells with reckless abandon, it would only come back as the second portion recreated more of the first. No wonder this didn’t have a cure, you would actually need two cures to fix it!
Marshalling all my concentration, I used a portion of my mana to hold the line and prevent further infection while I sent little bits behind the line to ‘assassinate’ the production compounds. Once the factories were disabled, I was able to slaughter through the rest of the problem and gain ground. Eventually I managed to clear my system. I came out of my trance panting, feeling drained. Looking at the back of my hand was a mistake, as several scales had fallen off and I was left with a seeping wound.
“Just under three hours, not bad.” Djarleen commented with clinical detachment.
“Three hours? It seemed like ten minutes!”
“Seriously apprentice? You just survived a fatal dose of the world’s most potent poison, and you complain about how long it took?” Just for good measure she smacked the back of my head. “We are supposed to take a half hour break while you recover, and there is no training to be done during this time. Instead, you will tell me how the poison worked, and what exactly you did to counter it. I can only imagine the fame that would come from finally discovering the cure for this terrifying poison.”
“Poisons.” I corrected, still feeling too worn out to reply in more than a few words.
“Pardon?”
“Poisons. Heh. Heh. There are. Heh. Two. Heh. Poisons.”
“What? That’s, not possible?” She asked, confused.
I held up a finger to stall her, flopping onto my back so that I could rest for a bit, before switching almost immediately to my side for comfort. Damn tail. After a five-minute breather, where Djarleen got increasingly agitated, I continued, “There are two poisons. The first rips through the cell membranes, leaving the innards of the cells alone. That doesn’t matter, as the cell is already dead at that point. The second one sifts through what the first left, and makes more of it.”
Eyes wide, Djarleen must have seen what I saw earlier. “No wonder we could only stall the poison!” Standing and pacing, she was murmuring to herself about how to go about killing the second poison. I tuned her out, happily taking the distraction as time to recover as best as I could. I used a bit of water from a canteen to wash out what I could, grimacing at the stinging sensation. The result was worth it. My wound went from some blackened charcoal ash to a perfect circle of clean, red flesh.
“Ok, ready for round two?”
“I suppose. You aren’t putting it in the same spot, are you?”
“No, I’ll be working my way up your arm. I was expecting a lot more damage to be honest. You did well, Angus.” She said the last bit with a soft smile. “Are you ready?”
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“Yeah.” I replied after taking a breath to center myself. “Go ahead.”
The time it took for me to clear the poison was dropping, as I had a plan of attack and was able to rapidly neutralize the factory part of the poison before returning to mop up the rest. The rest of the day left me with gradually smaller craters moving up a line in my arm, and we had barely gone through any of the poison in the bottle.
“So I’m a little worried here Djarleen.” I mentioned, pointing to the bottles. “Did you order extra poison?”
“No. We will be using both vials of poison tomorrow. You should probably go straight to bed.” She said while staring at me. After it got uncomfortable, I finally capitulated.
“Fine, I’ll go straight to bed after this.” She just smiled a victorious smile, and I headed over to the inn. I kept a cloak over my arm so that Alnoss wouldn’t fuss over it, and decided that it would be easiest to just sleep in the game for tonight.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
“ANGUS! RISE AND SHINE!” Shouting accompanied a godawful racket at my inn door the next morning. I rolled out of the bed with a groan. Having slept rather horridly the night before, I fell flat on my face as my legs got tangled in the blankets. Luckily for me, whoever was at the door heard my spate of cursing. “Looks like you’re up at last. From that thunk, you need to boost your agility. Fear not! Today’s your lucky day!”
Fed up, I flung open the door to see Khaliss smiling at me. “I’ll be down for breakfast in a minute, let a guy wake up.”
“Nope.” He said, grabbing me by the wrist and pulling me out of the room. “No breakfast, straight to training.”
“Damnit, today is really gonna suck.”
“You have no idea.” He muttered, not realizing that I caught it. I followed him through an empty dining room and out into the barracks. Something about the lack of sound made them entirely too creepy, and I found myself babbling to him to break the silence.
“So what’s in store for me today?”
“Training.” He replied, unwilling to give me a detailed answer. Soon enough though we were into the training room, though it had gone through some annoying renovations. Instead of one large room, we were sectioned off into a corner barely the size of a prison cell. The only things of note were a stone stool and table, Djarleen, and a stone pole with an odd contraption on it.
“Sit down, and I’ll explain things. Merely getting scratches aren’t the only ways to poison someone. All of the food on this table here has been poisoned with Death’s Knell. I will put a plate in front of you, and over the course of ten minutes you are to eat it. While that is going, I am hanging this half full poison vial on that stand to your right. The poison will drip down through this sand, before it will flow into your veins. You will have to fight off both avenues of poison at once, and after three hours we will move on to the last part of your training. No time for questions, here we go.”
Khaliss forced me into a seat, which wasn’t too hard considering I was too confused to offer resistance. I got a plate of bread and a glass of water, and started eating mechanically as I struggled to drop into a meditative state. Between my stomach almost immediately cramping and the liquid fire slowly pouring into my arm, I almost didn’t make it. The only saving grace was how the three days of practice I had earlier had trained my system to automatically fight invaders. It was still doing it in a stupid manner, simply throwing itself at the invaders with no strategy, but it was at least able to localize the damage.
I had to let my body fight the injections from Djarleen on autopilot, as my stomach was rapidly deteriorating. I was counting my lucky stars that I hadn’t developed ulcers, as these rapidly developing sores were bleeding and agonizing. I could feel the acid bubbling, and knew belching would come up with far more than just gas. I had to stop eating, as I was retching globs of blood. This, of course, spread the poison up my esophagus, and now my throat and stomach were on fire. I desperately tried to line both with mana to slow the attack, but there was just too much to do. Panic set in. I was holding my stomach in the fetal position, dry heaving unproductively. At this point, I wasn’t going to survive and I think everyone knew it. I concentrated as much shadow mana in the base of my stomach as I could, held it for half a second, and let it fire up and out in a mad gambit to destroy everything I had eaten.
“Aaaaaggggh!” Coughing and spluttering, shadowy wisps of mana blasted out of my mouth and almost immediately dissipated. I laid there for a bit, trying to marshal my mana to fight the poison still in my system. While I was doing that, I took stock of what my shadow vomit had done. The lining of my esophagus was absolutely shredded. And though you couldn’t be hurt by your own mana, there was nothing saying that a poison forced upwards and to the sides of your shadow mana burst wouldn’t viciously erode anything it came in contact with.
“That was most unpleasant.” I joked with a groan.
“Holy shit, he’s still alive.” Djarleen muttered. “Are you?”
“Give me a little bit.” I said as I sat back in the chair. Taking several deep breaths, I tried to get an idea of how to combat poisoning via food intake. I couldn’t just nuke everything I ate with mana, as it would rot it and destroy any benefit I got out of it. Instead I created several half bubbles of shadow mana in my stomach, and let them float freely. I needed something else though, some way to trigger the mana into attacking.
“Djarleen, which one is the most poisonous?”
“The fish.” She immediately replied, but I could tell she wanted to ask why.
“If it works, I’ll fill you in.” Holding my hand over the plate, I started moving it around with my eyes closed. Once I felt a tingle, I stopped and focused on it. What was I feeling? Tingles along my neck. Why? It must be the poisoned fish, as I had finally intentionally set off that danger sense Khaliss was trying to get Inkler to instill in me. I worked hard to clear my mind, leaving only the tingle on my neck and what exactly was causing it.
Sometime later, I felt it. Hard to pinpoint, but I felt an all-consuming hunger. The gluttonous kind, that would never be satisfied. It wasn’t even wanting to eat, just to rip things apart. Destroy everything it came in contact with. Confident I had it, I switched to a different plate, feeling for that resonance. It was fainter, but I found it. Tricky Djarleen, she didn’t put it soup, but I felt it on the spoon on the side of the bowl. I moved along the dishes, finding exactly where the poison was hidden. Each one harder to find, but sharpening my sense of things as I went along. Now that I had the feeling, how was I supposed to counter everything? Could I imprint this feeling into my mana and have it actively seek and destroy it anytime it entered my body?
“I’m going to try something, please don’t start stabbing me with poison until I ask.”
“That’s not.”
“I know.” I interrupted her. “But I think I have what the ritual was wanting to confer on people.” Eyes closed, I focused on the feeling of the poison and that I wanted my mana to hunt that down and destroy it utterly. I started eating the bread, slowly chewing it. As I went along, I felt the reaction from my mana. Any that was flowing through my head started swarming towards my mouth, though it was too slow to get the poison as I swallowed. The mana in my stomach reacted almost immediately, and all the poison was swiftly destroyed, and the rest of the food was left untouched.
“I think I have it, feel free to poison me as much as you want.” I told Djarleen before I really started tearing into the food. Gradually I let myself drift away from focusing on the feeling of the poison. My mana kept up the fight, and I smiled as I felt it start responding to the needle even before it would come into contact with me. I was only part of the way through the poisoned food, but I immediately went to the fish dish. I tilted my head to the side in confusion before I could take a bite. Setting it back down, I scraped off a bit of the breading and examined my food. The more I thought about it, the more that what I was seeing started to make sense. The poison was concentrated in the breading of the fish. The portion of the fish that had touched the breading had started to develop a slightly greyish film, while the body of the fish that I had cut was a gorgeous flaky white.
“Djarleen, Khaliss. Look at this, and tell me whether you guys see a grey film on the top of this fish.” I asked, and both leaned over my shoulder to examine it.
“I do see it. What does it mean?” Khaliss asked.
“Djarleen?”
“Yeah, I see it too. So?”
“So it is important. Think about it, what’s the main difference between plant and animal cells?”
“Their source?” Djarleen suggested with a bit of sarcasm.
“Ugh. No. Plants have a cell wall, animals have a cell membrane. They are completely different. When you poisoned all of these foods, you always injected it into the vegetables or put it on metal, didn’t you? If you had put it on meat, it would have started reacting. Remember, it reproduces itself, but only if it can get to the membrane. The plant walls protect their cells, preventing it from expanding. The fish doesn’t have that protection, and you can see it starting to produce more. I bet if we put a drop of that poison on a bit of meat, it would eventually turn it all into poison.”
“Hmmm, I’ve never heard of these cell walls, but you aren’t the first to put forth the claim that Death’s Knell can only go into plants if you want someone to ingest it. Let’s put your idea to the test.” She pulled out a bottle, dropped a bit of raw meat into it and handed me the vial and one with the poison. “Since you can resist the poison, I’ll let you put that drop into the new vial and cap it. Then we keep it for a week and check it out.” Nodding at her, I did as she asked and carefully transferred a small bit of poison to the new container. Popping a cap on I handed it back to her.
“Very well. I’ll monitor it, and keep notes. Now, are we ready to go back to training?”
“Sure. I’ll take the plunge.” I said, and drained the rest of the vial of poison right in front of them, confident that my mana would protect me. About twenty seconds later, I let out a massive belch. Perhaps I had overestimated my mana’s ability to deal with that much poison right away, but it did a fantastic job fighting it off. I only earned one extra ulcer from it, and it wasn’t even bleeding.
“Damned crazy adventurers.” Khaliss muttered, before waving at the wall and revealing the rest of the training space. Parkour hell was the only way I could describe it. “Since you need some help with agility, you get to run this course. To start, we have the staggered balance beams.” As we got closer, I finally saw what he meant. There were seven balance beams, each only ten feet long. The back of one was even with the end of the previous one, only the first four dogged to the right leaving the last three to dog left, forming a v shape. “You will run along the beams, jumping to the next one while losing as little speed as possible. Fall off, and you get to try it again. Every five times you fall off, you get hit with a spear.”
Walking along, we came to a small tower situated right by the edge of the room. “Part two is the shadow swing. Climb the tower and turn right. See those small rings in the ceiling?” I could see several spaced out through the entire length of the room, and nodded. “Great. You have to take these two stone rings and use them to swing between the ceiling rings until you get to the opposite tower.”
“And just how in the hell am I supposed to do that? There’s nothing connecting them!”
“Like so.” Khaliss pointed a ring in his hand at one in the ceiling, and fired a shadow tendril that connected them. Using that as a rope, he swung out and dazzled me and Djarleen with a fantastic show of coordination. Just before the apex of his swing, he would cancel one tendril and extend the other stone ring to fire another, keeping his momentum and travelling along. Six switches later and he was standing on the new platform. “And that is how it’s done.” He said with a mocking bow.
“Once again, every five failures get you hit with a spear. The next portion you will be competing directly against me in willpower. There are ten pillars with tops angled to the middle. You must stabilize them and jump back and forth across them before reaching the next platform. I will be trying to shift the pillars on you. After that, turn to the right one more time.”
Looking at the next obstacle, I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. There was a sea of pillars of differing heights, and Dragan was standing three quarters of the way across. “The objective is simple. Get past Dragan. Almost anything goes, just pull any lethal blows. Now, you get to try this twice without penalties. After that, the next two completions are going to be with penalties for failure. After that, I will be sitting here with these blunted crossbow bolts that Dharkiss made for us. I will be firing at you randomly. Good luck.”
“Erhrmmm.” Djarleen cleared her throat and gave Khaliss a grin. “I happen to know my way around a crossbow. Mind if I join you on those last runs shooting at Angus?”
“Heh, why I do believe that would be perfect. Angus and I thank you, Djarleen.”
“Why you are quite welcome. Oh, and Angus?” When I glared at her, she smiled sweetly. “I also took the liberty of spreading poison coated needles randomly around the course. Different poisons, different strengths, but none lethal.”
“Why, I’m ever so glad you didn’t choose any lethal ones.” I grumped. “I didn’t know you cared.” As I turned, I felt a thunk in the middle of my back that sent me sprawling on my face. Rolling over, I saw Djarleen grinning.
“Had to make sure I still have the touch. Good luck, apprentice!”
The rest of the day was absolute hell. After the first two runs through, of which I fell almost constantly on the shadow ring swing, I finally thought that I had a safe course planned. Khaliss couldn’t have that, and the second to last balance beam grew random needles on the walkway as I was midair. I landed on a paralysis poison that locked my muscles for only a fraction of a second before I could neutralize it. Though it only locked up my foot and ankle, it was enough to throw off my balance and send me crashing to the ground.
“Did you honestly think I wouldn’t notice you memorizing the course?” Khaliss asked with resignation in his voice. “Seriously, better lay-a-bouts have tried much better plans. I have needles and poisons spread throughout the course, waiting for me to change them at a moment’s notice.” Chastised, I headed back to the beginning to try again. Now I actively fought Khaliss for control of the course, or at least to keep certain areas needle free. While juggling all of this, I also had tried to sense any of the poisoned needles in the course, but wasn’t able to make any headway on that by the end of the day. After my fifth harrowing time battling Dragan while dodging crossbow bolts, I finished the course and finally noticed the return of my display.
“Ok guys, I think the four days have run their course. Mind if I take a break and look at the results?” They all agreed to wait, so I pulled up the notifications.
Ritual Complete!
You have finished the ritual described in the Treatise on Poison Immunity successfully. Though the Drow who originally wrote the books intentionally left out specific steps and information, you managed to persevere and emerge victorious. Your skill gains are summarized below.
Skill
Previous Level
New Level
Bonus
Greater poison immunity
N/A
Mastered
Immune to certain poisons, detailed description below
Essense of Poisons
N/A
Mastered
Can determine if reagents may be used in poisons, can detect and identify poisons you have been exposed to.
Hammerscythe Mastery
Advanced level 5
Expert level 1
Damage increased by 40%, attack speed increased by 25%
Stone manipulation
Advanced level 6
Advanced level 8
Can shape stone up to 30 meters. Mana cost reduced by 20%
Shadow manipulation
Advanced level 6
Expert level 1
Can shape shadow up to 40 meters. Mana cost reduced by 30%
Essence of potions
Beginner lvl 2
Intermediate level 8
Identify major potions
Dodge
Advanced level 6
Advanced level 9
+39% chance to dodge a detected attack
Parry
Advanced level 1
Advanced level 6
+39% chance to parry an attack, damage reduced by 35%
Counter attack
Advanced level 2
Advanced level 6
Counter attacks cause +86% extra damage, +36% critical hit chance
Battlefield control
Intermediate lvl 1
Advanced level 2
Damage received reduced by 32% when controlling the number of enemies attacking simultaneously
Shadowgheist
N/A
Intermediate level 1
Gheist has 50% of your health pool, can independently fight with 10% of your combat skills.
Greater poison immunity
Through rigorous trials, you have trained your body to immediately recognize and counter poisons. This effect is greatest with poisons you have already come in contact with, but you will counter unknown poisons as well. Nothing short of a poison with a divine origin can hurt you.
Essence of Poison
A subskill of Essense of Potions, you are able to identify and isolate poisonous compounds based on the feel of their aura. As an identification subskill, intensive training and knowledge has granted you the opportunity to advance your skill level beyond that of a parent skill. You may also identify any poison you have been exposed to, no matter how it may have been hidden.
Shadowgheist
Intermediate level 1
By solidifying your shadow and overlaying it with an intricate illusion, you have created a ghost of yourself. You must control it directly, but at advanced level and beyond it gains a bit of autonomy. It only has half of your health pool, and at the current level only gains 10% of your skills bonus.
Cost: 250 mana
Duration: 10 minutes
Cooldown: 30 minutes
“Well? Did it work?” Djarleen asked impatiently.
“Yes. Yes it did. I am now mostly immune to poisons.”
“Mostly?” She asked incredulously.
“Well, anything short of divine poison won’t kill me. The reason I said mostly is because I need to be exposed to a lot more poisons in order to recognize them faster. How much would it cost to get a sample of every poison the alchemists guild has? Oh, might as well try and get venom included in that.”
“Hrmph, way to bury the lead on that one apprentice. As to the poisons and venoms, you are probably looking at over 100 platinum for each one.”
“Ouch, that’ll set me back a bit. Do you think it is worth it?”
“Probably not. You don’t interact with any of the nobility, and they are the only ones who really like to use obscure poisons. The lower classes tend to settle things with fists and blades.” Khaliss offered his opinion. “Can I ask though, would you recommend doing this for anyone else?”
“If they do want to go through with it, they need a few things first. Incredible control over their mana, the ability to work through pain, and essence of potions would be a good start. Otherwise they won’t survive the Death’s Knell.”
“Interesting. So, what are your plans now?” Djarleen asked.
“I’m off to bed, then I think I am finally ready to head to the dungeon tomorrow. What do you think Khaliss?”
“It’s about time you. I’ve been itching to try out these new skills against live opponents for a while.” He said with a grin.
“Well then, let’s get to it!” I said, turning and leading the way out. I had a few things I wanted to look up online before entering, the better to mess with player’s heads.