> Name: Zerithon “Zeri” Attalus, born in Aegonisia, the Islands of Illuminated Skies and Hungering Seas
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> Classes: {Tier 0 Aleamancer} {Tier II Blade} {Tier I Scribe} {Tier III Spy}
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> Cantopendiums: {Tier I Bleakwater Ascend – 100 points}
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> Gear: {Tier I Basic Aegis} {Tier I Basic Horarium}
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> Description: A young man skilled in infiltration and impersonations. Deep undercover in a foreign land, he has unearthed a plot to destroy his homeland, but he fears he is too late to stop it.
Zeri awoke in a fit of coughing, tasting sandy grit on his tongue. Saltwater stung his eyes, and he wiped at his face with a hand no drier than the rest of his waterlogged body. He groaned as he slowly lifted his head, the disorientation making his vision swim.
Despite the relief he felt at being alive, Zeri's body was wracked with pain. He winced at the soreness that seemed to permeate every inch of him. Struggling to his feet, he tried to get his bearings. His shaggy hair dripped in his eyes, and he could taste blood on his lips, a reminder of the treacherous sea battle that had shipwrecked them here.
Hearing came back to him slowly, the pounding of his heartbeat transmuting into the crashing waves, and finally, the sounds of battle around Zeri. The air was thick with the ring of clashing steel and the shouts of men as the pirates battled against monstrous water serpents that writhed and coiled around them. The beach shook beneath his feet as the creatures thrashed about, the spray from the ocean misting his face as he watched the fighting unfold.
“Dammit, Zerithon. The crew is getting eaten alive here,” Malik said as he also wiped sea spray from his half-merfolk features. “Haven’t you ever seen an aleamancer’s gear set before?" he asked, waving to the satchel at Zeri's feet. "Get that aegis on your wrist and the horarium around your neck and start casting some spells before we become fish bait.” Drawing his hook-pointed cutlass, Malik darted off to slash at an advancing razormaw serpent, leaving Zeri to figure it out card caster magic.
Zeri had seen aleamancers work before, but he had never considered the actual logistics of it. Like all the jobs he had impersonated as a spy for his kingdom, he knew there was much more to it than wearing the right outfit and saying the correct phrases. Tone, posture, and movement were the keys to good acting. How was he supposed to pretend to be a card caster? It had to be more involved than the deck simply resonating with him.
The shipwrecked pirate crew of the Siren’s Lament were fighting valiantly on the beach. Zeri could see them between the surges of seafoam as the serpents attacked from the shallows. The serpents were easily the length of a horse-drawn carriage, but with mottled blue scales and many, many more sharp teeth. Along with their fangs, they spit globs of acid and lashed at the crew with their sinuous tails. Several pirates were knocked off their feet by a giant wave. They cried out as the undertow drew them towards the monsters’ sharp fangs. Eventually everyone would be devoured if they stayed on this narrow strip of sand. The rocky cliff behind them blocked any chance of escape.
Zeri decided that pretending to be an aleamancer could not further increase his chances of dying. Everything had turned decidedly grim after they had been shipwrecked on this rocky speck of land. In their current situation, no smart gambler would place a bent tinshill on this crew living to greet the dawn.
He fumbled with the leather band of the aegis, awkwardly buckling the rune-scribed disc above his bandaged left wrist. The light around him shimmered as a protective shell enveloped him. The ten stones circling the aegis glowed with the same pale light. While Zeri had only seen an aegis used in a dueling arena, the theory was the same. It should protect him for damage for as long as the stones remain lit. Once the power of the ten stones was depleted, the warding magic would fail. It was not a reassuring thought.
Pushing back his hood, Zeri tugged the chain of the horarium over his head, briefly snagging it on his dark hair. The hourglass relic slid down and rested against his sternum. Same as the aegis, he could feel a comforting warmth emanating from it. It was a stark sensation against the chill of his sodden robes. He could also feel the horarium’s hunger. It was attempting to draw elemental energy from the environment to condense into magical ink.
This was the power source aleamancers used to cast their spells. The ink activated the spell script on the card when it was drawn from the spell deck. Elemental essence could not be used directly on spell scripts. Same as with other magical items Zeri had seen, atramentum, or refined elemental ink harvested from the environment, was required to activate it. Otherwise, the item was damaged or destroyed, often with catastrophic results. This made syphoning relics like horariums useful and highly valuable.
Through the horarium, Zeri could sense the elements swirling strongly around him—water from the churning ocean, earth from the looming cliff, and light from the several moons overhead. Concentrating on the horarium, he focused on drawing water energy into the relic. The elemental water spiraled into the top of the hourglass-shaped relic. To Zeri’s surprise, it held much more elemental essence than the tiny thimbleful he assumed it would contain. The water was drawn into a small whirlpool, then sucked down into the center of the horarium.
Long moments ticked past as Zeri waited for the horarium to refine the water essence into atramentum. As he fumbled for the deck of cards in his pocket, he tried to ignore the sailors’ screams punctuated by the shrieking of the sea serpents. Malik was shouting, trying to organize the crew so they could eliminate the monsters one by one.
Finally, a single drop of magical ink dripped into the bottom chamber of the horarium. The atramentum hovered in the relic, the deep indigo color nearly black in the moonlight.
Zeri took a deep breath and drew a card from the deck. He prayed to all thirteen gods of chance that he did not blow himself up attempting to cast a card spell.
> {Bleakwater Soldier – Humanoid Summon Spell – Level I}
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> {Casting Cost – 1 Luxine/Umbral/Marinus Ink}
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> {Power – 1 (phys)} {Armor – 1 (phys)} {Health – 2}
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> {Special Ability – Absorb – Bleakwater Soldier can ignore the first point of damage each turn.}
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> {Ascend – 2 Luxine/Umbral/Marinus Ink – If Bleakwater Soldier has taken 1 or more damage, this summon can ascend to Bleakwater Stalwart. Gain 1 Power (phys), 1 Armor (phys), and 1 Health.}
Tapping the horarium with a finger, Zeri imagined the drop of ink passing into the Breakwater Soldier card in his hand. Much to his surprise, it flowed easily and suffused the card script. The silvery etchings filled with indigo ink as the atramentum activated the spell script.
The Bleakwater Soldier was summoned in a swirl of watery ink. It was not a real person, but a construct. Basic level spells like this were featureless. Zeri had always thought of them as magical puppets. This one wielded a sword and had a small buckler attached to its arm. Behind its silvery helm, its face was a shadowy blank.
A razormaw lashed out with its tail, knocking Captain Takhepa off her feet. “Attack that serpent,” Zeri commanded the soldier. Obeying him, the puppet-like soldier rushed the monster and slashed at it with its sword. The razormaw squealed as the sword cut through its scales. It snapped back with sharp fangs, but the soldier deflected its attack with its buckler, absorbing the first part of the damage. Circling the beast as it thrashed in the shallows, the Bleakwater Soldier followed up with another swing. It hacked at the ragged patch of scales exposed on its sinuous neck. The razormaw’s tail lashed the water, churning it into a red-tinged froth. Before the serpent could gather a powerful wave to topple its relentless opponent, the Bleakwater Soldier shattered the remaining scales. Its follow-up stroke lopped off the razormaw’s head.
Captain Takhepa climbed to her feet and limped out of range of the remaining serpents’ teeth. “Good work, little book man. Can you make more of them?”
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Zeri grinned at her through the beginnings of a headache. “Let’s see what other tricks I’ve got up my sleeve.” He had not died from a backfired spell, much to his relief. The summoned spell had actually slain one of the monsters. A slim hope bloomed in his chest that they might somehow survive.
Drawing the next card from the deck, Zeri’s smile quickly faded. How am I going to be able to cast this? he wondered.
> {Spawn of Corju – Monstrous Summon Spell - Level I}
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> {Casting Cost – 4 Umbral/Marinus Ink}
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> {Power – 3 (phys)} {Armor – 2 (phys)} {Health – 5}
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> {Special Ability – Grasp– Spawn of Corju may grasp target opponent at the start of each turn. Target opponent cannot escape or leave the battlefield. Spawn of Corju deals 1 additional point of damage to grasped opponent each turn.}
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> {Ascend – 6 Umbral/Marinus Ink – If Spawn of Corju has grasped 1 or more opponents, this summon can ascend to Corju, Risen Horror. Gain 3 Power (phys), 2 Armor (phys), and 5 Health.}
The drop of ink Zeri had used to cast the Bleakwater Soldier had returned to the horarium, but he needed two more refined water or dark essence if he wanted to cast the Spawn of Corju. He started refining a second drop, drawing elemental water into the top of the relic. He wished he had begun the process sooner. Clearly being a good aleamancer meant focusing on more than one thing at a time.
As he waited, Zeri commanded the soldier to attack the next razormaw. It was the one Malik was rallying the pirates to attack en masse. Their swords were not effective against the serpents’ tough hides, but once the Bleakwater Soldier knocked off some scales, the pirates’ blades began to draw blood.
A second indigo drop joined the first in the bottom chamber of the horarium. They did not combine, but instead orbited around each other like drifting moons. Zeri immediately began drawing in enough water essence to refine a third atramentum droplet.
The Breakwater Soldier was resilient, but it was only nullifying part of the damage from each razormaw’s attack. It was limited with its two health. Zeri worried what would happen if it took enough damage to destroy it. The pirates would be overrun. Remembering its ascension ability, which seemed to make it a more powerful version of itself, Zeri channeled the two drops into the summoned soldier. The watery ink surrounded it, soaking into its form as it transformed. Its sword changed into a spear, and the buckler grew into a large tower shield. The silvery armor it wore deepened to indigo, and a crested plume topped its helm.
> {Bleakwater Stalwart – Humanoid Summon Spell – Level I – Ascension I}
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> {Casting Cost – 3 Luxine/Umbral/Marinus Ink}
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> {Power – 2 (phys)} {Armor – 2 (phys)} {Health – 3}
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> {Special Ability – Absorb – Bleakwater Stalwart can ignore the first point of damage each turn.}
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> {Ascend – 3 Luxine/Umbral/Marinus Ink – If Bleakwater Stalwar has taken 1 or more damage, this summon can ascend to Bleakwater Captain. Gain 1 Power (phys), 1 Armor (phys), and 1 Health.}
The pirates cheered as the soldier transformed into the Bleakwater Stalwart. It raised its tower shield, deflecting a vicious attack by one of the two remaining serpents. The metal squealed as the teeth skated across its surface. The razormaw shook itself off and reared up, frills and spines flaring. If its bite attack could not break the summoned stalwart’s guard, it was going to try a different attack.
Zeri’s ink drops had refreshed along with the third one he had started condensing. Seeing the serpent ready another attack, he drew another card from the deck. He did not have enough drops yet to summon the Spawn of Corju, but maybe there was another spell he could cast.
> {Ward of Bleakharbor – Instant Utility Spell – Level I – Ascension I}
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> {Casting Cost – 1+ Luxine/Umbral/Marinus Ink}
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> {Effect – Bestow Aegis – Target an ally on the field. For each point of ink used to cast this spell, Ward of Bleakharbor will transfer 1 point of warding from the casting aleamancer’s aegis to the target. The effect of this spell will be canceled if the aegis is destroyed.}
The serpent spat a glob of glowing green acid at Malik, who was harrying it from the side and slashing at its coils. Zeri cast the Ward of Bleakharbor spell, using all three of his marinus ink drops. The glow of the aegis flickered. Three gems along its circumference dimmed as a similar glowing barrier surrounded the pirate. The acid splattered against the magic ward, sizzling as it slid into the seawater. Malik roared in momentary triumph and redoubled his attacks. His hook-pointed cutlass sliced into the serpent’s scales.
Temporarily thwarted, the razormaw edged away from Malik, seeking easier prey, but the stalwart’s tower shield was waiting. The Bleakwater Stalwart blocked the serpent’s bite and followed up by jabbing its spear into the large eye. Shrieking, the serpent jerked away, exposing the thinner scales along its belly. The pirate crew swarmed in, their sabers and cutlasses biting into the sea monster’s flesh, turning the surf into a bloody froth.
Meanwhile, Zeri remembered to guide the horarium to refine and refresh more ink. With the four indigo drops he now had available, Zeri decided to cast the Spawn of Corju. Instead of summoning it next to him like he had done with the soldier, he summoned the monster further down the beach, placing it between the pirates and the single remaining razormaw. This razormaw was larger, sporting a frilled mane thick with spines. As is shrieked, it flashed rows of blade-sharp teeth.
The sailors shouted, but unlike the cheers for the soldier’s arrival, these were shouts of alarm. The summoned seaspawn was hideous, truly a horror of tentacles surrounding a vast, shark-like maw. Captain Takhepa yelled at her crew to hold fast, but it was like trying to turn back the tide. The razormaws made sense to them—little fish get eaten by larger, hungry fish. But the seaspawn was a risen horror from the ocean depths. They were mysterious and destructive, sometimes drifting by a ship’s hull, and other times wrapping their tentacles about it and dragging the ship down to the sea floor. Being eaten was a more merciful death than drowning or crushing strangulation.
Fortunately, the Spawn of Corju did not pursue the fleeing sailors. It faced the oncoming razormaw elite, tentacles wide stretched like a living net. As the two monsters clashed, it used its Grasp ability to lock itself onto its target so that its opponent was unable to flee the battlefield. The sea serpent shrieked, first in fury that it was held in place by the web of tentacles. But its shrieks escalated to terror as the spawn opened its sharklike jaws and began to feed. The sands turned dark with blood as the razormaw was devoured by a creature more terrifying than anything the pirates had faced.
The final serpent grew silent and still, but the sea spawn continued to consume it. Zeri worried what would happen when it was finally done with its meal. Had they traded one deadly threat for another?
“Don’t just stand there, Zeri.” Malik said as he jogged up the beach. His shoulder was shredded by a razormaw’s sharp teeth, and blood leaked from under his eyepatch. The spent badges on his vest looked like empty black buttons. All of his combat abilities were drained. Despite his wounds, the pirate had fared better than many of his crew, who were nursing worse grievous injuries and missing limbs.
“What am I supposed to do now?” Zeri asked. He regretted knowing so little about aleamancers. But to his defense, he had never planned on impersonating a card caster and fighting a real battle.
“Unsummon it. Dispel it.” Malik pointed his cutlass at the spawn’s squirming tentacles for emphasis. “Just make it go away before it starts looking for something else to eat. I didn’t survive becoming dinner for a serpent just to end up as dessert for a damn seaspawn.” Malik said the words with such loathing that Zeri wondered if the merrow was a spawn hunter instead of a pirate. He seemed to hate them more than he feared them. Even seeing the occasional one as a child in Aegonsia, Zeri found them unsettling, but he didn’t hate them.
The monster had eaten halfway through the razormaw’s corpse already. The crew would not be harvesting anything from that one’s remains. Some powerful beasts left behind an eidolon, or spirit reflection, of themselves when they died. These eidolons could be harvested and used as materials or sold to such craftsmen. Sometimes eidolons could be fierce and attack even after their physical body was slain.
But more pressing than a spirit rising from the sea serpent was how to dispel the Spawn of Corju. Even seeing this larval version of a water horror up close would haunt Zeri’s nightmares for weeks.
The Bleakwater Stalwart was still standing among the fallen bodies of the other sea serpents. Blood-tinged foam swirled around its greaves. Most pirates had retreated to the edge of the cliffs to treat the wounded. Now that the immediate danger had passed, a few were scattered about the shoreline and were scavenging for supplies from the shipwreck.
With a thought, Zeri ordered the summoned the stalwart to come to him. His headache had grown to a throbbing pain behind his eyes. He ignored it as best he could. As it drew closer, he was able to see the damage it had taken. The shield was dented, and its armor was tattered like it had been nibbled by metal-eating moths. It waited, puppet-like and empty, without any expectations. If it did not receive another order, it probably would stand on that beach like a statue until its magic faded.
But Zeri had to figure out how to make the magic disappear. While they might be able to do enough damage to the stalwart's body to dispel it, he had no desire to try the same on the seaspawn. It would quickly kill whomever it grasped with its tentacles.
Through the horarium, Zeri sensed the drops of indigo ink that had forged and fueled the spell. The atramentum swirled through it, vaguely following the lines of the spell. He reached out, both with his half-formed magical senses as well as his hand, pulling the ink drops towards him. It resisted, flowing around his magical grasp like the elemental water from which it was refined. He squeezed his hand shut, and the resistance gave way. The magic flowed back to him, first the two drops that had ascended the creature into a stalwart, then the single drop that originally summoned the soldier. It flowed back into the horarium, and the soldier faded away.
He could feel the drops slowly orbiting in the bottom of the hourglass, magical potential waiting to cast another spell. It was a strangely empowering feeling. This must be why all the aleamancers Zeri knew about were all arrogant jerks. It could twist a person’s outlook on the world to have feeling of limitless potential hanging from their neck.
Zeri rolled his shoulders, relieved that absorbing the atramentum back had actually worked. He wasn’t sure how long he could go on pretending to be an aleamancer.