Before Dahlia touched the Pillar of Ascension, she did a little housekeeping with Glimmer points. With the huge stockpile in her possession, she quickly spent four points to bring both her Intelligence and Wisdom up to 10. Even with her spending spree, she retained 21 Glimmer points to spend. It seemed like a lot, until she remembered powerful effects like turning a spell into fey war magic cost ten Glimmer. 21 points seemed both many and so few all at once.
Oh well. The people of Riverwatch could serve as a fertile ground in which to grow her stash of Glimmer. So long as she could control her capricious fey nature, the people of town practically worshipped her as a hero. A few performances with her lute and she’d no doubt gain a couple more points.
The world shifted around Dahlia, as if a filter had been removed from her vision. Her emotions felt more stable, she felt a connection to the world that she previously hadn’t, and the idea of Dahlia felt firmer, as if someone had made a sketch and defined her by it. If the edge definition of her silhouette had been fuzzy before, it now had a bold black border to keep her in shape. None of this made practical sense to her, but she figured she could sort the differences out in time. Changing attributes, it seemed, was no insignificant thing.
Dahlia touched the stone, and the world went black around her.
You must choose a subclass. You meet the requirements for the following Gloamcaller subclasses: Hollowseer, Lamentweaver, Soulshaper.
Hollowseer: Wield the hollow echoes left behind by lost spirits and the void that lies beyond. The Hollowseer specializes in manipulating the fear of emptiness, weakening foes with visions of despair, and draws power from the mysteries of death itself. Signature ability: Void’s Embrace—Surround yourself in an aura of emptiness that saps enemies of strength and resilience.
Lamentweaver: Weave the sorrow and echoes of the departed into a haunting, powerful form of necromancy. Focus on the emotional weight of death, allowing you to channel the raw grief and pain of lost souls as a potent force in battle. Signature ability: Cry of the Departed—Channel the sorrow and unresolved emotions of the fallen into an area to torment and weaken foes.
Soulshaper: Master necromancers dream of the exalted peak of spirit mastery that belongs to soulshapers. Mold and customize your minions, blending artistry with power. Each spirit becomes a unique creation, drawing upon their former lives to grant them extra power, and using Spirit Meld to combine spirits. Signature ability: Spirit Meld—Combine two or more spirits into a more powerful entity, granting the new creation unique traits and increased abilities.
“Soulshaper!” Dahlia proclaimed the moment she saw the ability. Lady Nyxaria had told stories of the Mistress of the Soulweald prior to herself. Lyrindris, the Gloamling Queen and Empress of the Twilight Quintessence had ruled until Nyxaria succeeded her. Lyrindris had been the Soulshaper, originator of the craft and magical path both.
You have chosen the Soulshaper subclass. You have gained the following abilities: Shaper’s Prerogative, Spirit Meld.
Shaper’s Prerogative: Your animations, summons, and conjurations remain under your control and last until defeated.
Spirit Meld: Combine two or more spirits into a more powerful entity, granting the new creation unique traits and increased abilities based on its former life.
You have unlocked level 2 spells. You have been granted the spell Call Spirit Hornet Swarm due to your Acolyte of Nyxaria background.
You may choose an additional 2nd level spell from the following: Call Spirit Ally, Decay and Flourish, Peaceful Rest, Portal Sense, Webbing.
Dahlia stared at the list of spells briefly, but she opted for Call Spirit Ally after she thought about it for a bit. The changes to her attributes had once again altered the way she thought about things. New considerations bubbled through the back of her mind for each spell. Peaceful Rest could allow for the preservation of corpses, which had some possible uses, while a spell like Portal Sense would let her slip into a fey realm easier—or even into another plane.
Call Spirit Ally leaned straight into her strengths—spirits. Decay and Flourish looked tempting, but not as tempting as making more friends.
“Call Spirit Ally!” Dahlia declared with more confidence than she’d felt before. For a moment, Dahlia wondered if the increase in Wisdom would lead her down a path full of hubris. Oh, what a grand tale of folly and arrogance she could write!
You have learned the spell Call Spirit Ally.
You have been granted the racial spell Glitter Bomb. You may cast it once per day without using a spell slot, subsequent casts require spell slots.
Glitter Bomb (1st level Evocation spell): Every object or creature you can see within range of the spell (20 ft radius), except those exempted by you, are bathed in fairy glitter making them easier to find and hit. These items/creatures glow brightly and cannot benefit from invisibility.
You may choose one additional Dark Chorus from the list below.
Deadly Refrain: Your Charisma enhances the damage of a cantrip of your choice.
Distant Verse: Choose one cantrip, your effective range increases dramatically.
Repellant Intro: Choose one cantrip, your cantrip now pushes the target up to ten feet away from you.
Spectral Murmur: When you use Shadowy Whispers you can cause the whispers to carry beyond the targeted creature. Choose up to two additional creatures within 10 feet of the target; they can also hear the whispers, creating a spreading wave of disturbing sounds. Failure to resist your spell grants them disadvantage on their next attack roll.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Soul Rending Lash: When you hit a creature with Soul Lash, you can expend a spell slot to drain life force, regaining hit points equal to half the damage dealt.
Warding Shadows: You gain the Warding Shadows reaction, which allows you to decrease damage taken by you or an ally.
Whispers of Gloam: You can cast Message at will without expending a spell slot.
Most of the options were the same as she’d been offered before, but Spectral Murmur and Soul Rending Lash were both new. Wisp Heal had proven itself to be a great source of healing for herself and others, which Dahlia felt gave a large boost to Spectral Murmur. The more creatures affected by her magic, the less damage she and her minions would take.
“Spectral Murmur!” Dahlia said with a confident decisiveness. It felt remarkably different from the ignorant brashness with which she previously made decisions with. Yet… was it decisiveness, or arrogant hubris? Nah, it couldn’t be that.
“Looks like we’re done again?” Dahlia muttered after a brief stint of silence between her and the voice. The darkness around her faded, and she stood once more in Riverwatch.
Dahlia closed her eyes and inspected her new spells. She heaved an annoyed sigh.
“Where am I supposed to get that stuff?” Dahlia kicked at the air in frustration, causing a few of the villagers to look at her strangely. Well, more strangely than they already were.
“Troubles, little lady?” Griff asked. The forester wore casual work clothes, no doubt helping with either the clean-up of the corpses or working to get the party ready.
“I don’t have the material components for my new spells!” Dahlia whined.
“Well, what do you need? Maybe we can obtain some of it here in town?” Griff sounded dubious.
“Let’s see, I need some crushed moonstone, a small piece of a mirror, lavender oil, a silver ribbon, a tiny piece of thorny wood, and a hornet encased in amber.” Dahlia rattled off the material components to Call Spirit Ally, Glitter Bomb, and Call Spirit Hornet Swarm.
“The only rare one in the list is the hornet in amber, I’d wager.” Griff rubbed his chin while he listened, then nodded along with his own words. “Come along,” Griff said.
Dahlia zipped over to land on Griff’s shoulder. The big forester seemed to pass through crowds without a problem. While everyone knew Griff, of course, it was the fairy on his shoulder that caused the survivors of the raid to part respectfully around him. Why else would they part like a sea before a mere logger? Dahlia’s lips curled into a self-satisfied smile at what was merely the beginning of being shown her due.
Griff took Dahlia a few blocks over to the vendors. One by one, he told the merchants what Dahlia needed—she only had to clarify once! For an axe swinger, Griff seemed to have a keen mind and a decent memory. An old lady gave Dahlia a hunk of moonstone as large as she was for saving the village, while Griff had to dole out five gold for a mere fragment of a mirror and another 6 silver coins for the lavender oil.
“Sorry Griff, all I’ve got is amber without anything in it,” a middle-aged man demonstrated by emptying a small bag of amber pieces onto his table. “Not a lot of demand in Riverwatch for collectible stones.”
“Hmmm,” Dahlia murmured. She landed on the table and lifted the pieces of amber—there were two small enough for her to lift up and examine on her own. “I’ll take this one,” she said. Dahlia lifted a piece the size of her head with some exertion. The piece was small, about two inches big, or the size of a small bird egg.
“With the local hero discount, that’ll be two silver,” the merchant said.
Dahlia beamed at him.
Griff handed over two shiny pieces of silver. Dahlia hadn’t caught a glimpse yet of what was stamped on the local currency. She should probably get more money of her own. Mortals valued money more than ephemeral things. They would even trade power and parts of themselves for money, so if she had enough she could convert it to Glimmer points quite easily. Why did the Glimmer system reward this behavior? It seemed… inciting.
“Hey Griff, where do I get money?” Dahlia asked once they’d left the merchant.
“Most adventurers get money by odd doing jobs and completing extermination requests. Zorah and Joel work as guards a lot. Some go searching old ruins and tombs for treasure. Lord Graystone keeps the employment board updated with available quests for Riverwatch,” Griff said.
“I have to work for it?” Dahlia stuck her tongue out and blew raspberries into the air. “I already have some quests from the voice thing. Is that the same?”
“Aye, that it is lass. Here, let me show you,” Griff said when they entered the Keep.
“Back already? The celebration isn’t until dusk,” Amelia greeted the two.
“Dahlia wanted to see the quest board,” Griff answered as he stopped next to Amelia’s desk. On the wall a large board was full of posted quests. “Here you go, Dahlia. The available quests for Riverwatch.”
“If you’ve received a quest that isn’t on the board, please let me or father know. He checks the Pillars each day for new quests, but sometimes they’ve been assigned after he last visited.” Amelia explained a common problem with the quest system.
There were already copies of the quests Dahlia had on the board, and more besides.
“How do I accept a quest?” Dahlia asked, looking at one of the extermination requests.
“Touch it and say accept,” Amelia answered without hesitation.
“Accept,” Dahlia said after touching one of the extermination requests.
Quest accepted: Exterminate 10 Blighted Twigs. [0/10]
Quest reward: 100 gold.
“Are any of the other kill quests right around town?” Dahlia asked. Sure, she could read all of the slips, but there were so many of them, and she was rearing to go.
“There’s the zombies in the Mausoleum?” Amelia suggested, pointing at one at the bottom corner of the board.
“Kill all the undead in the Mausoleum. How come this one doesn’t have a number?” Dahlia queried.
“We weren’t able to count how many undead were down there,” Amelia answered. “It could be three zombies, or it could be a dozen. For all we know there’s a Wight down there, but I doubt it. The graveyard is fenced in from the outside, so it’d be hard for a wight to get into the cemetery.”
“That was before Ol’ Menes died, Amelia. Without him keeping an eye on the cemetery there’s no telling what kind of no good vermin have scuttled inside during the dark hours. If you take that job, best be prepared for even a Wight, lass,” Griff said. He seemed convinced that the cemetery was a dangerous place, unlike Amelia.
“Accept!” Dahlia cried. She wasn’t afraid of some walking corpse just because it might be smarter than the likes of skeletons or zombies. Dahlia was smart, too!
Quest accepted: Clear the undead from the Mausoleum.
Quest reward: 500 gold, Ol’ Menes Book of the Dead.
“There, now I have something to do until the party!” Dahlia cheered.
Amelia fumbled through her desk and presented the fairy with a fancy silver key. It was nearly as large as the fairy, and Dahlia couldn’t even carry it.
“You’ll need this key to unlock the Mausoleum. Uhh…” Amelia trailed off, uncertain how the tiny fairy would deal with the key.
“Xeras! Be my key bearer,” Dahlia demanded.
“Yes, Mistress,” Xeras answered as he stepped back into the world of Nantes, his wooden fingers easily taking possession of the key.
“Make sure the parties going to be fun, I’ll be back in a few hours!” Dahlia cheerfully waved at Griff and Amelia from atop the head of her Gloamknight, who responded to telepathic command to begin the march to the graveyard.