Magos, prepared! From the first moment I saw a pyre knight in the surrounding area, I had retrieved that niche spell and prepared a Heat Sink, just in case.
As long as I didn’t use a Fire spell, it would have no effect on me whatsoever. Guess who had more than Int 6 and wasn’t going to use a Fire spell against Burning Undead... although I totally could have, just to surprise them.
As a reply to that wonderful surge of attention, and to their utter astonishment, since there were continuous volleys of fireballs incoming now, my Shardrays swirled out. They were cold, holy, and serene, and the pyre knights got the shock of their unlives as my barrage of killing spells was not interrupted in the slightest.
They kept Casting, because there was no reason not to, trying to overwhelm whatever effect was doing that to their fireballs. Alas, the Rules of Magic said that unless their spells were properly Conjoined in Ritual Format, they were all considered separate attacks, and the Heat Sink could eat all of them... even though if there was any realism the total sum of the heat energy it was taking on would have melted the sphere to slag pretty damn quick.
Magical energy’s here-and-gone nature was so fun to exploit at times.
My bombardment of the enemy didn’t stop, and swathes of pyre knights ran up, hit arcs of Chained energy that averaged over 150 points of damage, and went away forever, cryotechnics of vivic whiteness in between the black and molten red of the caldera.
Kills of His servants were rising rapidly, indeed. Now sure, if I was an Eternal Caster, I could have brought out some AoE goodness with some colossal damage, and started killing His little army. But I wasn’t an Eternal and couldn’t; I could only wipe a lot of these bastards in series with octupled-spells in endless series, getting back the ki I used to Cast them as fast as it was spent.
They still drew closer and closer, pounding towards me on their fiery-hooved skeleton horses, hundreds of fireballs still streaking at me, totally filling up my visual field with exploding death that never made it to me.
It was a good thing I could see in multiple spectra. I continued about my remorseless slaughter of them.
Still, I wasn’t going to be able to stop them from getting to me, and I knew it. I was only delaying them and wiping out their advance ranks, which was basically the job of soldiers, so they were doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing.
But, seriously, did these creatures think the only thing I could do was blast them and tank? It had been too long since their boss was in a fight. He probably wasn’t a spell duelist, and both His shooting and His gaze attack were likely special things. If he wanted to try tossing spells at me, he was going to have to get within range.
He probably wanted to Teleport up close and confidently face me at close range. With the huge Health Qi bonus from His minions of being a Shroudlord, it would take forever for me to kill him.
Meh. He was going to learn that denying the enemy options was often far more powerful than just having bunches of them.
Ergo, I just kept at it as they charged in, getting closer, and closer, and closer; dying and falling and milling and forcing their way ahead, an incoming arc of lances all aflame, riders nocking fiery arrows to shoot in mass volleys that would light up the sky with fire, and suchlike and so forth.
A Wind Wall blew up in Arcane Fusion to deal with that last item as they hit the hundred-meter range and released. Arcing streaks of fire went up, came down, and were spun harmlessly away from me by a virtual tornado encircling me, which didn’t affect my own Casting at all.
It even would have worked on their leader’s arrows, but it had been more fun to annoy him.
They were charging in from all directions, multiple layers and angles, only a hundred feet away when I Sang a short, sharp note, and King Gravity on his massive and solemn throne woke up from his dozing, looked around, and grumbled angrily.
Then the Sudden Widened Stillflight Field blew out for two hundred meters all around me, and everything fell out of the sky.
That did include me. But, my Disk slid out of my Masspack and under my feet, Featherweight slowed my fall to a foot a second, and a Gust of Wind started blowing underneath me, up against the bottom of my Disk. I stopped falling, surfing and balancing on the stream of wind from below me.
My Concentration was more than enough to keep the wind going and myself airborne within the Stillflight Field. My balance and lightfoot was more than enough to keep me stable.
I was also more than a hundred yards in the air, and as the hot draft blew past me, all those flying bonemares fell down, down, down.
20d6 damage on impact was enough to blow apart the bone horses, but not their riders. That was fine, because I started filling the area with vivus remnants by simple dint of a Cryoclasm going off even as they were dropping.
It wasn’t that it was a massive amount of additional damage, it was that everything that died was on vivic fire, and they were sitting in the middle of it all. Pyre knights charging in gung ho who didn’t realize what was happening went plummeting down as well, and I took up my Shards and started my volley fire again, adding to their woes.
I now had an open field of fire two hundred meters wide that they could not cross. They could try their arrows, they could toss fireballs (the Heat Sink was now on a chain attached to the loop on it, swinging below my Disk), and if they continued forward, all that they were going to do was die.
Even more fun, I was blowing away the pyre knights in front who could actually see what was going on, so those behind were kind of confused when those ahead started ‘diving’ to the ground, didn’t realize they were falling, and so ran into the edge of the effect and dove down right after them.
It was actually pretty damn funny to watch. Me ripping all sorts of violent explosions in the midst of them, even as they were still tossing endless fireballs my way, was vastly entertaining.
The ground around me, and especially close to the edges of the effect, was soon blazing with vivic fire from the mounds and heaps of collapsed and shattered pyre knights and their steeds.
When the pyre knights finally spurred their mounts to a halt in midair, the instant response of all of them at the same time indicating it was a mass order going out, I just smirked, renewed my Featherweight with no effort, and started gliding forwards on a hot updraft of air... and my Stillflight Field, anchored to me and not set in place, went right with me.
I went in one direction, splitting my targets to expand the vivic inferno below as hapless pyre knights fell from the sky, and a literal wall of them began to drop, unable to help themselves.
Their numbers were packing up thickly, those from the far side of the caldera still racing here, all of which was fine by me. The more of them there were around, the more could enjoy a swift fall to the uncaring slopes of the caldera, away from the fiery lake of blood whose impact they could live through and whose heat might even heal them.
Nope, wasn’t having none of that stuff.
I did NOT lose track of the vector upon which Hastsezini had been coming after me, and didn’t quite move that way, contenting myself with ripping through the hordes of His underlings, my kill counters cycling up, up, up. Ten minutes of combat became the death of over half of His pyre knights, massive numbers of minions hitting the dark magma slopes and burning to death in the vivic inferno that was blanketing a massive area in whiteness, even as the exploding Shardrays scythed down and ripped His servants from His control.
Ah, there He was, with an honor guard of bigger, brighter, more robustly burning undead; some spectral, mostly just bigger pyre knights. Still didn’t know how to make proper armor, which was a plus, and yes, they were undoubtedly much tougher.
I Sudden Topped and Energized my main salvo, while Master Fred Topped his Wrath, already geared for fighting undead, and 9d6+19 or something became +73 and heaped itself on top of my Chained Shardrays with our Eldritch Theurgy.
300+ damage blew through two hundred of His tuff-tuff elite guard, and even the godling or whatever He was paused in shock as His most favored soldiers screamed sepulchral cries and became screaming crystalline white fuel for vivic flames around Him. The unwhite fires overwhelmed and crashed against Him as His servants blew away, surrounding Him in a sea of vivus eating at Him, and generating an outraged cry of pain and disbelief from Him.
That cry grew a little more shocked when I came tumbling over on the wind in His direction, and He and His bigarse not-a-horse suddenly dropped out of the sky.
Certainly His minions could fall, but never Him!
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
And with that, the trap was sprung, and I had Him.
He probably ‘knew’ it, but had never really processed it. Dark Clergy had to remain within connection range of their March at all times. That range is five hundred paces. As long as they can build a chain with connections five hundred paces long, they can keep their connection to their March going, no muss, no fuss. With enough minions, they can control their March from hundreds of miles away, chained through thousands of undead smoothly and completely.
But, if all of their undead are outside that control range, they are seized by the compulsion to return to the control of their master!
My Stillflight Field was six hundred feet in radius. All I had to do was eliminate any living Marchers on the ground, which was being done for me by the fact it was covered in vivic flames, and there would absolutely be no choice: all His servants would have to keep charging in to their doom as long as I could shrink down His control area.
My next two salvoes wiped out everything undead within five hundred feet of His impact point as he hit the ground. As He surged angrily to His feet and started sending fire spells up at me and into the Heat Sink, the entire army of Marchers in the sky surged.
He could feel the loss of His control, but probably didn’t think too much of it... until, unable to hear His commands, but compelled to come to Him, that massive army of undead started forwards.
In a continuous firefall of burning bones, they tumbled from the sky.
I had actually shifted position so I was between Hastsezini and His army, exacerbating the problem, and He just stared in disbelief as He saw His minions pressing forward, falling out of the sky, and me igniting mounds and mounds of undead that were growing and stacking higher and higher by the second.
Knights and mares crashed upon one another, more vivus exploded as they came apart, and I even erected a couple of Walls of Icefire in the middle of the hills they were falling in, just to add to their misery and kill them all even faster.
He finally realized He was the cause for their behavior, and started to run forwards, trying to get in contact range of them, tell them to stop coming forwards, get down on the ground, anything to stop this!
He slammed into the Wall of Force I put up around Him, and then I dropped the Wall of Icefire right on top of him to give him something to think about.
It is REALLY hard to concentrate when you are taking 90 points of damage a round. His howl of agony as sacred, vivic, and freezing energies ripped at Him made the entire caldera shake with His link to it.
I stood there in midair, Walls of Icefire on the ground raging up to swallow hordes of undead as fast as they were coming down, and I dragged out my Permanent rod-linked Walls from my Masspack, Telekinesis sending them whipping down to touch the ground, get free of Stillflight, and still touching the ground, get dragged across it to fill in another section of undead and get them burning even faster.
Pulling the Blight only took a minute. I wasn’t trying to be careful, after all, and the key entity linked to control of this entire pyromanic network below me was literally chilling underneath me, so I didn’t have to find the center of the place. It was walking around as an Old God!
When the Blight went off and the massive central pull of pyromana came into me, I felt like my heart was erupting in my chest. Druidic Runes raged to life over my heart, my skin turned fully crimson, and Fire was in my blood and veins.
The Ritual of the Burning Heart was complete once more, and I was a creature of Fire.
Oh, and His control of the pyromana network was now chopped up like mincemeat!
The sudden stillness at His severed control was rather startling. It was like the entire world had gone quiet, and was taking a breath, looking around, wondering what was going on as this bastard below lost His status as Firelord.
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Remember that survey back in Chapter 170? Well, guess what? It's on the positive side now.
So, here is part of that, although I won't develop a full chapter to it:
RINGPORN!
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Einz, the Ring of the Ringlord of the Shrouded Earth, the First Ring
Description: Einz was once a plain mithral ring stolen by Elrii Morningdark from her guardian when she left France for America. In reality, the item was left for her to take, as the maker could use it as a scrying focus to keep track of her unerringly without her awareness.
When Elrii died and the Ring was made an Item Familiar and Bonded Ring, its fundamental nature changed and it is no longer useful as such.
Traveler uses Fabricate spells to upgrade the average quality of the Ring, subbing the spell for a day of effort, and so slowly and gradually improving it to a higher level. From its plain mithral beginnings, Einz has now gained micro-Runic inscriptions inside and out, and is dusted with precisely cut diamonds in profound patterns to better channel the magic flowing through him. His gold value is rising accordingly.
As of late October in the story (the chapter of this posting) Einz is not yet truly Sapient, but that will happen soon. He is in the midst of being upgraded to Protection +3, and then will be starting on Indestructible.
Stats
Item Familiar (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/itemFamiliars.htm)
Serves as a Spellbook
Recall 1 Prepared Spell from spellbook or already Cast into an open slot per day.
Re-energize 1 expended Spell Slot from Sorcerer side/day.
Core of Ring Domain/Witch (Force Armor, Protection from Missiles, Protection from Energy, Fireshield, Ironguard). Does not need to memorize these spells as a result.
Can be improved with daily Karma as a Bonded/living item, or improved by Infusing as normal. Wearer does not need the appropriate Item Creation Feat to do so as an aspect of being a nascent Ringlord, but must abide by all other magical item restrictions.
Stores Skill points, and for every 3, grants a +1 bonus (up to +5 max) to a Skill. As of this posting, he is storing 246 points of non-Essential Skills, generating +82 of bonuses allocated between 16 different skills.
If Einz is destroyed, Traveler loses all spellcasting ability until she gains and Bonds to another ring. Her spellbook will move to the new Ring and it will have the Item Familiar abilities, but all magical Infused upgrades will be lost.
As an attended item, Traveler saves for Einz if he is directly attacked. If unattended, he saves as a Level 12 item (+6 to +7), plus his Save bonuses and Stat Modifier.
QL: Initially 26, but has been repeatedly Fabricated and is being refined upwards towards an eventual goal of 40+. Traveler’s Whitesmithing check is +37 at Six, so this is not an issue.
Invested Magical Powers (as of this posting)
Sustain (as per a Ring of Sustenance)
Sacred Protection +1 (+1 Sacred Bonus to Armor Class and Saves, effectively +2 with Traveler’s Trait Favored by Faith)
Luck Protection +1 (+1 Luck Bonus to Armor Class and Saves)
Protection +2->+3 (working on currently) (+2 Deflection Bonus to Armor Class, +2 Resistance Bonus to Saves)
Divination Ward II (Protects against Divination Spells of III or less. A Backup, Traveler normally casts Astral Ward now)
Death Ward (provides immunity to negative energy and death effects, especially undead-based level-draining attacks)
Ki Mastery (Stores 2k; while so storing, -1 to the costs of all Ki expenditures, to a minimum of 1 Ki)
Control Temperature, Personal (Reduces temperature around self only -150 degrees on demand). Used to activate Snowcasting to full power.
Total Ego: 16
Total GP Value: 114,000
Future Upgrades
When Traveler reaches Seven, Sapience (Int 12, Wis/Cha 10). +1 Ego. Skill Points = to Intellect bonus x Caster Level (so, 13). First Skills of his own is Rope Use, used with Cantrips. Semi-Empathic Communication to wearer.
Indestructibility (Cannot be destroyed by anything short of a deity) – 30 days, +2 Ego.
Sapience Upgrade (Intellect 20, Wisdom/Charisma 16) – 15 days: +10 Ego. This also grants telepathic communication to 120’ (cannot speak aloud).
Cast Cantrips (In particular, Snowball, maximizing Snowcasting with every spell) - +1 Ego
Grants Devilsight (See through all Darkness as if it were day) – 2 Ego
Telekinesis at Valence VI, CL 15th (750 lbs) – 90 days, +5 Ego (Ultimate Power)
Gold Value at that time: 326,000
Ego: 37
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Upgrade Sacred Protection to +3 – 48 days, +2 Ego
Upgrade Luck Protection to +3 – 48 days, +2 Ego
Upgrade Divination Ward to Astral Ward VII - +99 days, +5 Ego
Gold Value: 523,000
Ego: 46
Note: Does not violate Legendary Item pricing guidelines, as is merely a culmination of smaller effects.
No Ego Conflict with Traveler, as Einz is her Bonded item. While he has no stated Special Purpose, helping and defending his Magos is his paramount duty, and Telekinesis and Cantrips are the tool he uses to do so, along with the protective power of his Buffs.
If worn by another, has absolute control over whether ANY of his powers are available, as a Bonded Item. As his Ego grows, he could certainly take control of lesser minds if required.
Telekinesis allows him to control up to 15 different items aggregating to 750 lbs (350 kilos or so), and deal out a total of 15d6 of damage by various different attacks, although he has to make a Weapon attack roll at Traveler’s AB and his own Intellect modifier to do so. If he instead entangles something, his modifier is +19 to be overcome, and he can also manipulate shields to grant her a +2 circumstance bonus to AC (as if by Aid Another), or even partial or full cover from certain directions, or even use true Shields on her behalf.
Actions taken by Einz coordinate with Traveler and take place on her turn if she is wearing him (and she never takes him off). If he were on his own, he would roll initiative as normal, with a +4 modifier. Worn or not, he uses her Attack Bonus and his Intellect Stat (total +9) when attacking independently, but her total modifier (+23) when worn.
He eventually gains Skill Ranks in Rope Use, Disable Device, Pick Locks, Perform (drums), and Sleight/Hand at 15 Ranks each, enabling him to contribute in down time and manipulate items for use at range. Using his TK, he can fly at 90’ on his own, and as her Bonded item, he knows the direction and approximate distance to her at all times.
His relationship with Clavus is the elder brother, knowing he is the core to her magic, while Clavus is merely the supplement.
He is particularly looking forwards to Traveler creating more Rings, as he will be able to command their effects if worn on the same hand.
He has no effective relationship with Sleipner other than an admirable and very powerful associate sworn to another, who helps his Master get around, and most of her living associates do not even know he is sentient.
As fits his role as a defensive item, Einz is very protective of his Master, and prefers to remain silent, subtle, and sly in his activities, letting others think his actions are her own. As the Ring of the Ringlord of the whole planet, he naturally dominates any other Ring that he might meet who is not of similar status (i.e., below Artifact level). To anyone who threatens her, he is a dangerous, clever, and implacable foe, with his Telekinesis giving him a range of attack options and trapping abilities, as well as thieving, spying, and similar uses.
He also delights in using his TK to accompany her by drumming, and has a literally inhuman ability to keep a rhythm going steady, not having limbs or brain cells to get tired or bored.
He also really wants to read that Tolkien guy's story and find out what this evil One Ring is all about, and for his master to beat up this Sauron person.