Spellcraft

This encounter story follows the Battle Mage, Mordred, as we use the Spellcrafting example (from the previous post) to show how Weaving Magic works.

The build for Mordred uses Elf with the Dorsimar Heritage, the class is a 4th level Wizard, and the background is Noble. Mordred has a few spells selected (and a wide array of spells in his own spellbook) but for the purpose of this encounter, he’s been running behind on his studies. The encounter is against another mage who has been giving him grief the last few days. The vampiress Lilian and the Knight of Atheil, Variel, are with him but they’re busy with the goons Karil Tresio hired to protect him. The town of Olimor, a border town between Vlakenshe and Joryngard, has been under his threat for a while when the three came into town. Variel had wanted to bring justice to the goons Karil brought, but Karil focused on the Dorsimar.

Variel fired another shot at the brute, this time bringing him down. Lilian had disappeared into the shadows again, but the short screams gave her position a way. Kind of.
“Just get rid of him, I’ll hold his guard off, Mordred!” Variel nocked two more arrows, letting one loose. Mordred cursed and ran up the stairs into the longhouse. One guard was standing to the right of the door, ready to swing. Mordred slid under the blade, bringing his hand up and, with his will, pushed. The magical burst knocked the guard onto his back. In one fluid motion, Mordred stood and stabbed the guard in the gut, taking him out of the fight. Mordred sensed the guard behind him move, but Karil barked out an order.
“Let him in. Afterall, he is just one man. Go help those idiots I hired finish of the other two.” Karil was sitting on his throne, looking bored. The guard hesitated, but when Mordred made no motion towards him, he ran.
“So, Boy. Think a foolish prince can take on a true Lord?” Karil began laughing, and stood up, weaving magical energy around himself. Mordred’s eyes could see the magic weave into a protective barrier. “Yes, I know who’s your mother, does that make you think you can take on a real mage?” He began laughing.
Mordred didn’t wait for him to continue his villainous speech, charging up to the man. The barrier around Karil was more of an armor, a traditional spell used by mages for generations. Instead of trying to pierce the magical armor, Mordred feinted with his sword, making a false slash, which Karil easily dodged out of the way, preventing him from seeing the hand gesture of gathering the magical aura, saying a phrase in his mother’s language, and spreading the curse across the magical armor. When the two magical energies interact, the armor flashed, turning into a pack of illuminated wolves that scatter. Karil looked surprised by the event, and tried to blast Mordred with a bolt of magical energy. Mordred dodged and, running his hand along the flat of the blade and with a single word, electrified his weapon. A spirit rises out of the electricity, forming into a fox. Mordred, realizing his luck is running out, takes the advantage and swings at Karil, now distracted. The sword strikes against the metal sheathe Karil has on his belt, electrifying the lord. The fox, taking advantage of the distraction, leaps onto the lord’s chest and bites, lighting coursing through the lord.
Karil screams in pain and scrambles back. He steps onto a circle and chants a few words. A light starting at his feet spreads around the circle, and occult runes begin glowing. Mordred curses and throws a bolt of ice at the target, putting more effort into this spell to stop the conjuration. The bolt streaks across the battlefield and impacts against Karil, forcing him to stumble. The energy of Mordred’s bolt interacts with the magic of the conjuration circle, and a portal opens up. Karil screamed as he fell through, pseudopods grabbing the mage and dragging him back. The portal then implodes, collapsing part of the longhouse.
The spirit looks to Mordred for a moment, and he could sense approval. The spirit dissipated. With a sigh, Mordred turned to leave, when the doors busted open. Variel and Lilian had weapons raised, a snarl on Lilian’s face and cold determination on Variel’s.
“Hey guys. Problem solved,” Mordred said, and they hesitantly lowered their weapons.
“Did you kill him?” Lilian asked, and before she got an answer she proceeded to look for a chest or safe.
“I didn’t directly kill him. He fell into his own portal,” Mordred shrugged. “But he probably took his book with him, so there’s that. Did the guards give you trouble?”
Variel shook his head, “luckily no. Did you at least offer redemption?”
“He wouldn’t shut up, and insulted Renia,” Mordred walked to a shelf on one of the walls.
Lilian exclaimed excitedly, drawing the attention of the other two. When she came out of the bedroom, she was carrying a chest. She set it down and opened it, revealing coins and jewels.
“Well, he was stealing. And murdered a bunch of people, why not take a small fee?” Lilian asked. She got a glare from Variel and sighed, “Fine. We’ll try and return these to the people.”
Mordred shook his head and began searching for materials or scrolls, notes or journals. Bastard must have had something Mordred could use.

The story proceeds with them finding a letter from a Tiberan official who had been backing Karil, which proved that members of the Empire was corrupt and trying to gain more political power northward. Looks like more work for the three later.

While I was writing this story, I had made a few dice rolls, to help me narrate this story. The rolls were Mordred’s Spellcrafting, and as you can see, he had quite a few side effects. That is because every time I rolled his Spellcrafting using Pathfinder Second Edition, they ended up Critically Succeeding. Which, by my own Spellcrafting rules, resulted in a random magical effect. First was the curse, which not only was a critical success, but had the Unexpected result. The next, his Lightning Enchantment spell summoned a friendly spirit. The last one, the Ice Evocation spell, came up with Unexpected again. The summoning spell was a perfect excuse to create that completely random effect, though in your own games, you could just have a bonus or negative effect occur. I like to try and make things narrative, though the Magical Side Effect table can be removed or only used sparingly, though I had a lot of fun using these effects.

Next on my laundry list of posts, I’ve got some skills I’d like to share for ARS, so be sure to tune in tomorrow!