Post by Andy D on Oct 13, 2022 14:50:33 GMT
On Physical Conditioning for Wizards
I’ve spent most of my time in the city. But now Kavel has me visiting Kruger at Strength Corner.
I am not in the least what you would consider a ‘tank’ on the field, and am closing in on my senior years. But, Kavel insists on my conditioning being top notch all the same. As he puts it, “even if you are casting spells from a distance, you need to be able to take a hit. Also, a strong constitution helps maintain concentration on spells. So; you must train your body - also, it is good for longevity.” Master Kavel is far from a polymath, but on the subject of physicality; he is a trusted expert. And with the mention of ‘longevity’ he knew exactly how to sell me on the matter!
On Urgent Adventuring
It was after my workout with Kruger. We had just finished a lovely and healthy evening meal together. The lady Jenna read an urgent note to the people in the Great Hall. The proprietor of the Gilded Mirror, Mr. Leocanto needed urgent help at his new restaurant. It was a relatively short walk back to the city. However, Jenna considered the matter's urgency, and so teleported a selection of us adventurers over to the Gilded Mirror, which she was familiar with.
Two blocks away from the Gilded Mirror, there was a gathering of disgruntled restaurateurs outside Leocanto’s new establishment, Multiclass. The Half-Elven bard, Leocanto managed to reassure his patrons that whatever had caused the evacuation of his restaurant would be taken care of by the summoned adventuring party. The patrons soon dispersed and the staff were given the rest of the evening off. We, the adventurers, then entered the invitation-only establishment, and got to work in exploring what, on face value, appeared to be an active curse.
On Adventuring Work and Solutions
Purging with fire was the solution proposed by Master Nakia, the tabaxi monk. This was a potential solution if all else failed, I supposed. Mr. Leocanto was understandably against this idea, and he voiced a curious view on how building insurance operates, one I feel building insurers would understandably be against.
Lady Snowey, a tabaxi sorcerer and healer was proficient in the Detect Magic spell. Together we performed the ritual and discovered there was much going on in Multiclass. From inside the building we could detect the radiance of many different schools of magic; illusion, enchantment, transmutation, conjuration and necromancy. There was some minor illusion magic that appeared to be intentional from the owner; glittering gold highlights on the furnishing, for example. But, most of the magic here was the work of a saboteur.
The abundance of magic inside the building created a false look of a long abandoned place; dirty, dusty tablecloths, decomposed plates on the tables, and more. In addition the tables and chairs varied in size unexpectedly. Some of the magic present appeared to be warping the environment, and the strongest presence of magic energy came from the kitchen.
What should have been a small journey to the kitchen was elongated by having to dexterously avoid all manner of assaults from ancient custard pies and a wasp nest of deadly insects. Drake - also known as Turducken, an Aaracokra jack of all trades was fortunate to avoid a besmirching from the pies. Nakia was less fortunate. As a side note, I overheard master Drake explain to Leocanto about a mysterious individual known as TGD - The Great Drake - ‘master of air, land and sea’, a masked adventurer sort.
I casted Dispel Magic to rid the place of conjured items - the pies and other revolting food disappeared. But, I also saw the shadow of an individual by the kitchen, and heard his maniacal laugh. Alphonse, a Half-Elf drakewarden sent his drake to go investigate. Unfortunately the investigation led to the wasps. Acting fast, I scorched our tiny, but voluminous opponents to smithereens with three scorching rays. Master Nakia approved of my flame based wizardly.
Inside the kitchen the space was immensely warped, as we found ourselves to be somewhere in the region of six inches tall. No one but us was around, and yet the kitchen seemed busy as; vegetables were being chopped, saucepans were being heated above an oven, which itself was heating something. It was as if the kitchen was staffed by ghosts. The central preparation table towered above us, and a gigantic bottle of wine fell down at us. Poor Alphonse was drenched in red. Snowey, I learned, was also proficient with the cantrip Prestidigitation. So, we both attended to Master Alphonse’s robes and magically cleaned, and rewarmed his attire - and to a lesser extent our own attire.
Diplomatic attempts at resolving the carnage were pursued to no avail. We collectively used our proficiency in multiple languages to communicate with the unknown and request a chat. But, the mystery person did not appear interested.
Poor Snowey was covered in water from the stove, and encased with a saucepan that my fellow adventuring friends helped lift her out from. Some of the team managed to catch a glimpse of a goblinoid in stretched out clothing, and this brought to my attention a story I read about a unique goblin known as the Nilbog, the jester-like goblin said to be imbued with magical powers from a trickster, chaotic god. The power displayed though seemed fair greater than the story suggested.
On Advancement in the Awakened Spellbook
A mysterious door in the kitchen was our next place to investigate. We had just seen a goblinold figure grow in size and enter through the door. We too regrew as we touched the door. Before I entered the room, I summoned the manifested mind of my awakened spellbook, and a tiny spectral representation of the great Mordenkainen’s face floated at head level beside me. The advancement in awakened magic is very fascinating. The manifested mind is like a familiar, with upgrades; I can permanently see and hear through Mord with an impressive degree of dark vision that my human eyes envy. In addition, I can cast spells through Mord up to a distance of 300ft. However, everything is a trade-off, Mord is slower than Barnaby, my familiar-owl, Barnaby can travel further with independence, and Barnaby is more discreet than a floating projection of Mordenkainen’s face, and nor does an owl shed a dim light. So, Barnaby is in no way redundant. However, against a Nilbog, Mord’s spellcasting abilities were favoured.
On Nilbogs and Creative Intentional Failure
Inside the room - it appeared we had found a backroom for gambling. Before us in this 50x50ft room was a clothed table with a set of cards on top.
The voice of the Nilbog announced his displeasure at the proprietor of Multiclass and a game that had been played in this backroom.
Two things occurred to me at the time; a small goblinoid surely would not be a physical match for any of my companions. But, I was certain Nilbogs had an important trick to them, and I announced this to my allies; we will only be able to see and then attack the Nilbog if you fail at something first. This presented something of a challenge.
In our attempts to fail our way towards seeing the Nilbolg, I witnessed my allies attempt things they wouldn’t normally attempt, precisely because of the likelihood of their failure. My intimidation attempt was lamentable, but fruitful - I saw the Nilbolg, and sent Mord in his direction to cover him in webs. Unfortunately, the Nilbolg was quick, and managed to escape the coverage of my Web spell.
Nakia began going forward with his own ‘a’ plan, and started to set the place on fire. Snowey blessed us with a cleric spell and managed to land her familiar Herald on top of the Nilbog. Alphonse, to his own surprise I believe, managed to recall several interesting facts about goblins and was left without sight of our target. Despite this, he did succeed in throwing a knife successfully at the Nilbog and bleeding him.
With a pitiable attempt at deceiving the Nilbog into believing my training with Kavel had made me his physical equal, I got a good visual lock on the Nilbog. Mord was 10ft away from him, and turned to face the goblinoid. I re-weaved the Scorching Rays spell on the fly into Thunder Rays, and let Mord launch thunderous waves of energy into the Nilbog, knocking it prone, and temporarily unconscious.
On the Importance of Spell Duels for an Adventuring Wizard
The adventure at the restaurant Multiclass owned by Leocanto had been resolved in an unexpected way. With the Nilbog defeated, all the excess magic in the building faded, and we witnessed a spirit leave the goblin man. The goblin was familiar to Leocanto. It seemed we had a case of a bad gambler acting out. Leocanto dealt with the individual with compassion, and did not press charges, he seemed delighted enough that the mystery had been resolved. We were rewarded 75gp each, and given our own invitations to dine at Multiclass.
I cannot put enough emphasis on the importance of practice, and how it helped me in the aforementioned adventure. My success with the Scorching Ray spell is due to repeated competition at the McAdams Fightpit in their Spell Duelling events, and in addition, Masters Kavel and Kruger’s conditioning routines. I have decided to stay at Fort Ettin for the week, train more with Kruger and enter into a Spell Duel competition here.