Ch 13. Spells!

Everyone was sitting in the hut now. Sarah and Perish were on the bed, and Kaz was sitting on the chair while Peter sat on the floor. He was bouncing up and down, looking at both Perish and Kaz with giddy excitement. Perish kept looking out the window, keeping an eye on their back while Sarah tried to comfort her. A message popped up.

MISSION COMPLETED- Protect Perish and Sarah

Reward- 7 Character points

"I've never been inside a monster's house before. It looks so clean!"Perish ignored his remark and continued to watch the window. Kaz looked at Peter and cleared his throat.

"Sorry to cut to the chase, but we were hoping you would be able to help us cross the border."

Peter tilted his head for a second and thought. "Hmm, that might be difficult."

"But not impossible, right?" Kaz asked hopeful.

"It would take some time, but if you could use magic, perhaps you could sneak your way through. But magic is not very easy to learn. Only a select few with years of training under their belt can even begin to master the basics."

Kaz was not sure he had that long to prepare. He could technically stay here for a few years or even hide out at his old den, but he did not like the idea of staying in a cave full of dead bodies; also, clearing it all out would take weeks.

"How do you determine if you can use magic?"

"Usually, by just trying it. I can show you a simple spell and see if you can even understand it."

"That would be great!"

Peter stood up and walked over to Kaz. He placed his hand out and created a ball of light. Xora spoke to Kaz.

"Peter is trying to teach you the spell 'Light.' Would you like to learn it?" A message button popped up in front of him. Peter and the rest did not seem to notice the screen. Kaz looked at it and pressed yes.

"Error intelligence is not high enough to learn this spell. Please increase your Intelligence to 7 to unlock the magic."

Kaz swiped the message down and pull up his character screen and put two points into Intelligence.

FEAT ACQUIRED- Magical insight- Bright enough to learn the beginnings of magic. Unlocked the magic skill tree.

Kaz looked at Peter and tried to look like he was focusing. The message popped up once again to learn the spell. He clicked the button, and instantly knowledge of the spell seeped into his mind. He understood the basic idea of creating the sphere of light. Raising his hand, he focused on the sphere and created a perfect replica. Peter looked at it, confused.

SPELL ACQUIRED- Light- creates a ball of light to illuminate the surroundings.

"Did you know this spell already?"

"Not really, but I think I understand it."

Peter's eye lit up. "You are so fascinating! Tell me, how did you come to understand magic so quickly?"

Kaz was not willing to tell him about his system, so he decided to come up with some bull about kobolds having a select few who are magically inclined. Peter ate it up like candy. Perish, and Sarah both noticed his quick aptitude and were surprised. Neither of them said anything. Kaz looked at Peter and noticed he glowed a little. He squinted, and his eyes changed to a different type of vision he was not used to. A blue glow surrounded Peter, and Kaz looked surprised.

FEAT ACQUIRED- Mage Vision- Able to focus and see the potential of a mage.

"What kind of spell would I need to learn to get to the other side safely?"

"Well, there are many ways. You could learn invisibility or shape-changing or mind-altering spells. It depends on what is available to you."

Kaz thought for a bit about each spell Peter mentioned and thought it would be great to learn all of them. Maybe one day, he would take time to study magic closer.

"Thanks for your time. I need a bit to figure out the next plan of action." Kaz told Peter, who was so excited to be of help.

"What about the knowledge of kobolds?" Peter asked sheepishly.

"Right, well, what do you want to know?" Peter began to puke out question after question. He asked about locations and dating rituals, food, and lifestyle. Kaz was happy to inform him of everything he knew about kobolds from Forged Fantasy and anything he did not know he just made up. After a few hours, Peter and Sarah fell asleep. Perish continued to watch the window; she was not talking much and felt really on edge. Kaz took his bag and went outside for some air. When he was a reasonable distance away from the hut, he pulled his spellbook out of the bag, and when he did, he noticed the ring was glowing brighter now.

Pulling the ring out, Kaz inspected it. "Xora, what's up with this ring?"

"Items can be imbued with magic to hold spells. Most spells last for a set amount of time before needing to recharge again." Kaz was interested in the ring even more now. He squinted to see if his vision would tell him anything. The stats popped up on a screen.

- Magic ring-type- Illusions, spell- Unknown- Worth- Unknown

Kaz put the ring on and looked at his character sheet once more.

NAME- Kaz Stromberg

STRENGTH- 3

DEXTERITY- 6

CONSTITUTION- 2

BODY- 4

INTELLIGENCE- 7

EGO- 7

PRESENCE- 6

BEAUTY- 0

RECOVERY- 2

SIZE- 4

POINTS- 6

SKILLS

- Stealth Lv 1

- Language- Draconic Lv 1

- Trap making- Lv 1

- Bluff- Lv 1

- Language- Common Lv 1

- Listen- Lv 1

-

FEATS

- Humanoid Intelligence- Surprisingly smart for a kobold+3 Intelligence

- Kobold Heritage- Ugly, weak, small, stupid, and evil, but fast. -3 Strength, +1 Dexterity, -3 Constitution, Dark vision

- Dark Vision- As a member of the Underdark you can see in the dark

-4 Body, -3 Intelligence, +1 Presence, -5 Beauty, -3 Size.

- Weapon Familiarity simple weapons- Can use basic weapons with some measure of skill

- Ambitious- dreams of greater things. +1 Ego

- Determination- Feeling the weight of responsibility hang on your shoulders, you keep pushing forward. Ego + 1, Strength + 1, Recovery + 1

- Magical insight- Bright enough to learn the beginnings of magic. Unlocked the magic skill tree.

- Mage Vision- Able to focus and see the potential of a mage.

SPELLS

- Light- creates a ball of light to illuminate the surroundings.

Wow, six character points. Kaz noticed that missions were not plentiful, like he would hope so. These points were more valuable than he initially thought. He put away the character sheet choosing not to place any more points today. He decided to try rubbing the ring a little to see what would happen. The ring began to glow brightly and then started to grow faint again. He did not seem any different. Maybe the spell did not work, or if it did, then it was probably something minor.

NEW STATUS ACQUIRED- Invisibility 30 minutes.

"Holy crap!"