Chapter 79
Let's assume the first one is out, because there isn't much interaction between my magic and the local strain. It's possible their wards against detection would work, but improbable. My spell can't have been dispelled, because I'd have noticed when I made the opposed Caster Level check... unless the local equivalent doesn't allow a check.
Milo groaned. He really had no idea what happened.
Only one thing for it.
"Circle Dance," Milo cast quietly, swapping out Summon Monster III. Circle Dance is an obscure spell that locates the direction from you to a creature (much like Locate Object or Locate Creature) except that it had no range limit. However, it takes a minute to cast, burns a 3rd-level spell slot, and only has an instantaneous effect—if the target moves, you won't have any idea. On the plus side, it gives a vague impression of the target's physical and emotional condition.
Milo spun in a circle with his eyes closed until he finished casting the spell, which left him feeling dizzy. He opened his eyes, pointing in the direction she was in, and knowing she was unharmed and, emotionally, perfectly content (which was concerning, but not the most concerning thing).
Milo groaned.
He was looking directly at the Forbidden Forest.
Really, he wondered, why did I ever think this little trip wouldn't end up with me in mortal danger?
With a sigh and a longing glance at the comfortable Gryffindor tower, now only a speck of light in the whiteout, Milo sped off towards the forest.
Milo had just gotten past the edge of the forest when Fly ran out of duration, and he fell heavily in the snow.
"Should have known," he said, his teeth chattering, "that, if foul weather is mentioned, I'd soon be out slogging in it. The c-c-castle is making me c-c-complacent."
With difficulty, Milo cast another Locate Object on Hannah's clothing (swapping out the previously prepared Invisibility). To his surprise, she was somewhere behind him.
At the start of a combat, all characters involved have to make an Initiative roll with a bonus based off of their Dexterity and a few other things. This determines the order in which combatants act—people who rolled higher on Initiative, due to luck or by virtue of possessing quick reflexes, act before those who rolled lower. This makes Nerveskitter (a 1st level spell which grants +5 to Initiative rolls) an extremely unusual spell, as it must be cast while rolling Initiative, or, in other words, after a character is aware that there is trouble but before his muscles have had time to respond to his commands. For someone such as you or I, this is patently impossible. A Wizard, however, is somehow capable of both speaking the verbal components and waving his hands about in a complicated gesture to cast the spell before he is physically capable of doing either.
"Nerveskitter," Milo cast, speaking every syllable simultaneously and in harmony, in blatant violation of the laws of common sense. He was surrounded by a brief blue glow, and rolled to the side just as a glowing red bolt of magic flew past the space he had previously occupied. The bolt hit a tree, pieces of bark flying away from the contact point.
"Mirror Image," he cast, and a pair of illusory Milo duplicates appeared next to him. The real Milo lay down flat in the snow, minimizing his visibility.
Another red bolt of light hit one solidly in the torso, causing the image to fall to the ground, motionless.
Milo quickly ran through his options. He had no idea what the location or identity of his attacker was, which precluded the used of Grease, Glitterdust, or, in fact, any offensive spell.
"Summon Hippogriff," Milo cast. Hippogriffs could track by scent, so didn't strictly require vision. Milo grinned, happy that he had learned Summon Monster III after his battle with the Troll.
The proud horse/eagle hybrid appeared in front of Milo with a shriek and ran forwards. It got about ten feet before Milo saw a green flash, and the summoned monster keeled over, dead.
Holy crap, Milo thought. They're using the Killing Curse.
And Milo was running low on spells.
Okay, he thought in a panic. Okay. It's not so bad. They clearly can't see you, either, right? Or you'd be dead already.
A few more curses flew over Milo's head and hit some evergreen trees, which promptly turned brown and withered, dropping needles.
And they can cast more than one per round. Or there's three of them, ganging up on me.
A desperate plan came to Milo's mind. None of his prepared spells would help him, as far as he could tell, so he had to use something he could cast without prior preparation—a Divination. Most casters believed Divination to be a soft school, but Milo knew better.
Divinations could kill.
"True Strike," he cast, granting his next attack a +20 to hit, which would be enough to hit an unusually petite fly at a distance from about here to Jupiter.
More curses flew over his head.
"Guided Shot," he cast, which allowed his next attack to ignore cover and concealment. Neither of these would help him target a Grease or Glitterdust, or even a Fireball if he knew how to cast it, as those were all area attacks. They would only help him with a direct attack, the kind of which required accuracy—also known as the type of spell Milo avoided like the plague.
So, instead of casting a spell at all, he drew his (so far, never used) Cold Iron dagger and threw it in a completely random direction. Milo's plan was to then cast Locate Object on the dagger, which did a paltry 1d4-1 damage (practically nonlethal against the targets Milo was used to), which would let him identify the location of his foe, so he could follow up with an arcane barrage.
It was only after the dagger left his fingers, and he had confirmed a critical hit for double damage, that he realized his mistake.
The dagger, guided by Milo's magic, had flown in exactly the same direction as his previous cast of Locate Object, which was still active, told him Hannah was standing.
Milo heard a sickening thud, and the curses abruptly stopped flying.
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