Greetings and Salutations my friends and followers (Warning wall-o-test incoming)
in four days I will be 64. Big changes ahead, so this is just a friendly "Heads up" for those incoming messages...
i am plonking away, working on a potential new project for the November, being the "National Novel Writing Month" ( A.K.A: *NANOWRIMO* ) the challenge is to hammer out 50,000 words in 30 days.
Life & Times Of An Arcanum Mage
Chapter 1
The young man stood in the fading mystic circle in a forest glade, shaking his head, it would seem that
Isekai Truck-Kun had struck again and out hero found himself in another world! He was crossing the street when the delivery truck seemed to come out of nowhere without a moments hesitation he grabbed the young girl walking beside him and tossed her to the sidewalk just before his world ended in a brilliant flash of lights...
"Okay, wonder where I ended up? I have read a few of these stories before but reading about them and actually living them took some getting used to." He thought looking around at the silent glade... oh there were birds and insects sounds and what sounded like a brook near by. Sniffing the air he thought he could detect the cool damp scent of water. "Hmmm, what do I do now? I wonder?" Thinking to see if he still had his EDC kit on him he padded his pocket and found the handmade leather pouch. going through it he found everything he remembered putting in it.
Looking around he said “Menu” for a moment nothing happened... “Stats?” he asked, and a glowing panel appeared in front of him giving his states not unlike a D&D character sheet:
Name: Marcus Grey.
Location: Arcanum; Southern Forest
Strength: 10
Intelligence: 18
Dexterity: 12
Intuition:16
Wisdom: 17
Constitution: 8
Charisma: 16
Arcanum: 300.
'Wow 300! well he had been studying magick fairly intensely over the last year, so maybe if this world used magick he may have a real shot.
'Why Was His Constitution only 8?' he thought 'perhaps it was getting hit by the truck and transferring to a totally new world that took a toll on it?'
Well time will tell, attaching his belt knife to his left hip the first thing he did was forage up a couple of poles to turn into spears that will make a good start in case anything dangerous shows up.
Finding water, he took out the filter-straw and drank deeply of the cool clear swiftly moving water
#
“Storage” he said and a new panel appeared listing 10 pages of twenty empty boxes the first box indicated a scroll with the title “Read Me!”
Tapping the icon a scroll manifested in front of him floating in the air. It unfurled and the strange writing became something he could read...
Greetings New Adventurer !
Welcome To The World Of
=ARCANUM =
Your willing Sacrifice to 'Truck-Kun' has Yielded grand results! The young girl your bravery saved will grow up to discover the cure for Cancer! Your Selfless Sacrifice has come to the attentions of the Gods of this reality. In recognition, you shall be rewarded with several New and Exciting Abilities. You possess a propensity for magick, and so to start your 'Avocation' off right, it has been determined to grant you 300 Starting Arcanum. (Note: Arcanum recharges at ten (10) points a minute.) As you gain levels and complete quests, you will gain Arcanum as a reward, the more Arcanum at your disposal, the more you will be able to accomplish.
Your stats will show you what you can and can not do easily. A spectrum of stats gives you the best opportunity for success in this New World. Rest and Food will restore lost Stat points.
Use the “Book” command to Summon your Book of Arcanum that holds a compendium of Spells you have access to as well as Arcanum points needed to activate them. Beasts can be used as Familiar spirits if beaten into Submission and agree to a Subjugation Contract .
Towns and Cities are good places to acquire supply's and sell Treasures collected in your travels. Consider joining the Local Adventurers Guild to network with others, join raiding parties and see what jobs are available to you.
Good Luck Adventurer! Fame And Fortune Await
<============>
'Well, That is both informative and useful. I wonder if I should camp here tonight and see if I can find a town or city nearby...' looking around he held out his hand and Intoned: “BOOK!”
a rather large Leather-bound book, three inches thick looking like a phone book Appeared in his outstretched hand using both to keep from dropping it it was covered in a blue scaled hide of some kind on the cover was a Unicursal Hexagram incised in some kind of golden medallion. The magickal runes spelled out Arcanum Magi Sitting on the soft grass, he opened the book a tingle ran down his spine.
The first few pages contained a list of Spells & Rituals; as he read through the listed pages a tingling stirred in his brain and he felt them writing themselves in his mind. One if them he noted was listed as “Campsite” reading through the written description:
“Campsite Spell: creates a Wilderness camp with Tent or Tents for all party members, campfire, water barrel(s) and Supply crate. Ritual circle of protection from wild beasts and monsters.” Cost:1 Arcanum point/hour Passive. 10 Arcanum points per minute active.
Store in inventory when not in use.
Casting cost: 20 Arcanum.
Well, That was useful! Wasting no time, he cast his first magick spell. As the glow of magick faded a campsite had appeared around him the crackling fire beckoned opening the tent flap he saw what looked like a comfortable bed small writing table, camp stool and foot locker. To him it was utterly amazing. The foot locker held what looked like a warm cloak and change of clothes, a satchel of what he believed to be local coins, and a parchment scroll that turned out to be some sort of hand-drawn map of the area, it was crude by his modern standards, but it was something at least he saw he was in some southern Forest, there were a smattering of towns and villages scattered around the map and what looked like a well developed road network as well... Ten minutes later he had worked out that the closest township was called “Ustall” (Östall) it seemed roughly about a days journey northwest from his current position, more or less. He picked up a small stick cut it down to about three inches long and cut the end into a wedge shape. Holding it clasped between his hands, he visualized the location of Ustall; uttering a word of power the tip glowed softly. Laying it in his palm he tapped the stick with his finger saying the word “Ustall” the stick lifted a quarter inch off his palm rotated then came to rest pointing to the northwest. Rotating his position the the stick rotates pointing towards it's target. “Cool” he said closing it in his fist and tucking the stick into his shirt pocket.
A new window popped up indicating he had crafted something new:
NEW ARTIFACT CREATED!
“Way-Fairer”
Artifact creates a pointer to the chosen destination.
Casting Cost: 5 Arcanum
Use Cost: 1 Arcanum per Hour of use.
Reward: 50 Arcanum.
Current Arcanum: 285/350
Recharge Rate: 10 Arcanum/minute.
So, creating new magickal items is a way to increase his Arcanum, That shouldn't be too difficult and who knows, he may be able to sell them in towns and Cities he would come across in his adventures.
Opening the supply Crate he was pleasantly surprised, it contained everything he needed pulling out a pot he added some water from the barrel setting the pot over the cooking grate he took out a slab of meat and a handful of vegetables using the lid of the crate as a convenient cutting board, he soon had the beginnings of a nice stew bubbling in the pot.
Examining the slabs of well marbled meat in the supply crate, a pop up window identified it as “Wild Beast Meat”
“Well, is looks and smells tasty, I always did love getting out to the woods to decompress from hectic city life, as the stew cooks, he studies his Arcanum tome finding a number of useful spells 'Shield,' that created a magickal barrier, something called 'Quick Shot' that delivered over 900 points of damage pre strike! Impressive he thought Gotta try this one.
He stood setting his Arcanum tome on the supply crate stepping over to the middle of the small woodland glade he recalled the instructions: Make a fist tucking the first two fingers against the inside of the base of your thumb, cast the spell by simultaneously sliding the two fingers along the thumb to point at the target and say 'Quick Shot!' (may be cast by ether hand)
(NOTE: Number of uses limited by Arcanum point availability)
Quick Shot (spell)
Damage: 900 points per shot
Casting cost: 5 Arcanum per shot
Range: 100Yards
Shield (spell)
Raise arm in defensive blocking move and shout “SHIELD!” To activate. May cast by holding open hands forward in blocking motion to activate. Can also create a shield wall
shield creates an impregnable barrier between you and attackers.
Shield may be altered to protect multiple party members within a 10 foot circle of caster
Casting cost: 10 Arcanum points per minute
Multiplier: +5 Arcanum points per party member protected.
(NOTE: Protection Duration limited by Arcanum point availability)
'Ouch, that one can be Costly; but I can see it saving my butt if attacked and it can also use it to protect any party member I may have, if I am in a party of say five, and cast shield I only have about four minutes tel my Arcanum is spent and what... I pass out? I don't think I ever want to find out... but it looks like a solid 'CYA spell' he thought to himself.
I will need to keep an eye out for Arcanum Restoration potions if that's a thing here, I may have to sift through my book for something like that I noticed there Was a “Potions” section listed in the TOC who knew that magick would be so draining?' he thought.
Picking out a large boulder in the center of the glade, he stood rooted to the earth focusing his mind on the new spell. Quick as a flash he shot out his left hand saying “Quick Shot!” pointing two fingers at the boulder...
A bright flash streaked from the tips of his fingers a moment later the shot impacted the boulder and carved out a six inch divot in the granite surface. stepping over it looked like a perfect concave crater that was smooth to the touch and slightly warm.
“Impressive” Marcus thought.
He locked his sight on a large oak tree across the glade, shot out his right hand repeating the spell splinters flew from the impact, upon inspection there was a clean three inch hole punched through the tree!
“That could be a very useful offensive spell, No wonder nobody likes messing with Mages we can really pack a wallop!” returning to the campfire to attend to the stew and peruse his guidebook he said . He found the stew tasty, looking up at the vault of stars in the sky none of the constellations he could see were recognizable to him. He activated the protective field and turned in for the night.
The next morning he checked his stats and was pleasantly Surprised:
Strength: 15 (+4)
Intelligence: 18 (+2)
Dexterity: 12 (+5)
Intuition:16 (+6)
Wisdom: 17 (+4)
Constitution: 20 (+3)
Charisma: 16 (+5)
Arcanum: 342/350. (+10/minute)
“Okay! That was more like it I lost eight points maintaining the shield but that was nothing I can make that up in a few minutes as my Arcanum recharges at ten points a minute, so I am good there.
Stepping over to the stream he noticed several tasty looking fish swimming in a deep pool...
'I wonder if I can use quick shot to get a fish or two?' he stood on the bank watching the fish intently then unleashed “Quick Shot!”
The Water exploded around him soaking him to the bone. shaking off the shock and excess water of his unexpected bath, he looked back at the pool “Did I manage to actually get a fish?” he wondered soon a dozen fish were floating belly up on the surface.
“Well, that's something at least. Note to self: 'QuickShot' is like tossing a hand grenade into a pond for fishing!” he chuckled as he waded in to collect his unexpected bounty. He heard 'ping' and saw:
Fishing With Finesse: +10 Arcanum
Arcanum 360/360
Yup, the Gods of this world were indeed having fun with him. Marcus Give a philosophic shrug. 'Well, if that were the case, he should be a good sport about it.' he chuckled bringing his fish back to camp. 'He had to admit, it Was pretty funny.' He thought on reflection.
After cooking up a hearty breakfast of fresh fish he cleans the remaining fish and stashes them in his storage as it will keep them just as fresh as the moment he placed them in storage. he stored his camp/ looking around he thought this might make a nice spot to set up an outpost but it may be wiser to set up closer to Ustall depending on what supply's they could provide and what markets were available for his unique brand of services.
Setting off it appears to be a lovely morning for travel.
# # # #
End Chapter 1
Question to my readers: Would you find this an interesting story or should I consignee it to the scrap pile? i can probably squeeze 50,000 words out of it at least right now it is something to keep me from getting board.
