BECMI Chapter 430 – A New Pantheon
They all had their new names picked before we exited the Dungeon, while Valus in particular bemoaned the fact I’d cut through all the dangerous things on my way in!
Mithar settled on Adama, or more properly, Dame Adama, for her new self.
Harse chose Haki, for justice.
Amana chose Iatro, or healer.
Aru conspired with Sylune and chose Lunia, while Sylune picked Helos.
Aethra simply went with Jian the Arrow for his new moniker.
Flora picked Arbor in line with his role as a pastoral druid and ranger.
Valus went with Molniya, a thunderbolt, for herself.
Nuava chose Chardon for his swashbuckling persona.
Tiirith whimsically chose Catleya, the Queen of Orchids, for her new name, and promptly started embroidering her attire with a floral theme to go with it. Of course, that relied on borrowing a few spools of pink and sunny yellow thread from a fellow elf...
---
Soon enough all the delvers in the area were aware that a large party of newbs had stumbled out of the Dungeon behind me, fortunate to have met me to guide them out. They professed to no lands any there had heard of, and certainly gawked around and pointed and commented in wonder at the fiery lakes of lava, the steaming entry waters to Doomroot, the fang-like spires and the dragons upon each and every one of them, and of course, the sight of Castle Doomrose waaaay up there, firefalls spilling out of the winding carved roses circling the tower and mountain as they wound towards the spires and ornate basilica far, far above.
Exploring the Dungeon ‘to find a way home’ seemed like a fine and advisable thing to do, so the group pooled their funds, mostly gained from the creatures they’d managed to kill on the way out, bought themselves a few large tents in the proper area, and set up shop to work the Dungeon.
--------
“You may have noticed some alarming restrictions on Clerical magic,” I said to the assembled Gallivants, as they’d named their Fellowship. Although not all of them were pursuing Clerical power, all of them had vested interests in knowing how it operated. “I’m sure those of you following the Priestly path have had little difficulty with mastering the spells, they are very similar to those you knew at home. But?” I looked around calmly.
“There are no bonus spells for deeper insights and wisdom!” Lunia replied promptly, her brow furrowed. “This is clearly a very basic magical system that does not reward gifted or talented spellcasters…”
“Correct. It allows virtually anyone to have as much access to magic as the wisest of their kind. On the other hand, it delivers far more magic at the high end to its Clerics than is typical.” I flicked up the advance schema for the local Clerics, all of them bending forward to study it with some interest.
“You informed me the ‘Paladins’ of this world are a hybrid warrior-priest?” Dama Adama asked, studying the chart.
“Yes, they have Clerical spellcasting at the rate of one Cleric level per three Warrior levels, with no other benefits.”
“Thirty-six Levels to the Apex,” Molniya murmured, polishing her axe as she sat there. “Any Ceilings in between?” she asked pointedly.
“Nothing practical,” I answered her calmly. “While there is the usual requirement to be pursuing strength and aptitude, those without drive Level up slowly, but they do Level up. Elves in particular practice spellcasting their whole lives, and over the centuries will Level up slowly and constantly, reaching and surpassing Ten. Humans are not so long-lived, and as normal, Three seems to be a standard level, with Six a soft ceiling. However, the local System is remarkably forgiving of a lack of ambition, perhaps a nod towards the non-human populations who have less aggression than the humans do.”
“Ah, the ‘humans gain in power so quickly and burn out, accomplishing in months what takes us years!’ complaint of the longer-lived races,” Dame Adama nodded in understanding. “The trick then is to introduce a training paradigm and culture that slowly Levels up people, even if they are not ambitious.” She stroked her chin in thought. “Very good, then. Were you able to get around this limitation on spellcasting?”
I nodded slowly. “I did it by introducing a Class that was not in the system, but so closely related in function the System could accommodate it. My Clerical magic does not come from the Halcyon effect of elven magic. It comes from being an Ur-Priest of Heaven.”
All of their eyebrows went for their hairlines. “A Faith Thief of Heaven?” Catleya immediately piped up with glee. “You simply MUST teach me this, my new big sister!” she crowed immediately. On finding out I was half-dhampir she immediately proclaimed I was adopted as her stylish big sister and I would be teaching her all I knew.
Given her inexhaustible energy, I was dreading that, but a redirect was coming.
I sniffed with some contempt, but it was not directed at them. “The Immortals here already steal Faith. Using the Faith that should be going to Heaven is only theft from their standpoint. I am quite circumspect in how I harvest Faith, and I am very certain such magic is only used in the interests of Heaven, not for my own benefit,” I stated calmly. “Of course, the rules for Ur-Priests I was operating under are for a ten-level Advanced Class, which I tied to Mystic Theurgy to further intermingle and muddy the issue by linking it to the local Elven Wizardry Tradition, which is also effectively a ten-level Class.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Given Ur-Priests have far lower base spell selections than do the native Clerics, there was actually no imbalance to strain the System. After all, it is not until you reach Divine levels of mental ability that you outstrip the base Cleric Class here in spell ability, and even then only for the lowest orders of spells. An Apex Cleric gets nine Slots at all levels of spells. Even at my best, I never reached those numbers in my VII through IX’s.”
“Pious and loyal thieves of the Faith that should be going to the gods of Heaven.” Lunia’s dark eyes were twinkling. “A suitably ironic use of a very ancient tradition. I think that using it would be quite suitable in this case?” She looked around at the other amused Gallivants, who were hiding back guffaws, even stoic Haki looking terribly amused at the idea.
After all, the Ur-Priest Class was used by immoral users to steal Faith from the gods. Avatars of the gods using it to get back what was rightfully theirs was quite the turnaround!
==============
Talking about immoral users... Novel Bind and other sites are scraping my stories (and others!) without permission again.
If you're not reading (or hearing) this on NovelFire, you're helping pay a thief. Please read it in its original home, it's still free! You get the foreword and afterword, author comments, and answers to people with questions! I have not given permission for this story to be copied by a bot and posted ANYWHERE ELSE.
=============
“You should be able to graft the Ur-Priest Class onto the existing Cleric Class. Note the local Class only has Valences to VII.” I looked back and forth between them. “Is this part of an older paradigm, such as exists with the Minstrel, Bard, and Summoner Classes we know of?” I had to ask.
“It is,” Helos confirmed calmly. “There was a reorganization in magic in our own Realms so the Primary Caster Classes would stand on equal footing as far as most spells were concerned, with some deference granted to Domain spells and the like. Secondary Casters could reach near the same heights with fewer Valences, but only in very narrow bands.
“I would think that joining the two together would involve generating more Karma to pay for them, but the additional strength and spell capability would be well worth it.” The Avatars all nodded agreement at Helos’ words.
“Very good. You will also note that Channeling as a resource is not available. You can call on Divine Power to turn or destroy the undead, and potentially even Fiends, but not to wield separately, or to even damage the undead normally. Such additional effects might be acquired with Feats, I did not go down that avenue of research much given my arcane focus,” I continued relating.
“We shall see what will be possible,” Iatro nodded calmly. “There should be at least some way to alter this ‘Turning’ into Healing or other powers, even if it is limited in usage.”
“I concur,” I nodded to the devoted Healer among them. “Spontaneous Caster Classes were completely removed from the System. Notably, this includes from the dragons, who have all been forcibly altered to Prepared Casters… if they’ve the intelligence to do so.”
They weren’t slow to pick up on that. “Ah, crippling their magical power!” Molniya immediately piped up, always sensitive to matters of strength and power. “It seems the Immortals do not want competition with such natural might!” Forcing them to learn magic instead of it just coming to them was clearly a blow to dragonkind!
“Thus, there are no Sorcerers, and there are no Minstrels, as well as no Bards,” I said pointedly to Catleya, whose sharp eyebrows climbed for the roof. “You will have to introduce both Classes to this realm, which is completely possible.
“As an elf, you naturally can access the Halcyon Magic in the appropriate area. It does not at all look like it, but Castle Doomrose is very much a high magic area, if not elven in origin. It is Elemental, as opposed to Natural, in its Primal Nature.
“Regardless, you should be able to wield Halcyon Magic of Druidic nature, connect it to the Bardic Class instead of Druid Class, and from there make the same transition to Minstrelry on your Heartsong Class.
“If not, you will be very limited in the Heartsong. I only have Heartsong Uses because of the Extra Heartsong Feat and Mastery, and those were only accessible because I know the Sublime Chord. I literally do not have access to any other uses of Heartsong, save the Spellsong conversion for powering Metas, which I rarely use.”
“I see.” Catleya threw a glance Chardon’s way. “It appears we will be establishing a proper musical Tradition upon this world, noble Chardon!” she said whimsically.
“I would not be able to regale audiences of our tales properly without it!” the erstwhile Avatar of Love smiled back cheerfully. “Is this possible?” he asked me directly.
“Humans may take one side Class of, mmm, strange type,” I confirmed. “If Catleya can access Bard, and through them Minstrelry and Bardsong, then you should be able to do so from the Human Racial Class. Get to Human/2, take Minstrelry as an advance, and then simply take it up as your secondary Class, complementing your Swashbuckling.”
“No direct Spontaneous Classes, meaning no Sorcery or Favored, or the Minstrels, without hiding the nature of your magic,” Dame Adama pointed out calmly, glancing first at Chardon, then at me with a prompting eyebrow.
“Use your Human/3 bonus to take a level of Wizard, then advance as a Lore Theurge. Ten Levels gets you to Wizard/11, Valence VI, and covers all of your Minstrel Magic thereby. You can change lesser spells as you like, and just explain your enhanced spell capacity as gaining Levels and having favorite spells to use. Extra Spell Capacity can buy higher Valences of Wizardry as you like to cover you, as well, using Theurgic Resonance for the higher of the two Caster Levels, and Theurgic Spells so that spells on both lists have a clear boost in power, proclaiming you a specialist with them and defending your narrow focus.”
“Misdirection is the best defense in this case. Will there be any reaction to the power of the Heartsong?” Helos spoke up carefully.
“The Immortals here are not familiar with it, but its roots are in Arcane and Primal Magic. I would hazard that the Immortals of art and the like will jump all over it without hesitation, and it will spread among the Fey with bewildering speed.”
They couldn’t access the Sublime Chord, but Fey would go ape over the Charm-based center of Heartsong, as would all the Immortals who fancied themselves artistes, bon vivants, and romantics.
No, I wasn’t worried about the Heartsong stirring up any waves. If anything, it would be a welcome bloom of light in the crushing darkness of spirit which had assailed this world for the last eighty years…
“Are there any particular restrictions on magic we should know of?” Helos asked gravely.