[Are You Sure You Wish To Apply For A Character? This choice is irreversible. Y/N]
Andrew stared at the pop-up window. This was the third one in a row. It was getting annoying. He had come across the Multi-User Shared Hallucination at random while he was bored at work. He was just googling odd games from when he was in college and this came up. Privately run, invitation only.
The application process took over three weeks.
Finally, he got a confirmation email. He had almost forgotten about the application, but here it was. And yet, the email seemed to be trying everything in his power to get him to turn it down. He clicked on the 'YES' button.
[It doesn't look like you read the end-user agreement. You clicked fairly fast. Perhaps you should go back and reread it, one more time. Do you want to go back to reread the end-user agreement? Y/N]
"What the hell?" Andrew cursed under his breath as he clicked the N, "Just process my Damn application!"
[FINE]
Andrew quicked an eyebrow.
[DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU]
Everything went black.
----
"Well, this is an interesting build."
Andrew looked around. Something was off. There was nothing but a grey room with a single desk. Behind it sat a grey outline of a humanoid. The voice sounded vaguely female. Andrew continued to look around but quickly discovered something was missing.
His body.
"What the... What's going on?"
The grey outlined sighed, "Another one who skipped over the end-user agreement, I assume." She clicked her tongue, "You warn them and warn them but do they listen? No..." She paused then added, "Well, technically it was all text, so you couldn't listen. You didn't READ." The outline shook her head, "And NO. There is no going back. Your old life is over. You're stuck with this one."
Andrew tried to move but could only look around, "Wait... am I strapped in a chair with VR goggles on?"
The figure rubbed her forehead, "Seriously? I'll sum it up. You applied to be a part of our little community. It was explained, that it's a world that is a training ground. It's real, the people are real. Everything is real. Remember?"
Andrew was quiet for a while, "I thought that was just fluff text."
"You people always do..." She sighed, "Look. We've taken your application because we are really... REALLY low on support classes. It's... it's a mess. The whole world is a mess. Unfortunately, it's a sort of crucible. The purpose of this world is twofold."
The figure held up one finger, "The act of adventuring in this world generates mana. A LOT of mana. We constantly siphon off the excess. We use it to fuel the war effort. What war is that? Don't worry about it at this stage." She held up a second finger, "the second is for training purposes. We get a whole lot of ordinary souls, but none of them ever make it to the big leagues. We encourage them to progress, but most don't. That's fine."
Andrew interrupted, "Progress?"
She nodded, "Progress. Advance in level. If you advance in level, you get perks. Advance far enough, you can get contracts to go fight in the war."
"I don't want to fight in any war!"
The outline nodded, "That's fine. You don't have to, but we do make it worth your while if you do. But we don't want to just go shoveling people into a meat grinder, so we really will only approach you if you prove yourself capable." She shrugged, "Honestly, we get LOTS of people trying to make it the cut, so if you aren't interested, you're soul is REALLY powerful. We'll get plenty of mana generation from you, so that's fine. No pressure."
She sighed, "The problem is, we get so many... SOLO applicants. We are trying to encourage people to form TEAMS, but they just..." She shook her head, "We don't get it. Maybe it's the environment or the type of people this sort of program attracts, but we don't get very many team players."
She perked up, "That's why your application was fast-tracked. We get absolutely NO applications for support characters."
Andrew was silent for a bit, "Uhh... did you read my application?"
She nodded, "It's... unusual, but acceptable. You picked so many weak classes with support abilities that the higher-ups were worried about your survival, but after we reviewed your requested starting race, we figured it would all work out."
Andrew tried to rub his forehead, realized he didn't have an arm, and then took a deep breath, "They approved it, without any arguments? I figured how absolutely game-breaking it was, that'd you torpedo most of it, and I'd have to compromise."
The figure laughed, "Seriously? You applied for a fifth-level starting character! You could have started at the eleventh. Very modest! You have, no less than four starting classes, and only one advanced class, and it is the weakest advanced class possible. Nobody takes it! Multiclassing always results in a weak combat build, so you'll certainly be relegated to party support."
"Uhhh... and... the bloodlines were approved? I have all three bloodlines in one character. The Lesser, greater, and crown? As a HUMAN?" Andrew sounded baffled.
The figure poked at the air and some windows appeared, "Well... yes. Crown Bloodline Titan, Greater Bloodline Mytheral Dragon, Lesser Bloodline Angel." She looked up, "Very unusual combination, but considering how weak your build was."
"And the Martial Artist, Psychic, Edolmancer, Librarian, and Divine Mind classes were all approved?" Andrew sounded like he didn't believe it.
The figure nodded and sounded a little annoyed, "Yes. However, you understand that your build doesn't quite work. There are some errors in it so-"
"No errors. Just let me set it up in the right order. There is a very specific way that everything must be purchased." Andrew sounded somewhat panicked, "Can you... I dunno. Give me hands and let me do this!"
The figure was a little confused, "Uhh... I... can't see how the buy order will change anything." She shrugged and snapped her fingers, then tapped the desk. The windows all reversed direction to face Andrew, "Go ahead." She clicked in the corner to zero out the build, "Spend things in whatever order you want."
Andrew started tapping on the character build windows.
If the outline had a mouth, it would be frowning MOST deeply.
----
"Wait! What are you doing?"
"I'm automatically 5th level, right? The three bloodlines have penalty levels you must pay to get them. Three levels for crown, two for greater, and one for lesser, making it six in total. I'm just choosing to pay them off, one after another, at first level."
"So, you technically advanced to the second level, seven times?"
"Exactly. Now the first level is psychic, but I'll be taking the alternate class version, Arcane Psychic, so I can learn arcane spells as psychic versions. The second level is Librarian, but I'll be taking the alternate class version Divine Librarian."
She tilted her head to the side, "Wait, why not just be a wizard priest?"
Andrew looked up, "The spell lists are too limited. These spell lists are ALL arcane, except the most advanced, and all divine, except the most advanced. I'll give up ninth-level spells for access to EVERY spell list of EVERY class, and arcane psychics can still buy from the psychic power list, it just costs extra experience."
The outline nodded, "Oh... well. You are still multiclassing spell casters. You're not going to advance fast in either."
"Oh, don't worry about that, I'm going to take divine mind at the third level."
"You can't do that. You don't-"
Andrew pointed at the three bloodlines, "Bloodline penalty levels count towards increasing your maximum skill limits. So with six penalty levels, I get plus six to all my skill maximums. They also count towards advancing your class ability in all other classes, as long as they are level-dependent abilities. So it doesn't count for my caster level, but DOES count for the maximum possible level spell I could CAST. Also, I'm taking the sacrificial magic feature, so I can sacrifice two lesser spells to cast a spell one level higher, therefore, qualifying for divine mind at third."
"You have psychic powers, not spells."
"Arcane psychics count as psychics and arcane spell casters."
The outline slammed her hands down on the table and flipped the windows around. She examined the windows for several minutes, then turned the windows back to face Andrew, "You... are correct."
Andrew nodded, "Next is Edolmancer."
The outline leaned over the desk, "Hold it. You can only take that class if you are dead."
Andrew nodded, "Yes. It is assumed I died at third, then advanced as a ghost for two levels, and then I was brought back to life with a death penalty of one level, leaving me back at fourth level, but alive."
The figure stabbed a finger at the character window, "But when you are brought back to life, you have to re-spend that class level."
Andrew shook his head, "No, I don't."
The outline shook her head and let out a, "Huh?"
Andrew flipped a window around, "I have the OPTION of re-spending and getting a different class. I can keep it if I want."
"Why would-"
Andrew cut her off, "Because it adds to the caster level of another class, as a class ABILITY."
The figure suddenly pulled away, "Wait-"
Andrew nodded, "The six sacrificed levels add to my Edolmancer class ability, giving me a total plus seven to another spellcasting class. I assign those levels to Divine Mind. Divine mind adds a caster level to both my Arcane Psychic and Divine Librarian."
"So... at fifth-level, you are an eighth-level arcane psychic and eighth-level divine librarian." She sounded stunned, "You managed to advance three levels as a caster past where you should be in not one, but TWO classes!?"
Andrew nodded, "Originally, I was going to cheese arcane mind to double advance arcane psychic to fifteenth level, but I like having diverse options." He cleared his throat, "Anyways, last but not least, I'm taking Martial Artist at fifth level, but as the alternate class, clever gladiator. As my fifth level feature, I take psychic pugilist, so all my psionic levels add to my martial artist levels for calculating martial artist abilities."
The grey outline visibly paled.
"The six penalty levels add to Clever Gladiator for calculating abilities, they also add to my Arcane Psychic and Divine Mind for the purpose of adding to martial artist abilities, thanks to psychic pugilist, which means-"
She cut him off, "You are only a first-level martial artist, but your martial artist abilities are at level twenty-one." She looked up to stare at him, "Anything else?"
He nodded, "I get a bonus feature because I'm human that I have not spent yet. I wait until the fifth level to spend it."
The outline cringed.
"Bonus Familiar. Its level is equal to the sum of all my class levels. I have five classes, and the six penalty levels increase each one to seven for calculating my familiar, which is a class feature."
"You... have a level thirty-five familiar?"
He shook his head, "Oh. No. I'm spending my third-level bonus feature as well to get greater familiar. I'll be getting a mirror imp which comes with a sixteen-level penalty. It'll only be level nineteen."
The outline frowned and began to furiously check through her database. Upon finding the entry, her hand started to tremble, "That... this thing..." She looked up, "It is-"
Andrew cut her off, "-In my application!" He started to tap the desk to emphasize each word, "I wrote everything down and outlined everything. I was very specific. I included over twenty pages of notes detailing exactly what I was building." He chuckled softly, "I guess someone didn't bother reading it."
The outline let out a rather annoyed-sounding sigh, "I... very well. Finish up the specifics, I guess."
He nodded, "I already have the spell and psychic ability list made out. I see no reason to change it."
She looked over the character for quite a while then looked up, "You are going to be quite the glass cannon."
He nodded, "That... is the downside to this build. I really can't take a hit. Which is why I need to be a martial artist. I'm going to need all the dodge bonuses I can get, and fortunately, Arcane Psychic, Divine Librarian, and Clever Gladiator all use intelligence as their primary stat. The more intelligent I am, the easier it will be for me to avoid getting hit."
The outline let out a long sigh, "Well... it was approved." She looked at him intently, "I suspect you are still going to be in the support role, yes?"
Andrew nodded, "of course."
"Very well, about your cheat ability-"
"Hold it. My what now?"
"Your cheat ability. We give everyone who-"
"No."
"What?"
"I'm not a cheater. I don't cheat. I don't use cheat anything. I am, admittedly, a goddamn, power-gaming, rules-lawyering, munchkin who abuses the system like it was a red-headed stepchild, but I do NOT cheat."
She laughed nervously, "Well, that's just what we call it. It's not really a 'cheat' because we approve giving it to you."
Andrew crossed his ethereal arms, "And what is the ability categorized as?"
The outline was quiet for a bit, then softly answered, "A cheat ability."
Andrew shook his head, "No. Sorry. But I'll be just fine with my highly abused character, thank you very much."
"But-!"
"NO." Andrew slapped his hand down on the desk, "I refuse to take a cheat ability! Period. END of CONVERSATION. I am so MANY things, but I am NOT a cheater!"
The outline sputtered. She looked shocked at the abrupt appearance of a window, floating in the air facing so only she could see it. She seemed shaken by its contents. With a trembling finger, she touched the floating window and it vanished.
She cleared her throat, "The higher-ups have approved waving the cheat ability. You... will enter your new world as is."
Andrew nodded, "Thanks. I know it might sound odd, but it is a matter of pride for me. I couldn't sleep at night if I was a cheater."
The outline nodded, "Very well." She pressed a square on her desk, "Goodbye and good luck." A second later, Andrew disappeared.
Immediately afterward she tapped the table several times and a window appeared on her desk. Another grey outline looked up from it, "Oh. Something wrong?"
"What the hell is going on? Why was he let out of here without a cheat ability? How are we supposed to-"
"THAT." The new outline said, "Is not your problem, nor your concern."
She tapped her chest, "Hey. Just as long as it doesn't come back to haunt me. Whatever happens is NOT my fault."
The window replied, "Yes yes, of course. I'll send you a memo clearly stating this isn't your call and that whatever happens isn't your responsibility."
The outline sitting at the desk seemed mollified, "Well... alright." The window winked out. The outline took a deep sigh, "This is going to end badly. I just know it."
She started reviewing her next case file...
But this time...
She read EVERYTHING.
-----
The Mirror Imp is one of the most broken creatures in the game.
Originally it was created as a late-game perk, which is why it has a sixteen-level penalty to buy it. You need to spend a bonus feature to get it, which only happens on odd levels. So you could only get one at 17th-level, normally. At that level, a wizard would have learned 9th-level spells, which is the highest level you can learn in the game. At that level, the mirror imp isn't that impressive a familiar.
Using bloodline penalty levels gets around that.
Originally bloodline penalty levels were worked out on the assumption you would only have one class, maybe two. Most people couldn't get advanced classes until they reached at least 6th, usually 11th, unless they wanted a really weak advanced class. That's why Divine Mind was considered a joke. You gain almost nothing else except for dual advancement in two different caster classes, and by the math, was not worth it.
But when you spread it out over as many first-level starting classes as you can find, those bonuses to class features add up.
Which is what allows Andrew to have the absolutely broken Mirror Imp.
Andrew may have been fifth level, but his level penalty also applied to his starting equipment, so he got to start with the gear of someone 11th level. He spent some of it on a pair of magic shoes to negate fatigue, an upgraded backpack of storage, and most of his money on scrolls, spells, and psychic crystals. One very expensive crystal in particular.
As Andrew appeared standing in a field in the middle of nowhere, his mirror imp appeared next to him. It was just a silvery humanoid with a tail. A creature of pure evil hellbent on sabotaging Andrew and dragging his soul to the underworld.
Andrews's first action was to whip out his reformation crystal, hold it in his hands, and activate it.
A reformation is a rather interesting psychic power. It costs a LOT to activate. There is a HUGE experience point penalty as well as permanent constitution damage. However, the power allows you to basically respend your character. Now, you might be asking, why use this power right after character creation? Rather simple.
It's a power with a range of personal, but you can share any personal spells you cast on yourself to include your familiar. When you use it from a psychic crystal, all the penalties are prepaid. No experience or constitution lost for you, someone else already paid it to make the crystal.
The mirror imp was being reformated into a new existence.
Specifically, he wanted to re-spend the mirror imp's features, add new creature templates, change the creature's alignment so it was no longer evil, and take it to the next level of usefulness. A curious perk of the mirror imp is that its creature subtype is 'Any'. This means that it qualifies for any creature template for any creature. With reformation, you could come up with some creative combinations.
For example, give it bloodlines.
Andrew wasn't wasting the power on himself, either. In the game, there was a way to gain extra bonus features, but you could only do it if you took flaws. These flaws had to be earned through gameplay. Once you got the flaw you got a free perk to balance it out. It was a little-known game mechanic only available if you underwent a certain adventure.
However, reformation doesn't care if you went on the quest, it just cares if the combination is possible.
By using the reformation power, Andrew gave himself two flaws. Painfully, he sacrificed two points of wisdom. It makes it easier to hit him with mental magic, but it was the stat he could afford to lose the most. Then he took Thin-Skinned, which reduced his armor rating by one. Not something he wanted to do, but it was the weakest penalty.
In exchange, he took Extension which allowed him to double the duration of any spell. His Spell level was eight and eight, but the bloodline level penalty applied to his maximum caster level.
The game had a funny way of keeping track of things. There was your base level for determining what circle spells you could use. For every odd level in your base class, your maximum circle increased by one, maxing out at 17th giving you 9th circle spells. but your caster level determines the output. Normally your base class level and caster level were the same, but there were ways to increase it.
Andrew could currently cast only up to the 3rd circle, but his effective caster level was fourteen. Double that, and when you are using a buff that lasts an hour a level, you have a spell that you cast once per day, and it lasts for twenty-eight hours. One minute a level, and it's almost a half hour. He might not have high-level spells, but the power behind each one was insane.
The second Bonus feature he took was one he was going to need because any NPC he hired would charge him an arm and a leg for what he wanted. He took craft miscellaneous magic items.
This feature gave spell casters the ability to make any non-standard permanent magic item. No armor, weapons, or one-use items like scrolls or potions, but the number of non-standard permanent magic items vastly dwarfed the number of standard items. There were so many nonstandard items Andrew needed to make, it wasn't funny.
----
The crystal glowed in Andrew's hand and then shattered into dust.
Andrew flexed his hands then looked at his mirror imp and blinked. He was expecting a small silvery humanoid that looked like him. That would be its standard appearance. Instead what he got was a tiny humanoid woman with large breasts, wide hips, a pair of horns on her head, and most of her body covered in shimmering mirrored scales that were strategically placed for the sake of her modesty. She was standing on the ground in front of Andrew looking up at him.
"You know, if you hadn't just reprogramed my brain to make me loyal to you, I'd be pissed as hell you just did that to me."
Andrew blinked, "Wait... you know what I did?"
She nodded, "Uh... DUH. I'm your familiar, and a higher level than you, to boot. We share a mind-link, idiot."
"Idiot? Shouldn't you be more respectful?"
She rolled her eyes, "You're the one who made me a Magic-blooded, primorial, Unseelie draconic Mirror Imp with titan, fae, and doppelganger bloodlines. Even with you flipping my alignment from lawful evil to chaotic good, I'm still an independent creature! I had a life in Hell before you summoned me!"
She paused then flexed her hands a little, "Although... I have to admit... you did increase my power dramatically. I-" She blinked, "Wait a second. Why did you make me unseelie AND fae bloodline? That seems redundant."
"Ah. Most of your powers are based off your charisma. I wanted to increase it as much as possible." He raised a finger, "And I made you draconic so I could get rid of those useless features and repurpose them as draconic auras." He smiled, "Now you give me damage reduction and increase my caster level for the purpose of overcoming magic resistance as long as you are within thirty feet."
She jumped into the air to gently land on Andrew's shoulder, "And I thought the devils in hell were cold, calculating bastards."
Andrew squinted at his familiar, "You are awfully confrontational for a familiar."
She flicked him in the ear, "I'm a MIRROR imp that you just reprogrammed with a reformation crystal! My original personality has been erased and replaced with YOU. My Mirror nature makes me the opposite of you, as much as I can be after what you just pulled." She tilted her head to the side, "I thought you were big on free will, my libertarian friend."
Andrew froze, "Wait..." He thought for a bit, "This is different. You see-"
"I was evil and would spend all my time constantly trying to undermine you, so that makes it okay to erase who I was and remake me in a more pleasing image."
Andrew staggered a few feet and sat down on a nearby rock, "Wait. Hold it. This... No. It... wait." He grabbed his head with both hands and squeezed.
the mirror imp hopped down to stand on his knee, "When you were designing your character, I was just a stat block to you. Not real. Abstract. Now you transformed me from an evil imp to... well... I don't know if you understand what you did." She reached up to touch his cheek, "You turned me into frickin' Jiminy Cricket. Like it or not, I'm now your personal conscious." She smiled softly, "Maybe it isn't a bad thing, but I think we need to deal with this before it eats away at you."
Andrew dropped his hands as he straightened up and stared at the tiny woman standing on his knee, "I'm... a monster."
She rolled her eyes then floated into the air to flick his nose, "No. You just didn't think this through. You made choices based on the abstract and didn't consider the reality of what was happening. So, learn from this and don't let it happen again." She smiled kindly, "For what it's worth, I forgive you."
Andrew frowned, "But I programmed you to forgive me."
"UGH!" She rolled her eyes, "Yes. And if we keep dwelling on this existential crisis, we'll be stuck here forever. What's done is done, let's move on. Make it up to me by treating me nicely. Also, remember that my intelligence goes up with my level." She turned invisible. A short time later, Andrew felt something land on top of his head, "Right now I'm WAY smarter than you, so listen to teacher and we'll get through this just fine."
Andrew looked at his hands for a while, before balling them up into fists, "Fuck." He got to his feet, "Alright. If you're so smart, which way do we go? I can't see any sign of civilization." Abruptly Andrew turned invisible.
"Well, I got better vision than you and way over there, I think I see signs of a road." He felt her tugging on his hair to make him look off to the left, "I'll just make both of us invisible, and we'll go that way until we find something."
Andrew started walking, "Oh." He reached into his backpack and pulled out a scroll. He held it in his hand and closed his eyes.
"What you doing?"
"I'm an arcane psychic. While I can use and learn any psychic power of arcane spell, there is a limit to how many unique spells or powers I can use each day. It was a limit imposed on the class to keep it from going out of hand. However, they added in a mechanic where you learn new spells and powers from scrolls or psychic crystals."
"Okay..."
"Well..." The scroll glowed softly for a second. Andrew smiled, "Funny thing about how it works. If I attune to a scroll but interrupt the memorization process, I can use the magic in it without consuming the scroll, while powering it with my own psi energy." He touched the top of his head, "Familiar storage."
The mirror imp blinked, "Huh?"
Andrew slipped the scroll away, "I just made a small extradimensional pocket on top of my head. Only you can enter it as my familiar. It'll last for another twenty-eight hours." He started pulling out other scrolls and crystals, "Speaking of long-term buffs..." He then spent the next few minutes casting upon himself and sharing the effect with his familiar.
"So what's my name?"
Andrew slipped the last crystal away, "Don't you come with one?"
"Nope. I'm your familiar. You give me one."
Andrew started walking, "Erg... I'd rather you pick your own. I feel bad enough wiping your personality. I'd like you to-" He stopped when he felt a tiny fist smack his forehead, "Ow!"
"Stop being wishy-washy. Pick a name."
Andrew rubbed his forehead for a bit, then resumed walking. A while later he spoke up and said a single word, "Miriam."
"Miriam" She echoed, "I like it." She reappeared long enough to lean down and look Andrew in the eye, "Nice to meet you, Andrew."
Andrew looked up at the tiny woman looking back at him while hanging upside down, "Nice to meet you, Miriam."
Miriam disappeared, "Stop looking at my tits. That ain't happening."
Andrew frowned, "Well, it'd help if you didn't squish them against the top of my head while you lie on me. It's distracting."
Miriam spoke softly, "Hush. I'm hearing sounds of combat. Sounds like wolves and people fighting. They might need help."
Andrew looked upward, "And we care why?"
She smacked him on top of his head, "Because it's the right thing to do, you moron!" She appeared long enough to point into the distance, "You made me! You're gonna have to live with this! Now go be a hero or I'll demonstrate how petty my Unseelie side can be!" She vanished again.
Andrew opened his mouth but seemed to think better of it. He started running off in the direction she pointed, quickly picking up the sounds of combat. As he approached, he thought to himself, ~I wonder if this is a good thing.~
-----
Haste is a very useful spell, especially when followed up by fleet feet. Normally Haste is a circle three spell, but the funny thing about an Arcane Psychic is that they can pull arcane spells from any list of spells. For example, the Gentleman Thief spell list. It didn't have very many spells and only went up to circle four, but it did have Haste at first level, thus making it a very cheap spell to cast.
Now, in comparison to psychic powers, most arcane spells are superior. This is why most adventurers never bother with psychic classes. However, the psychic power list has something that no arcane or divine spellcaster can match; time manipulation.
Rapidity is a rather powerful spell for giving you extra actions but at the cost of leaving you exhausted. Use it twice in a row, you become stunned and useless. Most people don't bother with it unless, of course, you have a pair of magic shoes that negate all exhaustion effects.
Which Andrew bought as part of his starting equipment.
The invisible Andrew paused at the edge of the section of the road where the battle was going on. Several guards had dropped already. It looked like the battle had just begun. Andrew used his multi-layered levels of speed to rush past everyone into the middle of the beleaguered guards who were trying to hold their own. They had backed up around one of the carts and were trying to hold off the beasts. The wolf-like creatures appeared canine in general but had horns and eyes that were just black orbs.
Andrew appeared among the defenders as he shouted the word, "[Stabilize]!" The word required to activate a rather unpopular spell. Normally it wasn't much use among adventuring groups. Adventurers usually traveled in small groups whereas Stabilize worked on a wide area, healing everyone just enough to stop them from getting worse. Not a practical power in a small group, but when you had a dozen wounded, it was exactly what you needed.
"[Rapidity]!" followed up by, "[Haste]!" Haste could affect allies in a wide area, so it seemed best to give everyone more speed before anything else.
The head of the guards, a tall, brute of a man in partial plate with a thick beard glanced at Andrew, "Where did you come from?"
Andrew paused to center himself, "Worry about that after the fight!" At the same time, Miriam leaped into the air and appeared as she sent a cone of glass shards into two of the monsters. It didn't kill them, but did slash them up and cause them both to start bleeding. Thanks to being able to share any spells he cast on himself, Miriam was also quite the blur, given the speed she was traveling. She looked at the two biggest fighters and pointed at them in rapid succession, causing multiple duplicate images of them to appear. The front line went from two men to ten.
It was just a trick of the light, but the beasts didn't know that. Already this fight was more than the beasts were expecting and the sudden appearance of reinforcements caused a few of the wolves to flee. This had a cascade effect as Followed up with a fireball and a heal spell on the closest downed man. As that man stood up, Miriam followed up with illusion duplicates for Andrew and the newly restored fighter. This increased the defenders by another eight illusionary defenders.
The Beast's morale broke.
Andrew went about checking the condition of anyone who had fallen. Everyone had stabilized, but now the point would be to get them standing up again. A light touch and a minimal amount of healing and the wounded were getting back up.
Right until he reached the last man.
Andrew checked his neck. No pulse. Andrew looked around, "How long has he been like this?" People looked at him strangely. Andrew rolled his eyes, "To Hell with it!" He thought to himself, ~Surely I picked up some experience from this fight. Which I'm gonna need to pull this trick off.~
"[Sacrifical Spell of two third circle cures to Extended Revive]!" Revive was a fourth-circle spell that allowed you to bring back the recently dead. At most, you had six seconds per caster level, so there was a good chance Andrew could pull it off if he used his sacrificial spell ability to cast it. This required an expenditure of experience points, as well as a simple constitution check to remain conscious.
Andrew shouldn't have made Con his dump stat.
