Chapter 8-222: Enter a Ring

Sleipner quickly braked to a more manageable speed by making a request of me, and I Featherweighted us, sending the inertia out all around and reducing us to a momentary drift after he made a short ramp and was airborne for a few seconds.

He drifted back to the ground, wheels made contact, and we virtually trundled up to the exit mouth of the bridge. Without needing to be told, Sleipner came to a halt to let us see the land beyond.

The six mountains formed a ring with a central valley that was leagues across. The Frostshroud surrounded the center of that valley, but did not fill in the middle of it, which was full of the gray cloud of the Haze.

Because there was a void in the middle of that place, a sea of stars, and in the middle of it floated a continent... or a really big island.

We just sort of gawked for a moment in shock. My Eagle Eyes exploded across the distance, raking my eyes across the view in disbelief.

The bridgeway we were on ran right up to the edge of that field of empty space, and then directly across it, forming a shimmering, subdued bridge of light that ran right up to the ocean that surrounded the floating continent, waves spilling over its edge and getting sucked in beneath it to the underside, where they were soaked in and returned in an endless cycle.

There was a second Shroudzone within the world, only a dot at this distance, dark and hard and cold there at the peak that seemed to stand up from the rest of the world, actually protruding above the Haze.

Master Fred coughed softly. -I admit that I did not expect this.-

-Likewise.- The explorers /looking on were all gaping as my eyes roved over it. The interactions of some ancient magic alone were mind-boggling; this was Divine-level stuff at work.

-That’s Hyperborea!- a nerd named Wallace Grunsion /piped up for everybody, throwing out the mental references of the land of ice and snow that was supposed to be missing from where the North Pole was now.

It was as good a name as any, and the meme fit. It was so tagged, and Mr. Grunsion beamed in joy at the accreditation.

Distances were very, very misdirecting here, and I dropped my eyes from the entire land floating in the middle of a spatial void, opened up by the Shroud but still extant there, and down to the edges of the place.

Okay, that’s a little more expected...

The landscape was covered with undead.

They weren’t moving, so they hadn’t drawn our eyes like that utterly amazing tableau of a suspended landscape, but there were definitely millions of them. Humans, ape-men, orcs, underdwelling morlocks, devolved beast-men, slain monsters and Jotuns and other things of various types.

Skeletal, corpus, and incorporeal, the latter wafting back and forth on circling winds, not with the random flying everywhere the elemental spirits further up the mountains were displaying... who would also be enslaved to the Shroudlord at this point, under a Frostlord’s influence.

Everything was radiating subdued might, and a great necroic chill was seeping into the air. There were some extremely advanced corpsecrafted undead down there. Many of the humans had the blue-black soulchill fires of the draugr burning in them, monsters had icy spikes sticking out of them, armored shells of ice were common, and some of the incorps were surrounded in their own little snowstorms.

-He’s not marching out along the bridge?- Master Fred /wondered.

-The Curse of the Sun, I would guess.- There was a legion of six to eight-meter tall hulking Jotun undead; different variants of Frost, Ice, Snow, and Cold Jotuns in their assorted shades, including a few of the many-headed variety, parked across the road at the edge of that empty void, as if to deny anyone who had the temerity to travel across the void to here.

Any intrepid explorer thinking to escape the prison of their little floating world was going to get a rude surprise if they made it all this way, and didn’t turn around to run fast enough.

-Where’s the boss?- Master Fred /asked, looking at the distorted Shroudzone, trying to find the creature it was centered on.

-Seven o’clock.- Everyone turned to look that way with me, and made out the figure on a cold throne there.

He looked like a ten-foot human body with a grinning demonic totem for a head, all prominent beak-like nose and fanged mouth, icicles dripping from both. Cold, cold magic swirled about Him, death hung in the air, and with the rime sealing Him to His stone seat, He didn’t look like He’d moved in ages.

-He resembles Hastsezini,- Master Fred /murmured.

-Another old god. Inukchuk, perhaps?- I /hazarded. I forewent cracking my knuckles, staring at all the undead. The weakest of them was likely a Four, the strongest were Twenties, and there was a LOT of necroic cold about them. -I’m thinking those bridge points from all the mountains and where they meet the void are the Nodes I need for my ceremony.-

Each mountain had a road going down to the void, but only the one we were on had one that extended out into the void to the continent beyond. Magical symmetry to support the pocket space, I gathered.

-With the final one at the center of the land there?- Master Fred /guessed, nodding at that lonely spire sticking up into the Haze out there in the Void.

-Yes.- I swept my eyes over everything once, smiled slightly. This was almost ideal for slaughter. Double damage fire attacks against a bunch of cold-attribute undead... and my spells got stronger in the cold, not weaker.

I also had a marvelous choke point to work from here. Things might get awkward if the shoggoths dared to come up here and investigate the excitement going on outside, but they probably had run across the old god down there, been shattered to bits, and decided that messing with an uncaring Divinity wasn’t part of their rebellion.

-Back us up. We’ll start after Dusk.-

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It was made from a gear, a sprocket of adamantine, so it was a pretty strange Ring. Nonetheless, it was a Ring of Sustenance, with some special add-ons that could be Infused up.

I had finished up all the arranging of my Stars, and my Matrix was swelling with an old, familiar power that was nearly equal to Aelryinth’s Master Archtheurge Title.

I finished everything as Dusk Renewal ran around, ending my magical day with the chants to seal the Patterns and wind them shut, Attune them for the intended recipient, and devote the Ring and its wearer to the service of Aethra.

“...where rest the weary, and dream of the wind at dawn.”

Power swirled in the air as the first true Magically Wrought Ring came into existence under the Shroud. People had made magical jewelry before, but those were just Slotless Wondertoys, not using the Ring Chakras at all.

Power was thrumming about me, poised, waiting.

I sighed, knowing several things were coming to a culmination now.

I tipped over Sorcerer/7, taking that step out of the ultimate halvyr and to beyond mortal limits... not that I hadn’t blown far, far past them already, my Stat line being what it was.

My Bloodline spell opened up, and the Bloodrose Arcane completed.

There were no Dings. Apparently, this was my moment.

Bloodline Feat, Spell Focus (Evocation). I had a Domain Spell Focus in Good, an Elemental Spell Focus in Cold; this rounded them out. They’d all stack. My Matrix swirled and reinforced as I doubled-down on Shards.

General Feat, Craft Staff. This would allow me to create the first charged Staff Implements, true Implements. Clavus only had Stave Enhancements, so this opened him up for much more.

Purchased Feat, Repeat Spell. The last of the doubling Metas, +3, recast a spell again the round after it was unleashed. Only usable in large fights and if you wanted to totally blow the action economy out of the water.

Purchased Mastery, Nog Mastery/5, able to burn V Valences for effects... I’d just have to see what I wanted to use them on.

I inhaled deeply. Crafting a Staff would render me The Stafflord on this world, too.

There was a tingle as I rose to Seven, magic initializing over the course of Seven True Levels activating. My Item Familiar Einz came to life on my finger, realized my base Caster Level was quite a bit above Seven (Faux Eleven, to be precise), and sucked in even more power.

He would have the power to cast Wizard Cantrips; most importantly, Snowball. Materializing a Snowball in my hand basically fed me the Material Component requirement for the extra level boost for Snowcasting. Another +2 on the stack!

His Naming Karma was going into Indestructibility, a 30k investment. I didn’t want some Shatter effect coming in and destroying him after all this investment.

There were tingles in the manafield at all this, but I ticked over another mental lever.

Halvyr/3!

I am unique.

The thought reverberated through me. I was not half of an elf, or half of a human. I could look into and see both races viewpoints and drives on a magical, intuitive level, but I was halvyr, an independent race from both parent races, and I stood on my own.

I no longer had the Elf or Human sub-types, unless I chose to use them. Thus, Human or Elf-centered effects would no longer affect me, unless I wanted them to. I could still use and qualify to use things only usable by either race if I wished to, however.

Oh, hey, the +2 Constitution bonus and the extra d8 of Health was fine, too.

I closed my eyes, and brought up the Assay.

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The Traveler, The Star Mage, The High Wizard

Halvyr/3 (Elf/2, Human/2) – The Perfect Halvyr

Primary Classes: SageSorcerer/7 (11) (P), Wizard/4 (11) – The Ringlord

Secondary Classes: NPC: Expert/4, Vizard/4, Noble/4

Non-Caster: Melee/4, Scout/4, Archer/4, Monk/4

Caster Classes: Magus/4, Witch/4, Inquisitor/4 (7), Binder/4 (7), Artificer/4 (7), Alchemist/4, Minstrel/4 (7), Bard/4, Blighter/4 (7), Ur-Priest/4 (7)

Advanced Classes: Arcane Theurge/5, Mystic Theurge/4, Elemental Theurge/4, Lore Theurge/4, Creation Theurge/4, Name Theurge/4, Battlemad/4, Arcane Archer/4, Archsorcerer/5, Archwizard/5, Warshaper/1

Stats:

Perfect Form: All Stats at 18 base

Strength: 27 +8

Dexterity: 37 +13 (+5 Inherent)

Constitution: 34 +12 (+5 Inherent)

Intellect: 46 +18 (+5 Inherent, +5 Sacred)

Wisdom: 35 +12 (+5 Inherent)

Charisma: 36 +13 (+5 Inherent)

Health: 77 (3d8 Halvyr/3 (21), + 36 Con, + Arcane Toughness/1 (+15), +Toughness (+5))

Soak: 210 (d6+Int (24), +4d6 (22) Sorc +11 FC, +20 Melee, +72 Con, +34 Arc Tough/2, +27 Tough/2)

Ki: 33 (+16 Invested/Class)

Arcana: 27

Spell Pool: 48 (24 Wizard, 24 Sorcerer)

Talent: Naturally Centered

Racial Benefits: As Halvyr/3, Elf/Human 2: +2 Dexterity, +2 Con

Traits:Experienced Warrior, Mark of Doom, Favored by Faith, Magical Lineage, Undead Killer, Warcaster Tradition

Karma: Current Ten (35%)

Base Abilities...

Feats/Class Abilities...

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