Oblivion's Crown Read online

  Congratulations! You have leveled up!

  But it was not enough. He desperately fought with every fiber of his soul to contain the hideously destructive power of first one, then another then another massive meteors of ice and iron as they roared through the atmosphere before smashing into his lands, devastating everything they touched.

  Willpower check made! Your Air magic is now level 4! (4 of 7 points spent.)

  Yet he was also the storm of rock and stone roaring through the ether, struggling to grab hold of every fragment of every meteor as it transformed to thousands of tons of superheated destruction, heartbeats from exploding back into the atmosphere where it would stay for countless years.

  Willpower check made! Your Earth magic is now level 4! (6 of 7 points spent.) Mana pool has increased by 10%. (7 of 7 points spent.)

  Congratulations! You have leveled up!

  He was the ice within those rocks instantly transformed to steam, propelling massive quantities of vaporized rock and ferrous silicate into the upper atmosphere.

  Willpower check made! You continue to exist! Your Water magic is now rank 3! (1 of 7 points spent.) Congratulations! Your Water magic is now rank 4! (5 of 7 points spent.)

  And he was the superheated core, exploding under unspeakable pressures at impact to rain inconceivably hot destruction as far as the eye could see.

  1 point invested in Fire. 3 points to Rank 4. (6 of 7 points spent.) Mana pool has increased by 10%. (7 of 7 points spent)

  Congratulations! You have leveled up!

  And how Val screamed as he joined his soul to every one of those massive balls of superheated and pressurized lumps of ice and ore, exploding with inconceivable impact a thousand times over, as mastery over the hottest of all elements was eternally seared upon his soul.

  Willpower check made! Barely, Val. Somehow you’re still holding on, enduring more than even a pain vat’s prize! Your Fire magic is now Rank 4 after embracing eternal flame... (3 of 7 points spent.)

  To endure is to understand. And only after embracing the inconceivable torment of a thousand explosive deaths could he possibly dare to change the direction of their doom.

  Willpower check made! For Oblivion’s chosen has instantaneously mastered the 4th Rank of Destruction by determination alone! (7 of 7 points spent.)

  Save versus agony unending made! You have transcended the limits of your potential! Transformation is now Rank 4! <1 extra point spent.> You have torn free unearned fruit from the Path of Kings, willing to bear the bitter burden of your daring! 10 territory points claimed, 2 extra points of potential plucked free from the quantum flux of possibility!

  But Fate demands a price from the killer who bleeds for redemption.

  Psychic sundering! There is a price to be paid for the horrific trial you have endured! Even as these arcane lessons have been seared upon your soul, the ability for your traumatized mind to endure further studies has decreased! You now suffer a permanent -2 penalty to Scholarship!

  Nightmares – Your nights will now be haunted by the screams of all those souls butchered in cold blood as you don the mantle of the most ruthless of all contenders daring the throne. (Well done, Child of Oblivion!) Good luck getting a good night’s sleep outside of your lover’s arms!

  Soul gaze – Your gaze carries the weight of all the horrors you have inflicted and endured! +2 to all intimidation, interrogation, and leadership skill checks. -2 to all attempts to put people at ease. -2 to all attempts at charming or seducing gentle souls hungry for innocence, +2 to all attempts to charm and seduce those seeking Oblivion’s caress! Your followers may be in awe of you, but rare indeed will be the friend or lover who does not fear you as well. Good thing most of your friends are killers, just like you!

  Congratulations! Your trial has blessed you with the first glimmers of understanding of the most fundamental of all arcane arts, Mana itself! Mana Manipulation is now Rank 1!

  Congratulations! Your hideous ordeal has blessed you with the deepest of all Arcane Mysteries: Greater Mana Warping. This ancient, terrible Rite will boost the mana levels of a given territory to such intensity that the forces and fields of reality are themselves warped, as if kissing the event horizon of an arcane black hole. Imagine that!

  All spells have double efficacy and critical failure risk in any territory with Greater Mana Warping in effect! All arcane research will proceed 50% faster, with double standard Jordian risks of catastrophic failures. Design your labs carefully! Dominion tech fails utterly within the area of effect of Greater Mana Warping, and only dwarven masterworks, or arms and armaments designed on the most basic Psionic or Arcane principles can hope to maintain integrity! Increased fertility and environmental effects equivalent to Haunting Luminescence are in constant effect!

  All arcane energies are recovered at threefold normal rate! All conjurations and summonings can survive on background electromana radiation indefinitely! All high-frequency energy emissions are converted to arcane emissions and absorbed within the field! Not even the most powerful lasers or kinetic strikes from space will do anything but further energize your territory!

  Warning! Greater Mana Warping needs extreme catalyst to come to fruition! Either a Dark Sacrifice or Extinction-Level Event. You have one territory that fits this criteria! Do you wish to cast Greater Mana Warping upon Dominicus Province? Y/N

  You have chosen yes! Extinction-Level Event has been redesignated as Greater Mana Warping catalyst! Dominicus province is no more.

  Congratulations! You have gained access to a greater territory ripe with heretofore unexplored arcane anomalies! Who knows what marvels and mysteries you shall find within this province haunted by abominations, horrors, and untold wonders?

  Warning: This greater territory is now designated as Wildlands. Your former Overlord status grants you Lesser Attunement with Wildlands. You will not be attacked on sight by the denizens within. Haunting Luminescence will not adversely affect you. Attempts to summon spirits or conjure Horrors, Undead, or Abominations will have a 30% greater chance of success, and be 30% more potent. Your risk of critical failure within the territory has been reduced by 30%. But you are no longer the master of this domain. You cannot sense the mysteries within. You may invest no further territory points within this wild domain. (4 territory points remaining).

  Arcane Rift has been forged upon Jordia! You have active gates between Wildlands and other territories! Any territory connected to Wildlands via gate or geography may be enhanced with Greater Mana Warping for 6 territory points! This enhancement may be spread without limit! All subsequent warped territories will enjoy previous benefits and territory status. In addition, all Arcane Resources will enjoy a three tier increase in quality! Warning: the abrupt cessation of Dominion technology may indirectly impair former territory bonuses! All citizens will automatically gain benefits of Lesser Attunement. Warning: Horrors will spread between Warped territories unless appropriate measures are taken! Warning: Risk of significant Mana Warping with local wildlife.

  Val’s howl was the supersonic blast devastating untold thousands of buildings. The hot fire searing everything in its path to ash. The dust and steam blasting through the air. Matter and energy converting to a single electromana waveform of such intensity, such gravity, that spacetime itself began to warp and bend as Val locked all that terrible potential into a redefinition of local reality. One that didn’t include a shockwave of destruction ripping through Jordia. One that didn’t include a planet-killing dust cloud that would trap this planet within a perpetual ice age. It was a local reality that instead welcomed and embraced magic to a degree that most wizards could only dream of, even as it warped, to hideous effect, the spirits of all those that had died during the transformation.

  Even as Val felt the last flickering remnants of his soul fade to gentle darkness, he felt a fierce exultation equal to the horrific pain he had endured.

  Jordia and its hundreds of millions of inhabitants and the women he loved were safe. That was all that mattered.


  Save versus Final Doom made!

  True Artifice skillcheck: Success!

  A savage cry he hardly recognized as his own echoed from the depths of shadow. Refusing to surrender to the soothing susurrations of time’s gentle stream carrying him away. Fighting against the current, only then becoming aware of the searing agony of muscles pushed beyond their limits, his imagined heart pounding, his nonexistent lungs screaming for air. Forcing himself into being once more, from the quantum flux of a realm trapped between realms, refusing to give up. Refusing to surrender. Too stubborn to quit, no matter the agony his mind refused even now to recall, seconds after he had saved his adopted world from his own horrific mistake.

  Gazing upon the surprised features of Phoebe, both of them standing upon a desert cloaked in darkness, the howling winds of a sandstorm whipping the hoods of both of their cloaks, the only light being a thousand twinkling stars and Jordia’s twin, brilliant upon the nighttime sky.

  His terrible mentor favored him with the tiniest of nods.

  “And you redeem horrific folly with your own sacrifice, with the gall to forge yourself into being from the quantum flux once more.” She flashed the tiniest of smiles. “It will do, disciple.” She raised an ivory white hand, pointing to a door hanging in the air a foot away that Val swore had not been there a moment ago.

  “Where will it take me?” Val asked.

  Phoebe’s eyes crinkled in a gentle smile. “Where you most want to be.”

  Val gazed at the vision of beauty he was chillingly certain was a goddess before solemnly bowing and saluting her with his blade. He was puzzled by her surprised expression. If he could reforge himself from the lip of oblivion within this realm between realms, then the Shadowcloak and Psiblade he had brought along were hardly worth such a look.

  As he stepped through the doorway that showed only blackness, her parting words washed over him. “Tread carefully, child of magic and shadow. Your trials have only just begun.”

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  Valor Hunter: – Level 23 Dauda Assassin / Level 6 Overlord (Arcane Reaver)

  Primary Attributes

  Strength 19 / Vitality 24 / Finesse 16 / Quickness 22 / Perception 23 / Scholarship 15 /Willpower 21 / Charisma 16 / Luck ?? +4

  Secondary Attributes

  Health 264 / Survival 554+?? / Stamina 264 / Mana 735 / Psion 552 / Insight 17 / Regenerates 7.4 Mana & 7.4 Stamina & 5.5 Psion & 1.5 Health per second. Base Appearance 10 (+3 charisma +1 fitness = 4 + reputation bonuses) Additional +4 to reaction rolls when you let your intensity shine!

  Reputation Changes

  Contender: You have begun to reveal yourself! Now Kentric knows the face of his most fearsome opponent, the Terran Hybrid who dares to walk the Path of Kings. The hatred he has for you knows no bounds! The High Council as well will soon be given sketches of you as rumors of your exploits grow by leaps and bounds. Some will admire you, some will fear you. A few will seek to follow, others attack you on sight! With the absolute destruction of an entire province, who knows what effects this will have on your reputation? Good thing there is no internet here!

  Elementalist: +3 Reaction rolls from all Jordian mages able to sense your arcane mastery!

  New Flaws

  Nightmares – Your nights will now be haunted by the screams of all those souls butchered in cold blood as you don the mantle of the most ruthless of all contenders daring the throne. (Well done, Child of Oblivion!) Good luck getting a good night’s sleep outside of your lover’s arms!

  Soul gaze – Your gaze carries the weight of all the horrors you have inflicted and endured! +2 to all intimidation, interrogation, and leadership skill checks. -2 to all attempts to put people at ease. -2 to all attempts at charming or seducing gentle souls hungry for innocence, +2 to all attempts to charm and seduce those enticed by darkness or seeking oblivion’s caress! Your followers may be in awe of you, but rare indeed will be the friend or lover who does not fear you as well.

  Skill increases

  Meta-Magic Feat: Fast-Casting Rank 1 (Spells can be instantaneously cast! 100% Additional cost for every second shaved off normal casting time.)

  Arcane Art Improvements

  Destruction 4 / Transformation 4 / Mana Manipulation 1 / Earth 4 / Fire 4 / Water 4 / Air 4

  (Congratulations! You have achieved Rank 4 in all 4 elements! You can now claim the title Elementalist: 20% Increased damage, casting speed, and reduced cost for all spells based on the 4 major elements!)

  New Spells Learned

  None

  Overlord Improvements

  Arcane Reaver Tier 1: +1 to Strength, Vitality, Finesse, Quickness & Willpower.

  Blood Reaver Tier 1 – Blood, Death, and Necromantic magics are 20% more effective and 10% cheaper to cast per level of Arcane Reaver achieved! All destructive magics are 10% more effective per level of Arcane Reaver achieved! All healing magics cost 15% more mana per level of Arcane Reaver achieved! (All bonuses stack with Potent Magus! All penalties fully negated with spell mastery or Overlord Ritual).

  Death’s Kiss Tier 1 – Every foe who falls to your spell, blade, or Psionic power shrivels to dust as you claim their life force for your own! You instantly heal 3 wound tiers and 10% of your maximum Health/Stamina/Mana/Psion per Arcane Reaver rank with every foe you kill!

  Song of Battle Tier 1 – The killing fields are your friend! You heal an additional 5 points of Health/Stamina/Mana/Psion per second per tier of Arcane Reaver whenever you find yourself upon the field of battle, engage in melee combat, or use magic or psionics at close range! Dark rejuvenation continues for 30 seconds after last foe has fallen or all enemies have fled from your sight!

  Dark Legend Tier 1 – Some legends never die. Survival will now increase by 50 points for every tier of Arcane Reaver achieved!

  New Overlord Rituals – Transcendent-Level Spells. (Must walk the Path of Kings to cast.)

  Greater Mana Warping – Cost to cast: 6 territory points. All spells have double efficacy and critical failure risk in any territory with Greater Warping in effect! All arcane energies are recovered at threefold normal rate. All conjurations and summonings can survive on background electromana radiation indefinitely. All high frequency energy emissions that are not already arcane in nature are converted to arcane emissions and absorbed within the field. All Arcane Resources will enjoy a three tier increase in quality. Arcane research will proceed 50% faster, with double standard risk of catastrophic failure. Dominion tech fails utterly within the area of effect of Greater Warping. Only dwarven melee weapons, armor, and masterwork equipment will work as intended. Increased fertility and environmental effects equivalent to Haunting Luminescence in effect. Note. Greater Mana Warping ritual can only be cast upon territories linked by gate or geography to other areas already under the effects of this, the greatest of all Mystic rituals.

  ___________________________________________________________________

  Condensed Dominion Matrix

  Overlord Rank 6

  Territories Claimed: 4

  Lesser Territories: Highblood Province / Greengrove Province / Terrance Province

  Greater Territories: Blackenthorp Province

  Key Territory Resources: Tier 5 Research Facility (+60%) / Tier 5 Arcane Academy (+60%)/ Tier 2 Elementium & Altersian Crystal & Silbion Reserves / Tier 3 Alchemical Garden & Fungal Grove / Tier 6 Agricultural Facilities / Tier 6 Manufacturing Facilities (+60%) / Tier 5 Mining Facilities / Tier 7 Mercantile Facilities

  Unspent territory points: 4

  Unclaimed Territories Attuned to: Wildlands (Lesser Attunement)

  ___________________________________________________________________

  Tactical Dominion Submatrix

  Ward: +6% Defensive bonus to all units and enhancements within your territories!

  Assault: +5% (6) = 30% bonus to all offensive maneuvers for up to 32 party members or soldiers under your command.

  ____________________
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  7

  Julia’s limbs froze with terror. Not again!

  It was her downfall.

  Her trembling blade was easily overpowered, and agony unlike anything she had ever experienced before blazed through her soul as Vidar Dominicus’s Psiblade speared through her.

  His ugly countenance filled her vision as he leered over her crumpling body, massive hands snarling her hair and jerking her face up to meet his terrible gaze. “Surrender, wench. Surrender your soul to me! I will best you. I will always best you! You have no hope against one who walks the Path of Kings! Surrender your soul to me!”

  Psyche shattering under the agony she was forced to endure, skittering thoughts wondered at the sheer impossibility of it. The foe her beau had killed was before her once more, in all his dark glory, fighting over and over, endlessly. Demanding she surrender the last shreds of her identity, hungry to claim her very soul.

  And no matter how desperately she fought with Psiblade and forceshield, the moment she was off balance, off kilter, reeling from Vidar’s terrible blows, he would contemptuously force her blade aside, leverage past her shield, and run her through.

  It was the power of his mind. The blinding speed with which he could unleash Ego Crush before she could bring her own Psionic Blast to bear. His strongest attack effortlessly ripped through her vulnerable mind, no matter that she had trained so diligently to boost her own defenses. It was only half of what her Rank 4 would suggest, and was no match for his terrible speed, his crushing power.

  Her nemesis smashed her skull to the marble tiles, as pristine and perfect as they had been before she and Val had launched their attack. “Surrender, wench, lest you’d savor the dark delights of my ravaging your flesh, over and over, before you at last surrender your soul to me! I will claim your life for my own, and Valor Hunter’s head will fall to my blade! His power will be mine, and no matter the form I take, I will walk astride this world in glory as the king of kings!”