Posy A Tale of Magic
Posy peeked out form the tunnel that led from the interior of Ak'Anon out to the Steamfont Mountains. She had never left Ak'Anon before, with its cozy green glow torches and the reassuring mechanical whirrs and clicks of Gnomish machinery. Her guildmaster, the wizard Tobon Starpyre, had kicked her out of the Library Mechanomagica the day before.
'Posy, you will get no further with your studies until you leave Ak'Anon and try your skills in a real situation of peril,' he had said. 'You have spells of offense and defense, which will let you do some damage to the pests which infest the valleys near Ak'Anon, and shield you from their blows. I know you have put extra training into using that dagger, though I frown on your reliance on such a mundane tool. You should have confidence in your skills; you have worked hard. Now go!'
What he didn't say was that her studies could go no further without money. She could not buy more spells, since she had spent all her money already to reach this point. Her classmates had gone out to the valley and come back with items they had gotten from the skeletons, and been able to further finance their studies. Her parents had already spent enough, and were only repair technicians, not able to make a large wage fixing the various clockwork mechanisms in Ak'Anon. They had been stunned and proud when she had shown a talent for magic, as it was not something that they saw as an option for any member of their family. Their meager savings had gotten her admission and a year's worth of study, and it was now up to her to show she wanted to continue with magic.
As she peeked out, Posy saw the two gnomes in warrior's garb at the entrance. They looked so fierce with their armor and weapons all shiny from polishing and hard use. What they must have seen! Will she come to see as much?
'Excuse me, defenders. Which way to the valley where they are having trouble with spiderling nests and old skeletons? I have been sent out to help with that.' Posy said nervously.
'Follow the path and bear left. You will come to a high hill overlooking the valley. Beware, there are kobolds about too. '
Kobolds! She had seen sketches of the beasts in the books in the library. Their mottled fur and wolf-like muzzles looked fierce and threatening. She knew that they had a society of sorts and were known to kill gnomes, and even eat them! The Steamfont Mountains had several kobold camps tucked away in dark valleys. She hoped she could stay clear of them.
Posy took a deep breath. First thinks first, she thought.. Green fire began to trickle from her fingers as she mouthed the words of power for her shielding spell. The green glow began to flow like water then as she gestured and the flow formed a sphere around her and settled, like a layer of clothing, on her skin, and faded. Now the magical shield would deflect minor blows, which she hoped she wouldn't have to worry about it. Close combat was not her thing.
Heading down the path at a slow jog, she ran through the things that her teachers had told her. Concentration was teh most important ingredient to spell successes, they had said. If you can keep your head and focus, your spells would succeed almost a all the time. Try to hit your target from far away, they had also said. We have an advantage of the warriors in that we can hit something from afar, but a disadvantage in that we cannot fight as well as they do.
Posy saw the path fork to the right and left and jogged down the left path. It wound between two large peaks, with flumes from the inside of the mountain occasionally whistling and blowing a cloud of steam high in the air. Ahead she saw a large, grass-covered hill that was probably the hill overlooking the valley.
'Hail, little gnome! Well met!' Posy turned to look to see where the deep voice had come from. Sitting on the hill, resting, was a Dwarf! She had never seen one in Ak'Anon though she knew that dwarves visited the city occasionally. Since dwarves had no talent for magic, she never saw one at the Academy of the Mystical Sciences where she spent most of her time.
"Hello!' she said a little nervously. Sitting down, the dwarf was almost her height and his shoulders were twice as broad. He sat there with a near his hand and was wearing leather armor. On his chest was a holy symbol of Brell Serilis, Duke of Below.
`Are ... Are you a cleric?' she stammered, then blushed. What a dumb thing to say! Of course he was. Everything was so new, she was getting spooked by meaningless things.
'Oghma, Priest of Brell, at your service!' the Dwarf said. 'You are quite perceptive! I'm about to return to the battle below. Would you care to work together? It will be safer, I think, if I engage the monsters while you use your magic on them.'
'That sounds good, ' Posy stammered. 'I'm very new to this, but I'll try!'
Oghma smiled at her. 'this may help you, Posy. You need to remember why you are here and what is important.' He began a spell, green light emanating from his hands, and a feeling of peace and courage swept through her. "You will do fine, Posy. Let's go!'
Oghma jogged around the edge of the valley a bit, with Posy following. Posy looked around, seeing that there were others also in the valley engaged in fighting spiderlings. Over to the left she saw something shambling towards them.
'What's that?' she gasped.
'A skeleton! Hit it with a spell! I'll protect you!' Oghma shouted.
The skeleton was falling apart, its bones held together by necromantic magic and the angry will of its dead host. Green light gleamed from its eyes as it came closer to them.
Posy blinked, then shook her head. Concentrate. Her hands flew in the forms of the frost incantation. It was getting closer; it might come after her! Concentrate. Blue, ice-like licks of magical energy formed around her then hopped to the skeleton. Zap! The Shock of Frost hit the skeleton like a hammer, and it's body rocked backwards. It looked her way and began towards her, cackling evily! Posy shrieked.
Oghma's hammer came in from her right side and whacked the skeleton hard on the shoulder. The skeleton turned to face him and swung a rusty axe in its hands. Oghma dodged and shouted 'Another spell!'
Posy began the frost incantation again. The skeleton was only a few feet from her, the eerie power of its animation raising the hair on the back of her neck. She finished the spell, only to hear a buzzing and fizzle noise as she failed. 'Oh no!' she yelled, 'it didn't work!'
'Try again, you can do it!' Oghma shouted.
The skeleton's axe connected with Oghma's hammer and drove him back, its blade glancing off the leather sleeve of his armor. Posy shook her head and began again. this time the spell succeeded and the skeleton staggered back once more.
Oghma whirled his hammer and bashed the skeleton's rib cage to dust. A gurgling noise coudl be heard as the skeleton collapsed.
Posy looked at her hands and saw they were trembling. in fascination, she looked at them shake, like they were part of another's body, the fingers moving slightly back and forth.
'Posy! Nice Work! Posy?' Oghma's voice broke her from her trance and she looked up at him. She felt very tired suddenly. The energy to cast the spells must have been enormous.
'Do you need a rest, Posy?' Oghma asked. 'I know it sometimes takes a lot out of a spellcaster to cast spells.'
'Yes, just a bit.' Posy sat down. 'how is it that you are here? I don't often see someone if your race this far south. I mean, I have never seen a Dwarf.' she blushed, thinking he might think she was trying to act too nonchalant.
Oghma sat down next to her, his eyes keeping watch around them. 'I'm here to meet a friend of mine, his name is Mundas. He's an Enchanter, and I met him in Felwithe. He should be travelling by here any time on his way back to Ak'Anon.'
'You've been to Felwithe? Is it as pretty as they say?'
'Yes, it's very nice, though too open to the sky. They have a lot of arching marble and the mage's guild floats above a small lake!'
'It sounds wonderful,' Posy sighed. 'I hope I get to see it sometime.'
Oghma rummaged around the dusty shattered remains of their foe.
'Hey, Posy, this skeleton had a rusty axe we could sell, and a few large chips of bone.'
'We could sell them to the Academy, they use them for necromantic studies, Posy said.
'Ok, we'll split it. Let's go fight some more pests. You can use the practice. ' Oghma smiled at her to take away the possible sting of his words. 'You are doing well, though. Keep working at it.'
Posy looked down over the valley rim. 'I see a skeleton down there, i'm going to try to hit it from here. Get ready!'
Oghma readied his warhammer. "ready!'
The blue magic shot from her to the skeleton, almost knocking it down. It raced towards her, again cackling. Oghma interposed himself as she quickly loosed another.
Weakened, the skeleton managed a few feeble swings at the dwarf before he crushed it with his warhammer.
'That one was easy!' Posy said as she took some bone chips from the corpse.
Oghma nodded. 'Your spells did a lot of damage. That's a good way for use to work, too. Target from afar, then I'll stop it from attacking you.'
Suddenly, from behind her, Posy heard a bone-chilling howl, like that of a wolf. It began low and raised in pitch until it was almost a screech before dropping again.
'Look out!' Oghma shouted. 'Kobolds, behind us!'
Spinning around, Posy saw three small, runtish kobolds moving towards them. Barking and growling they ran half upright, half crouched like a dog. Their eyes gleamed as the rushed the two.
'Take the one on the right!' Oghma shouted as he ran to confront them.
Posy cast the frost spell, weakening her opponent, then whipped out her dagger as he got close. she feinted to the left and stabbed at the runt, but it backpedaled out of the way.
Time seemed to show down. The kobold in front of her swiped at her, tearing her tunic. She feinted forward again, and while the runt stumbled back, cast the frost spell. The runt charged her, dropping a shoulder, trying to bowl her over, but she kept her concentration and the spell fired off again. Frost rimmed the fur of the runt as it stumbled back. Her side ached from the impact of the kobold's rush.
To her left, Oghma was smashing at one with his warhammer. There were bloody marks on his armor, as he looked like he had taken wounds from his two opponents. in seeming slow motion, she saw him reel back from a blow to the shoulder.
Wham! her Kobold knocked her over with a rush, tearing at her with his claws. She screamed and rolled out from under it, then stabbed her dagger into its side, causing it to emit a blood-curdling cry as it died. Blood poured over the hand that held the dagger.
Oghma grunted as he was again hit by a kobold. Posy targeted a spell on the most wounded of his opponents, and watched in satisfaction as it froze and fell, mortally wounded. her energy exhausted, she stabbed at the other with a dagger while Oghma took the brunt of the blows. The kobold, now outnumbered, turned to run and Oghma felled him with a stroke to the back of the head.
'Ouch.' Oghma looked himself over and noticed many wounds. 'I'm quite hurt.' He leaned back and chanted a spell, a blue light washing over him and healing many of the tears and scrapes. 'Posy, here,' he said, and the healing light washed over her too.
'I'm wiped out,' Posy said, exhausted from all the spells she had cast.
'Let's go back to the safety of the hill and rest. First though, let's check the bodies.'
The kobolds had several tarnished silver and copper coins in their belt pouches, and the two friends limped back to the safety of the top of the valley.
'Why do you like the adventuring life, Oghma? What is it about this that you like?'
'I like meeting new people. In the Butcherbloks, there are visitors all the time who come off the boat from Antonica, and they stop in Kaladim often. You get to see Humans, Barbarians, Halflings, everything! They are all interesting, though some feel very uncomfortable in the underground. I like hearing the stories of their homelands, and tales of heroes. Sometimes bards come and sing too. Sometimes I wish I could be a bard, and tell stories to people and tales of other lands.'
'I just want to be a better wizard,' Posy said. 'I love magic, I love using it, and I can't wait to get spells that let me travel. I'm not sure I want to travel by foot everywhere, it's ...'
'Help! Help!' came the shout from within the valley. A Gnome warrior was running from a group of what looked like spiderlings. As he ran, a spiderling would lunge at him and bite him. He looked badly wounded, his legs a mass of bleeding cuts.
Oghma stood and quickly cast a healing spell, the blue wash of magic covering the warrior and closing a few of his many wounds. Oghma started again to cast another since the warrior was so badly hurt.
'Thanks,' the warrior shouted, 'help me kill them!'
Posy tried to cast at one of the spiderlings but it was too far away. As she ran up with Oghma, she though, 'I need a longer range spell, like that bolt spell I saw.' When she got within range, she unleashed frost on the lead spiderling that the warrior was fighting. Oghma rant to engage another and soon he, too, was surrounded by spiders.
Posy stayed back, targeting spiders that the warrior and Oghma were fighting, blasting them with cold while the two front-line fighters slashed, stabbed, and dodged. Soon enough, there was only one spider and, with her remaining mana, Posy blasted that one to an icicle.
Oghma healed himself and the warrior, and then they picked through the bodies. They were able to recover silk from the spiderlings to sell to the tailors or other merchants.
'I'm Sibrius, thanks for your help!' The Gnome warrior sat down wearily, looking over the various dents in his armor. 'I didn't expect them to swarm me like that.'
'Some beasts do, like fire beetles in Antonica. I heard a tale about that when I was a child in the Pub Kal in Kaladim.' Oghma sat down also. 'You have to be careful to engage them too far away from others of their kind.'
'I realized that I need more spells. I couldn't engage those spiders when they were on you, since they were too far away,' Posy commented. 'That's part of the reason I am out here, to get some things to sell for spells.'
'Do we have enough yet to get you some?' Oghma asked. 'I could us a break from fighting. It's been a long day.'
'I suppose so,' Posy said. 'I'm not sure how much we'll get for all this, but the lower circle spells are not very expensive.'
'I could stand a break, also.' said Sibrius. 'Let me buy you both a drink in Ak'Anon to thank you for my rescue!'
Night began to fall, the blue sky darkening to a vivid purple as the sun headed for its evening rest. The little group stood up and began the trek back to the Ak'Anon entrance. Oghma and Sibrius chatted about the things they had seen or both knew about, while Posy walked with them, lost in thought.
Today had seemed more frightening earlier than it was looking back this evening. She had been afraid of everything, since it was all so new. It wasn't a lot of fun being hit by the kobold, but her spells had not fizzled since the beginning of the day and that showed that her concentration was improving. Maybe Tobon was right, she really needed to get out of Ak'Anon.
She knew she had a lot to learn. Oghma's knowledge about the sights of the world outside made her feel like she was woefully ignorant, but she knew that knowledge came with time. Oghma seemed a good person; perhaps she could travel with him and learn some more. She felt lucky to have found good companions, since it made the travel light and the fighting safer, especially for a wizard like herself.
As they entered the tunnel, Posy waved to the guards. 'Welcome back, Posy!' said the one who had guided her to the valley. Posy smiled wearily. He had seemed so imposing in the morning. Now he was just a fellow Gnome.
Posy took her share of the spoils, with Oghma giving her the rusty axe. 'That should sell for quite a bit, Posy. Use it for your spells. Sibrius and I will meet you at the bar next to the bank.
Posy walked through Ak'Anon towards the library, where she could buy a spell or two in the trade from one of the wizard merchants.
As she walked up the ramp, she saw Tobon outside. He often went outside the library to have a smoke in the evening. He looked up from his pipe as she approached and smiled.
'You look a bit weary, Posy. Busy day?'
'Yes! I saw skeletons and kobolds and one of them attacked me, see the rip in my tunic? I met a nice dwarf and my spells don't fizzle as much anymore, and I even saved someone's life!' Her words all came out in a rush, tumbling over each other like rocks in a rapid stream. 'I want to go see Felwithe, and Kaladim, and hear the bards tell stories after they get off the boat!'
Tobon chuckled. 'Well then, we'll have to see what we can do for you. He put his arm over her shoulder and led her back into the Library. Inside he went to his office and opened a cloak closet. He took from it a bright yellow robe.
'We give these to apprentices we feel have passed the requirements of the school, and who will go out into the world to learn more. I'm proud of you, Posy, you have done well.'
Speechless, Posy took the robe from Tobon and fingered its soft folds. 'It's ... it's beautiful!' she stammered. 'I love it, thank you!' Her heart pounding , she slipped it on. It fit perfectly, and the fabric whispered softly as she walked.
'Now, Posy, let's find you some spells!'
References
This story by "Oghma" was originally published on the Everquest fan website, Everquest Express in Issue #63 which was published the week of February 27 - March 5, 1998. You can still find it in its original form on the Internet Archive at https://web.archive.org/web/19981202162549/http://www.eqx.simplenet.com:80/ .
The story was later republished in Everquest's first strategy guide, "Everquest: The Official Player's Guide":
Kramer, Chris (1999) EverQuest The Official Player's Guide, Dimension Publishing, pages: 4-12, isbn: 0-7615-1971-8
