The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage

[60] The Weak Will Bend The Knee

Ingrid was sitting in the office of the former lord of the territory. She and her Right Hand Loki, along with several other of her trusted officials and accountants, were going through a mountain of documents. Ingrid intended to know everything about her new territory. They uncovered corruption at nearly every level of the territory's governance. It was to be expected; the lord was a weak man and weak men create weak times. 

Something she found interesting was the Nazem’s fascination with material users. He allowed one family, the Isi, to become quite affluent, giving them land and allowing, even encouraging, town guards and soldiers to learn their teachings. Material users were of little consequence to the wendigo Lady, but Thyra informing her that her former daughter was living amongst them filled her with renewed interest. 

Freja was always the biggest failure Ingrid ever had in life. The girl was worthless; if Ingrid had had her way as soon as Freja was discovered to be a wizard she would have been removed from the family. However, soon this city and territory would officially be a part of the Salstar Domain. Meaning Freja would be in breach of Ulfar’s order to stay out of their territory. She could be executed for such disobedience of a Lord’s order.

Moreover, the Isi themselves were a problem. They were a family with too much influence. The Nazem may not have seen an issue with them, but Ingrid would not allow such a powerful material user family to arrest such massive power under her governance. She smiled as she thought about how she would be able to remove two problems with one move. 

Thyra entered the office hurriedly, pulling Ingrid from her ruminations. 

“Lady Salstar,” Thyra said. “The Prince has arrived.”

“Oh, this is earlier than expected,” Ingrid said as she stood up. “Loki, prepare the servants.”

Loki, the Right Hand of Ingrid, wore the same navy blue uniform as all the Hands. He placed the document he was reading on a pile beside him.

“Ma’am.” He nodded.

Shadows coalesced into a pitch black void beneath him. In a second he seemed to fall into the inky blackness, vanishing without a trace. The void then burned quickly, leaving nothing behind.

“Have we heard anything about the Princess?” Ingrid asked.

“Nothing new, but she’s still backing the Tujewli Family for control of this domain,” Thyra responded. “We are still looking for any of her supporters in the city. Right now the more pressing issue are the Nazem loyalists and his foreign backers. They are growing anxious with his absence the past few days. I suggest we make an example of one of them.”

“Yes, I think we will, but after the execution.” Ingrid gave a toothy bloodthirsty smile. “This is how wendigo politics are supposed to be.”

“Ma’am?” Thyra said questioningly.

Ingrid looked at Thyra for a moment before she spoke. “Power, magic and might. These are the only things that matter. The Forest Father created us to dominate, to bend nature itself, the mightiest beast, to our command. The strong have the right to lead and to live. The weak have only servitude; they are broken beasts for the strong to consume and get stronger.” Ingrid stood up, magic flowing from her and filling the room.  It felt like a weight that dominated and suppressed everyone it touched. “Audun was weak; he could not build in the way of the wendigo so he turned to humans, elves and worst of all druids. He forsook our ways for comfort and turned a territory which once symbolized strength to the rot that coddles the weak.”

Ingrid’s magic arrested everyone in the room to the point that each breath became harder. They felt their magic suppressed and sealed behind the might of  Ingrid’s aura. To the magic casters it felt like they were stripped bare and placed helplessly before the slaughter. Ingrid's presence became all they could see, her form seemed mountainous before them.  She was an inexorable death and nothing they could do would stop her if she wished that moment to be their last. 

Then her magic retracted. Thyra and all of the other aids found themselves bowed on the floor, panting for breath. 

“Soon the war for the soul of the fort city will begin,” Ingrid continued. “And it won’t be fought with words. There will be blood and the weak will bend the knee or be cut down. Do you understand now, Thyra?” 

Thyra had to take a long moment to catch her breath. “Please forgive me Milady, but isn’t the Prince here to legitimize the Salstar’s execution of the Nazem and annexation of the territory? What claim does the Princess have to fight us on this?”

“I forget how young you are sometimes, Thyra,” Ingrid said with sincerity. “The only claim she needs is power. She has the power, the backing and the resolve to challenge us. So, we must gain total control of the city before her forces arrive. Erase the opposition to Salstar rule and remove the weakness of the city. The Prince will only back us if we can accomplish this to his satisfaction. Once the execution is complete I want you and Loki to deal with the Isi Family before they become a problem.”

“What about the shai?” Thyra asked. 

“Kill her on sight, and that disgusting beast of hers,” Ingrid said with annoyance. “Bury the bodies so they will never return to the Forest Father.” 

“I will gather the forces to assault the estate, ma’am,” Thyra said.

“See that you do,” Ingrid said as she walked past the bowing form of Thyra. “I have a prince to entertain and a disgraced family to execute.”

Tanisha was nervous for her next sparring match with Joha. It was going to be her test match to see if she was ready to learn the Way of the Rakshasa Second Form VritraVajra. The match would be full contact, and she had spent the past ten days mainly sparring with members of the Isi. Joha would correct her form and show her techniques, but he hadn’t sparred with her directly. She would also have Bjorn on her side, which meant he was taking it seriously. 

She was worried because she still hadn’t been able to recreate the Blink skill, although she had a few new hydrokinesis spells she could use thanks to Helina. 

Tanisha and Bjorn stood right outside of the all too familiar training area as she shook out the last of her nerves. There were a host of people watching the match, which didn’t help. Owen, Helina and most of the Isi family except Drifa and the little ones were there, as well as many of the people Tanisha had been sparring with over the past ten days.

She had finally retired the druid war staff in favor of one of the orichalcum bardiches. The runes on the polarm’s blade had been modified to give Tanisha greater resonance with her powers. The change wasn’t cheap either, costing her seventy silver to have done. Tanisha saw the cost as more than worth it. She’d been training her butt off, and now it was time to show Joha she was ready to take the next step in their training. 

She had prevented herself from looking at her status during her training. She felt like now was a good time, just to give herself that much more encouragement that she was ready.

Status Menu

Name: Tanisha Scalebound
Species: Wendigo
Level: 17
Vitality: 15 + 1 = 16
Restoration: 10 + 1 = 11
Constitution: 25 + 1 =26
Willpower: 11 + 8 = 19
Strength: 17 + 1 = 18
Dexterity: 25 + 2 = 27
Stamina: 16 + 2 = 18
Maya: 9 + 1 = 10
Magic: 27 + 1 = 28
Magic Regeneration: 35 (+100 from bond)

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Skills Analysis

Delta Familiar Contract
You are bonded with a delta-class familiar. You gain +100 to magic regeneration. Your bond has grown, allowing you to convey emotions though your bond. Your bond is resilient against outside influences and can not be forcibly severed by outside parties. Your familiar’s life expectancy is extended by five years.

Mystic Wind Hands
Magic cost: 3
Speak the words of power and call forth mystic hands created from the wind. These hands can interact with the world and act out the caster’s will. (II) Infernal Hands, Maya cost: 1, infuse mystic wind hands with the breath of the Infernal Planes. These hands will burn any that oppose you.

Sage Core Manipulation / Maya is Breath < Arcanist Sage Core
Magic / Maya cost: Variable
The core of the Arcanist Sage is mana and maya, allowing you to control, circulate and generate both energy types. You can use the tools of both forms of energy. You can exert your will over mana/maya outside of your body for a short distance and use ambient mana/maya to power your arcane machinations.

Mana Armor
Magic cost: 2
Push mana into your muscles and bones to temporarily increase your physical attributes. (II) Maya Cloak, Maya Cost: 1, the infernal energies within you surround your body, greatly enhancing unarmed strikes. Unarmed punches and kicks will produce a maya shockwave, increasing the range of unarmed strikes a short distance.

Sage Spell Form Crafter
Magic/Maya cost: Variable
Use mana and maya to alter and twist existing spellforms connected to your core.

+ Hydromancy
Magic cost: Variable
Create water mana constructs, condense water from the atmosphere and/or control water from a water source. Water created or controlled by you will be touched with infernal energies, allowing greater ease in changing influenced water’s state from water to ice or steam. 

+ Water Light
Magic cost: 2
Imbue controlled water with mana to create a floating ball of glowing liquid. Water lights can be fixed in place or track targets. Infernal energies permeate water created or controlled by you, only those you choose can see the light produced by liquid magic constructs.

+ Water Missile
Magic cost: 2
Create or condense water from the atmosphere into a blast of highly pressurized water. Infernal energies permeate water created or controlled by you. You can slightly alter the trajectory of water once launched; each successful hit will mark the target, making the subsequent Water Missiles homing. 

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Sage Core Analysis

Sage of the Infernal
Your core has attuned itself to maya and can now utilize maya to alter itself and spell forms connected to it. Arcanist Sage Core has broken all connections to Infernal Patron(s) and has established a permanent link to the Infernal Planes. You are now a demonic entity, species reverted to: Wendigo.

Nature Discipline
?Unknown?

Elemental Discipline

Specialties:

Ionikinesis - Creation and manipulation of ionized gas, wielding intense heat and electrical energy.
Aerokinesis - Control over air currents and atmosphere.
Electrokinesis - Creation and control over electricity and lightning.
Hydrokinesis - Creation and control over water.
Pyrokinesis - Creation and control over fire, thermal temperature and heat manipulation.
+ Geokinesis - Control over the ground beneath your feet.
+ Ferrokinesis - Control over metals, the purer the metal the greater the control.

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She was pleased with the changes to her status and skills but a little upset that she still didn’t have the Blink ability. Regardless, she still had Bjorn and finally more offensive magic. She was as ready as she was ever going to be, and she would be lying if she said she wasn’t a little excited. Then the next pop-up came into her vision.

Racial Evolution Progress
You have met the requirements to ascend Racial Hierarchy. Your core has been touched by the Infernal Planes and where some would crumble you have thrived.

Current: Wendigo (Normal)
Evolution: Nature's Wrath (Greater)
Please assign Racial Hierarchy within 2 day(s) or evolution will be lost.
Evolve into Nature's Wrath (Greater Wendigo) [Yes/No]

She still hadn’t decided on what she was going to do with this evolution prompt, but she still had time to decide and she definitely was not going to do it now. It just felt wrong, like blasphemy to proclaim herself a greater. It was against everything she believed as a follower of the Forest Father. She closed the prompt and looked at Bjorn with a nod, then stepped onto the training space.