He got to test his new theories in practice sooner rather than later, when about midafternoon Gina stopped dead in her tracks. She glanced back, a slightly worried expression on her face, and smoothly drew her bow. He didn’t see why at first, and when he did, he was terrified. A blob, a monster made half of jelly and half of nightmares, but with far too many teeth. He didn’t see anything that looked like a mouth, and none of the teeth really seemed to match each other, but they floated within the translucent green mass of the monster. Its eyes, though, were a vicious, vile green, and they were focused on him specifically.

Host of Plagues: Life

HP: 60/60

MP: 12/12

Level: 9

Diseased

“Well, it looks like Peblus will get his Life mana…”

“Kraant, duck!” Gina shouted as a glob of slime shot from the beast. It moved fast enough that he didn’t really see it, but it certainly made an impression in his mind anyway. Hooray for dodge chance!

He ducked the slime, and threw Pebl toward it, all in one motion. He also readied his staff and started thinking about how he might be able to damage it… Siphon Life might not do much against something that was so over-full of the Aspect to begin with. It didn’t seem to have much in the way of flesh, either, unless those vague shapes floating deeper inside were… no, better not to contemplate that right now. But, oh, he did have a weapon that would work!

“Gina, get back! Pebl, Spark!” Kraant stepped forward and drew a quick sigil in the air with the tip of his staff. He knew it didn’t really help, mechanically anyway, but wizards should draw runes in the air when casting spells. It’s only proper. “Ward: Living!”

The Host of Plagues… didn’t quite explode, exactly, but it bulged outward and the outer skin of its body writhed, as if trying to flee from the gelatinous mass inside. Because, of course, that’s pretty much exactly what was happening. His ward was taking more power than focus, but he was dealing fairly steady damage to thing. About 5 or 6 damage per second, sure, but far better than nothing. And, even better, it didn’t seem able to move or attack.

“I can only hold this for another few seconds, Gina! Spent too many MP on nonsense!”

“No problem!” Gina shouted back. Her bow, he realized, was glowing the way her arrows usually did. Except, no, that’s not quite right… her arrow, her bow, and parts of her armor were all glowing, and getting brighter. “Pierce the Shadows!”

All the light in her body, her armor, her weapons, even the sun seemed to dim slightly as the brilliant shaft was unleashed into the Host of Plagues. It shot straight into the center of the monster, and then expanded, radiating light outward and forming a small sun. Combined with the effect of Ward: Living, the results were dramatic. The thing burst, split open like an overripe fruit, and its insides went spilling out in all directions. It was, unequivocally, dead.

“…You want to loot the body?” Kraant heard a tinge of awe and disgust in his voice.

“…No, no I’m good. We have the burn away the remains, though, or it’ll spread all kinds of disease all over the area. At least, I assume that’s how it works. Diseased is a pretty vague status effect, but nothing called a “Host of Plagues” could possibly be sterile.”

“Yeah, sounds good. Pebl? Pebl!” Kraant looked to his little Familiar, and was scared to see a swirl of those green motes that signified Life Mana. There were… there were way too many, and they seemed to be forcing themselves into him, rather than being absorbed according to his will. The little rock trembled, and lifted off the ground slightly, before trembling more. It was clearly in pain, but the cascade of Mana kept him from getting the message to Kraant.

“Kraant! DO something!”

“Uhm. Fuckfuckfuck… Siphon Life!” Kraant tried to siphon only the free mana, and to funnel it more toward his staff than toward himself. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but it looked bad. The motes twitched toward him, then toward Pebl, and then away from Gina as she positioned herself on Pebl’s opposite side. He fought them with his will, and his MP dropped the last few points to 0. He’d spent too much on tinkering earlier, too much fighting the Host, and now his familiar was in danger of being overloaded with what seemed like hostile Mana. It was a bad situation… until he felt his mind sharpen, his senses expand, and the knowledge of a new spell. Whoohoo, level 4...

He didn’t have time to worry about his new spell. He had one spell slot and ten MP from the level-up, so he cast Siphon: Life again. He didn’t even bother trying to funnel the hostile Life Mana anymore, just taking as much of it as possible from invading Pebl. It was, just barely, enough. He collapsed as the last of the motes entered him and his familiar, and Gina kept guard as they sank into oblivion, hovering each on the verge of death.

Or, at least, that’s she explained it to Kraant when he woke up. Peblus Magnificus was still hovering and glowing, but in a much more stable-seeming way than before. It also glowed softly in a shifting pattern of 8 colors, and was encased in a clear crystal. It had apparently done so since he’d fainted, and he’d been out for a couple hours. He indignantly explained that he passed out, but Gina maintained that he fainted. In her words, “like a little bitch”.

He finally got himself up off the ground, and walked over to Pebl. He saw a window appear in front of him as he approached, and read the contents with interest.

Race Change Available: Choice

Due to status points, certain options are available for Evolution

Spellstone

Glittering Gem

Infocrystal

Due to the presence of multiple Aspects, certain options are available for Evolution.

Fire

Water

Wood

Metal

Void

Life

Dark

Light

Fire-Light

Water-Wood

Metal-Dark

Void-Life

Wood-Fire-Life

Light-Water-Void

Dark-Metal-Wood

…

Evolve? Y/N

He imagined that the “…” referred to the various other possible combinations, but they didn’t really matter. He wasn’t going to choose a new familiar, so… “Yes!”

Race Choice

There are many options. Based on observed patterns of behavior, the following are recommended:

Spellstone

Eight-fold Path Divine Gem

Choose an option for more details

Well, that was an easy choice. He looked at both options, and while a Spellstone would let Pebl function as a remote focus for Kraant’s spells, which could be useful, how could he possibly give up the Eight-fold Path Divine Gem? It was an awesome name for an awesome race. It allowed access to all eight Aspects, as he’d hoped, and it seemed to allow for almost any combination within that framework. Fire-Light, for example, would allow a few spells that combined the Aspect effects of both fire and light, but this… this would let Pebl mix and match up to, and possibly including, all 8 Aspects in one spell. In theory, anyway. He’d still need to feed on all the Aspects to use them, while a simpler race like Spellstone wouldn’t need any more feeding; or at least, it would feed off of ambient mana more than any one specific Aspect. The last thing, though, was that the Eight-fold Path Divine Gem race allowed for a much more well-rounded personality. This was a big plus, since it meant that Pebl would be able to utilize his high Charisma. While an extreme personality might be fine for most magi, who would simply pick a familiar that matched their own Aspect, he wanted to be able to do everything. He wanted a full party, and this sounded like the perfect Face. Charismatic, flexible in combat, pretty… yeah, no, this was the right Evolution.

The actual Evolution itself was pretty anti-climactic. The clear crystal cracked and sloughed away, and Pebl floated to the ground a bit bigger and rounder than before. The only really noticeable difference was that he could, with the expenditure of some MP, hover at about shoulder height, and perhaps that he had an iridescent sheen in the right lighting.