Spells

As I walked through Faunhaven, toward the Inkweb Spider Cave, I was suddenly struck by how beautiful this village and its surrounds were. 

To be completely honest, I rarely noticed the world around me. Like I said before, I really didn't like drama, so I mainly kept to myself—to the point that even my perception was mostly internal. 

It were as though I was trying to exist in that world as little as possible... 

Well, this world was different—simply better in every way. 

So I rose my head and decided to take it all in.

The "buildings" sporadically lining either side of the path were basically giant mushrooms, each the size of a modest house. They were various shades of light-browns, pinks and purples. 

There was an enormous, hollowed out stump raging against the horizon of the distant sky. The overall shape and sense of awe it evoked were similar to the Roman Colosseum. Though I'd never seen the latter, I had to say that this hollow, dilapidated stump was greater still.

By far.

From here I could also see the entrance to the tunnel that was made from the hollow log that was once that enormous tree's trunk, before it was felled. Now it was used as some kind of transport tunnel between Faunhaven and Yore—the capital of the Fae Alliance. I'm not really sure how it works, I just remember clicking on the portal at one end, then reemerging from the other a second later. 

I couldn't wait to experience what that was like with a physical body.

To be honest, I didn't pay much attention to the lore last time I played... I just wasn't that interested. So I couldn't tell you why there is a sole remnant of a mega giant tree—one that's at least 100 times 100 normal trees. 

If I had to warrant a guess, I would say that it was most likely some sort of grand "world tree" that the Humans cut it down after they invaded. It sounded like something they'd do, anyway. 

I do remember enough of the lore to know that this realm, Yyr, was originally inhabited by the Fae, and that the Humans were the foreign invaders. I'm not sure where the Elves fit into the story, so I suppose we'll figure that out later.

"Hey, you look like an adventurer!" said someone standing by a street lamp, which I just realized was made of two apple-sized lightning bugs waltzing together—one blue, the other violet. "Are you heading for the Inkweb Spider Cave, by chance?" he added as I stopped and turned toward him.

He was a modest looking Satyr, wearing bifocals and a simple brown tweed vest with matching breeches.

"Yeah, I am actually."

"Great, could you bring me back some of their legs if you manage to keep them intact? They're great for furniture, and I need quite a lot of them, being that I'm a furniture maker." He pointed to a stool outside his mushroom house. I could see that its three legs were indeed pretty spidery. "I'll give you 5 copper for each one you bring me."

More Intact Inkweb Spider Legs? 

Well, since I had a chance to get 8 off of each one I killed, this arrangement could turn out to be quite lucrative. "I'll need to keep five for myself, but I'll give you the rest of what I'm able to salvage."

"Great—oh and be careful, there's been a mysterious shadow appearing on cave walls lately, harassing new adventurers." After he said that, he quickly turned away.

I felt an icy trickle down my spine. "I'm sorry, come again?" Mysterious shadows? I'm positive that wasn't part of this quest line.

"Hello again, dear adventurer! Did you bring back those legs yet?" he asked, quickly turning back toward me.

Ugh. This guy was clearly just a mindless NPC. Seemed like they couldn't answer questions that went off script. It was a little creepy, but honestly not too unlike some people in the real world.

"Yoohoo!" said a feminine voice from two mushrooms down. "You look like a you're eager for a quest!" 

This one was a Pixie, like me, only she had a more mature air about her, probably either a house wife or a young mother. She had her hair in a bun and wore a purple polkadot baker's apron. She was hovering in the air, as Pixie's had the ability to do. 

That reminds me: I activated Levitate (Pixie Racial), then hovered up to eye level with her.

"I see you're headed toward the Inkweb Spider Cave, while you're there, please use this," she handed me an amulet, "on weakened Inkweb Spiders. It petrifies and shrinks them down to the size of a pebble. Please bring me back eight of them, and I'll give you 25 copper and a special reward."

"Sure," I said as I stuffed the trinket in my satchel and continued on my merry way. I wasn't going to waste anymore time chatting with NPCs.

"Oh and adventurer?" she shouted behind me.

Huh? I turned back.

"Do beware the shadows on the wall. They claim to know all the secrets of Yyr, but don't trust them. They lie."

"What?!" I demanded incredulously, walking back toward her.

"Aho, greetings adventurer! Back so soon?" she said, turning back toward me as quickly as she'd turned away.

This was definitely creepy. I know I was reborn into a video game, but I thought everything would come off a little less... video gamey... 

What am I even saying... 

I was a Night Witch. The night itself was mine to command. 

I couldn't let myself be so easily unsettled.

***

I reached the outskirts of the cave. The spiders were all black as ink, hissing, and were about chest level to me. Although that would only be about thigh height to a Dryad, I could still see why Leilei was so petrified. I would have been too, were I an arachnophobe.

Or if I didn't have powerful magic at my disposal.

I opened my Grimoire to the Abilities tab. Sure enough, I had three starting spells in there. One for each school of magic: Frozen, Lunar, and Astral.

Ice Shard (Frozen): conjure a shard of ice before the caster to launch at enemy target. 

Moon Beam (Lunar): call upon the nearest moon to cast a ray of energy to damage enemy targets or heal friendly target. 

Bathed in Starlight (Astral): heal yourself and all party members beneath the stars for 7 health ever second for, channel to cast, lasts until cancelled.

As you can see, Night Witches were a hybrid class—they could heal and do damage. If I chose to specialize in Astral and/or Lunar, then I could become the closest thing that this game had to a support class.

All the various casters of Witch Kraft were capable of devastating offensive spell damage, and all of them wielded formidable defensive spells as well. It just so happened that many of those defensive abilities manifested into offsetting enemy damage via healing—some only healing the castor or a single target, and some healing every ally in the party.

So, though there were no true healers in the game, you could find certain hybrid specs with strong enough defensive healing abilities to not only sustain themselves, but also several allies. 

I, however, did not plan on questing in a party, so I would focus only on improving my offensive spells and only those defensive abilities that heal me and me alone.

Now then, how to cast...

I brought my attention to the nearest spider, careful to remain outside of its aggro range. 

Ice Shard! I thought intensely. 

I was delighted to see an icicle slowly forming from the frosty blue waves of energy that were coalescing around my palms. The sight and sound of all this ice was making me shiver.

It was purely psychological, of course. My hands felt nothing. 

Nothing except immense power and potential.

I couldn't help but smile as I cast my first spell.

The giant floating icicle flew at my target like an arrow.

Miss.

Flew right over the spider's head. Doing zero damage. Yet succeeding in one thing. 

Pulling its aggro.

The shrieking, eight-legged horror rushed toward me.