Tralek - The path of an Illusionist

[davidhoff]

I finally decided to make the trip.  I went to Spellgard and had my meeting.  I decided to travel through the desert from Wayfare.  When I got there the Scolars were most understanding as I explained my desires.  I told them how I was an Illusionist and that although I have been concentrating on casting spells from the school of Illusion that I was looking for a way to speed up my focus in that school and that I was searching for a way to always do the most possible damage with my spells.

They listened and I had to retell my story a couple times as I met with other fellow wizards.  Eventually, a wise looking elder wizard came in to talk with me.  He actually did not talk much but sat their and studied my face for a while and I felt we were playing some mind games maybe.  He asked me for my hand and I gave it to him.  He looked it over for what seemed to be a long time, thumbing my palm and then he shook it firmly and let go with a smile.  He then explained that I could speed up my path to greater focus in Illusion and to be able to push my spells to their limits, but it would come with some costs to me.  He wanted me to be sure of this before I continued to proceeded down this path.  I was all ears.

He explained that I had a good base of learning and in-field battle testing with my spells.  He recognized that I knew how to increace my spells strength already, but that I was now looking to increase them to their maximum.  He said my heavy use of Illusion spells so far would help me in my path.

The costs he said if I continued on this path would be that I could start to lose my concentraion while under attack and that my ability to penetrate my opponents spell resistance may be slightly deminished.  These would be the downsides to furthering my quest for power and to speed up what I have be striving for all this time.

I have decided that these are costs that I am willing to accept to further my goals.  I left Spellgard and I am now back at my house outside Castle Mask.  I will now have to be careful and be ready in case I start to feel some of these ill affects.  I hope they are not too extreem or that the costs to me are more than what I seek...but this will have to be seen.  For now, I am excited to continue down this path wherever it may lead me.

[davidhoff]

I went on a horse ride today through Dregar.  I went past Corax Lake and into the forest there to get some aloe.  The Forrest Giants would not let me pass without a fight so I took the opportunity to continue my practice with illusion spells in my attempt to push my learning to ahead.  I cast a Weird and it seemed to scare em pretty good as usual.  I noticed a slight break in my concentration this time but I was able to handle their blows and keep the illusion intact.

Later on I traveled into the desert.  Again I continue to work on the illusion school and use a Weird agains the Desert Giants.  Those fellas come at me quick and can get off a number of attacks with their bare hands.  I was fortunate to get off the Weird in perfect form, although I did feel a slight weakening in my ability to concentrate while they were trying to knock my head off.

During this day I also kept up my work in trying to get the maximum out of my spells.  I used some empowered fireballs and tried to focus on getting as much out of them as possible.  I feel with a bit more work and focus, that I will soon be able to get my spells full damage effect.  I will keep up my push to focus on the School of Illusion and to maximize my spells and I'm prepared to deal with the costs.

[davidhoff]

I've been pushing some more.  I went out with Angela, Alantha, Storold, Raz and Vrebel today.  We traveled into the Deep to adventure and apparently there was a certain treasure they were seeking.  We ended up in what appeared to be a temple guarded by psionic blasting "squids" as I heard them called.  Anyways, when we got into the temple I let go one of my weirds about the same time Alantha cast a wail.  She got most of them, go figure, but it gave me a chance to really concentrate on stengthening my illusion.  I was successful in killing one of the stragglers she left behind.  I know by concentrating on the illusion I"m leaving myself more open to combat attacks, but I feel that my illusions are becoming more clear and well defined.

Oh I almost forgot, we also encountered some other creatures that try to suck your brains out, but these seemed to be a bit less dangerous than the ones in the temple later on.  On these I cast two empowered fireballs and that really seemed to do the trick.  My fireballs are growing in power, as are all of my spells.  On these fireballs I steched my mind and narrowed my thoughts to try to maximize their affect.  This leaves me more vulnerable in battle and I feel my attempt to breach their spell resistance was a bit reduced.  No matter, I am on this path now and will accept these consequences.

Later on Angela wanted to show us another spot near a lake in the Deep.  It seemed calm enough, until we went under the waterfall.  On the other side of the waterfall we came upon a wall of demons and all types of hideous creatures from the Outside.  Luckily we were prepared and were able to defeat them.  I again launched one of my Weirds in an attempt to push my spell to its limits.  They seemed to laugh at my illusion, and most of them resisted it before they even had to decide of my illusion's realness.  Just the same, it is showing me that there will indeed be a cost in my attempt to crispin my Illusionist abilities.

Soon I hope to grow stronger as an Illusionist and I look forward to the day that I can at last maximize my spells without fail.

[davidhoff]

On my normal run to steal some spotted mushrooms from the pygmies I decided to try some illusion spells on them.  I casted Weird with great affect.  The nice thing about that spell is that it has a rather long range and you can usually stay out of combat while casting it.  This should help me as I concentrate more on increasing my illusions as I feel my ability to cast in combat has started to dampen a bit.