THE QUEST FOR THE BLACK SWORD

I am Gethrazzus Wotan Bellisain, a member of the Mage’s Council of the Spellcrafter’s Guild. I have been chosen to instruct you in the mysteries of the magic, which expresses itself in the mystic land of Avalon. I believe that the best way to begin would be to explain the city of Irdaneth to you. Irdaneth is the Capitol City of Avalon, and has been the starting point of many a quest in this realm I call home. It is the goal of we mages of the Spellcrafter’s Guild to use our control of the mists, which surround Avalon to transport a small piece of its fair capitol to Ragnarok this year (as it would be logistically impossible to bring all of you to Avalon). Irdaneth, like any other city, has shops where goods can be bought and repaired, a police force, and local residents. It again shall be the starting point of this most dangerous quest after one of the most potent items in all the realms, an item that has resurfaced after its apparent destruction some eight years past.

The Black Sword is said to make its wielder immortal and thus is a great prize indeed; however, obtaining it will be a true challenge. The blade is said to be guarded by three guardians, each of which has its own remarkable strengths and weaknesses for you, the questers, to divine. I wish you all the best of luck in this difficult and dangerous undertaking.

And now for some mundane words and rules:

Participants shall be divided into ten man teams, each team having two spellcrafters: a fighter-mage and a fighter-healer. Spellcrafters must obey the following restrictions: a caster may not use any sort of polearm or wear any non-magical armor.

Non-partisan healers will be permitted and will follow the generally accepted rules for healing: restricted to a single blue, green, or smaller weapon and no armor, must be able to recite a 180 syllable poem to summon their healing powers. They will receive the following abilities: an unlimited number of heal limbs and a number of Raise Dead spells (see below) to be determined at the event.

Spells are divided into three spheres, each containing two tiers representing their relative power. A caster must not be disturbed while casting. If he is hit by a weapon before releasing or completing a cast, that spell immediately takes affect with the caster as its target. (In case you’re wondering, a Raise Dead spell would bring the caster back to life, then the strike kills him.)

The spheres of magic and the descriptions of the spells therein are listed below:

CONJURATION

All these spells deal damage of some kind:

Blue strike: Allows a mage to throw a coreless (white class) weapon that represents a single blue class strike. Shields are immune to this spell. The representation of this spell is a white weapon that is covered in blue cloth.

Double green strike: Allows a mage to throw a (white class)weapon that represents a two handed green attack (equivalent to a javelin or arrow). Shields are immune to this spell. This spell is represented by a white weapon covered with green cloth with a black stripe down the center.

Red strike: As above except that it represents a single red strike to target area struck. Shields are not immune to this spell. It is represented as a white weapon covered in red cloth.

Double red strike: Same as above but represents a double red strike to target area struck. Shields are destroyed by this spell. This spell is represented by a white weapon covered in red cloth that is separated by a black stripe.

MYSTICAL

These spells deal primarily in the protection of the caster or the target touched:

Armor: Gives caster target touched the equivalent of leather armor all over their person, ie limbs and torso(this does include the head). This is represented by a orange cloth around the neck.

Protection from magic: This spell allows the target to ignore the first magical contact received to the target area, whether hostile or not (a person who dies with this spell attached to their torso cannot be raised.). This spell is represented by a purple cloth tied around the target area.

Enhance weapon: Allows the caster to increase the damage category by one, ie. a one handed blue to a red, a red to a double red for the first strike strike. There is no way to make a double green usable in one hand by this spell. This is represented by a weapon having a red cloth tied around the pommel.

CREATION

All these spells deal in healing

Speak with dead: Allows the caster to ask the dead three questions that must be answered with a yes or no answer. These questions must be answered TRUTHFULLY!!

Heal limb: Allows a healer to remove the damage from one target limb. The armor is not repaired by this spell.

Raise dead: Allows the caster to bring a target that is dead back from the dead without going back to Valhalla. This spell does not repair armor or shields. This spell also costs the caster their life.

Heal two limbs: Allows the caster to heal two limbs, one of which can be the casters own limb. This is the only spell which is allowed to be used on the caster themselves!

Participants desiring to play spellcasters during this event must be very familiar with this system. We would appreciate any advance notice as to whether or not your kingdom will be participating and how many participants there will be. As an additional statement, I would like to point out that the Spellcrafter’s Guild is a completely separate organization and is only loosely affiliated with the Kingdom of Avalon. We hope to see you at this demonstration and we hope you enjoy it.

PLEASE NOTE: Any use of this system without the express permission of the Mages’ Council of the Spellcrafter’s Guild is infringement. If you are interested, please contact me at street@neo.lrun.com. Thank you, and I shall see you in June.

I would also like to apologize if my use of the word he offends anyone, but unfortunately the English language lacks a suitable non-gender-specific pronoun to replace it.