Grand Game 606: Enthralled, Charmed and Beguiled

You and Ghost have reached level 285!

I grimaced on reading the first message from the Adjudicator. I’d gained three levels from killing the Lightsworn, and while that might have sounded like a lot, it was not, not when you considered the odds I’d faced—one hundred foes, three of whom had been full elites.

I sighed.

It was the level discrepancy to blame, of course. I’d grown too powerful for ordinary players to overcome, even if I was not quite ready to face player-Powers yet. Soon I expected, I would stop gaining levels from killing tier four—and perhaps even tier five—foes altogether.

How I would level consistently then was an open question. But that was a problem for another day. Dismissing the alert, I focused on the next Game message.

Your light armor has reached rank 19, your sneaking rank 25, your telepathy rank 24, your channeling rank 24, your elemental absorption rank 13, and your null force rank 10.

I grunted in satisfaction, feeling a bit better about the battle now. My skills at least had progressed nicely. Especially noteworthy were the advances to my void skills. I’d repelled more than a few spells during the battle—most of which I’d barely noticed at the time—and it had paid off.

If nothing else, I thought sourly, fighting in the valley, should at least see my magic resistances grow appreciably.

Yet, it was not the improvements to my void skills that interested me the most. No, that honor went to my sneaking. It had finally reached tier six. Which meant both vanish and backstab were ready for upgrade.

Unfortunately, though, I didn’t have enough Dexterity slots to advance one, much less both abilities.

Still, it made the decision of how to spend my new attribute points easier. Reaching out to the Adjudicator, I conveyed my decision.

Your Dexterity has increased to rank 148. Available ability slots: 7.

This reminds me…

I’d not improved either mass puppet or windborne before the encounter with the Lightsworn, thinking I would have enough time to do so before my next battle, but as it turned out, I hadn’t.

It was time to rectify that error.

Reaching into my backpack, I retrieved the two of the upgrade gems I’d retained for just this purpose. Closing my fist around the first, I willed my intent to the Adjudicator.

Ability gem activated.

Creating ability tome…

…

You have acquired a tier V windborne ability tome.

I sighed, disappointed by the lack of variants on offer. Still, I hardly had any reason to complain. Windborne had proved time and again to be an effective tool, and I expected its tier five version to be no different. Opening the newly-acquired tome, I absorbed its contents.

You have upgraded your windborne ability to windsurfer. Some follow the ocean currents, in pursuit of extraordinary waves to ride. Windsurfers do likewise and are often found roaming the skies in search of powerful thermals.

The fifth tier of this ability allows you to create a portable windslide. The ramp of air will manifest beneath your feet and is freely movable in any direction in the air. It will remain manifested for 30 seconds and is capable of propelling you through the air at 3x your normal movement speed. In the event that you enter a naturally occurring thermal, the timer on your windslide spell will reset and will not count down until you exit the thermal again.

Despite myself, I felt my eyes widening in shock.

I knew elite spells were significantly more powerful than lower tiered ones, and as a result, I’d been expecting a big improvement in windborne’s functionality. However, I’d not anticipated such a fundamental change in the spell’s dynamics.

The new ability—windsurfer—would quite literally allow me to soar like a bird. I glanced upward at the wide-open sky. If I found a thermal, I could spend hours airborne. Better yet, with vanish, I could do so while hidden from the sight of those below.

Hells, if this isn’t a powerful scouting tool, I don’t know what is.

Still smiling, I picked up the next upgrade gem, eager now to find out what improving charm had in store for me.

Ability gem activated.

Creating ability tome…

…

Tome creation halted.

There are 2 elite variants available for the charm ability.

My grin broadened. Some options finally! Almost rubbing my hand in glee, I waited to see the choices on offer.

More text scrolled through my sight.

Variant 1: enthralling circle. This variant modifies the base spell, transforming it from a targeted ability to a channeled aura that charms any hostile that approaches too closely.

Variant 2: overpowered charm. This variant increases the max permissible affected targets to 40 and the spell’s duration to 1 minute.

Variant 3: beguiling shield. This variant modifies the base spell, transforming it into an activated piercing spell. While the shield is active, hostiles who attack you directly will be beguiled (charmed but not controllable) for 3 seconds and will automatically attack other hostiles in the vicinity.

Choose your tier 5 charm ability tome now.

My excitement vanished. It was not that the options on offer were not good. Quite the opposite.

I wanted all three, or failing that, two at least. I bit my lip. How was I supposed to choose only one? But wishing things were otherwise would not make them so.

Sighing anew, I set myself to working through what was sure to be a difficult decision.

Enthralling circle sounded like it worked in a similar fashion to the cold sphere spell I’d stolen from the frost ent in Draven’s Reach, making it a good counter against melee foes. The spell would prevent unshielded hostiles from attacking up close, thereby ensuring I couldn’t be overwhelmed by numbers alone.

Definitely useful.

Overpowered charm was… just that, overpowered. It would function in exactly the same manner as my existing mass puppet spell except it would influence twice as many targets and last twice as long. Also useful.

Beguiling shield was the most unusual variant, and on first glance, seemed the weakest option. A three second charm that didn’t give me direct control of my charmed victims? That didn’t seem like a spell worth thirty attribute slots.

But then again… beguiling shield would work against any foe who attacked me, melee or ranged. And crucially, it was a piercing spell too. The first such that I would own—assuming I chose the ability, of course.

Like Farren’s darkness bolt, beguile would penetrate my foes’ own shields. And that meant, even mages would not be safe from its touch. This made beguiling shield superior to rapture, and after a moment’s further thought, I ruled out the first variant from consideration.

But, of course, there were downsides to beguiling shield, too. For one, the spell functioned in a more passive fashion than overpowered charm. If my foes refused to attack me directly, beguile would simply not work. And secondly, if I was dispelled, I would lose whatever protections the spell afforded me.

Still, overpowered charm was not perfect either. Mind shields were a simple, if effective counter to charming, and in the past, had caused me no end of trouble.

Then, too, there was slaysight to consider.

It had not escaped my attention that the number of targets the Class ability affected had significantly increased since tier one. I expected it to do so again at the next upgrade, and eventually, I foresaw it becoming my primary crowd control ability. And in the end, the difference between paralyzing twenty targets and charming forty was not so great that I couldn’t do without the latter.

And that meant…

Breathing in deeply, I reviewed my thinking one more time.

But I could find no fault with my reasoning. Exhaling, I reluctantly concluded my choice was the right one: it was time to let go of charm in favor of beguile. While I much rather have both overpowered charm and beguiling shield, if I was forced to choose, beguiling shield was the better option.

It was no easy decision, though.

Charm was the very first spell I’d learned in the Game, and sentimental considerations notwithstanding, I’d come to depend on it heavily. There was no denying charm’s usefulness had been waning, though—and would wane further as I pitted myself against more powerful foes, all of whom I could expect to have strong mind shields.

Beguiling shield is the right choice, I thought, and with another heartfelt sigh, willed my decision to the Game.

You have acquired a tier 5 beguiling shield ability tome.

You have upgraded your mass puppet ability to beguiling shield.

To most of the uninitiated, charming and beguilement are the same thing. They are not. Charmed subjects are leashed to their host and cannot act without orders from them. But, with beguilement, no connection is forged between the victim and host. Instead, the beguiled will retain their innate initiative and will act as they see fit to protect and aid their beguiler.

In other words, beguilement does not leash a subject’s will, rather it ‘convinces’ them to transfer their loyalty to the beguiler. As such, a beguiled spell’s touch is generally subtler and more difficult to pinpoint than a charmed one. And this is why many beguilement spells are able to pierce a target’s mental shields, whereas charms spells cannot.

Beguiling shield is an elite tier ability that will surround you in a psionic shield. However, the spell is not a shield in the conventional sense, and it will not repel your foes’ attacks. Instead, it will trace any direct-targeted attacks made against you back to the source and will trigger-cast beguile against them. This ability is an activated spell that will last for 5 minutes or until the psi empowering it has been consumed. Its activation time is slow, it consumes psi, and it can be upgraded.

Note, beguile, itself, is a piercing spell that will bypass shields and magical wards of tier 4 and lower. It is as effective against hidden foes as it is against those in plain sight. In the event that a target fails to resist its effects, they will become beguiled for 3 seconds.

You have 4 of 220 Mind ability slots remaining.

Your simulacrum’s accessible telepathic abilities have been altered.

Decal can now cast beguile.

Decal can no longer cast charm.

I rocked back on my heels, reading and re-reading the avalanche of information the Adjudicator had just dumped on me, but there was nothing untoward in what the Game had to say.

Beguile functioned exactly as I expected, and any non-elite who attacked me while it was activate was in for a nasty shock. I surveyed the battlefield anew. Dealing with a player-company like the one I’d just defeated had just become child’s play.

Nodding in grim satisfaction, I beckoned Tosh to join me. The rogue appeared to have finished his looting and was waiting on me. “Let’s go,” I said.

“Where to?” he asked complacently.

“West,” I replied. “And along the way, you can fill me in on everything you know about the war and how things stand in this sector.”