Chapter 41: God Of Protection Heim
The character card’s equipment section had four extra magical items, two of which were covered by a dark red shadow.
This is a ghoul’s bow and war blade, common quality magical items, yet they carry the same curse.
Weakening Curse: The user must make a medium difficulty Constitution saving throw (DC 18) daily. Failure results in corrosion, damaging life and reducing maximum life force by one.
‘Useless,’ Anse sighed internally.
Corrosion damage directly affects the target’s vitality, causing disease, curses, or reducing maximum life force. Minor cases can be healed by the body, but severe ones can cause permanent damage.
If someone unaware used a weapon with the Weakening Curse, they would become increasingly frail.
The other two magical items were more normal: a hand-and-a-half sword and a silver cup.
The hand-and-a-half sword is Captain Amn’s weapon, named the Unspoken Sword, fine quality, with the traits Toughness and Wind Slash.
Wind Slash is quite rare, allowing the longsword to swing almost silently and strike with greater speed.
This sword is quite valuable, as martial weapons are always in short supply, but he won’t sell it for now.
What surprised Anse the most was the silver cup emitting a shimmering golden-white light.
【 Magical Item: Guardian Holy Grail 】
「 Type 」: Curio
「 Rarity 」: Rare
This is a holy item from the Church of the God of Protection, imbued with pure radiant power.
「 Sobering Aura 」: When resisting spells that affect the mind, such as Sleep, Suggestion, and Confusion, you gain a +2 bonus to saving throws.
「 Guardian Radiance 」: When activated, it erupts with a flame-like radiance in a designated area, dealing 1d8 (1-8) radiant damage. If the target is a fiend or undead creature, the damage increases by 1d8.
Each charge covers an area of 5 feet (1.5 meters) square. Every 10 charges deal an additional 1d8 radiant damage, up to a maximum of 3d8 (3-24).
Current Charges: 0/30.
When worn on the body, every “proactive and voluntary” act of vigilance, protection, and keeping promises will resonate with the Holy Grail and the domains of Life and Light, granting 1 charge.
Followers of Heim gain an additional charge each day.
‘Heim?’
Anse took out the Holy Grail and, after a simple wipe, found Heim’s iron gauntlet holy symbol on the bottom.
Heim is the god of vigilance and protection, overseeing the domains of Life and Light, guiding followers to remain alert, clear-headed, and keep their promises.
‘Powerful, and very demanding.’ Anse didn’t know how to describe this holy relic.
Its damage at full charge is like Prismatic Spray, but Prismatic Spray is single-target damage. Guardian Radiance can cover an area up to 45 meters in diameter at maximum, a significant difference.
The key is that it doesn’t require attunement; you can use it just by holding it, though it’s difficult for ordinary people to utilize its core properties.
“Proactive and voluntary” means the user’s motivation to the result must meet the requirements, with motivation taking precedence over the result; accidental success doesn’t count.
But if someone consistently acts according to the Holy Grail’s requirements, wouldn’t they eventually become a follower of Heim?
‘I wonder who created this Holy Grail, with all its intricate schemes.’
‘The Sobering Aura is also decent, I suppose I can make do with it.’
He hung the Holy Grail on a necklace and tucked it into his cloak along with the holy symbol.
These items were all loot from his solo operations, completely at his disposal.
Those Amn people were wealthy, and the weapons and armor thrown into the lake must have been good, but he wasn’t going to retrieve them. They had companions, and there would be opportunities later.
Or perhaps he could take the time to make a treasure map; selling treasure maps would also be good.
—
As dawn broke, a line of people moved forward across the wilderness.
Dozens of people, with families and belongings, were a disheveled mess, like refugees.
The leader rode a black steed over two meters tall, clad in a black cloak, occasionally riding to a high ground to survey the surroundings.
But the wilderness was vast, with no clear landmarks, making precise positioning difficult.
Anse sighed and casually put the map he was holding into his backpack.
Guiding from now on should be left to Finn; he truly wasn’t cut out for it. Even when playing games with a 3D map with positioning, he could still get lost, let alone in such a challenging scenario.
At this moment, Emon caught up from behind, waving to him from a distance.
Anse gently patted his horse’s back, and Nornornos turned downhill and trotted over.
“Anse, no one’s following us, right?”
“No.”
“That’s good. How about we split up here? Our people are exhausted and need to rest for half a day.” Emon didn’t want to burden Anse through Brat’s connections.
Anse was a spellcaster; his time was not the same as an ordinary person’s.
“We’ll rest for a while too. A short nap before we continue,” Anse nodded.
“Okay.”
Watching Emon busy himself with setting up camp, comforting people, and cooking, Anse couldn’t help but feel a sense of reflection.
Everyone had their own choices; in this life, he only wanted to be responsible for himself.
In his previous life, many people spoke of owing this and that, but in reality, they owed themselves the most.
Anse waved to Brat and the other, and they found a dry, elevated spot elsewhere.
They didn’t cook this time; the three sat side by side, each holding a bag of emergency rations.
Emergency rations were a mixed, fragmented food composed of cheese, sausage, cured meat, dried fruit, and hard biscuits. It wasn’t unpalatable.
After a night of turmoil, everyone was hungry and ate with relish.
“Thank you, Anse.” Brat suddenly spoke.
Anse smiled but didn’t respond.
Looking at the events, he had helped Brat many times, but each time with little risk. And at Dragon Bridgehead, when the javelins were flying, Brat, knowing he might die, still firmly stood in front of him.
How many people could do that?
“Do you want the Windbreaker Sword? It should be a bit better than your current sword.” He changed the subject.
“I’m not used to hand-and-a-half swords,” Brat shook his head. “Sword and shield suits me better.”
His fighting style was Interception, preferring a one-handed sword. He wasn’t particularly skilled with flying axes.
“Teach me some melee techniques later, unarmed, short blades, or longswords.” Anse’s polymorph was suited for close-quarters combat.
The sorcerer class itself came with proficiency in simple weapons like daggers, quarterstaffs, and scythes, so learning martial weapons or unarmed combat wouldn’t be too difficult.
“Sure,” Brat readily agreed.
As they were talking, an eagle’s cry sounded in the sky. Finn paused, his eyes becoming vacant.
After a long moment, he turned to Anse: “A group has come out of Cloak Forest, with several carriages. Their direction is… Giant Red Deer Village.”
“Nahshival,” Anse suddenly recalled the dying Amn person’s threat.
“Nahshival?” Brat exclaimed, “One of the five great families of Amn, Nahshival?”
“Likely,” Anse knew of Amn’s Council of Five Elders but not the specific families.
“Nahshival controls Esmirtalan, primarily through mining and slave trade, with their reach extending across half of Sword Coast. We need to be careful; Nahshival is vengeful.”
Brat had lived in Amn for a while and understood the arrogance and greed of the Council of Five Elders better.
There were no secrets in this world; the dead and the departed could speak. It was only a matter of time before they were known.
“Let them come. They’re just a bunch of slavers,” Anse spoke defiantly, but inwardly, he became vigilant.
Fighting Style Feats
1. Archery: You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls made with ranged weapons.
2. Blind Fighting: You have a 10-foot blindsight.
3. Defense: While you are wearing light, medium, or heavy armor, you gain a +1 bonus to your armor class.
4. Duelist: When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls made with that weapon.
5. Great Weapon Fighting: When you attack with a melee weapon that you’re wielding with two hands and roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for it, you can re-roll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.
6. Interception: When a creature you can see hits another creature with an attack and the target of the attack is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to reduce the incoming damage by 1d10 + your proficiency bonus.
7. Protection: When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, if you are wielding a shield, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll.
8. Thrown Weapon Fighting: When you hit with a ranged attack using a weapon with the thrown property, you gain a +2 bonus to the damage roll.
9. Two-Weapon Fighting: When you use your action to attack with a one-handed weapon, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different one-handed weapon that you are wielding.
10. Unarmed Fighting: Your unarmed strikes deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d8 + your Strength modifier on a hit.
