Aozaki Aoko Case File [488] (Patreon)

After granting Aoko a new gear, Mystra's will gracefully departed from the mortal realm.

However, before leaving, she gave a few parting words and some additional gifts. For example, she helped Aoko increase her cleric level by one—now Aoko was a level 2 cleric.

For Aoko, there wasn’t much difference between a level 1 and level 2 cleric, since she rarely needed divine spells. Still, having them was better than not, and her Wisdom stat had also increased by two points, which was a good thing. (Aoko’s Wisdom was originally only 12, now it was 14.)

She also gained some new spells: a cantrip for detecting poison, a level 1 spell for detecting undead—nothing spectacular, but free spells are free spells.

Aoko’s total level now reached 19, which sounded impressive, but her caster level was still 17, since arcane and divine spell slots were separate. She wasn’t sure about others, but for Aoko, these were two entirely different systems.

Before leaving, Aoko subtly brought up the matter of the staff, Markoheshkir, with Mystra. She wanted to know if using a divine relic crafted by the dragon goddess as a priestess of Mystra would cause any problems.

The answer she received was: “What problem could a staff possibly have? Even if the dragon goddess Kereska herself sent an avatar to find you, I could still keep you safe—let alone just a bit of divine power.”

Once Aoko obtained the staff, Mystra would naturally replace the divine power within it with her own. While the material would remain unchanged, the Goddess of Magic would restructure it.

Aoko’s new house was quite large, and her teammates had all been staying with her for the past few days, including Edgin’s family of four.

Yes, four—Holga was easily accepted by Edgin’s wife, and Kira now officially had a godmother.

Having been the young lady of Neverwinter Castle for two years, Kira spent every day dragging her two mothers around the city, with Edgin acting as a pack mule, lugging their shopping here and there.

But Edgin was happy to do it. After all, he’d been separated from his wife and daughter for years, and this burden now felt like a sweet kind of trouble.

Simon, meanwhile, spent his days accompanying Doric into Neverwinter Forest, dealing with the lingering problems left by Sofina and Forge. In a sense, it was work and a date at the same time.

Xenk, meanwhile, hurriedly escorted the half-dead Sofina back to the Harpers’ stronghold and left Neverwinter ahead of the others. There were many hidden aftershocks from the recent Thay invasion that required a former Thayan paladin like him to handle personally.

Aside from the events involving Mystra, Aoko’s greatest gains came from Sofina’s spellbook. She’d managed to copy a bunch of spells from it to fill out her own sparse spell list.

Her favorite was the school of Transmutation’s signature 9th-level spell: Time Stop.

After being cast, this spell would allow the caster to enter a world where time was stopped for 1d4+1 rounds. During that time, they could move and act freely—but could not create magical effects that would affect other creatures. In other words, their magic couldn’t touch anyone frozen by Time Stop.

Additionally, the area of effect was a sphere with a radius of about 1,000 feet. If the caster left this area, the spell would end immediately.

At first glance, it seemed a bit situational, but whether for escaping or setting up control effects, it was an immensely powerful spell.

This had led to tactics like Sofina’s Time Stop + Delayed Blast Fireball combo, and Aoko had now also learned Delayed Blast Fireball.

As a Lich under Szass Tam, Sofina’s spell list was notoriously nonstandard. Besides the special Thayan summoning spells and a few necromancy staples like Finger of Death, Greater Bestow Curse, and Necrotic Strike, the rest were mostly conjuration, transmutation, and evocation spells.

Of the two 9th-level spells in this spellbook, the other—besides Time Stop—was the infamous Meteor Swarm.

Though Aoko found it a bit embarrassing, it was still a 9th-level evocation spell. If Sofina could double the number of meteorites with her own modifications, Aoko figured she could probably find a way to improve its accuracy.

There were many spells she wanted to learn, but priorities had to be set.

To maximize her power, Aoko first practiced the Time Stop + Delayed Blast Fireball combo. Although she’d managed to turn the tide before with the rare spell Reversal Explosion, she couldn’t deny the power of this combo.

Meteor Swarm, Finger of Death, Greater Bestow Curse—she’d save those for later.

This spellbook also contained strange knowledge like the Lich Transformation Ritual, which Aoko only skimmed—she had no intention of learning it. She didn’t have any issues with lifespan anyway, nor the desire to become a stinky dried-out corpse.

Sofina led a rather frugal life, aside from her spellbook and a single Red Robe Wizard’s Blade. Her Thayan red robe had been burned to ashes by Aoko’s Reversal Explosion.

Then again, maybe it was because she was a lich and had stashed her treasures with her phylactery. Who knew?

Aoko had no desire to risk her neck being hunted by Thayan Red Wizards just to interrogate Sofina and then go on a treasure hunt—that was a job for Xenk, the paladin.

And so, after staying in Neverwinter for a while, Edgin’s family came to find her.

“You’re heading back to Ten-Towns?” Aoko asked in surprise. “You’re welcome to stay here as long as you like, you know. I’m a visitor from another world, after all, and this house is just a temporary place for me.”

“I’ll always be a Ten-Towns man,” Edgin said with a smile. “The city is nice, but it’s just not home. Besides, Kira’s starting to miss it.”

He ruffled Kira’s hair affectionately.

“Same for me,” Holga added. “Neverwinter’s a bit too warm and damp for my taste. I can’t go back to the Elk Tribe, but the climate in Ten-Towns is just more comfortable.”

“I understand,” Aoko nodded. “I’m planning to visit Baldur’s Gate soon, but I’ll leave you some communication tools. If you ever need help, just use them to contact me.”

“Thanks,” Edgin said sincerely, shaking her hand. “If you ever visit Ten-Towns again, we’ll give you a proper welcome—and you’ll get to taste my wife’s home cooking!”