Astral slowly backed away from the pack of Jungle Raptors. He cranked a charge of magic from his staff
FWOOM ! A Fire Bolt shot from the staff's head and splashed into the face of a Raptor. Its response was immediate, flapping its clawed feathery arms and ducking away. Astral was thankful that at least the non-Dire Raptors were phased by Fire Bolt.
One of the Raptors lunged at Astral, maw open and seeking flesh. He backed up and swing his quarterstaff - a critical blow! Astral brought the staff sideways across the Raptor's head, wounding the creatures olfactory senses. It struggled to stand upward after the attack, and limped awkwardly back into the brush.
The rest of the Raptors then leapt toward Astral. He knew his only way out was expending the staff for all its charges, creating a flurry of Fire Bolts. In a split second, Astral stroked out all possible mana from the staff and let loose a fiery volley. The long and hard staff spewed a Fire Bolt at each Raptor, then blew into several sections of Phoenixwood splinters! The explosion caught the beasts off guard, and they struggled to maintain their morale after witnessing such power. The Raptors backed off, not willing to risk their lives for such trouble.
Now that Astral's way forward was clear of apparent danger, he continued west into the jungle. After several hours, he had put in significant distance between him and the mana grove. Much of the jungle was now mundane, which Astral preferred, as there was less chance of encountering dire or enchanted creatures. Just as he began to cross into a valley, a large stone structure came into view, taking up part of the horizon. Astral blocked the sun from his eyes and focused onto the object: it appeared to be a stele of some kind.
A stele out here in the middle of this jungle? How queer. Astral thought. He had only read about steles in arcane literature. Built to mark significant magical sites, steles were also erected to provide wisdom to traveling scholar wizards. The text on the stele wasn't visible, so Astral descended a hill and found himself at the base of the stele. The stele was marked with ancient text that was undecipherable to Astral. He began to wonder which plane he had ended up in. Astral knew if he could learn about this area's history, then he would know which plane this was.
Astral proceeded past the stele and found wide crumbling stone steps that lead to an overgrown temple. In the middle of the area was the statue of a figure unknown to Astral. It appeared to be some person of power, they wore tropical Druidic attire, had very long knotted dreadlocks, and gave an aura of positive energy. Astral approached the statue and observed it closely. The base of the statue was marked in unknown text.
Why is this language unknown to me? I have a minor knowledge of many dialects but these characters don't look even remotely close to anything I've ever seen. Astral passed by the statue and observed a faded mural etched into a nearby stone wall. The art depicted some cataclysmic event, and then peace being made afterward. A cannabis leaf can be seen being extended from an Archdruid to a demon of malicious form. The demon reminded Astral about the history of Demon Rising. Over a thousand years ago, the world underwent a terrible change and demonic rifts began opening up around every kingdom. The war that ensued cost the lives of billions, until the Twelve Thaumaturge joined together in an arcane circle to cast the 10th level spell: Banish Demonkind. This is how the event was depicted in every historical text. But here on these temple walls, is a different description?
Astral decided to dedicate his time to investigating the temple. He was a scholar wizard after all, and struggled to resist the opportunity to learn something new. As he studied the temple walls, he found much foreign scripture, and more murals of worldly events. These murals, too, were different from what Astral had learned and studied for years. A historical site to commemorate lore of a familiar world would make sense, but this has stumped him. He finally came to a conclusion: He didn't just Plane Shift, he straight up Isekai'd himself.
My arcane cauldron must have converted so much THC to mana that I fell out of my timeline and into a different one! Astral begin to think about the differences. Spellcraft appears to be the same, but he still only knows a handful of cantrips. Astral began to really wish he had more time to learn from his master, but his cursed meridians prevented him from learning more than cantrips. Now that his body is completely attuned to the realm of magic, he should be spending his time back at the tower, smoking weed and casting spells! But no, he was in this cursed jungle, no clue where to head next but forward.
He decided it would worthwhile to attempt and smoke the ganja he has on him. Over the span of several hours, Astral gathered sharp stones and used them to grind the cannabis flowers. With some handicraft, he carved a small wooden bowl from a nearby fallen mahogany branch. He took out a small twig of Phoenixwood, and channeled the mana from it into a small flame, lighting the bowl. The flower was incredibly icky sticky, a sign of its high quality nature. Astral took a long hit of the bowl, held it in for 5 seconds, and blew a billow of mana-smoke. His body relaxed, he got a little lightheaded, and he reveled in the euphoria.
"Wow! This weed kicks ass!" Astral exclaimed. He offered a prayer to the Enlightened One but forgot where he was halfway through. Taking a seat in cross-legged form, Astral sat in meditation. He explored the potent mana quickly bubbling forth from his arcane cauldron. His hunger faded, his bodily aches ceased, and he felt his meridians slurp up all the mana. He began to cough heavily, choking on the mana-smoke. He can't get too high, he remembered. Being too high and casting spells ends up terribly, as he found out with his recent life-changing experience. Taking another hit, he choked a bit, and ended up dropping the bowl, scattering the smoldering flower.
Oh fuck man... Astral tried to stand but the mana rushing into his system was overwhelming his feeble scholar body. Even though his arcane cauldron could form any type of magic imaginable, it could still only hold so much mana. He would need to work his body up to a point where he could comfortably absorb high amounts of concentrated mana. However, the amount of mana he just absorbed should be large enough to cast something powerful of use.
Astral let his meridians guide the mana into a path of Divination as he concentrated on looking upward at the sky. Magic sprung forth from the air about him and carried his sight to far above, allowing him to perceive in a large radius around him. Located a few miles northwest appeared to be some kind of small settlement. This was exciting news for Astral, as he could finally find someone to talk to. He dismissed his concentration on the Elevated Sight spell and climbed to his feet. Now he just has to make it there!
In the time it takes for several sticks of incense to burn, Astral found himself at a dirt path leading into a small primitive camp. By now, the high had worn off, and the rest of his grinded weed was put into a small leaf-wrapped pouch strung by a jungle vine belt. He observed the teak-thatched houses and large gardens, they appeared to be a simple community. Astral began to walk into the village, with a Phoenixwood rod at the ready. Moments later, he met eyes with a small lanky creature. It had tan sun-bathed skin, long jagged ears, and a hooked nose.
Did Astral just find a tribe of Jungle Goblins?