After a moment's consideration, Anser chose Spell Sniper—range was king.
Spell Sniper: General Feat. You gain the following benefits:
Ability Score Increase: Your Charisma increases by 1, to a maximum of 20.
Bypass Cover: Your spells are more precise, ignoring half cover and three-quarters cover.
Casting in Melee: When you are within 5 feet of an enemy, your spell attacks do not suffer disadvantage as a result.
Increased Range: When you cast a spell with a casting range greater than 10 feet, its range increases by at least 60 feet; the actual increase is affected by your primary attribute.
The die suddenly emitted a faint glimmer. Anser shuddered as magic power surged around him; a rich metallic sheen spread across his draconic scales, and a flash of insight surfaced in his mind.
After a long while, the magic power within him gradually settled. He came back to himself, visibly eager to test it.
Having this feat was like enabling an ultra-long-range lock-on—poke your head out and you can hit; fight at point-blank and you can still hit accurately. For any spellcaster, it was a massive boost.
He reined in his excitement and pulled up his character sheet. He had just leveled up today and had not yet had the chance to review it.
After reaching level 2 as a Sorcerer, his Hit Point total reached 20—higher than Bratt, the level 2 Fighter—five times that of an ordinary person.
His magic power cap reached 11 points, far exceeding other spellcasters of the same level.
Experience points: 772/900. Only 128 points remained until the next level. At Sorcerer level 3, he would be able to master 2nd-level spells—something he found genuinely exciting.
The greatest increase came from two newly acquired class features: Font of Magic and Metamagic.
Font of Magic: The Sorcerer draws upon the source of magic power within, and the transcendent power that wells up can create a variety of magical effects.
You have 2 sorcery points; the total increases with your class level.
Sorcery points and magic power can be converted into each other; converting into ordinary magic power incurs additional loss.
Metamagic: You have learned Metamagic. When you cast a spell, you can spend sorcery points to enhance the spell's effects.
You can now choose 2 Metamagic options from among 10. As you further explore your innate magic, you will master more Metamagic options.
These two features complemented each other, together forming the Sorcerer's unique ability: Metamagic!
There are ten Metamagic options in total: Careful Spell, Distant Spell, Empowered Spell, Extended Spell, Heightened Spell, Quickened Spell, Seeking Spell, Subtle Spell, Transmuted Spell, and Twinned Spell.
After a brief review, Anser selected Quickened Spell and Twinned Spell.
Quickened Spell, as the name implies, allows a spell to be cast instantly, costing 2 sorcery points each time.
Twinned Spell does not cast two spells at once. Instead, when casting a spell, you can choose one additional creature as a target, costing 1 sorcery point each time.
However, Twinned Spell does not apply to all spells. For example, Magic Missile, which can attack multiple targets simultaneously, and area-of-effect spells like Fireball cannot be twinned.
Spells such as Jump, Chromatic Orb, Command, Charm Person, and most cantrips that target a single creature can use Twinned Spell.
That said, his current pool of sorcery points was too small. It could only be used for emergencies and could not serve as a regular method.
Satisfied, Anser hugged his staff and entered meditation.
...
After an unknown amount of time had passed, a dull, massive boom suddenly rang out in the air. Rumbling vibrations spread along the ley lines to every district of the city.
Even the surface of the River Chionthar rippled in widening circles.
Anser jolted awake and flipped up to a sitting position, just in time to meet Bratt's look of shock.
"Collapsed again?" His heart pounded wildly.
Bratt swallowed hard, shook his head vigorously, grabbed his longsword, and slung his pack over his back as he ran outside. "Go, go, go…"
Anser shouldered his own pack and swept his gaze around. He did not see the ranger, and the food on the table was still there.
"Take the food." He opened his pack and stuffed dried meat and bread into it, but the pack was small and filled up after only a few handfuls.
Seeing this, Bratt spread open his pack, swept his arm across the tabletop, and scooped all the remaining food inside.
As soon as the two stepped outside, they found the area already in complete chaos. The sounds of running, crying, and cursing rose without end.
Anser hurried downstairs and casually pulled out his pocket watch. It was exactly noon. They had probably rested for two or three hours.
Entering the main hall, he saw devastation everywhere. Aside from some injured people who could not move and a few children, everyone else was fleeing outside.
"Go, go, go—leave this place and head to Rivington…" several young clerics kept shouting.
Just as Anser was about to go over and ask what had happened, he ran straight into Finn, who was charging against the flow of the crowd.
"Move!" Finn was clearly back specifically to find him. He grabbed Anser by the sleeve and pulled him outside.
"What happened?" From the noisy voices around them, Anser caught a few words, but he did not yet dare to be certain.
"The Crowded Side District, the Wide, and part of the Temples District all fell into the Underdark at the same time," Finn explained rapidly.
Anser was startled. Both the Wide and the Temples District were part of the Upper City—the core power base of Baldur's Gate. If those areas collapsed, it was no wonder the populace was in despair.
However, Anser keenly noticed that Finn's wording was unusually precise and pressed further. "Fell into the Underdark? Not a collapse? How do you know so clearly?"
"It told me," Finn said as he stepped out of the church, pointing overhead.
At some point, the sky had grown abnormally dim. A gray hawk was circling above the city.
Anser realized at once that this should be Finn's beast companion.
"The districts were dragged down as if by a giant hand—straight down, not a collapse," Finn added.
"Man-made?" Anser frowned, a bad premonition rising in his heart.
"Even so, is there any need to panic this much?" Bratt asked, looking puzzled.
"Creatures from below have come up. If we don't run now, it'll be too late," Finn said. Seeing Anser pause, he reached out to pull him again.
Anser did not know whether to laugh or cry. Finn was strange, but he could sense that the other man meant no harm.
"Many?"
"Very, very many!"
Anser considered for a moment. "Don't panic. Even if they climb up and then circle around, it will take at least a few hours. Let's help the church move the wounded and the supplies."
He did not know how much fighting strength the Flaming Fist still had, but if they wanted to rely on the fortress to hold back the creatures from below, the church's strength ultimately could not be ignored.
"Alright," Bratt agreed without hesitation.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Finn nodded as well.
The group hurried back to the main hall and immediately saw the old priest Berg directing the clergy to evacuate. He was not stubborn either; under these circumstances, there was no longer any need to hold out to the bitter end.
With no time for pleasantries, they helped the priests bring over horse-drawn wagons and flat carts, loading as many of the wounded and supplies as possible, and evacuating together toward Wyrm's Crossing.
Taking advantage of the moment, Anser helped Bratt put on a half-plate. If fighting really broke out, it would at least provide an extra layer of protection.
The church was only three to four hundred meters from the head of Wyrm's Crossing, but with the crowds and chaos along the way, it took the convoy more than ten minutes to reach the bridge.
Wyrm's Crossing was six to seven hundred meters long. The bridge deck looked fairly wide, but dense buildings crowded both sides, leaving only a few meters of usable passage.
The bridge's main support was the Wyrm's Rock at the center of the riverbed. Like a small island, it bore a fortress on top, a truly imposing sight.
Just as the convoy reached the bridge, Finn suddenly pointed behind them. "Look!"
Anser turned his head. Beneath the dim sky, dense black silhouettes were pouring through the passages into the Twin Songs District.
"At least a hundred. How could it be this fast?"
On second thought, these were not newly emerged creatures from below, but the earlier batch that had already come up and had now simply gathered to a sufficient scale.
At this very moment, right in front of that group of underground creatures, Rand and Zahir were leading twenty to thirty people, doing their utmost to hold the line while retreating step by step, buying time for the civilians to escape.
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