Aliases are alternative forms of a reference. They can include actual aliases for characters, nicknames, gendered variations of the some [Classes], plural variations, and even typos.
Ceria turned, but suddenly, five zombies appeared out of the melee and ran at her and the archer-Captain. He cursed and pulled out a shortsword rather than reload. Ceria took one down with another [Ice Spike] before two of them lunged at her.
Ceria knew over fifty spells she could use, but her wand had contained the [Ice Spike] spell and thus she could cast it faster than anything else. And she had trained with the spell until she had a [Marksman]’s precision. She hammered a shard of ice into the chest of one zombie, making it sit down hard, and then fled from the other one’s hands.
Erin shouted as she curled up into a ball on the far side of the wall. She wasn’t sure if the [Ice Spike] could penetrate the thick walls, but prayed Ceria wouldn’t fire again.
“Incorrectly. The way I did it, I just poured magic into an oversized [Ice Spike] spell. I used all my remaining mana up in one go, which was a stupid idea.”
“But that’s the odd thing. You said I moved it. And I cast magic with it. I shouldn’t be able to cast [Ice Spike] without injuring myself. Not without a wand. But this—”
“Everyone wants to know how to cast [Fireball]. Well, you’re out of luck. I can’t cast it unaided, and neither can Pisces. I used a wand for that when I had to cast the spell. But I do know [Ice Spike]. Trouble is, you probably won’t be able to cast it without a wand.”
“Anyways, as a general guide, Tier 3 magic is good for fighting, so long as you’re not going after anything too deadly. [Ice Spike] for instance is Tier 3. There’s a derivative spell – [Ice Shard] that’s Tier 2. [Frozen Wind] is Tier 1, although I know Pisces can make the spell a lot stronger than it’s supposed to be.”
“Well, I suppose you could say that. Most mages have specialties—something they understand. Myself, I understand the cold. Spent a few winters in the snow and ice, and I’ve always liked snowflakes. But I’ve studied icicles as well, and…well, it just means spells like [Ice Spike] make more sense to me.”
She concentrated, and an [Ice Spike] formed in the air, hovering above her skeletal hand, ready to launch. Pisces’ mouth fell open slightly, and then he regained his composure. He smiled at Ceria, for once genuine, reminding her of the young man she’d studied with back in Wistram.
The Antinium was wounded. He stumbled into the inn, bleeding green. Ceria half-rose from her table, the spell for [Ice Spike] coming to her mind as Yvlon did likewise and Pisces shoveled down his pancake. Halrac had turned in his seat, and the party of Drakes and one Human had frozen.
