She looked at him quizzically again, “You can use more than one summoned creature at once, Lord Richter.”
“What?” Of all of the things that had happened and that he had learned in his conversation with the Hearth Mother, this seemed like the most earth-shattering. “But I tried! When I try to summon a second saproling, the first one always disappears.”
Hisako opened her mouth to answer, left it open for a moment, then closed it. She shook her head as if she was embarrassed for him. He half expected her to say, ‘Oh honey, you’re so pretty,’ when she finally spoke to him. Thankfully, she had a bit more grace.
“You are telling me that you tried to summon a creature that you had already summoned?” she asked delicately.
“Yes,” Richter said slowly and with a bit of chagrin. From the way that she had phrased it, he was pretty sure where she was going with this.
“And when you tried to summon that one creature… a second time… with the same spell… you were surprised that there was still only one creature?”
Richter hung his head, and said forlornly, “Yes.”
“Yesss,” she said slowly and sadly, dragging the word out.
Richter picked his head up suddenly and tried to protest, “But I thought-”
He stopped when she just closed her eyes and started shaking her head with pursed lips. The message was clear, ‘Just don’t.’
The chaos seed sighed deeply. His arms, chest, and head still ached something fierce. It was embarrassing to continue sitting in front of the Hearth Mother, but he didn’t quite feel up to rising yet. Richter decided to make the best of a bad situation. Better to admit ignorance and learn than celebrate your own stupidity, “So you’re saying I can conjure as many creatures as I have spells so long as I don’t run out of mana?”
“Not exactly,” she admitted. “I am glad that you are asking questions now, though, rather than just making assumptions. You know what you do when you assume, right?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Richter said. “You make and ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me.’”
“No,” Hisako replied dismissively as if his answer was nonsense. He realized that his response was utter nonsense seeing as how that joke only worked in English. “Assumptions create barriers in your own mind. By taking short cuts in logic, you wall yourself off from true enlightenment.”
Richter had to admit, what she said sounded much better.
*What she said sounded a lot better,* Alma interjected.
*Stay out of this,* he thought to his familiar in irritation. It didn’t matter that she was echoing his own sentiments. Nobody liked a side seat conversationalist.
“Well how does it work?” he asked.
“The number of creatures that you can summon is based on multiple factors. Your Intelligence, Charisma, Wisdom, skill in the spell school, and also the creature’s level, properties and disposition all determine how easily you can control it. Obviously, it is easier to summon several docile creatures at the same time, than it would be to summon several hostile creatures with a strong will. There are even more factors which come into play in certain circumstances. Those foolish enough to summon demons, for instance, will always need to engage in a contest of wills to keep the creatures under their control. A summoning pentagram is also usually recommended.”
“So how do I know how many creatures I can control safely?” Richter asked.
“Summoning magic is dangerous,” Hisako answered. “The more powerful the creature, the greater the risk of losing control. If that occurs, you lose the ability to banish the creature without destroying it, though it will still vanish once the spell duration elapses. Most of the time anyway. As far as how many creatures you can safely control, you will need to discover that for yourself.
If you were a Mage, there is a Talent that helps with this, but for you, it will have to be trial and error. Just remember, the more you summon, the more likely you will lose control of some or all of them. I will tell you that summoning creatures from different spell schools, however, greatly decreases the chances that you will lose control, as opposed to summoning multiple Earth creatures for instance.
You must also be cognizant of the natural enmity of the creatures you summon. It would be unwise to summon both a fire drake and an ice wurm, for instance. Both creatures are naturally aggressive and, being from opposing Elements, it increases the chance that their innate enmity might overwhelm your control. Life creatures, on the other hand are typically more congenial. Even if you lost control, it is unlikely they would attack you, so much as not obey you. None of what I am telling you is an absolute, however. Remember the angel I summoned to fight off the bugbears. He is a creature of Life, but would still strike your head from your shoulders if you summoned him for reasons that went against his nature. Always remember that summoning sentients should not be done lightly.”
Richter’s head was spinning from all the information, and he didn’t actually feel closer to a useful understanding yet, but Hisako didn’t pause, “Another exception to the summoning rule seems to be animation, or summoning a formless creature to move an otherwise inanimate husk. Powerful necromancers have been known to control scores of zombies and skeletons, just as Earth magi can animate multiple golems if their bodies are pre-made from clay or stone.
“In these cases, while you are still summoning a spirit, you are not summoning a creature that can exist independently in The Land. I have heard it explained that these creatures are thankful for being given form and so fight their master’s control much less. Personally, I believe that to all be foolish talk, but still, it is said. There is much more to learn about summoning magic, but for someone at your level, without taking other factors into consideration, it should be sufficient.”
“I think I got it,” Richter said, despite that being far from the truth. If he was following correctly, it meant he could summon the chokespore arachnid and saproling at the same time, but it might not be as good of an idea as summoning creatures from varying, but non-opposing spell schools. The Ring of Dominant Will he had taken from the Witch Doctor was starting to look a great deal more attractive.