The Next Step Forward

[Iron Dragoon]

"Any ideas on how to break one? One of my diviners got cursed and nearly died. Blinded as is."

[Anastasia]

"Oh, a sufficiently strong Wish or Miracle spell can do it," Emily says, then tilts her head to the side, "I suppose you tried already?"

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa nods.

"I have. My Wish bounced right off."

[Anastasia]

"I can try," Emily volunteers, "Would you like me to?"

[Iron Dragoon]

"I would appreciate it. Would you like to go to Ysgard first? If there's any sort of backlash, you'll be able to recover better there. Though... Hm. Do you know cooperative magic? We could try together."

[Anastasia]

"Oh? What's cooperative magic?" Emily asks, brightening, "I don't think I've used that sort of magic before. How does it work?" Emily fumbles and takes out a small book and quill, "Tell me about it!"

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa raises an eyebrow, thinking of her own notebook.

"... Well, you'll certainly fit in around here. It's special training that allows mages to synchronize casting a spell, allowing the magic to rebound between them and strengthen each spell. Every mage in our Order undergoes the training. Too bad you don't have it, we could have used it to strengthen each other to break the curse."

[Anastasia]

"Tell me more," Emily says, scribbling away all the while. "How many mages can combine? What sorts of magic and traditions can combine?"

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa blinks.

"Why... All of them. The power of the spell, to break through protections, runs off of the strongest caster in the circle. Each mage included brings more power to all of the spells. For example, if we took say... thirty novices with the training and had them all cast Floating Disk, each of the thirty resulting disks would last as long as if I cast it."

[Anastasia]

"Oh really? So it's replacing or no, it's additive?" Emily hums, tapping the quill against her nose. "Something like that, instead of multiplicative?"

[Iron Dragoon]

"Additive, to a point. It adds a small portion of power, not all of it. It's a quantity over quality thing, but with enough numbers, we can match almost any mage in power."

[Anastasia]

"Fascinating," Emily keeps on writing, "What are the limitations?"

[Iron Dragoon]

"Everyone has to use the same spell, at the same time, and have to be adjacent to at least two other casters. They need to have some basic understanding of metamagic, but other than that... Nothing that I know of."

[Anastasia]

"How intensive is the training? How does metamagiced spells work? What about caster limits and how many can participate at once?" Emily goes on and on, "Tell me more, the theory's good. What are its weaknesses and strengths, in your mind?"

[Iron Dragoon]

"Emily. I don't mind going over the ability with you. Later. More pressing things right now. Poison. Curse."