Eternal Debates
Grounding through Quickenings

David Buehrer (11:21:04/1-23-58)

"Look, I'm telling you it can be done," Shamus said.

"No it can't," Magus shot back. "You cannot ground a spell through a quickened spell, and you certainly cannot ground a spell through a sustained spell. It goes against all the laws of magic."

"Laws, shmaws. You hermetic mages don't even know one percent of what's possible with magic," Shamus replied.

"All right. Prove it," Magus countered.

At that moment Fred rounded the street corner, saw Magus and Shamus, waved at them and came walking over to them. "Hi guys. What's up?" he asked.

"Fred, stand still," Shamus said as he proceeded to cast a spell.

Fred felt a slight tingling sensation. "Hey, that feels good."

"There, I've just quickened a Stimulation spell on him," Shamus said. "And don't worry, I'm only mildly stimulating his pleasure centers." Shamus turned to Fred and pointed at the middle of the street. "Fred, go stand over there." Fred walked over to the designated spot.

Shamus shifted his perception to he astral plane and proceeded to cast another spell as Magus watched intently. The skies darkened and the clouds began to roil as the sound of distant thunder rumbled through the air.

Fred stood perfectly still. He didn't want to screw up whatever it was that Shamus was doing. Shamus was one of Fred's best friends.

A bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and struck Fred. His unconscious body was flung to the side and, trailing smoke and steam, bounced off a nearby car before coming to a rest on the street.

"That was a physical manipulation spell!" Magus shouted. "That doesn't count."

"No it wasn't," Shamus said calmly "It was a combat spell with the elemental effect of lightning."

"Elemental effect... It was a fragging lightning bolt for christ sakes!" Magus replied.

"If you can't tell the difference between a lightning bolt and a creative power bolt then what could you possibly know about grounding through quickenings?" Shamus asked.

"Ah, Ar, Urk," Magus spluttered "Listen here nature boy. I've got a PhD from MIT&M. And I and every sorcerer who's anybody says you can't ground through quickenenings. There've been countless studies that all say the same thing, it can't be done."

"All right, then how do you explain what I just did?" Shamus asked.

"You targeted a combat spell on the ground beneath Fred and the residual elemental effect took him down. The spell never actually hit him, let alone the quickened spell."

"What?! How can you say that. Weren't you watching?"

"I was watching all right. And I saw right through your shaman flim-flam."

"Flim flam!?! That's it. I'm outa here." And with that Shamus turned and walked away.

"Ha!" Magus exclaimed as he adjusted his coat and turned to walk in the other direction.

A few minutes later Sam walked around the corner to see Fred staggering to his feet. "Fred," he called "you look like hell."

Fred looked over his still smoldering cloths and replied, "Yeah, but I feel good."

"Fred," Sam said "You're wierd."