Small Steps (Unseen Travel; Shadow Travel)

This odd but versatile spell involves repeated physical entry and exit into and from the Shadow (the spiritual reflection of the material plane). It reduces the difficulty and stresses of this passage by making each trip very brief: the span of a single step. Fortunately for the magician, a single step in the Shadow can be warped into several meters’ distance (“room” scale) in the mortal world. In practical terms, the magician steps out of sight in one location and appears somewhere nearby, even if such a transit should have been impossible. One odd side-effect of the method is that the magic works best if the precise moments of appearance and disappearance are unobserved, so many magicians will take pains to step through a doorway or behind an obstacle in order to use Shadow Travel.

The base difficulty is d8, and the base cost is one strain plus one strain per step taken; the caster may take such a step at any time as long as they are concentrating to maintain the spell. If at any time a step is observed by a sentient native of the mortal plane, another check must be made with the difficulty increased by a step in order to successfully take that step, so to speak. Observers who are within arm’s reach may make a Dexterity check at d12 to follow the caster, appearing a pace behind them in the new location. The caster may purposefully bring any number of others with them in this manner at the cost of two strain per traveler per trip; this version of the spell raises the difficulty by three steps. Difficulties are reduced by two steps, and strain costs reduced by one (to a minimum of one point at casting) in a wizard’s place of power.