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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 9552091" data-attributes="member: 7737">138We see no-one else as we approach the tower, traversing a long path. We notice rows of frosted-over windows set high in the walls of the whitewashed buildings on either side. The tower itself is built from blocks of basalt "as if the ancient citadel had grown like an immense volcanic tree from the very bedrock of Seagate Island." (How poetic!)The doors are massive brass portals with iron knockers. [Cue Young Frankenstein joke.] We have barely touched them when they swing open of their own accord and we hear a man's voice tell us to make ourselves comfortable in the college our father built and that he (the voice) will be with us as soon as he changes clothes.We assume the voice is Beldon's, although we were too young the last time we saw him to remember. And we briefly wonder how he knew it was us, but we suppose we'd better get used to such things "or [we] won't last long" in the College of Arcane Sciences.Turn to (222)---222The entrance hall features a bronze statue of our father (cool, but egotistical) with "finely chiseled features, penetrating eyes, gaunt cheekbones, [and] high forehead".We hear the same voice from before state that our father was an impressive man, and finally we spot Beldon on the stairs behind the statue. Beldon says he's been waiting for us ever since he learned of our mother's death, that he knew we'd come to Freeton, and that this is our home now.We grandly pronounce that we have come to follow our father's studies, find our legacy, and discover his killer, even if it takes a lifetime. At this pronouncement, we notice Beldon's eyes take on a sharpness that contrasts his previous "misty, heavy-lidded" quality. He warns that the path to such knowledge will be difficult and dangerous. We are not deterred. (Of course.)Beldon says that our training can begin tomorrow and that for now, wouldn't we like to eat? You bet we would! He leads us up the stairs to a dining hall where we see several dozen students in robes of colors ranging from black to blue to red. Those wearing similar colored robes sit together.We intuit that the colors of the robes indicate different ranks. Beldon explains that "we begin in darkness and proceed to light", so those in black robes are novices, while those in progressively lighter robes are more senior. Even Beldon's robe is not entirely white, but pale yellow. "I must learn many things before I earn the colorless robes of an archmage," Beldon says.[What Beldon means is that the colors of robes proceed through the visible spectrum from the violet-side to the red-side, and then towards white. However… yellow is less on the red side of the spectrum than, umm, red. So if Beldon's robe is "pale yellow", does that mean Beldon is outranked by some of his red-robed students? If anything, Beldon's robe should be "pale red", otherwise known as "pink"!]We ask Beldon if we should sit with the black-robed novices. Beldon grins at us and walks away, leaving the decision to us.(238) black robes(36) blue robes(99) red robes</blockquote>

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