Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ladybird" data-source="post: 2960649" data-attributes="member: 10689">Late the following afternoon, the group (whose size was now increased by nine harmonizing little Tangites) reached the mage’s tower. In classic mage’s-tower form, it was tall, stone, and forbidding. Less classic was the harried-looking old servant who scurried out into the courtyard to meet the group, and who let out an exasperated sigh as soon as he spotted the petrified bodies of Jet and Alessandre, each slung across the backs of three of the Hanalian warhorses. “More basilisks? All right, all right, come on in.”The servant helped them load Jet and Alessandre onto small floating platforms – much to the relief of the horses – and led the party inside, keeping up a grumbled running commentary the entire way. “Never sure how many steps it’s going to be. I can’t see why he can’t put his laboratory on the first floor and make it easier on all of us. No, he’s got to have it on the top floor. Or sometimes the second-to-top. Yesterday it was twenty-five flights up, and the day before that, it was seventy-three!”Fortunately for everyone, on this day, it was only seventeen flights up to the mage’s workshop. The mage himself – who, the servant had told them, was named Alexandros Omsberg, - was as stereotypical as his tower, a small, hunched old man with wispy white hair and a long straggly beard. His workshop was cluttered with bubbling vials and the glowing debris of dozens of magical experiments. “Yes, Igor?” the mage said, looking up from some unidentifiable strange spinning silvery objects. “Oh, more basilisk victims? Right, bring them all in.”In a few minutes, Jet and Alessandre were back to normal, much to their relief. Kit, a little wary of such freely-given magical service, said, “We’re all very grateful for your help, sir, but…what do you want in exchange?”“My privacy,” Alexandros said simply.“Er…well, we’d be happy to give you that, now that you’ve helped us,” Kit answered skeptically. “But are you sure you don’t want any other payment? We could put in a good word for you with the Archduke…”“Archduke? I thought it was an Archduchess!” For the first time, the mage’s scattered grumpiness cleared, and he focused closely on Kit. “What happened to Amelia?”“I’m sorry,” Kit replied gently. “She passed away just over two weeks ago.”Alexandros sighed. “Well, I suppose she was getting on. Who’s inherited, then? Her son?”“No – her grandson, Alistair.”“Hmph!” The mage snorted. “Well, I hope he’s stopped foddering around enough to calm down and rule!”Kit cleared her throat, while Honore tried to suppress a snicker. “Yes. Well,” Kit said awkwardly. “He’s, er, calmed down quite a bit. His grandmother thought that he would make a fine Archduke.”“Well, we’ll see,” Alexandros conceded. “You’ve come from the capital, then? Personal friends of the Archduke?” He eyed Kit significantly, raising his eyebrows at her growing blush. “Personal friends,” he repeated. “So what are you doing all the way down here?”“We’re here to fight the slavers,” Jet replied. Grateful to be talking again, and seeing that the rest of the group seemed to trust the mage, the often-laconic cook was, for once, eager to chatter away. “We were sent from the capital to investigate where they’re coming from, and to try to put a stop to them.”“Ah!” The mage brightened a little. “In that case, may I make a few suggestions?”“Oh, suggest away!” said Jet. “Well, first, I would suggest that you should have the Archduke talk to the other members of the Mages of Northern Arilian. If they know that he’s committed to fighting the slavers, they may be willing to help. And I would suggest that he talk to them about other subjects, too.” Alexandros narrowed his eyes at the group. “You must have come through Brightspan in order to get here. Did you meet with the Duchess? What did you think of her?”Kit wavered. “Well…she’s…er…”Alexandros nodded, with a satisfied sniff in response to Kit’s hesitation. “She’s a diabolist,” he said flatly. Alessandre blinked, drawing back from the mage’s directness. “And you should talk to the rest of the Mage’s Circle, because it is not safe for anyone to allow her to continue her work.”“Thank you,” Kit said, a little weakly. “We had…er, suspected that she might not have Canberry’s best interests at heart. Do you have any suggestions about who we should talk to first? And can we use your name – you know, say that you sent us?”“Talk to Lady Meredith the Dazzling. This is more her area of expertise than anyone else’s.”“All right. Thank you.” Kit could see Jet edging towards the door, anxious to get out of the tower and on his way. “Is there anything else that we can give you?”“My privacy,” Alexandros repeated.And so the party gave it to him. It was fifty-three flights down to the ground, but everyone walked it under their own power.**While the rest of the party worked on redistributing the packs, now that the Hanalians’ horses didn’t need to worry about carrying the petrified bodies of Jet and Alessandre, Toby stared thoughtfully up at the mage’s tower, wandering slowly back towards it.“You know, I think that man needs a bit of cheering up,” Toby mused to the nearest set of Tangites. “I think he needs a monkey.”And with that, he summoned a monkey, which went scampering up the outside wall of the tower. And then he left.</blockquote>

Verification