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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Seravin" data-source="post: 2814152" data-attributes="member: 6783">The Wizard in the Bedroom with a FireballBWUH-WUH-UHMPH!Fireball! Identified Jallarzi’s sub-conscious as her eyes snapped opened at the muffled sound. She had just drifted off to sleep but the familiar sound had wakened the half-elven wizardess for all that the door and walls of the Library had muted the sound.Still not quite thinking, the white-haired woman rolled out of bed and gained her feet. In her mind’s eye she could see the churining, red-orange flames roiling out from a central point in space; evoked from a state of dormant potential. By then she was on her feet and reaching for her backpack with its all important stash of wands. Only once her hands were on the pack did she fumble for the wicker shield covering the everburning candle.Her hand then grabbed for her precious white-crystal Staff of Frost as she ticked off the magical words that described all that a fireball was. Evocation [Fire], requiring a material component. Standard casting, range out to six-hundred feet or greater. A sphere of roiling flames that only the most dextrous or lucky could avoid.Jallarzi closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was in the Library in Corlean, in the sleeping quarter wing. Right now only Master Wymeah and herself should be the only two people in the building capable of casting a fireball. There was a small study at the front of the hall next to the stairwell (Jallarzi had claimed the room the previous night as the senior journey-wizard) and it was almost certainly the source of the spell.Jallarzi lifted her free hand and invoked a spell of improved invisibility. Once the illusion was settled the woman looked at Sarah. “See if you can get Jared’s or Kellron’s attention.” She ordered while reaching for the door knob.Sarah nodded, resisting any impulse to yawn. The cat understood that Master Wymeah wouldn’t be letting off spells in the middle of the night just for the fun of it.The door opened and Jallarzi stepped into the wide, windowless hallway. The everburning torches that normally dotted this end of the hallway were gone, but there was a muted, flickering light from the open study door. It wasn’t good light but Jallarzi’s elven-gifted sight showed two, strange-looking, hunched figures just exiting the room.Quick-stepping, Jallarzi hustled down the hallway as fast as she dared, trying to be silent at the same time. She wasn’t Kestral, but her bare feet didn’t slap terribly loud on the cold stone either. Once she had closed about half the distance, perhaps fifteen feet away from the figures, Jallarzi caught sight of the tentacles; mind flayers - and they were carrying some sort of human-shaped bundle between them. It didn’t take a genius to realize that Wymeah was being kidnapped.“Jared! Kellron! Mind flayers!” Yelled Jallarzi at the top of her lungs.The two mind flayers swiveled their heads to the empty hallway, only now noticing the dim, flickering light from Jallarzi’s open doorway. They couldn’t see the person yelling but they could hear her. Silent thoughts flickered between the two illithid, almost certainly noting that an invisible yeller was a wizard and therefore valuable. The force wave generated by the twin mind blasts was almost palpable and Jallarzi staggered under the assault but she had survived such blasts before and pushed through the mental noise.Gritting her teeth, the half-elf rushed both mind flayers, her memory replaying their last encounter in which they had shrugged off her strongest spells. This time it might be different but an unconscious Master Wymeah would have trouble surving an ice storm. Instead, Jallarzi grabbed her master with her free hand, dodged the writhing tentacles of the mind flayers carrying her, and invoked a teleport spell. The wizard and her master disappeared from the hallway.At that instant Kellron and Jared came bursting out the door, their breastplates only half secured. Kestral exited from the next door down, her leather jerkin also loosely buckled. No one had wanted to be caught in the middle of a sudden fire-fight without some sort of protection, but Jallarzi’s cry for help forced them into the fray.The two mind flayers straightened; their black robes looked strange in the flickering of the fire just starting in the study. Their prizes were gone to someplace else and the three before them looked more like food then reward; dangerous food at that. The space about the mind flayers rippled as planar walls were breached, and then they were gone.---Her heart was beating like a carpenter’s hammer. Master Wymeah was scared and it was not a feeling she was used to. If Jallarzi’s quick thinking hadn’t saved her… Wymeah pushed that thought away and wished that Chantion, her familiar, was here and not in the Valley.It had taken almost a minute to recover from the stunning wave of mental force, giving Wymeah a new found understanding of why people feared witches. She had recovered on the steps of the Temple of Sarath, the only other place that Jallarzi was familiar enough to teleport to. Wymeah had teleported the pair back where they had exchanged stories with the others.Jared and Kellron were now searching each room to make sure there were no more surprises. The young woman Kestral had doused the fire in the Library; though Wymeah was unclear how she had accomplished that task.Wymeah pushed the thought away for later. Right now she had to decide what she was going to do next.---They all met in the dining room off of the kitchen. Master Wymeah had insisted on some tea while she thought and while the men searched the rooms. The pot was almost empty by the time Jared, Kellron, and Sarah arrived.“It’s all quiet.” Announced Jared. “We can’t tell how they got in though; all the windows and doors are closed.”Wymeah nodded silently. She didn’t like what she thinking. “The door would have announced anyone who came through the front door.” Her hand gripped her cup tightly, and she forced herself to relax before she broke the halfling-made china.She was a coward; but she would be a live one.“I’m leaving for the Library. Tonight.” She told her guests.Kellron’s lips tightened. Kestral nodded slightly as if expecting it.“Why?” Asked Jallarzi softly.Wymeah’s shoulders slumped slightly. “Because it’s not defensible; not against this sort of attack. In the end this is just an extension of the Mother Library, an embassy for representation to the Duchy of Larence.” She snorted bitterly. “There’s no one left to represent anymore.”There were arguments that could have been made; inspiration, hope, courage, or just plain stubbornness. No one tried though, they were tired too. Another ally was gone, but at least they had saved her and she now owed them a debt.Wymeah watched the resignation flow across their faces. “You can stay here in the meantime.” She told them. “We’ll be back…I’ll be back when we’ve gathered our strength; but not until we know what we’re up against. I’ll arcane lock the door with a pass phrase for your use. You’ll be safe against any city-based forces here at least.”“Can I go with you?” Jallarzi’s question stunned everyone and they all turned to her.“I won’t be able to use the gate, but I’d like to be able to go to the Main Library when I need to. I can always teleport to and back after this trip.”Wymeah smiled. Jallarzi was no longer a student. Her skills were growing at a frightening rate, but no one would argue that she hadn’t earned them. It seemed her wisdom was growing too. That was good. “You may. I’ll show you around and send you back.”“You can send me back in the morning. I’ll want a full tour and I’ll need to memorize a new set of spells.”So it was decided.</blockquote>

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