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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cafu" data-source="post: 6303182" data-attributes="member: 6692807">I glanced up from my books; all was quiet in the library with the exception of a few groups of students who were whispering to each other while taking notes or reading from my tomes; or at least I assumed that it was to do with the information from my tomes. Others were quietly reading other, ancient works while a few were even practicing movements with their hands while mouthing verbal incantations at the same time. Glancing towards the end of the table I looked at John, who was just as deeply immersed in his books as the students. Briefly, I thought back to our return; although the majority of the raiding force returned and the plan had actually worked as conceived, there was little sense of triumph. The damage to Seaquen was still too recent and too raw. The ice from the devastating attacks of the elementals had melted but the destruction was still readily apparent. Thankfully, due to the enormous influx of people as well as the foreign armies who had camped nearby, there were plenty of hands willing to help in the clearing up; unfortunately, this did not replace the dwellings that had been smashed in the magic and yet more people and families had joined the refugee camps. Fortunately, Seaquen was now accustomed to refugees from all parts of the land and although the infrastructure was strained, it had not broken. Despite the destruction, misery and deprivation, there had been a mighty cheer when news of the Obelisk’s destruction had proliferated throughout the city; everyone had been acutely aware of the threat it had represented; and it had been more than reinforced by the appearance of a pair of titanic elementals. We ourselves had gone straight to bed; we were exhausted in every single way imaginable. Etinifi, the immortal Seelah had come with us; he still tended to ramble in verse but one of the few understandable comments he made was that he felt that we were his best opportunity to defeat Leska so he would stay with us for the time being. While I was a little uneasy around him, there was no denying that his Song of Forms was an incredibly powerful weapon against the Trillith. The next morning, I went to the library immediately; I was not surprised to see a throng of students waiting for me; it was not a secret that we had returned and I felt eager to return to my books; I felt I had made a breakthrough; ironically, it was something in the way Kreven had cast his spells; he reminded of something that I had been missing; that last piece in the jigsaw; I felt I had really cracked it this time but I could not be sure until I began to write down the formulae. So, I took out all my books, invited the students to make use of them while I worked on my spells and theories; I was so excited that my quill literally flew on the scrolls as reams and reams of formulae began to fill the paper. Yes, if I did it this way, it should work; if I copied what I had seen Kreven do and adapt it to my own spells it would work; if I added this element and this phrase to these spells it would make them more complicated but I would be able to bend them around the others; but still affect the enemy! I glanced up and saw John; I did not see any of the others but I was not concerned; they knew where to find me; I wasn’t exactly unpredictable; I continued to concentrate on my formulae to the exclusion of everything else. Then, in the early afternoon, I looked up and asked for a couple of volunteers: “Please, I need to see if my spells are going to work the way I need them to; I want to cast a ball of fire at you; I am going to try to bend the ball around you; it should work, but just in case it doesn’t I also plan to give you magical protection against fire.” The students looked apprehensive but then nodded. Initially, I only wanted to take the pair with me but unfortunately, all the others wanted to see so we gathered an entourage. Nearly everyone went, except John who was still immersed: “John, I’m going out to the garden for a little while to try something out; I’ll be back shortly.” He just nodded. So, we went to the Open Area; the Lyceum was full of open areas like this, somewhere where mages could test their spells away from causing danger to others; after all, I was certainly not the first try something like this. As promised, I warded the two volunteers against flames and then left them standing in the testing ground. I walked back and then came the moment of truth; I cast the ball of fire at them, attempting to shape it around the two, leaving them unharmed; it was complicated and I almost failed at one point but the spell went off, creating a ball of as usual but with my improvised twist. As soon as it was over, we ran over to my volunteers, both of whom were cheering and hollering: “Master Faden, it worked! The fire didn’t touch us! There were two holes where we stood and the fire didn’t touch us! That was amazing! How did you do it?” “ I want to try it again few more times, using different spells; if that works, then we’ll go back and I will attempt to explain it; I have to warn you though, it’s very complicated magic.” The next spell I tried was a mildly poisonous cloud, not deadly, but one that would make one feel a little unwell for a little time but again, I managed to create holes within it, sparing the volunteers a few uncomfortable moments. Finally, I tried the same again with my viscous fog and again I managed to fit it around the volunteers. My theory worked! Oh, it was complicated; really complicated magic; so complicated in fact that I would not be able to carry a full complement of spells to accommodate all the changes but I felt that it was definitely worth it. The ability to cast spells which could be bent around my friends was an incredibly useful ability. We returned to the library. As I entered, I was grinning and John glanced up; when he saw my face, he gave me a thumbs up. I sat down and began to write; I had an awful lot of writing to do; and explaining and showing. The students were eager to find out how to perform this kind of magic. It helped me a great deal as well; I found that the explanation organized my thinking and simplified the concepts of this new knowledge. Unfortunately, although some of them followed the principles a little longer than others, ultimately, my new methods were beyond all the students in the room. In the end, I was left alone as I wrote down formula after formula. I am not sure just how long I was there when there was a noise from the doorway and I saw that Felix had poked his head inside the room: “Faden, John, it’s dinner time; and after, there is news; lots of news.” We went to the dining hall and ate; we were surrounded by the student population as well as other mages so it was a cheerful and noisy gathering. My two volunteers had quite a crowd around them. I told everyone how my day had gone; about being able to bend spells; about the new formulae I was acquiring. Everyone else was quiet except for John who asked many questions; I suspect that he was the one who understood the most as well. After dessert, we retired to the library again but this time we settle down in our usual places, hot drinks in hand; as usual, Longhelim lit up his pipe, Drudge took out several arrows he was in the process of making and I took out my journals and a quill, ready to make notes and also to refer to previous entries, in case we needed to be reminded of something. Longhelim began: “I don’t really know how this works; Felix cannot really explain but I had a very strange dream last night. It showed a young woman who turned to me and…..” At the end of the sentence, Longhelim’s face became slightly blank and his voice changed eerily, as if a young woman was speaking through his mouth: “and this I will tell you: A single vigilant gatekeeper denies the darkmasquerade. He is imprisoned in war, and likehis fellow captives, he is a vital ally. His kin andmine seek to end his stewardship. Death begetsdeath begets death, and in war, death lurksbehind many closed doors.My kin are not all cruel, and some may aidyou. One will seek you who is made to change.Another seeks justice from a father who casthim out with nothing but horse and sword.Others — many others — have allied with themasked empress, but the elders are not loyal toher. They must be stopped.As the throngs share their dreams, theyopen themselves to nightmares. The Torchshall fall from the hand of its wielder, and thesong of the deep shall be no ally. Walk theline between foes carefully, and beware yourunfulfilled desires.”I watched in amazement as Longhelim came back to himself and thoughtfully took a puff of his pipe: “Any ideas anyone?” I looked up from furiously writing down what Longhelim’s dream had said: “Well, the suggestion is that it refers to something about the Trillith but bar that, it’s pretty obscure.” Felix sighed: “Yes, that’s what Simeon said as well. He’s the foremost Loremaster of his generation and he couldn’t make head or tails out of it either; and to make things even more complicated, when Etinifi heard it, he joined in with his own contribution: “The city of the gate bars the path of thewarring children of the Mother of Dreams. Fromcaverns on a sunless sea, they rise now, drooling,howling, to break the seal, to see the Great Above.It seems that Agony — o Agony, my brother inchains — knew of their desire. Their nightmaresally with Leska’s chill fire, and soon their brotherVigilance will sleep eternal, and the gate shallopen to hordes infernal. My song, taught in agesdark by the trilling worm, can keep you fromsomnolent harm.” John snorted: “Yes, but he’s been speaking like that from the first moment we met him. Was Simeon able to make anything out of that?” Felix shook his head: “No; he was just as stumped as we were; about the only thing that he was able to understand was that this is referring to the Festival of Dreams in Gate Pass, which is to be held very soon.” I started; the priest was right. I had completely forgotten; mostly because I had never taken part of it myself but I did remember it. Quite how the city was going to hold it being besieged by a Ragesian army was another thing but it was a public holiday for the city. Longhelim puffed again: “This brings us neatly to another piece of news; Gate Pass has finally been in touch; and it’s not good news. “ The paladin looked at me: “Your friend Diogenes has been in touch with us magically; he was able to tell us quite a lot through various spells. First of all, the worst news: there has been vast slaughter in the city; almost a third of the population has been wiped out.” I stared at him in shock; so did John; there were many thousands of people in the city; wiping out almost a third meant that thousands must have perished. Drudge, Victor and Felix just looked grim; we all had family in Gate Pass and although it was unspoken among us, we all hoped that our families had survived. Longhelim then continued: “That is the worst piece of news. However, there is a plan; the recovery of the Torch and the destruction of the Obelisk has been communicated to the population and there is both unrest and sympathy. The Resistance in Gate Pass is now being led by a triumvirate: Diogenes, Erdin Menash and Rantle. As I said, it is the former that is getting in touch with us. From what he says, the population is willing to rise up in one last attempt at driving out the Ragesians but there is one stumbling block; the Ragesians have Vorax-Hul, their gigantic red dragon sitting in a tower in the main square of Gate Pass, intimidating the population. No one wants to attempt anything with that monster overlooking the town. It is not possible to just transport an army into Gate Pass; the place is full of those magical defences that we found, you know those rods that tug you into a pit if you travel magically; however, they have found a way to suppress them for a little time; enough time to transport an army to the West of the city, to aid the uprising. So, we have been asked to deal with the dragon.” I stayed quiet for a time, remembering what I knew about dragons; especially red ones. Then I said: “Vorax-Hul is red, right? They breathe fire and are thought to be the biggest and meanest of all the evil dragons. They usually sit on a lot of treasure? They are also often spell casters and quite often have unusual powers?” Longhelim replied: “Simeon is waiting for us to return with a set of questions. He plans to contact Diogenes for the answers.” I grumbled: “They’re doing the wrong way around. I would much rather they tell us all they know or have seen this dragon do as opposed to wait for our own questions. They have seen the beast in action; they have seen it flying around and in battle; they will know what its most dangerous powers are; or its favourite tactic.” Longhelim just smiled: “Well, Faden, the most diplomatic way to handle that is to make the list of questions and then, at the end, put in a question such as: and please also include any other information which you think may be relevant to our task. In other words, you’re telling them exactly what you said just now, but far more politely, and they can also see that you have made an effort in putting a list of questions together.” So that was exactly what we did.</blockquote>

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