Good News, Bad News (Chyril 27th TT)

[Morg]

The Citadel is the most breath-taking sight in all the city. The design is a marvel of mystical engineering, created to be both aesthetically delightful and nearly impregnable to attack. Its shape is more or less that of a huge tower with a stretched out base, but such words cannot begin to convey the majesty of the structure. This impregnable fortress is the home of not only the court but the entire Imperial Council and the Imperial Guard.

Morgan calmly navigated the streets of the island that until recently had been his home, making his way to its highest point. A day before, Morgan had visited the building in order to speak with the Archivist, but he certainly didn't know his way around the place, so he'd need some advice in getting to speak to someone in power. His target, he figured, was the Lord Chancellor, the man in charge of wider Imperial affairs. Failing that, he'd try to speak to the Imperial Thaumaturgist. As a mage, the latter would hopefully at least care about the fate of the University.

He could have gone straight to the City Guard, but Morgan had several reasons not to do so. First and foremost, he'd been told to inform the people in charge. If he told a Guard grunt it could be tides before the information reached the people it needed to reach. Second, there was something to be gained from delivering the information personally to someone in power. Gratitude, hopefully, or at least a connection for the future. Then of course there was the simple fact that, based on what Becca had told him, Morgan didn't trust the City Guard as far as he could throw them (although with the aid of elemental sorcery he could probably throw one of them quite a long way).

Morgan now regretted not being dressed as a mage himself. The young mage - not even quite into his twenties - didn't intrinsically look like the sort of person the University would send to represent it. Still, if needed he could perform some magickal trickery to show that he was the real deal.

He headed directly for the first Imperial Guard he could spot, addressing the guard with confidence. "Good tide. My name is Morgan Scrylock, of the University of Magick. I've been sent to deliver a message to the Lord Chancellor."

[Grey Wolf]

With the recent events in the Citadel and under Caesar’s orders the castle was locked tighter than a gnomish chastity belt with pneumatic safety pistons and adjustable locking bolt. A dozen Imperial Guardsmen stood before the gate and every new arrival was stopped and questioned, and Morgan was no exception, a young soldier bearing a spear nodding politely. “Good tide, Master Scrylock. I fear Lord Chancellor is busy at the moment. You will have to wait for the Council meeting to end before he is available. I could have a palace page deliver the note to him right after the meeting if that is acceptable.”

[Morg]

I don't have the time to wait, Morgan thought to himself. He wanted to borrow some "help" to secure the University vaults, and meet Danomel at the Mother's Temple, all before darkness fell.

"Is there anyone else senior I could speak to?" he asked. "I'm afraid it's pretty urgent. I have information about the new whereabouts of the University."

[Grey Wolf]

As luck would have it, Morgan managed to run into a fresh recruit, and though the young man was willing to help, his knowledge of the people who could help was limited. "I could see if Captain Summers is available. Or perhaps Lord Advocate? He is the Chancellor's deputy." Then with a bright smile, the young man offered the third option. "Or Imperial Thaumaturgist Master Ginneke? I am sure he would be interested to know what happened to the University. I believe he has a guest, but I could send word that you wish to see him too?"

OOC: Pick one and assume you are taken there. I shall pick from that spot.

[Morg]

The young guard's knowledge of persons in power may have been limited, but Morgan's was almost certainly even more so. He'd rarely had occasion to consider such things. Still, the man's third suggestion was in line with an idea of his own. Besides, he'd heard good things about the Imperial Thaumaturgist from Mistress Tabeann and wanted very much to meet him in person. "It would be excellent if you could send word to Master Ginneke," he decided immediately. He didn't waste time expressing the urgency of his mission yet again. A palace guard would likely be inured to such talk.

The office of the High Thaumaturgist, head of the Imperial Magi, is not one frequented by the casual visitor to the Citadel - indeed, it is not one often visited at all. Simon Ginneke answers to no-one but the Caesar himself, and he values his privacy highly. Therefore meetings are by appointment only, and the office itself is in a tucked away corner of the Citadel as if making itself scarce from inquisitive eyes.
The actual room is warmly furnished - you might compare it to a comfortable den of a rather eccentric scholar - which in a lot of ways, it is. Thick rugs cover the otherwise cold stone floor, and a fire burns in grate beneath a decorative carved stone fireplace. Beside the window there is a sizable desk in dark wood, and several chairs to compliment it - but beside the fire is where Ginneke is usually found, in one of three rather threadbare wingback chairs and with his feet up on a small coffee table in a similar state of disrepair. Every available surface of the room, apart from the chair being sat in, is taken up with books and papers of all kinds, magical trinkets and oddments, scrolls and letters to be read and all the clutter and accoutrements of the serious but somewhat disorganised scholar. Oddly enough, despite the chaos of Ginneke's filing system, he usually seems to be able to lay his hands on whatever papers or books he's looking for with remarkable speed.

Morgan followed the young man quietly to Ginneke's office, where he waited outside to be introduced. Barging in on a mage was a very bad idea, as he well knew. If Ginneke was half as paranoid as most of the warding professors at the University, an unwanted intruder might end up dead as soon as he crossed the threshold.

[Grey Wolf]

The young soldier escorted Morgan through the castle taking him to the simple looking door, the wall opposite them still charred from the incident involving Father Pulo and the theft of the soul shard. He knocked and a flicker later an irritable “WHAT?” sounded from the room, the soldier flinching visibly. “Erm, sir, a representative from the University of Magick is here to see you. He says he has news about the whereabouts of the University.” It was but a flicker later that the door was pulled open, Thaumaturgist’s face appearing in the crack, his eyes narrowing on Morgan. “Come on in. I’ve just been about to seek you lot out.” He stepped away, revealing the chamber beyond and a familiar form sitting in one of the chairs, a cup of tea before him. “You should be familiar with Professor Motrice.”

[Morg]

"Professor Motricé!" Morgan exclaimed upon seeing Elvin. He was genuinely glad to see the older adhiel. Some progress had been made in his investigations since the 25th, which he would be happy to share. A smile made its way onto the young magus's face for the first time that day - a face that, with its sunken, bloodshot eyes, indicated the horrors of the night before all too clearly. "Namaste!" It was still the only word of Adhiel he knew. I'll have to remedy that. He still couldn't even hold a proper conversation with Thorn, who had more or less saved his life.

He turned to address the Thaumaturgist again as he entered the room. "My name is Morgan. I'm apprentice to Professor Octava at the University." In point of fact, Morgan didn't need to introduce himself to Ginneke, but he had no way of knowing that. The Imperial Thaumaturgist had seen him before, all the way back in Samheen, when he'd spied on a meeting of the nascent Shadowstar in rodent form - and, although Morgan had no idea of this, the master mage had engineered the chain of events that led to his first meeting with the Liber Maleficarius.

"The Council sent me to inform the government of what happened," he stated immediately, knowing that the onus was on him to deliver what information he possessed. Barging in on a powerful mage was a good way to get yourself killed, but withholding information from two was an even better means to that end. "And... the truth is that we're still not entirely sure what happened. But the University, or at least most of it, has been transported to Sierra, of all places."

[Elvin Motricé]

Elvin smiled weakly when Morgan greeted him, he himself looking not much better than his pupil. The Professor looked more pale than Morgan had ever seen him and when he reached for his teacup his hands were actually shaking.

He looked at Morgan with surprise: "Sierra?! How in the name of the gods did it end up there?" The silver-haired mage made some quick considerations and shook his head: "The sheer power necessary to translocate that structure... We might be in for more then we can imagine..."

It was then that the rest of Morgan's words struck home: "Most of it?" The Adhiel's quick mind started considering physical laws and difficult it would be to wrench the foundations out of the bedrock it was built on, it would cost as much, or maybe even more, then translocating the rest of it. "The foundations... Don't tell me... The Vaults?" the sorcerer groaned, something else that was unfamiliar: "Morgan, don't tell me only the top part got translocated?"

[Morg]

Morgan noted Elvin's condition with surprise. The adhiel rarely appeared to let events get to him. Clearly it had been a hard few tides not just for those who happened to be in the University of Magick.

The magus didn't wait for Ginneke before he replied to the professor's last question, because the answer was important. He simply nodded to confirm Elvin's suspicions, and addressed both of them. "That's the second reason I'm here. I have to secure the contents of the vaults before anything happens to them. Most of the University has its hands full re-establishing the wards that failed when the complex was translocated, and tending to the wounded."

He sighed. There was another complication. When wasn't there? "The translocation appeared to coincide with a daemonic incursion into the University, although coincidence may not be the right word. We fought them off, but there were some casualties." The image of Redgrave, his heart torn from his chest, flashed before his eyes, and his left eyelid gave an involuntary twitch.

[Grey Wolf]

Simon may have been a sorcerer, but one did not spend so much time rubbing elbows with nobility and politicians and learn the value of silence and the benefit of listening carefully to what went on around him. “Yes, yes, I heard of you. You are the boy who helped slay a demon a few months ago. A cup of tea?” Without waiting for a reply, he motioned towards a chair, and went to pour Morgan a cup of tea, refilling Elvin’s cup and adding a whopping five cubes of sugar to it, knowing the adhiel needed to recover from the scrying they have just performed. Silently he sat, an expression of polite interest on his face, as the pair conversed. Only when the true reason for Morgan’s visit became apparent, did Simon shift and coughed to get their attention. “You should go see Stephen Mattiro. Lord Advocate can then issue an order for the City Guard to quarantine the area and keep the curious and greedy away. After that I can offer my help as well as that of my assistants in placing the wards around the site. But, we would need to know just what the heck you want to keep contained and safe, so we could focus on important bits.” Of course he failed to mention a few of his agents were already snooping around the remains of the University looking for clues and just about anything Simon might find interesting.

[Morg]

Morgan received his tea quietly and noted with pleasure the High Thaumaturgist's recognition of his name. It was when Ginneke mentioned wanting to know what needed protection that Morgan had cause to reflect on what a particularly good choice he was for this mission, mainly because of his ignorance. "I don't know what exactly is down there," he admitted. Of course the Imperial Thaumaturgist would want to find out what the University had locked away in its vaults. By selecting Morgan, the University had ensured that the man would be unable to discover any more than he could find out for himself. His experience was limited to what he'd seen on the night of the Demon Hunt. "Magickal artefacts, but I'm afraid I just don't know the details. Some weapons, perhaps, and protective devices, as well as tools for various kinds of magickal weave. That's all I can say. But your team's assistance would be invaluable in cataloguing what we find before we ship it back to Sierra." Naturally Ginneke would want to know what was down there, and Morgan could at least offer him the opportunity to find out in exchange for his help.

(OOC: With the recess, I'm happy to shift this to summary mode if you're both happy to do that. If not, please ignore the following paragraphs. )

When an agreement had been reached, Morgan set off to meet Stephen Matiro. His aim was to convince the Lord Advocate to send some men with him to close off the University site while he himself worked on the wards until Simon's assistants arrived.

The wards themselves would be of relatively simple construction, using chalk and string. The chalk in particular was used to construct large and imposing arcane symbols. The Elqui and Mergei symbols he'd learned during his training were useful to enhance and reinforce wards, but more importantly they would hopefully serve as a visible deterrent. There was no point flash-frying someone with a lightning ward if you could scare them away with the threat of it. For the actual magickal aspect Morgan went for an outer layer of earth wards, simple barriers that erected a wall of force enough to prevent physical entry. Gaps were left at entrance and exit points to be manned by guards until the vaults were clear. In key areas he would also try and erect a second level of the mental wards that he and Becca had learned to construct, inducing irrational fear in potential thieves with visions of powerful elemental sorcery.

He wouldn't have time to complete his work, though. Tradetide was dragging on by the time he arrived at the site, and so finally he reluctantly left his work and headed to the Temple of the Mother to meet his appointment with Danomel.

[Elvin Motricé]

"It's imperative that the vaults are secured. Apart from the magical artefacts I have heard that some of the more dangerous experiments were done there. People could seriously harm themselves by going in there..." Elvin said.

The Professor drew a small coin out of a pouch and tossed it to Morgan: "If you need anything use a strand of earth energy to unlock the small magic bound to the coin. If I'm in the neighbourhood I'll feel it and know your location. It's magic is fleeting, after a day or two it should be dissipated."

After Morgan made necessary preparations the Professor himself stayed for a while with Simon Ginneke to work out the details of how they'ld get to the Libre and how they could cooperate in the future. The Adhiel was insatiable when it came to knowledge about magic and he hoped that the Thaumataurgist would be willing to help him with some of his questions. After all, the man was considered a magical genius...

[Grey Wolf]

OOC: I am quite fine with the summary, but if you want we can still keep this going for a post or two.

Simon managed to keep the pleased smile from his lips at Morgan’s offer, as cataloguing the possessions of the University would be just what he needed. Once he knew what they had he could devise a way to procure it through various means at his disposal. “I’ll send four of my assistants with you. They can help you with the wards, but you will need to specify what level of protection you need. We maintain the magick inside the palace on a daily basis, so I see no reason to go there myself. If you do need me, just send a note.” Of course the Thaumaturgist would be there, though in a different form, taking a closer look at what was contained in the underground of the school of magick.

When they were left alone, he queried Elvin extensively about his experience during the scrying attempt, though he did not try to explain what happened precisely. He did not look terribly concerned about the actual experience, but was more worried about the goal of those who took part in it. After he got all the Elvin was willing to provide to him, the Imperial Thaumaturgist made it clear he would continue looking into the Liber and ways in which its power could be contained and eventually destroyed and got Elvin assurance he would be kept informed of Professor’s progress.

[Ashari]

SKILLS:
Morgan
NEW SKILL! Magic [Create Wards] - Basic

Elvin
No skills awarded.