Restoring the Library ~ Samheen 24th ~ Morningtide

Moderators: Tristam, Mods

Locked
Guest

Restoring the Library ~ Samheen 24th ~ Morningtide

Post by Guest »

The days since his inital break through with the guidance of Diamon had been busy indeed, attending as he had further lessons in elementalism, alchemy, illusion and theory. None of the classes had passed by without him picking up further facets of Magick that drew his attention and sparked his further interest in the learning. He had kept his trips out of the Guild halls to a minimum mainly to go down the inn to get the odd meal or the bazaar to get something that would keep for longer and save him venturing out a time or two.

His spare time between classes was split in a number of ways already, betwen his own studies, working in the library, the tasks that Professor Chaotxi needed him for, and even the occassional private lesson. Yet still during the time he had made an effort to work on the revelation of energies that Diamon's revelation had lead him to find. He had made sure to pass on the comments, and the resulting thoughts and result to the Professor the next time he had seen him.

He was certain that some of the work and reading he had given him to cover was due in part the information he had shared and perhaps even in part to prompt further such thoughts from him. For his own part he had taken time to attempt the duplicate of the casting a number of times outside the place the prisms had taken him. Working to move past that feeling of wrongness that he felt during the weaving he tried smaller weavings.

He had attempted to use the knowledge and experience to duplicate the crafting of the light ice dagger in a smaller form needles of cold crafted from energy drawn from light, stone, and even fire darts that had been sent outwards to crash against the walls of his dorm room. Time and again he had worked the weaving of them with different energies working to move past the feeling of wrongness. Also though he had taken the time to work the needles with the natural state of the energy he drew upon. Seeing if by constrast the manipulation of a weave drawing on the energies natural state would become easier as he progressed.

The morningtide of the 24th found him entering the library yet again, picking up the books other had left laying about he quickly worked through returning them to their proper places. Once this was done he moved on into the other areas continuing the work of putting the sections of the library back into their proper order. Taking the time to note to himself just how far the last four days of work had managed to progress its restoration. As well as to consider the progress he himself had made in his understanding of things in the short time he had been here.
Tristam
Moderator
Posts: 3138
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 12:14 am
Location: Nashville, TN CST

Post by Tristam »

His personal studies with the exchange of energies had proved much more difficult that we would have hoped. It was clear now that the concentration of energies in Diamon's domain aided him greatly. However, with concentration he was gaining some affinity with using light for shadow and shadow for light. As for other opposites, say fire and water, he achieved very little success. Light and shadow were aligned in a way that these other energies were not. Still with diligence, Gilanor felt sure he could find such alignments among the other energies.

The library was truly coming together under the influence of his work and those of unseen others. It was odd that really. Gilanor kept no set schedule for his work in the library. Yet whoever else worked at this task never showed up at the same time as Gilanor. Whoever they were they worked as diligently. There were now a full six rooms revealed with hints of three more radiating out from the sixth room revealed.

The texts here were mainly dedicated to the magics of earth and stone. Each was bound accordingly in browns and blacks. In fact from the entrance, one could almost mistake the shelves for striations in a rock wall. Bright flashes of color announced where the chaos of the library had thrown other books into this section.

After a mark or so of sorting, Gilanor heard footsteps coming back into the library. The steps were heavy and jangled with metal. "Are you here, prentice?" A deep voice called out.
[size=100]
Donald heard a mermaid sing, Susy spied an elf,
But all the magic I have known, I've had to make myself.

Shel Silverstein[/size]
Guest

Post by Guest »

Gilanor had been placed the last of the books that had made it incorrectly into the sixth room back into their correct places in the other chambers. Even though all the texts in the sixth room appeared so far to be focused on earth and stone it still made up for a wide range of topics, the chart for the placement of texts in this room as subdivided as any of the previous rooms.

Returning the book he had just picked up back on top of the stack it had been sorted into he looked in the direction of the Professor's voice.

"Good tide to you Professor Chaotxi." Gilanor replied, wondering if he had been remise by coming to spend some time working in the library instead of checking in with the Professer despite the early hour of the day.

"What can I do for you this morning?"
Tristam
Moderator
Posts: 3138
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 12:14 am
Location: Nashville, TN CST

Post by Tristam »

The form that came into view was a new one. The dark adhiel was hulking in stature with shoulders broad enough to fill the doorway. Mail of dark metal links strained to hold in the muscles of the adhiel wearing it. Each footstep caused the loud jangling of metal on stone.

"My war face is not quite right for a library is it, prentice?" Chaotxi's ironic voice came from the brute. "Still better I get used to it, I think. It will be of use up above." The dull eyes of the brute turned to look at Gilanor directly.

"Professor Markov told me of his slip." He announced without preamble. "Have you given the matter any thought? Rest assured I have plans for you either way. For this choice you are free to follow your heart or your whims without repurcussion."
[size=100]
Donald heard a mermaid sing, Susy spied an elf,
But all the magic I have known, I've had to make myself.

Shel Silverstein[/size]
Guest

Post by Guest »

"You certainly appear intimidating Professor, though looking like someone young spear carrier, might make you less of a target on a battlefield. After all the way you look at the moment most warriors might well think that defeating you would add glory to their name." Gilanor replied with a slight smile, as he considered how to put his thoughts from the last couple of days into words. As the Professor had been straight forward with him, than it was perhaps best that he do the same in return.

"Honestly Professor, I must say that before I knew what there was to really learn here I so wanted to be somewhere else other than this city. Yet now I feel as if I would be turning away from where I truely needed to be, and from what I need to be doing." Gilanor replied, glad that the Professor had so quickly brought the topic up and in such a way as to leave him free to choose his own path without any guilt.

"Just a short conversation with Diamon was enough to let me to make a break through with regards the connection between light and shadow. In at least making use of them as if they were one, even if I can't yet perceive the lower levels of their energy structures. If you wish me to come with you I will do so gladly enough, but above all I most long to stay here and pursue these studies that I've only just now scratched the surface of these past days."
Tristam
Moderator
Posts: 3138
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 12:14 am
Location: Nashville, TN CST

Post by Tristam »

"Then you must follow the longing of your heart." Chaotxi intoned. There was a whirl of color and now a youngish adhiel stood before him in simple leather armor leaning casually on his spear. "And I shall follow your sense of fashion and tactics." He chuckled for a moment and then turned to gesture at the entrance he just came through. Books of all descriptions filled the passage looking for all the world like this area had not yet been dug out. A second set of gestures sent wards of air about the place to ensure they would not be overheard. Only then did he turn back to Gilanor.

"I have a task for you Gilanor." He stated simply. "It is dangerous and it violates certain agreements among the faculty of the Guild, but I believe it is necessary. And with so many of the faculty involved in the Ascent, now might be the only time to perform this unnoticed. Shall I go on or have you already heard enough to refuse me?" Chaotxi inquired with his face twisted in a wry grin.
[size=100]
Donald heard a mermaid sing, Susy spied an elf,
But all the magic I have known, I've had to make myself.

Shel Silverstein[/size]
Guest

Post by Guest »

As Professor Chaotxi started the weaves Gilanor tried to centre himself in tim e to observe some at least of what the Professor had crafted, or at least its aftereffects on the Aether. Though doubtless he had likely taken the precaution of shrouding the energies of the weave so they couldn't be told from the firmer illusion of reality.

"I'm not exactly one to just follow blindly where others wish me to go Professor Chaotxi. Just because others have agreed to something doesn't mean I'll agree with their reasoning for such agreement. What is it that you would like me to undertake?" Gilanor asked, making a mental note wondering if the danger would be any greater than if his parents laid hands on him if they had taken his leaving unannounced with ill humour.
Tristam
Moderator
Posts: 3138
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 12:14 am
Location: Nashville, TN CST

Post by Tristam »

"The agreement I am asking you to break is simply one whereby we mages agree not to meddle in the experiments of another and to keep those research areas sacrosanct." Chaotxi explained. "I have noticed over the last several months that the number of students that disappear from the guild has been rising."

He leaned against the bookshelf. "Students vanishing is not unusual in and of itself. Some flee, some attempt magics beyond them or venture into parts of the guild forbidden to them and away they go." He shrugged his shoulders. "Simply the way of things and we think no more about it. Still, I've come to notice that some professor's seem to be losing more than others. Even that is not unusual. Some disicplines are more lethal than others." He sighed and looked Gilanor in the eye.

"Then I discovered that these students that I had met, talked with, and taught, do not officially exist." Chaotxi hissed. "No record of entry or payment. No names inscribed in the ledgers of the Lorewarden. Nothing but the memories of professors no doubt too focused on their researchs to ever notice. Students disappear all the time after all."

"Investigating this is the task I have for you, Glianor." Chaotxi explained. "Specifically, I ask you to infiltrate another professor's experimental area and discover just what he is hiding there."
[size=100]
Donald heard a mermaid sing, Susy spied an elf,
But all the magic I have known, I've had to make myself.

Shel Silverstein[/size]
Guest

Post by Guest »

The point about the ledger stuck Gilanor for a moment for he had only spoken with one of the Masters here when he had entered the guild, he hadn't seen his name placed into any ledger.

"I can understand your concern Professor, and I'll be undertake this for you. Might I ask though do you happen to know if my name has been entered into the ledger by the Lorewarden? I spoke with a Master Grond when I entered the guild yet he never mentioned anything about putting my name into this ledger though I paid him for my enrollment. " Gilanor asked, wondering if he was slated for whatever fate had met the other student who had already disappeared.
Tristam
Moderator
Posts: 3138
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 12:14 am
Location: Nashville, TN CST

Post by Tristam »

"Your name is *now* in the ledger." Chaotxi informed him. "I fully suspect it was not until I claimed you as my apprentice. It is most disturbing really. Master Grond has always happy to greet new aspirants and take care of these administrative details. Since no one else wished to them it was a mutually beneficial thing. Now he seems to be aiding a dark purpose. How unwittingly I wonder." Chaotxi mused for moment.

"He cannot be confronted directly. He is too well liked and too well entrenched in the workings of the Guild. Plus he is not truly our real problem. It is the one he is funneling students to that we must worry about. Thus your task."

Chaotxi strode over to one of the walls of the library and gave it a tap. The shelf swung open to reveal a dark opening into a tunnel. "These ways are a somewhat open secret among the faculty of the guild and their selected students. Most are just a swifter or secret way to travel. It is also where many of the professors keep their experiments for reasons of safety or secrecy. As wizards love most to impress and awe their peer, I've visited most of them and they mine. However, there is at least one place that no one had visited. No one even hints that it exists, and that not been foolish enough to try and cloak it illuision I would not know of it either."

The young soldier Chaotxi grinned ruefully. "Might as well have invitied me in. The caverns are protected by wards of misdirection and confusion as well as less savory wards. But you have a gift of seeing to the heart of matters. I think you can make your way safely if you are careful."
[size=100]
Donald heard a mermaid sing, Susy spied an elf,
But all the magic I have known, I've had to make myself.

Shel Silverstein[/size]
Guest

Post by Guest »

Gilanor looked carefully at the area of wall that Professor Chaotxi had tapped making a mental note of the position and trying to see if there was anything to really distinguish it from the rest of the wall. The fact that he hadn't been in the ledger of students before now was certainly not a comfortable thought, yet if some thought their placement in that would give them some level of protection he was disinclined to believe it.

After all the Professor had clearly indicated that other students who had been on the roll had also disappeared at times. It was just that many of the new disappearance had not been on the rolls, yet that didn't mean all those who disappeared hadn't been on them. It just seemed to indicate that someone required more subjects perhaps then they could safely have disappear if they were entered onto the rolls. Certainly his name's presence on the ledgers certainly wouldn't help him if he managed to trip any of those less savory wards that the Professor had mentioned.

"I'll be careful to examine everything on the Aether before I move forward Professor. I'd prefer to study these wards and protections carefully before I try to get past them. Yet how do I get to this place from here Professor?" Gilanor asked, his attention returning to the form of the young solider whose shape the Professor currently wore.
Tristam
Moderator
Posts: 3138
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 12:14 am
Location: Nashville, TN CST

Post by Tristam »

"You follow this." The young solider replied sliding a scroll out from his shirt and handing it to him. "It is a set of instructions. In code of course lest others discover the scroll on you. You know my teachings and my mind well. The cryptic phrases there should be obvious to you and to any other will look like the mind puzzles I am known to favor when dealing with a slow student."

Chaotxi chuckled. "More misdirection of course. You can even claim you got lost following my test."
[size=100]
Donald heard a mermaid sing, Susy spied an elf,
But all the magic I have known, I've had to make myself.

Shel Silverstein[/size]
Guest

Post by Guest »

"Plus if I can't see through the instructions you've given me than I obviously won't be up to passing safely through whatever I find at the end of them." Gilanor replied, taking the scroll of his teacher hand as he spoke. The conclusion had jumped to the forefront of his mind as the Professor had spoken, and by saying it aloud he merely hope to test in return the Professor's reaction.

"I'll do my best to learn what there is to learn, and above all not get so caught in learning it Professor. Should I even start mapping the tunnels in part as well seeing you didn't have time to show me how to get from place to place. After all this expedition dragged you away at such short notice, that you had only just had a chance to speak with me about them. The curiosity of the youth, they go looking into all sorts of places if their minds aren't kept busy enough to keep them out of mischief."
Tristam
Moderator
Posts: 3138
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 12:14 am
Location: Nashville, TN CST

Post by Tristam »

"Your ability to see to heart of things continues to serve you well." The young soldier chuckled. "You speak the truth Gilanor. The obfuscation evident in that scroll serves many purposes. After all, some secrets are kept to protect and others to maximize advantage or to guarantee the greatest harm. It is only the third kind that I am interested in having you investigate for the nonce."

Chaotxi leaned on his spear. "This migration to the surface is a double edged sword. It frees the caverns for investigation but sends me away such that I cannot do so. I do not think the second part is a coincidence. The queen's envoy seemed most insistent that I join the Ascent." Chaotxi commented. "This is perhaps not out of line with my skills but certain elements of the Guild urging me to agree is more unusual. Watch yourself Gilanor. I am counting on them underestimating you and that is a thin defense indeed."
[size=100]
Donald heard a mermaid sing, Susy spied an elf,
But all the magic I have known, I've had to make myself.

Shel Silverstein[/size]
Guest

Post by Guest »

"When one has a poniard to another's longblade then one had best learn how to strike from concealment. Or learn the skill of guiding the other's blade away from yourself rather than needing or trying to block it directly. Since my blade is only a web thickness of an advantage then perhaps I best learn the art of concealment and distraction to the best of my ability." Gilanor repled, giving a slight smile as a thought came to him.

"I gather that none of the remaining Master's would share with me a map of the tunnels now would they. So even if I spoke with one of them that had spoken well to me my request would be unlikely to be granted. Yet if I did so and he then mentioned to others that I had been seeking to learn of the tunnels. Tunnels that my Master had mentioned as letting one get around quickly before his departure it would explain my being in the tunnels. Even tunnels that I should have no need to be in, as one unguided by others, can at times become lost, especially if ones hand drawn map had errors in it."
Tristam
Moderator
Posts: 3138
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 12:14 am
Location: Nashville, TN CST

Post by Tristam »

"I think complete secrecy would serve you better than any misdirection at this point." Chaotxi advised. "Still it is your task now. Proceed as you see fit." The soldier nodded to him and then gestured so that the wall would replace itself. "If I believed in luck, I would wish it upon you. As it is, I shall simply rest content in the quality of your mind and my training."
[size=100]
Donald heard a mermaid sing, Susy spied an elf,
But all the magic I have known, I've had to make myself.

Shel Silverstein[/size]
Guest

Post by Guest »

"Better to not be seen at all rather than someone to take measures against me <i>just in case</i> of what I might really be doing." Gilanor said, after few flickers of consideration of the Professor's advice.

"I'll do my best Professor."
Tristam
Moderator
Posts: 3138
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 12:14 am
Location: Nashville, TN CST

Post by Tristam »

"I expect nothing less of you." Chaotxi smiled at him. "As circumstances allow I shall send word of doings on the surface." With a gesture, the wards are cancelled and the illusion dropped. "Fare well, apprentice. Good fortune in finding what you seek."
[size=100]
Donald heard a mermaid sing, Susy spied an elf,
But all the magic I have known, I've had to make myself.

Shel Silverstein[/size]
Guest

Post by Guest »

Gilanor just gave him a bow of respect in reply, and then waited for the Professor to leave before going back to the work of sorting out the mess of books in the library. If he started working on something else straight after the Professor had come to see him then it might alert someone to the Professor's assignment. Slow and steady, certainly didn't include immediately running around like a startled gecko.
Tristam
Moderator
Posts: 3138
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 12:14 am
Location: Nashville, TN CST

Post by Tristam »

OOC: Unless you have more you wish to do here, I will lock and skill the thread.
[size=100]
Donald heard a mermaid sing, Susy spied an elf,
But all the magic I have known, I've had to make myself.

Shel Silverstein[/size]
Guest

Post by Guest »

OOC: Done
Tristam
Moderator
Posts: 3138
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 12:14 am
Location: Nashville, TN CST

Post by Tristam »

Thread Skilled!
[size=100]
Donald heard a mermaid sing, Susy spied an elf,
But all the magic I have known, I've had to make myself.

Shel Silverstein[/size]
Locked

Return to “Gulanadur Archive”