A Mage's Mission

[WindRider]

"Sir, perhaps I should wait here for you," Adamar said, looking past Vaalyun and Thallan to see the elven capitol, "Centaurs aren't the most welcome beings in Temperance. And after our experience early, it is not hard to understand why."

"Nonsense," Vaalyun said, "Just stay with the group and no one will give you any trouble. Besides, even if they might not like the idea of centaurs coming into their city, its the Alliance Capitol, not just the elven one. Most of the time wild elves stay out of Temperance simply because they prefer the wilderness to the cities that the noble elves have made their home in. It is not because the noble elves force them out."

Adamar nodded, the argument made sense, and he would rather not wait out here all by himself. The group slowly continued forwards, still on guard after their earlier encounter, though once the underbrush of the woods began to fade into the city the tensions lifted, leaving the group more at ease.

"I'll meet up with you guys shortly," Vaalyun said, spotting the building he had been looking for, "Don't wander off too far, I want to head out before it gets dark. While I don't mind leaving Myrthraheal with the defenses we have right now, I seem to remind myself of more and more things that I need to do back home. I still haven't put in the Nature's School that I've been meaning to add onto the college."

"Actually," Thallan smiled, "Before we left I started overseeing the construction of the addition to the college for you. It should be just about finished by they time we get back. It was supposed to be a surprise; we all knew how busy you've been lately and how if you had more time it would've been put in already."

"So we put it in for you," Elora finished, "As nice as it would've been to surprise you, we don't want you fretting about when you'll have time to put the school in. Especially since you've got other things to attend to. Go take care of whatever it is you came here for, we'll look around and meet up with you here in an hour or so."

"Alright, that should give me enough time to take care of things," Vaalyun said, absentmindedly running his hand over the small orb in the pocket of his robes.

OOC
300 Gold on Nature's School.
OOC

[WindRider]

Vaalyun lifted his oaken staff off of the stone walkway that led up to the building, using the tip of the staff to knock on the heavy wooden doors in front of him. The wood of staff made for a loud resonating knock, which would have required much more of an effort on the Grovemancer's part, had he simply knocked with his bare fist. Preparing to knock again, Vaalyun heard the rustling of papers, followed by the swooshing of robes, and then finally a loud clanking sound as the bolts barricading the door shut from the inside were pulled back, allowing the door to open. Slowly at first, the door cracked open, the light from outside spilling in, creating a bright line on the floor that illuminated the smoke rising from recently burnt-out candles.

"Surely you don't need to go through the trouble of all this secrecy for an old friend?" Vaalyun said, a smirk setting in upon his lips, as the door opened wider and an elf cautiously peeked around it. The elf's gray hair was cut short and had a messy look to it, while his hazel eyes seemed to shrink and grow as the glasses the man wore shifted about on his slim nose. Suddenly, the door flung open the rest of the way, and the elf beamed out at Vaalyun, his gold and green robes now visible, lit up by the sunlight that flooded the entrance of the room.

"You should have said something," the mage chided, but the wide grin on his face made it clear he was not made at the Grovemancer, "If I had known it was you, Vaalyun, I wouldn't have had to make such a mess." The older man looked over his shoulder at the papers strewn about his usually well-kept desk, and then turned back to his guest, "Well, what's done is done, come on in and we can talk while I straighten up my desk. I assume that your presence means you received my letter? Or is it just a fortunate coincidence?"

"A wise man once told me there were no such things as coincidences." The two men smiled, memories of long ago filling both of their minds, "But I did indeed get your letter, I came as soon as I felt comfortable leaving Myrthraheal in the hands of its garrison. Although, if you don't mind, I do have something I wish to discuss with you before we get to what you hinted at in your letter." Vaalyun removed his left hand from his pocket, releasing his grip so that what had been in his hand was left behind in his pocket, and stepped through the door, closing it behind him. "Would you like me to help you find some matches?" Vaalyun asked, squinting to see in the dark.

"No worries, I can take care of the candles." With a flick of his wrist, the older elf cast forth four small bits of fire, two of which floated towards his desk, lighting the candles there, while the other two went out to opposite sides of the room, lighting the candles hanging on the wall. “Much better," the mage let his arm gently fall to his side and then walked towards his desk, carefully avoiding the neat piles of books that were stacked up in various sections of the floor. Reaching the desk, the man shook his head, mumbling something to himself the state of disarray his desk was in. Sitting down and beginning to sort through the papers, he looked up at Vaalyun, his eyes shrinking dramatically as they passed above the edge of his glasses, "So what was it you wanted to talk about?"

"Surely you have time to catch up with an old friend before we discuss the more serious matters?" Vaalyun jested, pulling up one of the large wooden chairs that were covered in the softest plush seats that he had ever sat in. As he lowered himself into the chair, the seat cushion sunk in slightly, molding to a perfect fit for Vaalyun. "After all it has been a few years since I have last seen you." Leaning forwards, Vaalyun gently rest his staff up against the desk, and then comfortably settled back into the chair, resting his hands in his lap.

"Certainly, we can talk, I just don't want to keep you away from Myrthraheal any longer than you can afford, especially if this is your first time leaving your city."

"Don't worry; after all, I can't stand guard forever. Soon, when I'm not teaching, I will be traveling, or immersed in my own studies. I'll only defend the city against major attacks, Gallean forbid. So, how have you been? Still teaching I presume?"

"I'm just fine, and yes I am still teaching. Did you honestly think that one rambunctious child could be enough to stop me? I've dealt with worse than you. Although I will admit, I'm not teaching quite as much as I used to. A bit of old age, and a bit of preferring to research; learn a new spell every now and then, brush up on my runes."

"A little of helping Illumielle and General Sephis when they require your aid?"

"So you did pick up on my hints in that letter. You always were a smart one. But we can save talk of that for later, when we get to my reasons for asking you to visit."

"Fair enough, and don't worry I would never be so brash as to think I had been trouble enough to end your teaching, I was just curious." Vaalyun looked at his old teacher's desk, the papers slowly forming piles once more, "So why exactly did you go through such a hassle to hide what you were working on? Got some big secret Elanjar?"

Vaalyun's old teacher grinned as he continued to sort through his papers, "Something like that, but don't worry that's the reason I wanted you to come visit. Why don't you get on with asking me your questions? Unless you want to see how many times we can bring up my part of the conversation before I give in and skip over the question you wanted to ask?"

"Of course," Vaalyun said with a smile, "On our way here, my group was attacked by some of the wild elves, which isn't that uncommon. However, after the fight, I found this on the ground." Vaalyun paused, removing the small orb from his pocket, "I don't know if there's any connection between it and the elves, but either way I don't think it can bring any good for it to be in our woods. After all..."

"I know, my boy, where your concerns are coming from," Elanjar spoke softly, thinking about how best to word what he had to say as he eyed the orb that was now sitting on his desk, "However, this orb itself brings no evil to our lands. I know that you fear the taint of the Legion, but just because this orb contains the magic of an evil people, doesn't make it itself evil. If I were to have light those candles with a similar spell that used chaos magic, would you have turned your own spells on me to stop the evil that I had become?"

"No of course not!" Vaalyun said angrily, "How could you think that I would want to harm you for some silly little spell?"

"That's all this is, my boy," Elanjar smiled, lessons were always remembered when the one learning was forced to teach themselves.

"I guess so," Vaalyun spoke quietly, pondering what his former teacher had passed down to him, "But how did it get there? Surely someone from the Legion had it first?"

"Yes and perhaps they were traveling in our lands, for reasons either treacherous or righteous, and lost it. Or perhaps one of our own lost it after acquiring it in Legion territory. Or perhaps a member of the Empire lost it in our territory on his or her travels after acquiring it from a dwarf who stumbled across it after a Legion member lost it in Clan territory. The possibilities are quite endless."

Vaalyun nodded, "So...it is okay for me to keep the Ignis Mare Orb, and even use it?"

"If you find yourself in need of some quick spell work, I would highly recommend it. However, I would also recommend saving it for a time when you truly need it. You will only be able to get one Ignis Mare spell out of the orb before the magic in it fades away. Before I continue, let me reinforce that no matter the magic, or the source of it, how one uses it is what makes one evil or good. I bring this up once more because there is another possibility that I failed to mention, the possibility that you feared. It is possible that the orb was placed there to help spread the taint of the Legion."

Elanjar paused, looking up at his former student, making sure that Vaalyun understood everything that he had said. Based on the calm expression on the Grovemancer's face, Elanjar continued, "It is possible that the orb was placed there in an attempt to further taint our lands, in the hopes that an elf would find it, and be tempted by the power they found in it. A vessel of Mortis could have placed it there, or perhaps it is part of the aftermath of the mana well being taken. Which brings me to why you are here."

"I don't know if you have heard word of the signs that have been posted up around here, but Queen Illumielle has declared war on the Legion. There is a great rift between our people and theirs after what they have done to us," Elanjar's eyes began to glisten with moisture in the candle light as he remembered the land and people lost to the Legion; regaining his composure the mage continued, "The worst of it was the Legion bringing our brethren back as Dark Elves and turning our Mana Well into a dark corrupted one, spewing forth brimstone upon what was once our land. We do not yet know the consequences of losing the mana well, but believe that, over time, it could corrupt much of our land, and perhaps our people."

"Myself and a small council of other high mages decided that it was best for one of us to travel and examine the Dark Mana Well, to learn more about what happened to it, and perhaps find a way to cleanse it. With the war, we had hoped that the Queen would allow one of us to travel with a band of her soldiers to protect us; not that we need the protection, but she had refused to let us go it alone. She refused once more, saying that the war was not the right time to investigate, and that it would leave the whole party open to attack, as well as risk the harmful effects of the well. No matter how much we protested, she refused to change her mind. She said that if we must know more before we can plan any course of action, she would send a small band of soldiers to scout out the well, a small enough group that losing them would not harm the Alliance, but enough to investigate."

"The council did not take her up on the offer. It requires a mage to truly investigate something of magical properties. One must not just examine the object with their eyes, but probe it with their magic. Preferably with both Glade and Chaos magic to see how it reacts to each. Which is why I called you here, as well as why I insisted that the magic in the orb may not be bad. A mage such as yourself is powerful enough to investigate, gain the knowledge we need, and at the same time defend yourself. Especially with the help of those you travel with. Even better, you can go under the guise of going to war. I had not figured out how you could probe the well with Chaos magic yet, but the Ignis Mare Orb offers possibilities. If you haven't used it, you can tap into its magic without using it to probe the well. However, your safety is more important, use it to survive if you must."

"Of course, all of this is on the condition that you agree to go..." Elanjar paused, looking up at his student, hoping that Vaalyun would agree.

"I would be more than happy to do this," Vaalyun said, "I only require some time to ensure that Myrthraheal is safe while we are gone, as well as to further prepare myself. And of course your word that I stay involved with your council’s continued efforts, or at least that I stay informed."

"Of course, your assistance is greatly appreciated, you will stay involved," Elanjar spoke in an unusually official manner, "The council thanks you and wishes you success in your mission." The old man's features relaxed and he appeared at ease once more, "As does your dear old teacher. Don't go getting yourself in over your head. And while the council would have me press the urgency of the matter into you, as your friend I am telling you to back out without information rather than risk yourself or any member of your group."

"Indeed," Vaalyun nodded his head, "While I wish I could stay longer, I really must be going. My traveling companions await, and I do not foresee my mission being an easy one. Hopefully it will help to bring an end to these troubled times of ours. Farewell my friend."

"Farwell," Elanjar whispered, a tear gliding down his wrinkled check as he watched Vaalyun slowly turn and walk slowly towards the large doors, his orb in his pocket once more. Before the door slammed shut, the teacher saw his student take off with powerful strides as he prayed that he hadn't sent one of his dearest friends to an untimely death.

"You only did what must be done Elanjar. I would have done it for you if I could have, but we all know that Vaalyun would agree to do it for you much faster than if approached by any other member of the council." A figure stepped out of the darkness, resting a gentle hand on the old man's shoulders, "And I know that any one of the council, yourself included, would have gone in his steed. But the Queen did not wish it to be so. Besides, we all know this is for the best. The gift of magic is strong in that one; he will do great things in his life. He was right that his mission will be difficult, but if he keeps his wits about him, he will succeed. And then this mission will soon be nothing more than the start of a much greater journey."

Elanjar nodded solemnly, but no smile came to his face, and his tears continued to fall, leaving dark circles behind on the wood of his desk.

[Blitz]

[MT]

Vaalyun - 1 Life Potion, 400 XP distributed however you like.

[/MT]