An Unexpected History - 29/09/2022 - Archie’s Extracts
Sept 30, 2022 23:31:40 GMT
Corrila Daevion'lyr likes this
Post by Andy D on Sept 30, 2022 23:31:40 GMT
On Substituting for the Strong Lad
I ran into Miss Beets and the lovely Lolli on my way to Fitzgrove Fashion. I was planning on visiting the shop, as advised by Miss Lolli, and see what suit I might have made. But, Miss Beets had an urgent matter to look into and requested Kavel’s assistance. Unfortunately the impressively strong lad was - strangely - in The Daring Academy at the moment.
I knew of Miss Beets’ struggles with something internal, and in my barbarically imposing friend's absence, I volunteered my assistance. Given the magical nature of the journey we undertook, I believe Kavel would have been relieved with my substituting for him.
We were to head for a mountain. But, this was the only instruction Beets had for us, and it was not given in her usual exuberant manner. Miss Beets was unusually withdrawn. I suggested we get some provisions for the long trek to the Sunset Spines, and a stop off at Paradise Frost would be nice - I hoped this might cheer up my fey companion having noted her fondness for sweets things previously. Unfortunately, sweet treats were not the right tonic it seemed, she wasn’t interested.
On Using New Spells in the Field
We needed to make camp. Lolli had not practised the Galdur’s Tower spell she copied from my spellbook much - she has been quite busy with her day job, which was a shame. However, I was delighted to give her a demonstration of the spell in practice!
I conjured a two-storey tower for the party’s comfort. We had a boys room at the bottom for Sergeant Derthaad and I, and a girls room at the top for Miss Beets and Lolli with rooftop access in case Miss Beets wanted to fly about a little. The beds I had conjured were as good as any respectable taverns, as were the armchairs, table and fireplace for our comfort. I managed to squeeze a washroom into the boys room, while providing better accommodation for the girls (minus their own washroom though). I would have loved to have had a study with a desk and bookshelves, but I found this was too magically demanding for me at present.
Before we entered the Haltuhr Roadside Tower, we were met by a thunderous and frighteningly loud sphinx roar that covered the sky. Alas, poor Beets was deafened by the roar up until the next morning. Not even the Sergeant’s Lesser Restoration spell could cure her. Rest, however, at the Haltuhr Roadside Tower was just the right tonic. ‘Glamping’ I believe it’s called, has impressed me.
On Familiars - Barnaby The Owl
We were greeted in the morning by yet another roar from the unknown sphinx from the direction of the Spines (or so it seemed).
We vacated the tower towards the source of our ears’ discomfort. I summoned Barnaby, my owl familiar to scout ahead. The terrain ahead of us had become hazy as if the ground was hot and the ar shinnered. The Sergeant tried to use the Detect Magic spell, but as he noted, the involvement of a sphinx reduced the likelihood of divination magic working as it should. Barnaby, a fine example of a conjuration spell, discovered for us the very mountain we needed to reach, and it had a temple carved into it.
As we got closer to the temple, we could feel the monstrous heat of two suns in the sky. It did not seem that we were in the Dawnlands anymore.
Great Hall of The Temple
It was much cooler inside the hall, and beautifully decorated. Sandstone reliefs covered the walls depicting a humanoid civilisation and the worship of deities I did not recognise.
As we continued walking past the pillars of the hall, we came upon a door with an inscription. Both me and the Sergeant made use of the Comprehend Languages spell to determine the language - it was the sphinx-tongue. The inscription, was in fact a riddle:
"The desert sun bakes the sands
Place before me the product of their union."
Sergeant Derthaad had a glass lens he put before the door, and the door slowly grinded open revealing a corridor leading towards a room.
On The Schools of Magic
And so we learnt that the names and meanings of the schools of magic are not commonly known - not even by magic-users!
Inside the room were eight pedestals. Each one had the name of a school of magic. On a shelf carved into the wall were eight objects, each one relating to one of the schools. The task was simple; put the right object representing a school of magic on to the pedestal labelled with that school of magic’s name.
The correct pairings were:
A Tiny Metal Shield - ABJURATION
A Small Container of Oil and Water - TRANSMUTATION
A Small Brazier - EVOCATION
A Glass Lens - DIVINATION
A Small Piece of Black Fabric Covering a Square Object - ILLUSION
A Small Book of Poetry - ENCHANTMENT
A Map Etched into a Wooden Disc - CONJURATION
A Small Dish of Bone Dust - NECROMANCY
There was immediate confusion as to whether the objects were representations of a school of magic, or actual spell components of various spells. I tried to steer my colleagues towards the idea that the objects represented the schools. The Abjuration and Enchantment pairings stood out to me immediately. As soon as Miss Beets, let us say, ‘experimented’ with the small dish of white powder, discovering it to be bone; Necromancy’s object pair also became clear to me. Clarity, however, evaded my peers. I think the Sergeant may have gotten himself stuck by over complicating the puzzle. And dear Lolli, who didn’t see the pairing of her own school of expertise (Conjuration) may have been distracted by Miss Beets and her frustration at the task before us.
On the Subject of Potentially Fatal Conundrums
Miss Beets regained a fraction of her exuberance when we completed the puzzle on magic schools, and it opened a door in the wall. Beets flew into the new room, but quickly flew back out when she discovered a 70ft corridor, 5ft wide and 20ft high with a deadly feature. Interspersed along the corridor were swinging pendulum blades that would savage the body if one's movement while traversing the peril was ill-timed. There was a lever on the other side of the corridor, and a door. It was presumed the lever would halt the swinging blades.
Here I feel we all over complicated things for ourselves. A Thunderstep spell, a very powerful Wall of Force spell and a raging flight were all attempted. I observed that it didn’t seem to matter whether we used magical means or otherwise to traverse the trap; the corridor would magically extend itself and the lever was forever unreachable.
Perhaps our error wasn’t so much that we over complicated the trap, but rather that we were unobservant. The door behind us had closed, but didn’t lock. We were free to leave the way we came. The sergeant turned around, went through the door and found a lever identical to the one at the end of the corridor! We all joined the sergeant, closed the door behind us, and then pulled the lever. Going back into our corridor of blades; the blades were no longer swinging. We walked to the end of the corridor, opened the door, and a new room was revealed.
The Collection of Fractions of Historical Moments
We had found our Sphinx at the end of a large, 200ft long room with 50/60ft walls. Inside the room were many shelves with rolled up, and cased scrolls. In addition there were many 2-3ft tall glass jars with swirling mist and energy inside. At the end of the room, the gargantuan sphinx stood on a raised area with intricate carvings in the reddish sandstone. We received a third, and (thankfully) final, roar. This one had us all frozen with fear! I think the actual presence of the Sphinx during this roar had intensified the effect for us. Well all of us except the sergeant, who has more adventuring experience than the rest of us (certainly more than me).
The Sphinx, Zitharis, as he later introduced himself, was the curator here. The roars and the magical puzzles were tests to keep unwanted guests out.
Miss Beets was invited to approach Zitharis. As she did, I commented to the others that Kavel had informed me of Miss Beets' addition to challenging larger creatures than herself to a fight. Though it was of course concerning that Miss Beets was not displaying her usual vigour; it was, however, reassuring that we needn’t worry about a tactless challenge getting us into a sticky situation.
On The Potential for My Research At This Temple
Zitharis summoned an amazing banquet for us with some delectable wines - powerful magic; I was most impressed, and well looked after!
I asked if Zitharis could show us some examples of what was curated here. With the flash of his eyes, one of the giant glass jars filled with magic was brought towards our table from over 100ft away - far more powerful telekinesis than I could muster! The contents of the jar represented a moment, a partial snap of two arcanists in a battle near the Sea of Tears. It seemed that through the contents of the jar, one could go back to this location and moment in time.
With the many jars in this place, it seemed there were unlimited resources here. Unlimited knowledge. Surely this would be a good place to seek advice on human longevity and learn from others’ mistakes?
A Partial History of Miss Beets Sunwater
Zitharis was familiar with Miss Beets’ mother. I was saddened to learn though that Miss Beets was herself not very familiar with her mother except for stories from her ‘papa’ and ‘gramps’.
Zitharis informed Miss Beets that her mother was an adventurer, one with great skill for travelling daunting distances. Zitharis and his masters at the time were alerted to her presence. At the temple, Zitharis and Beets’ mother became friends.
Zitharis last saw Malsira Sunwater – Beets’ mother - some twenty years ago. Beets seemed to me like she could be no more than around two decades in age.
Bogar appears to have been part of a curse that was bestowed on Malsira while she was at a tomb. The curse was that wherever Malsira would stay, would be visited by a swarm. This obviously meant being around people was extremely challenging. Malsira tried to remove the curse. But, over time the curse it seemed had grown attached and embedded. As the years went by, removing the curse meant an increasing certainty of killing Malsira in the process. At some point, Malsira chose to have the curse removed with Zitharis’s help. Bogar has been successfully separated. But, sadly Malsira was no more. However, something remained of Malsira after the separation - it seems Malsira reproduced asexually birthing Beets, although I am unsure whether there was an insemination or not. I did not wish to pry into Miss Beets’ parentage in detail during what was sensitive information for her being revealed to all of us. Zitharis did his best, but unfortunately he was not successful at fully separating Bogar - Beets now carries the same curse, at least part of it - I have seen no evidence of a swarm in her presence.
I tried to comfort young Beets as Zitharis answered her many questions about Bogar and her mother. It was all quite a lot for her. It was also merely the beginning. Even an immensely powerful and wise creature like Zitharis did not know everything. Beets would have to discover how she will, hopefully, manage her relationship with Bogar for herself, especially with the revelation that Bogar has two identities. Much dedicated research lies before Beets - I will lend a hand where possible.
Zitharis displayed one last and final display of his immense magical power when after our meal, he teleported us all back to Portal Plaza. As we departed each other's company, it dawned on me that he had actually teleported us back to the point at which we left the city to trek to the Spines - we had gone back in time two days!
Zitharis gave parting advice to Miss Beets that was, I thought, sage, but a little unkind. He advised that if she wished to be taken more seriously by her peers, she may want to review her choice of language. Though I agreed, it did seem a slight bit insensitive at the time given the revelatory dump of personal information Miss Beets had received. I did in fact think it was actually heartening when upon our return to the city, Miss Beets almost stopped herself from using a ‘flit’ or a buggin’ in a sentence, but! With encouragement from her friends, Beets cheerfully used the term ‘buggin’. I saw a smile on the young lady’s face that had been missing for too long - it was pleasing to see. I hoped Paradise Frost could expect her patronage soon.
On Magical Sustenance - A Path Towards Human Longevity?
Apart from the time-travel, there was an additional demonstration of powerful magic that only went noticed a few hours later - I was fully sustained for food and water for two days! The banquet was more than delicious, it seemed. There is some evidence that smaller, less frequent meals are better for the body in terms of longevity. I wonder if magical sustenance is worth exploring? I cannot see magical, and expensive banquets as a sustainable process attainable for all humans…
