Post by Fernleaf on Aug 1, 2024 7:20:17 GMT
Cowritten with Dr. Archie Haltuhr
A shadowy door appeared on one side of the room belonging to Dr. Archie Haltuhr. The room was a bedroom with a writing desk. The room was empty of people. The bed had been made, and the desk was tidy except for a journal opened at a page with a list of sequential numbers with comments next to them. At the top of the page, above the vertical list of numbers was the word, 'Days' and notes had been written for days 70 to 75 starting on the top of the page. Days 76 onwards had no entries.
The shadowy door opened revealing first the clothing and shoes of a well dressed gentleman followed quickly by the revelation of the gentleman himself, Dr. Archie Haltuhr.
The elderly human wizard walked over to his desk, as the shadowy door to his demiplane closed behind him. Archie sat down at his desk chair and summoned his magic quill to hand. The elderly man telekinetically slid the journal closer towards him, and then commanded the magic quill to move from his hand to the page and to write by the number 76 in his journal, 'clone appears to be two thirds through the maturation process and on schedule to mature on the 120th day.'
"It's working," Archie thought to himself, as he leaned back in his chair and smiled. The thought was quickly followed by another, "I wonder if the Mossy Mug is busy?"
Archie fancied seeing who might be free for a chat in the Mossy Mug and to have some tea and cake. But, he didn't wish to discover upon arriving there that the Mug would be busy, or all sold out of his favourite cake.
With the click of his fingers, a barn owl with flecks of gold to its feathers appeared on his desk. Barnaby, the feathered-celestial friend nodded up at his summoner, Archie. The wizard smiled back at his Familiar, and then stood to open the bedroom window for the magical owl.
Barnaby took off and exited the room from the window to make his way from the Dwarven Quarter on his mission east. The mission? To discover for Archie if the Mug was busy and well stocked with his favourite cake.
---
Upon returning to Daring Heights, Fern decided to go see if Dr. Archie was at his home. There hadn't been many languages spoken back home, but the foray into the Court of the Dragons had shown that Common might not always be, well, common. It was quite possible that being able to understand the hatchlings' Draconic babble wouldn't have been useful, but that might not always be the case. Comprehend Languages would at least be a solution, even if it wouldn't work in every situation.
Traversing the cobbled streets of the Dwarven Quarter, Fern eyed the many artisans lining the street. Pausing a moment to watch a smith work, Fern pondered all the ways that craft could be useful. Sighing, they mentally added yet another skill to the ever growing mental list of "Things to Learn", and continued onward. Reaching the address given, Fern knocked on the door (considerably taller than its neighbours) with one hand, and fidgeted with their pocketed worry stone with the other. Would the knock be answered? And by whom?
The door opened. Standing in front of Fern was a 7’6” greystone-skinned goliath. “Hello,” the goliath said, bending his neck down a little to look at the blue-skinned lizardfolk’s face. Kavel’s tone was neither cheerful, gloomy or angry, it was just flat and unreadable. It wasn’t the most welcoming of tones, but neither was it dismissive. “Are you here for Archie, Mendal or me, Kavel?”
"Ah, um, Dr. Archie, um Sir? If he's in?" Fern stuttered, looking up the extra 2+ feet to meet the goliath's eyes. "I'm Fern, Dr. Archie said I could come by..."
“Fern,” Kavel recognised the name from one of Archie’s more recent adventures. The description he was given matched the person he saw before him. “Of course. Please come in,” Kavel stepped aside a little to allow Fern to enter. “Let me show you to the courtyard where you can sit down and wait.”
"Thank you.” Fern stepped into the house.
“I’ll go get Archie, once you are seated. He’s definitely in. I can tell because, look up there.” Kavel pointed back outside and up at the sky at an owl flying east. “Do you see that owl, Fern? It’s got gold flecks on its wing feathers. It’s Barnaby. Mossy Mug reconnaissance mission, I’m certain.” Kavel knew his elderly friend well.
“Did Dr. Archie train Barnaby? Is it going to collect a message?" Fern had seen messenger pigeons before, and had even received a note from one the other day, but had never heard of anyone using owls. "I'd worry that it would get mobbed by little birds going out in the daytime."
“Hmmm. Barnaby is pretty evasive,” Kavel mused out loud and led Fern to the courtyard. “I don’t think Archie trained Barnaby. I’m pretty sure he just communicates telepathically to Barnaby - within a certain range though, I believe. I’m not certain how Familiar magic works. I am not, myself, a spell caster.”
"I don't know much about telepathy. I didn't realise it worked with animals, but I think that spell is more advanced."
“I don’t know. I stick to strength training,” Kavel responded, as they arrived at the courtyard.
---
In the courtyard was a round wooden table with chairs surrounding it. There was a garden too, with sand and decorative stones. A metal sculpture of a sapphire dragon stood along one side of the wall, and on the opposite wall a wooden door with amethyst and indigo gems worked into the grain as if grown into the tree the wood came from. There were also many forms of exercise equipment and weights in one corner of the courtyard. A stone plaque with giant writing was affixed to the wall above where a range of kettlebells were lined up.
“Please wait here,” Kavel gestured towards one of the chairs. “I’ll go get Archie.”
Fern looked around the well appointed courtyard. It exuded wealth, but in a much more lived-in and functional way than Baron Luxemforth's estate. Feeling too nervous to sit, and with hands clasped behind their back, Fern went to get a closer look at the dragon sculpture.
As Fern looked up close at the dragon sculpture, they spotted the maker’s mark, ‘MVCC’ and could see sapphires set into the eyes of the metal sculpture. A nameplate at the bottom of the sculpture read, ‘Valdira, great sapphire dragon, sacrificed herself to save us all’.
Fern’s attention to the sculpture was distracted by the sound of a familiar voice coming back to the courtyard. “Got your cake?” Fern could hear Kavel saying to someone.
A few seconds later both Kavel and Archie came into view, Archie with one arm wrapped around one of Kavel’s, using his larger friend as a guide.
“Oh wait. You can’t see or hear when you are using Barnaby’s senses,” Kavel said out loud. He did, however, not have to wait long for an answer, as Archie opened his eyes and smiled.
“Good news. Plenty of slices left. Wonderful!” Archie announced with no idea he was actually answering a question at the same time. Archie smiled up at Kavel, and then noticed Fern.
Archie thanked Kavel for his assistance, and as Kavel walked away, Archie himself walked cheerfully towards Fern by the metal dragon sculpture, and with a welcoming smile greeted Fern. “Fern! How lovely of you to come visit me. How are you? What brings you here? Is there something I can help you with?”
"I am well. I was hoping you might have Comprehend Languages and would let me copy it from you? Your friend, the goliath, mentioned you using Barnaby for reconnaissance? How did you train them to do that? And this statue is amazing!"
Archie’s eyes lit up at the mention of the spell, the hint of the other spell, and the comment on the statue. “Well, Mendal, who I think is also around, will be delighted to hear you like the statue he made. He used a combination of divine magic and his talent as a clan crafter to make it. The MVCC there,” Archie pointed at the mark, “is his mark: Mendal Vultan Clan Crafter.”
The two individuals admired the statue a second longer before Archie suggested they sit down so he could answer Fern’s question more comfortably.
At the courtyard table, Archie began speaking again. “I’ll retrieve my spellbook from upstairs in a bit, and you can copy the Comprehend Language spell here if that suits you. I highly recommend every wizard know the spell, it should be requisite learning, in my opinion. But also, too the Find Familiar spell. Fern, are you not, if you’ll pardon the term ‘familiar’ with that spell?”
"Thank you, having a way to understand languages I don't know myself certainly seems handy, particularly since it can be cast ritually. I've seen familiar's mentioned in passing, and you and Ninoc both mentioned having owl familiar's, but I've never seen a spell for it, or seen a familiar" Fern paused "Unless Barnaby is a familiar, and not a real owl?"
Archie was surprised to hear that Fern had never seen a Familiar. Kavel, in another part of the house, was also surprised, as he had thought it odd that Fern, a wizard to his understanding, had asked him about the functioning of Familiars. Conveying this to Mendal, Mendal was surprised too. Both Kavel and Mendal expect wizards to bring Familiars with them when part of an adventuring group - to their mind it would not do to have a wizard turn up to a party without a Familiar.
Fortunately for both the other occupants of the house, Archie was ready to promote the Find Familiar spell.
---
“Barnaby is not an ordinary owl, no. He is celestial.” Archie tapped the table with his fingers to draw Fern’s attention. “Here, I’ll summon him back to the table. He’s been a very good boy and completed a mission already.”
Barnaby appeared suddenly on the table facing Archie.
Archie smiled at his Familiar and gestured towards Fern. Barnaby hopped around to face the visiting wizard. “Fern, this is Barnaby, my celestial owl familiar.”
Fern looked at the owl with interest "Um, hello" then, turning attention back to the older wizard asked a stream of questions. "What can you do with a familiar? Why a celestial? Why an owl? Are they all celestial owls? Do you choose what they look like? What sort of missions do you send him on?"
The senior wizard smiled fondly at the younger one, delighted at hearing their curiosity. “Well when you cast the Find Familiar spell, you can bring the spirit of a; celestial, fey or fiend before you and said creature then takes the form of an animal, also of your choice. I felt, myself, that a celestial spirit would be less chaotic a partner for the spell, that’s why I chose to summon a celestial spirit. Why an owl? A flying creature can get to places I cannot, and this particular bird has much greater eyesight and vision at night than humans. Some say the appearance of the familiar is influenced by the caster, some say by the planar origin of the spirit. I’m not sure if either or both are true. Familiars are very cooperative though, and the telepathic link up to a range of 100ft allows the caster to communicate and instruct a familiar very well. Scouting is an excellent use for familiars. Not just in dangerous environments though. For example, just now Barnaby went to the Mossy Mug Cafe for me and had a look to see if it was busy and if my favourite cake was available.”
Archie smiled coming to the end of his precis on familiars and ending on his example of an everyday use of a familiar. “You may have noticed Kavel helping me walk as I came into the courtyard? I was seeing and hearing through Barnaby’s senses at the time as Barnaby swept past the Mossy Mug’s windows. When using a familiar’s senses; one cannot see or hear through one's own eyes or ears.”
Archie scritched the top of Barnaby’s head. “Well, is there an animal in particular you would be interested in having as a familiar? There is a size limitation on the spell though. Think, say, a cat, badger, rat, crow, eagle, a spider even! Nothing larger than a badger though.”
"I've never thought about having a familiar because none of the books I read ever described what they were. I guess it's like old recipes that just say 'add the spices' or 'when it's done' without describing what spices to use or how you tell it's done? Is a familiar something so common that no one bothers to write down the spell? How did you learn how to call a familiar?" Fern paused to think. "Like humans I can't see in the dark, so if having a familiar could give me a way to do that it would be handy. What if I change my mind later? And wouldn't it be a risk to have it following you in a fight? You didn't have it with you when we were investigating."
“Well firstly, I feel you must pay a visit to Daring Academy. I’d like for you to get a good impression of the scope of magic that could be available to you. I myself was quite fortunate to be tutored. Was this not the case for you, Fern?”
"Tutored? Like someone teaching you from a syllabus? Not at all. My grandpa taught me Prestidigitation, but didn't know any other spells. I am - was? - a trader. I wanted to learn more magic, so traded what I could, like carpentry and herbs, for the few spells that others could teach, or access to the books that they had. The area was sparsely populated, and when I had learned all that I could I passed the trading route to a cousin's child and set off to find more books. Then I ended up here."
“I see.” Archie nodded and contemplated for a second. “Well you’ve done well to come to Daring Heights. I’ve taken advantage of Daring Academy’s library to further my own interests quite successfully. I’ll see what I can do to have you granted entry, and I must introduce you to the adventuring communities’ Wizard Club! You are welcome to learn and copy spells from me, but at the Wizard Club you’ll have access to other wizards’ spellbooks, and we don’t all share the same interests in spells - there is variety in our group's interests, to say the least.”
"There's a club? I'd like to meet more wizards. I'd like to learn everything I can - spells, skills, tools - anything I can pick up. I'm probably best at conjuration magic, but there are so many spells out there I'm sure it would take me a while. What areas of magic do you specialise in?"
“Oh I’m somewhat unique. I don’t mean for that to come across as self-aggrandising, it’s just rather than specialise in a particular school of magic, I am of the Order of Scribes - it could be said that we specialise in three things, I suppose. Firstly being particularly speedy at comprehending and scribing spells. In fact that leads us to the second point, us scribes are so adept at spell comprehension that our spell books become awakened - our spellbooks become a sort of familiar, in a way. Thirdly, we have a talent that’s been described as bordering on sorcery. You see, we scribes are adept at transmuting the elemental force of one spell into another, say for example, instead of a Wall of Fire, how about I transfer the potentiality of lightning from the spell Elemental Bane, and produce a Wall of Lighting instead?” Archie leaned back in his chair and displayed his palms whilst flaring his fingers for effect.
“But conjuration, you say?” Archie asked. “I must certainly introduce you to Lolli, she herself is a conjurer, too. Her spellbook might be of particular interest to you.”
"There are still a lot of spells, so which do you seek out when you learn more? So far with conjuring I've mostly focused on spells that do things like setting up camp so I could read instead. I finally worked out how to cast Invisibility correctly recently! I haven't done much with spells beyond practice. Just because I'm good with conjuration that's not all I want to focus on. I'd like to learn other things, both mundane and magical. Learning how to heal for instance, or how to fly like we did on Joseph!"
“You’d certainly be popular in any adventuring group if you learned healing magic. Alas, I’ve researched far and wide to learn arcane healing. I’ve actually had a good deal of success with potions. But, casting healing spells, I feel, unless you were to branch into divine magic or sorcery; magical healing will prove evasive. Flying on the other hand, we could do with either the Polymorph spell, or more directly with the Flying spell.”
After summarising his pursuit of arcane healing, Archie then remembered something Fern had mentioned. “Oh and well done mastering the Invisibility spell! That’s good to hear.”
"I can do basic healing potions, that just takes more preparation. I'll keep investigating in that area, and am glad that flying is something I could learn. Going back to familiars though, where does Barnaby stay when he's not with you? I don't have a house the way you do, and I'm not sure the innkeepers would care for pets"
“Oh I do beg your pardon, Fern. I didn’t actually answer all your questions about familiars,” Archie said apologising. He recalled the conversation took a diversion when he became interested in whether Fern had been tutored in magic or not. “Familiars return to a perfectly lovely pocket dimension upon your command. To answer a question I believe you asked earlier, the fact you can dismiss a familiar to a safe dimension means it need not risk its existence in battle. Additionally, one could never die - the spirit of your familiar is not tied to a mortal animal, it is merely an imitation of the animal. The imitation can be ended violently, but you could later recall your familiar’s spirit into a new animal imitation, and it need not be the same animal form. In fact, you could always choose to, say, change your familiar from an owl into a cat or vice versa. You need not wait for a terminating act of violence to do so. However, in both cases of recasting the spell, well it’s a costly spell - the magical incense - it can set you back.”
Archie paused to let what he said sink in, before adding with a jovial tone, “have I sold you on the Find Familiar spell, Fern? I would also add, one can cast touch-based spells through one’s familiar, and although vulnerable in combat, they can assist well as a useful distraction providing you with a tactical advantage when attacking a foe.”
"I'm glad that they can be safely out of the way until they are needed! You have certainly made a good case for the familiar, and I like spells that have many uses. Would I be able to copy that spell from you as well?"
“YES!!!” Came the response from Mendal, beating Archie to it.
Mendal had been listening to the conversation about familiars by one of the closer windows to the outside table, and at that moment had decided to open the window, lean out and give his opinion on the matter with no regard to his intrusion. Kavel, also by the window, was at least more polite in his eavesdropping. Kavel signalled his approval of letting Fern copy the Find Familiar spell with a pleading thumbs up towards Archie.
“Oh hello! I’m Mendal!” Mendal shouted at Fern, still leaning out of the window and with no regard towards his barging in on the conversation. “I made the dragon sculpture, it’s good isn’t it?!”
Shaking his head at both his friends, Archie sought forgiveness for their interruption. “If you could forgive their intrusion into our conversation, Fern. You see, the pair of them share a belief that all wizards should bring a familiar to an adventuring party. You’ll find the pair of them in utter disbelief if the wizard in their party doesn’t know the spell, or if anyone but themselves of course, hasn’t taken on the responsibility of bringing a magical scout to the party.”
Startled, Fern jumped in their seat and turned to look at the window. "Is it really that unusual for a wizard not to have a familiar?" they asked in general, and to Mendal specifically "The dragon is amazing! What metal did you use in the crafting? How long did it take?"
“Good question!” Mendal managed to say, and was about to explain all, that is if it wasn’t for Kavel pulling the dwarf’s upper body back in through the window.
“What? I’m answering a question!” Mendal protested.
“Mendal, we are interrupting,” the goliath reasoned.
“Oh fine. Whatever,” Mendal said, agreeing reluctantly.
The pair of eavesdroppers began to walk away. With the window still open though, and despite Mendal’s recent departure, it was easy for Fern to hear Mendal’s shouting voice as he left, saying, “it’s steel! Nice to meet you Fern!”
Archie waited a few seconds to ensure his friends had gone. “Well Fern. You wish to copy a couple of useful spells, and I fancy tea and cake and am fairly confident that my favourite cake is available. So, what say I fetch my spellbook and we pay a visit to the Mossy Mug? My treat! And if we’re lucky we may run into some other Wizard Club people?”
"Thank you, I would appreciate the introductions, and the chance to copy the spells. What is your favourite cake?"
“Red Velvet,” Archie said whilst standing up. “Do you have a favourite?”
"Lemon," Fern responded, also standing. "But I generally like any cake that isn't too sweet."
A shadowy door appeared on one side of the room belonging to Dr. Archie Haltuhr. The room was a bedroom with a writing desk. The room was empty of people. The bed had been made, and the desk was tidy except for a journal opened at a page with a list of sequential numbers with comments next to them. At the top of the page, above the vertical list of numbers was the word, 'Days' and notes had been written for days 70 to 75 starting on the top of the page. Days 76 onwards had no entries.
The shadowy door opened revealing first the clothing and shoes of a well dressed gentleman followed quickly by the revelation of the gentleman himself, Dr. Archie Haltuhr.
The elderly human wizard walked over to his desk, as the shadowy door to his demiplane closed behind him. Archie sat down at his desk chair and summoned his magic quill to hand. The elderly man telekinetically slid the journal closer towards him, and then commanded the magic quill to move from his hand to the page and to write by the number 76 in his journal, 'clone appears to be two thirds through the maturation process and on schedule to mature on the 120th day.'
"It's working," Archie thought to himself, as he leaned back in his chair and smiled. The thought was quickly followed by another, "I wonder if the Mossy Mug is busy?"
Archie fancied seeing who might be free for a chat in the Mossy Mug and to have some tea and cake. But, he didn't wish to discover upon arriving there that the Mug would be busy, or all sold out of his favourite cake.
With the click of his fingers, a barn owl with flecks of gold to its feathers appeared on his desk. Barnaby, the feathered-celestial friend nodded up at his summoner, Archie. The wizard smiled back at his Familiar, and then stood to open the bedroom window for the magical owl.
Barnaby took off and exited the room from the window to make his way from the Dwarven Quarter on his mission east. The mission? To discover for Archie if the Mug was busy and well stocked with his favourite cake.
---
Upon returning to Daring Heights, Fern decided to go see if Dr. Archie was at his home. There hadn't been many languages spoken back home, but the foray into the Court of the Dragons had shown that Common might not always be, well, common. It was quite possible that being able to understand the hatchlings' Draconic babble wouldn't have been useful, but that might not always be the case. Comprehend Languages would at least be a solution, even if it wouldn't work in every situation.
Traversing the cobbled streets of the Dwarven Quarter, Fern eyed the many artisans lining the street. Pausing a moment to watch a smith work, Fern pondered all the ways that craft could be useful. Sighing, they mentally added yet another skill to the ever growing mental list of "Things to Learn", and continued onward. Reaching the address given, Fern knocked on the door (considerably taller than its neighbours) with one hand, and fidgeted with their pocketed worry stone with the other. Would the knock be answered? And by whom?
The door opened. Standing in front of Fern was a 7’6” greystone-skinned goliath. “Hello,” the goliath said, bending his neck down a little to look at the blue-skinned lizardfolk’s face. Kavel’s tone was neither cheerful, gloomy or angry, it was just flat and unreadable. It wasn’t the most welcoming of tones, but neither was it dismissive. “Are you here for Archie, Mendal or me, Kavel?”
"Ah, um, Dr. Archie, um Sir? If he's in?" Fern stuttered, looking up the extra 2+ feet to meet the goliath's eyes. "I'm Fern, Dr. Archie said I could come by..."
“Fern,” Kavel recognised the name from one of Archie’s more recent adventures. The description he was given matched the person he saw before him. “Of course. Please come in,” Kavel stepped aside a little to allow Fern to enter. “Let me show you to the courtyard where you can sit down and wait.”
"Thank you.” Fern stepped into the house.
“I’ll go get Archie, once you are seated. He’s definitely in. I can tell because, look up there.” Kavel pointed back outside and up at the sky at an owl flying east. “Do you see that owl, Fern? It’s got gold flecks on its wing feathers. It’s Barnaby. Mossy Mug reconnaissance mission, I’m certain.” Kavel knew his elderly friend well.
“Did Dr. Archie train Barnaby? Is it going to collect a message?" Fern had seen messenger pigeons before, and had even received a note from one the other day, but had never heard of anyone using owls. "I'd worry that it would get mobbed by little birds going out in the daytime."
“Hmmm. Barnaby is pretty evasive,” Kavel mused out loud and led Fern to the courtyard. “I don’t think Archie trained Barnaby. I’m pretty sure he just communicates telepathically to Barnaby - within a certain range though, I believe. I’m not certain how Familiar magic works. I am not, myself, a spell caster.”
"I don't know much about telepathy. I didn't realise it worked with animals, but I think that spell is more advanced."
“I don’t know. I stick to strength training,” Kavel responded, as they arrived at the courtyard.
---
In the courtyard was a round wooden table with chairs surrounding it. There was a garden too, with sand and decorative stones. A metal sculpture of a sapphire dragon stood along one side of the wall, and on the opposite wall a wooden door with amethyst and indigo gems worked into the grain as if grown into the tree the wood came from. There were also many forms of exercise equipment and weights in one corner of the courtyard. A stone plaque with giant writing was affixed to the wall above where a range of kettlebells were lined up.
“Please wait here,” Kavel gestured towards one of the chairs. “I’ll go get Archie.”
Fern looked around the well appointed courtyard. It exuded wealth, but in a much more lived-in and functional way than Baron Luxemforth's estate. Feeling too nervous to sit, and with hands clasped behind their back, Fern went to get a closer look at the dragon sculpture.
As Fern looked up close at the dragon sculpture, they spotted the maker’s mark, ‘MVCC’ and could see sapphires set into the eyes of the metal sculpture. A nameplate at the bottom of the sculpture read, ‘Valdira, great sapphire dragon, sacrificed herself to save us all’.
Fern’s attention to the sculpture was distracted by the sound of a familiar voice coming back to the courtyard. “Got your cake?” Fern could hear Kavel saying to someone.
A few seconds later both Kavel and Archie came into view, Archie with one arm wrapped around one of Kavel’s, using his larger friend as a guide.
“Oh wait. You can’t see or hear when you are using Barnaby’s senses,” Kavel said out loud. He did, however, not have to wait long for an answer, as Archie opened his eyes and smiled.
“Good news. Plenty of slices left. Wonderful!” Archie announced with no idea he was actually answering a question at the same time. Archie smiled up at Kavel, and then noticed Fern.
Archie thanked Kavel for his assistance, and as Kavel walked away, Archie himself walked cheerfully towards Fern by the metal dragon sculpture, and with a welcoming smile greeted Fern. “Fern! How lovely of you to come visit me. How are you? What brings you here? Is there something I can help you with?”
"I am well. I was hoping you might have Comprehend Languages and would let me copy it from you? Your friend, the goliath, mentioned you using Barnaby for reconnaissance? How did you train them to do that? And this statue is amazing!"
Archie’s eyes lit up at the mention of the spell, the hint of the other spell, and the comment on the statue. “Well, Mendal, who I think is also around, will be delighted to hear you like the statue he made. He used a combination of divine magic and his talent as a clan crafter to make it. The MVCC there,” Archie pointed at the mark, “is his mark: Mendal Vultan Clan Crafter.”
The two individuals admired the statue a second longer before Archie suggested they sit down so he could answer Fern’s question more comfortably.
At the courtyard table, Archie began speaking again. “I’ll retrieve my spellbook from upstairs in a bit, and you can copy the Comprehend Language spell here if that suits you. I highly recommend every wizard know the spell, it should be requisite learning, in my opinion. But also, too the Find Familiar spell. Fern, are you not, if you’ll pardon the term ‘familiar’ with that spell?”
"Thank you, having a way to understand languages I don't know myself certainly seems handy, particularly since it can be cast ritually. I've seen familiar's mentioned in passing, and you and Ninoc both mentioned having owl familiar's, but I've never seen a spell for it, or seen a familiar" Fern paused "Unless Barnaby is a familiar, and not a real owl?"
Archie was surprised to hear that Fern had never seen a Familiar. Kavel, in another part of the house, was also surprised, as he had thought it odd that Fern, a wizard to his understanding, had asked him about the functioning of Familiars. Conveying this to Mendal, Mendal was surprised too. Both Kavel and Mendal expect wizards to bring Familiars with them when part of an adventuring group - to their mind it would not do to have a wizard turn up to a party without a Familiar.
Fortunately for both the other occupants of the house, Archie was ready to promote the Find Familiar spell.
---
“Barnaby is not an ordinary owl, no. He is celestial.” Archie tapped the table with his fingers to draw Fern’s attention. “Here, I’ll summon him back to the table. He’s been a very good boy and completed a mission already.”
Barnaby appeared suddenly on the table facing Archie.
Archie smiled at his Familiar and gestured towards Fern. Barnaby hopped around to face the visiting wizard. “Fern, this is Barnaby, my celestial owl familiar.”
Fern looked at the owl with interest "Um, hello" then, turning attention back to the older wizard asked a stream of questions. "What can you do with a familiar? Why a celestial? Why an owl? Are they all celestial owls? Do you choose what they look like? What sort of missions do you send him on?"
The senior wizard smiled fondly at the younger one, delighted at hearing their curiosity. “Well when you cast the Find Familiar spell, you can bring the spirit of a; celestial, fey or fiend before you and said creature then takes the form of an animal, also of your choice. I felt, myself, that a celestial spirit would be less chaotic a partner for the spell, that’s why I chose to summon a celestial spirit. Why an owl? A flying creature can get to places I cannot, and this particular bird has much greater eyesight and vision at night than humans. Some say the appearance of the familiar is influenced by the caster, some say by the planar origin of the spirit. I’m not sure if either or both are true. Familiars are very cooperative though, and the telepathic link up to a range of 100ft allows the caster to communicate and instruct a familiar very well. Scouting is an excellent use for familiars. Not just in dangerous environments though. For example, just now Barnaby went to the Mossy Mug Cafe for me and had a look to see if it was busy and if my favourite cake was available.”
Archie smiled coming to the end of his precis on familiars and ending on his example of an everyday use of a familiar. “You may have noticed Kavel helping me walk as I came into the courtyard? I was seeing and hearing through Barnaby’s senses at the time as Barnaby swept past the Mossy Mug’s windows. When using a familiar’s senses; one cannot see or hear through one's own eyes or ears.”
Archie scritched the top of Barnaby’s head. “Well, is there an animal in particular you would be interested in having as a familiar? There is a size limitation on the spell though. Think, say, a cat, badger, rat, crow, eagle, a spider even! Nothing larger than a badger though.”
"I've never thought about having a familiar because none of the books I read ever described what they were. I guess it's like old recipes that just say 'add the spices' or 'when it's done' without describing what spices to use or how you tell it's done? Is a familiar something so common that no one bothers to write down the spell? How did you learn how to call a familiar?" Fern paused to think. "Like humans I can't see in the dark, so if having a familiar could give me a way to do that it would be handy. What if I change my mind later? And wouldn't it be a risk to have it following you in a fight? You didn't have it with you when we were investigating."
“Well firstly, I feel you must pay a visit to Daring Academy. I’d like for you to get a good impression of the scope of magic that could be available to you. I myself was quite fortunate to be tutored. Was this not the case for you, Fern?”
"Tutored? Like someone teaching you from a syllabus? Not at all. My grandpa taught me Prestidigitation, but didn't know any other spells. I am - was? - a trader. I wanted to learn more magic, so traded what I could, like carpentry and herbs, for the few spells that others could teach, or access to the books that they had. The area was sparsely populated, and when I had learned all that I could I passed the trading route to a cousin's child and set off to find more books. Then I ended up here."
“I see.” Archie nodded and contemplated for a second. “Well you’ve done well to come to Daring Heights. I’ve taken advantage of Daring Academy’s library to further my own interests quite successfully. I’ll see what I can do to have you granted entry, and I must introduce you to the adventuring communities’ Wizard Club! You are welcome to learn and copy spells from me, but at the Wizard Club you’ll have access to other wizards’ spellbooks, and we don’t all share the same interests in spells - there is variety in our group's interests, to say the least.”
"There's a club? I'd like to meet more wizards. I'd like to learn everything I can - spells, skills, tools - anything I can pick up. I'm probably best at conjuration magic, but there are so many spells out there I'm sure it would take me a while. What areas of magic do you specialise in?"
“Oh I’m somewhat unique. I don’t mean for that to come across as self-aggrandising, it’s just rather than specialise in a particular school of magic, I am of the Order of Scribes - it could be said that we specialise in three things, I suppose. Firstly being particularly speedy at comprehending and scribing spells. In fact that leads us to the second point, us scribes are so adept at spell comprehension that our spell books become awakened - our spellbooks become a sort of familiar, in a way. Thirdly, we have a talent that’s been described as bordering on sorcery. You see, we scribes are adept at transmuting the elemental force of one spell into another, say for example, instead of a Wall of Fire, how about I transfer the potentiality of lightning from the spell Elemental Bane, and produce a Wall of Lighting instead?” Archie leaned back in his chair and displayed his palms whilst flaring his fingers for effect.
“But conjuration, you say?” Archie asked. “I must certainly introduce you to Lolli, she herself is a conjurer, too. Her spellbook might be of particular interest to you.”
"There are still a lot of spells, so which do you seek out when you learn more? So far with conjuring I've mostly focused on spells that do things like setting up camp so I could read instead. I finally worked out how to cast Invisibility correctly recently! I haven't done much with spells beyond practice. Just because I'm good with conjuration that's not all I want to focus on. I'd like to learn other things, both mundane and magical. Learning how to heal for instance, or how to fly like we did on Joseph!"
“You’d certainly be popular in any adventuring group if you learned healing magic. Alas, I’ve researched far and wide to learn arcane healing. I’ve actually had a good deal of success with potions. But, casting healing spells, I feel, unless you were to branch into divine magic or sorcery; magical healing will prove evasive. Flying on the other hand, we could do with either the Polymorph spell, or more directly with the Flying spell.”
After summarising his pursuit of arcane healing, Archie then remembered something Fern had mentioned. “Oh and well done mastering the Invisibility spell! That’s good to hear.”
"I can do basic healing potions, that just takes more preparation. I'll keep investigating in that area, and am glad that flying is something I could learn. Going back to familiars though, where does Barnaby stay when he's not with you? I don't have a house the way you do, and I'm not sure the innkeepers would care for pets"
“Oh I do beg your pardon, Fern. I didn’t actually answer all your questions about familiars,” Archie said apologising. He recalled the conversation took a diversion when he became interested in whether Fern had been tutored in magic or not. “Familiars return to a perfectly lovely pocket dimension upon your command. To answer a question I believe you asked earlier, the fact you can dismiss a familiar to a safe dimension means it need not risk its existence in battle. Additionally, one could never die - the spirit of your familiar is not tied to a mortal animal, it is merely an imitation of the animal. The imitation can be ended violently, but you could later recall your familiar’s spirit into a new animal imitation, and it need not be the same animal form. In fact, you could always choose to, say, change your familiar from an owl into a cat or vice versa. You need not wait for a terminating act of violence to do so. However, in both cases of recasting the spell, well it’s a costly spell - the magical incense - it can set you back.”
Archie paused to let what he said sink in, before adding with a jovial tone, “have I sold you on the Find Familiar spell, Fern? I would also add, one can cast touch-based spells through one’s familiar, and although vulnerable in combat, they can assist well as a useful distraction providing you with a tactical advantage when attacking a foe.”
"I'm glad that they can be safely out of the way until they are needed! You have certainly made a good case for the familiar, and I like spells that have many uses. Would I be able to copy that spell from you as well?"
“YES!!!” Came the response from Mendal, beating Archie to it.
Mendal had been listening to the conversation about familiars by one of the closer windows to the outside table, and at that moment had decided to open the window, lean out and give his opinion on the matter with no regard to his intrusion. Kavel, also by the window, was at least more polite in his eavesdropping. Kavel signalled his approval of letting Fern copy the Find Familiar spell with a pleading thumbs up towards Archie.
“Oh hello! I’m Mendal!” Mendal shouted at Fern, still leaning out of the window and with no regard towards his barging in on the conversation. “I made the dragon sculpture, it’s good isn’t it?!”
Shaking his head at both his friends, Archie sought forgiveness for their interruption. “If you could forgive their intrusion into our conversation, Fern. You see, the pair of them share a belief that all wizards should bring a familiar to an adventuring party. You’ll find the pair of them in utter disbelief if the wizard in their party doesn’t know the spell, or if anyone but themselves of course, hasn’t taken on the responsibility of bringing a magical scout to the party.”
Startled, Fern jumped in their seat and turned to look at the window. "Is it really that unusual for a wizard not to have a familiar?" they asked in general, and to Mendal specifically "The dragon is amazing! What metal did you use in the crafting? How long did it take?"
“Good question!” Mendal managed to say, and was about to explain all, that is if it wasn’t for Kavel pulling the dwarf’s upper body back in through the window.
“What? I’m answering a question!” Mendal protested.
“Mendal, we are interrupting,” the goliath reasoned.
“Oh fine. Whatever,” Mendal said, agreeing reluctantly.
The pair of eavesdroppers began to walk away. With the window still open though, and despite Mendal’s recent departure, it was easy for Fern to hear Mendal’s shouting voice as he left, saying, “it’s steel! Nice to meet you Fern!”
Archie waited a few seconds to ensure his friends had gone. “Well Fern. You wish to copy a couple of useful spells, and I fancy tea and cake and am fairly confident that my favourite cake is available. So, what say I fetch my spellbook and we pay a visit to the Mossy Mug? My treat! And if we’re lucky we may run into some other Wizard Club people?”
"Thank you, I would appreciate the introductions, and the chance to copy the spells. What is your favourite cake?"
“Red Velvet,” Archie said whilst standing up. “Do you have a favourite?”
"Lemon," Fern responded, also standing. "But I generally like any cake that isn't too sweet."