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 Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:07 am
1. First Day... ((This was the response I wrote for the Flatsale in which I won Taliesin, so I decided to keep hold of it, it seems to suite for an introductio to teh character anyway.))
Taliesin wracked his head for a way out as he watched the older Drow mumbling an incantation under his breath, around them the other students rapidly backed away to get clear of the line of fire, this was not how Taliesin had envisioned his first day...
He and the other young males who had just joined the academy were leaving their introductory meeting with the instructors, the females having had a separate meeting so they wouldn't be disturbed by the less competent males, when they were set upon by some of the older students intent on making the pecking order clear. Unfortunately for Taliesin one student singled him out in particular for abuse, his family having a long standing grudge against his own and began flinging insults at himself and his family's honour. Taliesin had little care for ideas such as honour, but he knew that if his Matron heard he had let such words go unchallenged, his life wouldn't be worth living. With little choice he accepted the older students challenge, knowing full well his paltry understanding of magic couldn't rival the older Drows.
And so now he stood, clutching the the battered old tome of spells before him defensively for what little protection it would offer, watching the other Drow prepare his spell.. Which was actually taking a rather long time. It was clear now even to Taliesin that the older Dalharuk was showing off, prolonging the casting to add in a few theatrical hand gestures and flashy lights just to try and impress those watching. That's when something clicked for Taliesin and with out a moments hesitation, he spun on his right heel, turning a full 360 degrees before launching the heavy book in his hands at the other Drow. So caught up in his own, overly dramatic spell casting the other male never saw the book coming, until it smacked him hard in the face. His concentration broken, his spell fizzled out and he looked up with blood slowly trickling from his nose just in time to see Taliesin close the distance between them and swing the ceremonial staff he held. The staff had been passed down for generations between the wizards of his clan and supposedly held their wisdom and power over the ages. Taliesin was still along way from being able to tap into that potential, but had taken enough basic classes as a child to know how to swing it like a quarterstaff. He was rather pleased by the sound as the heavy aged wood smacked into the side of the other Drows head putting him down for the count.
There was silence for a few minutes as the other students looked on in surprise, Taliesin watched his opponent for a moment then poked him in the shoulder with the staff, a quite moan showing the other trainee El'faeruk was alive but was unlikely to be getting up any time soon. Taliesin bent over to pick up his book before giving the defeated Drow a savage kick to the stomach and a few choice insults, then turned and went on his way. From the looks of the other students, he imagined he had won the admiration of many of his fellow students and even the respect of a few of the older ones, and while he may also have made a powerful enemy today he just thought of it as another reason to constantly strive to better himself and learn quickly. After all it is from our enemies, not our friends that we learn the prudence of building walls round our cities and work towards bettering ourselves.
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Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 9:13 am
2. Settling in Several months had passed since Taliesin's enrollment in the School of Magic, several uneventful months, besides the initial growing pains of settling into a new environment. Similar to the events of his first day, some students meant to show Tal the 'way things worked' at the school, and Tal had gone to bed nursing more then his fair share of bruises. Still he had managed to make it to bed and still wake up in the morning and each time one of his fellow students didn't manage to slit his throat in the night was a win for Tal. But with the passage of time and the start of classes, things had settled and Tal now viewed his standing as being akin to a bright red lizard in a green forest.
Word of the events of that first day had spread and much to his personal mortification and annoyance, about a third of the student body could pick him out of the crowd, with at least half of the others having heard of his exploits. Which all meant he stood out like a soar thumb and he often got the itchy feeling he was being watched whenever he was in public. The thing about brightly coloured animals though, is that they are often quiet venomous, the bright colours serving to warn potential predators the prey was more trouble than it was worth. So too was the case with Tal, for the same reason he was noticeable was also the reason most considered him more trouble than he was worth. And so he went day to day scurrying about trying to go unnoticed by those who could squash him like a bug but currently reluctant to face the potential belly ache of devouring him.
These days he was almost forgotten again, most students in his class more concerned with their studies, while the older class men concentrated on the more immediate threat of each other. Tal just kept his head in his books, studying and trying to keep up his old habits of going unnoticed in the shadows. As for teh boy who had challenged Taliesin that first day, word was that he had quiet teh school some time ago, after having suffered a severe bout of food poisoning right before a series of important tests, ruining his chances of promotion in the ranks. Rumours circled that cause was something more sinister than simple food poisoning, but that the staff nurse was more than used to dealing with the more extreme forms of student rivalry and had manged to pull him from deaths grasp.
The episode had thought many students important lessons, that just because they would one day be powerful mages they shouldn't let their guards down, to always watch what you eat and for Tal the importance of not cheaping out on the materials you use when you want a job done right...
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Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 9:53 am
3. Practice makes perfect It was getting late and today had been another grueling day of lectures, experiments and practices for Taliesin and he was eager to turn in for the night, but before he did he had one last thing to do. Each night before bed he put himself through a series of practices, devoting at least an hour or two to them each night. Preparing himself for them he sat at his simple little desk, crowded with books and sheets of notes, except for the clear little space before him, where he had arranged a small assortment of items. In the middle was a small pot of shinged clay, to either side were small glass bowls, one empty, one half full of water, and in front of the pot a small feather.
Cracking his knuckles, Tal placed his left hand flat on the desk, his right hand held in the air near the teh items, his eyes focused on the pot, he twitched his index finger an nearly inaudibly whispered "Earth". Near instantly a small shoot emerged from the clay, growing a near inch and a half in seconds. Next his middle finger flexed as he muttered "Fire" spontaneously the small shoot caught fire, a tiny flame much like a candles. A moment later his ring finger moved and he called on "Wind", the small feather suddenly spun into teh air, hovering over the pot it danced in the warm air rising from the flame. Finally he flicked his little finger whispering water as he did causing the water to leap from one bowl to the other, quenching the flaming stalk in the process, at the same time teh feather floated back down to where it began.
A moment of stillness passed before his fingers were moving again as he uttered the simple phrase "Earth... Fire... Wind... Water..." The sprout rejuvenated only to catch fire again, the feather dancing in teh warm air from the tiny flame until it was doused by the water leaping from bowl to bowl. The first time he had attempted this it had taken hours of struggling to go through them once, now he could repeat the whole routine a dozen times in a few minutes. In fact he had perfected it to such a point he could do it all with his eyes closed and nothing more than a twitch of one finger. In one of his cockier moments he had even attempted to perform the practices while studying fro his classes, with unpleasant consequences. His mind was far from disciplined enough that he could read a book of magic while casting unrelated spells, there was a certain amount of cross over and without realising it he had been summoning small uncontrolled fireballs with each twitch of his middle finger. By the time he realised what he was actually doing his desk was a small bonfire.
It had however given him a lesson in humility and the importance of paying attention when he used magic and so he continued his practices. While it's true no mage would ever gain fame for being the fastest to light and douse a hundred candles, the efficiency and speed Tal had developed through the constant practicing did give him an edge when attempting more complex spells. He was able to get through the initial stages of the casting pretty quickly which gave him a head start against others. Tal had once read that those who wanted to build castles in the clouds must first have their feet firmly planted on the ground, Tal had taken this to heart as a devotion to perfecting the basics so that the more complex spells would be all the easier. And no matter how much homework he had, how many books were still to be read, or how tired he felt, Tal always took the time to go through his practices each and every night.
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Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 11:34 am
4. To take the path of least resistance? While Taliesins daily training with the four elements was a useful boon to his basic day to day classes, he also gave thought to what lay ahead of him and what branch of magic he would one day specialise in. From his effectiveness with the elemental magics it was assumed by many that Tal would one day be an elemental Mage, most likely as Pyrokinetic. Tal though had a different path in mind, though it may prove to be harder to achieve than he had hoped.
Every so often when he found himself with some spare time he attempted to practice some Illusionist skills. It was the area of Illusion magic that appealed the most to Tal, the power to warp and control the minds of others was one he prized dearly. Seeing as he had time now Tal went to a cage with a small rat in it to experiment again. Taking a firm grip of the rat's head, he would stare into it's eyes for a time, then slowly release his hold on it once he was sure he had it in his power. With the creature in a sort of hypnotic trance Tal would stare at it, sometimes for hours, trying to impose his will on it. Once he was ready he'd simply say. "Do NOT eat the cheese" Then slowly and without breaking eye contact with the rat, he drop a small piece of cheese into the corner of the cage. For a second or two the rat continued to stare at Tal, but then it's nose twitched as it sniffed the air and suddenly it scurried to the corner and devoured the cheese.
With an exasperated sigh Tal slumped in his chair, what chance did he have at manipulating the minds of his enemies if he couldn't even influence one stupid rat? He had tried dozens of times with little success and he was starting to loose hope. True his dream was to be an Illusionist, but perhaps it was time he acknowledged the fate Lloth had laid out for him and focused on his strengths. Annoyed and with a sudden urge to vent Tal glared at the rat and waved his hand muttering a few syllables, with that the rat let out a screech and went up in a sudden puff of flame. Tal spent the next few hours breathing the scent of burnt fur and meat as he thought gloomily of his future and whether or not to take the easier path in life.
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 12:39 pm
5. Messy Work Taliesin frowned as he stared at the pages of notes in front of him, reading slowly, making sure he had every detail right, but it was difficult to see in the dim light, only three small candles giving any light to the study room. The only things in the small room were a shelf holding candles, tapers and other brick a brack and a desk with a small stool before it. The rest of the room was empty, a large smooth block of stone made up most of the floor, giving students a clear space to practice on. Right now the block was covered in a chalk octogram, carefully drawn lines crisscrossed the inside connecting points on the circumference, while ringing the outside was an intricate set of runes, the three candles formed a triangle around the ornate sigil.
Putting down his notes for a moment, Tal knelt over the octogram, carefully adding two more connecting lines on the inside, before rubbing out one of the runes on the outside, replacing it with another. Sitting back on his haunches Tal looked over the sigil he'd spent the last hour drawing and compared it to his notes on final time. Deciding everything looked as accurate as he could get it, he stood up and dusted off his robes. "Time for the hard part..."
From beside the desk Tal retrieved a leather carryall, loosening the drawstring Tal shook the bag over the octogram, unceremoniously dumping the carcasses of several dead rats into the middle. It wasn't much, but he had to start somewhere and if Tal wanted to pass his next class he had to do well in the practicals. At this school it was expected that all El'faeruk trainees study all the various aspects of magic until they discovered their aptitude and were ready to select a specialty. Unfortunately most classes included a practical element and while this was fine with Tal for the most part, he dreaded the necromancy class. Not that he was bad at it, he quickly grasped most of the fundamentals, Tal just became a major wimp when it came to dealing with rotting corpses.
Still Tal wanted to do well in his classes and that meant practicing, even if the thought of it made him sick to his stomach. Sitting cross legged near the edge of the sigil Tal started to read aloud from his notes, keeping his voice at an quiet tone, the words coming in an even tempo, Tal repeat the phrases over and over. Slowly Tal began to notice a tingling along his skin as magic started to gather energy to it, the still air of the room was stirred by an eerie draft that ruffled Tals notes and caused the candles flames to dance. As Tal repeated the words over and over the energy in the room grew more tangible and the soft draft became a strong breeze, scattering Tal's notes from the table and extinguishing the flames from the candles.
Rather then leaving the room in pitch blackness, there was a faint purple light coming from the chalk diagrams Tal had drawn. Doing his best to ignore the distractions around him, Tal continued to repeat the spells, watching as the eerie purple energy from the sigil seemed to pulse as he spoke. Finally the purple light seemed to reach a peak and suddenly gathered in the middle around the bodies of the dead rats and then snuffed out. Tal sat still waiting for a moment, before fumbling about in the dark to light one of the candles. As soon as he had the candle lite, Tal wished he hadn't, as his eyes caught sight of the abomination twitching in the centre of the octogram.
It was hard to say what it was, looking vaguely humanoid, it's body was composed of the innards of the dead rats, their mutilated remains scattered around it. Then Tal noticed the stench of rancid flesh that had filled the room and his stomach could take no more, before he could think his stomach heaved and he vomited all over the floor. As he wiped his sleeve across his face, Tal was horrified at the spectacle before him, worsened by the fact, much of the vomit had spread across the already vile looking creature. As he watched the creature slowly started to claw it's way across the floor, inching closer to Tal. Letting out a pathetic sounding squeal, Tal lashed out kicking the abomination away, but the moment his foot made contact the creature seemed to burst, a vile mixture of gore, vomit and rat remains splattering against the far wall.
Tal starred in horror at his gore splattered boot, before hurrying to a corner to throw up again. Several minutes passed before Tal felt well enough to stand, he took one look at the mess on the far side of the room and fought back the urge to be sick again. Quickly he gathered up his belongings, doing his best to avoid looking towards the remains of his failed spell. Once he had gathered everything he glanced out the door and looked up and down the hall outside, no one seemed to be about. Quickly Tal stepped out and hurried back to his room, unable to bring himself to cleaning up the mess, he wanted to be away from here so no one would be able to tie him to it. Sooner or later one of the servants would come around and have to clean it up, or perhaps one of his fellow students would want to use the room.
Regardless it was someone else's problem now, Tal's only concern was how he was going to make up the grade he would loose out on when he skipped out on his Necromancy classes...
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Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 10:37 am
6. The test Taliesin shuffled into the cramped room along with the rest of his class, as the lesson was about to begin. At the head of the room stood the lecturer for this subject, a particularly tall and scrawny looking woman with deep crimson eyes that always held a look of contempt for the rest of the world. An attitude she had probably a right to take, few fully progressed to becoming masters of their craft, fewer still showing such skill that they would be deemed worth of teaching the next generation. Tal despised her, as did many of the other students, she heaped far more onto the students than any of the other lecturers, gave tests with out warning and off random, rarely know subjects and was very quick to punish for even the slightest infraction.
Tal knew better then to attempt to kill a teacher here at the academy, purely for fear of the consequence should he fail to succeed and be found out as the culprit. Still he often found himself plotting that witches death and on several occasions had fallen to sleep with the pleasant mental image of her throat clenched in his hands. Tal came out of his reverie when he heard a sudden loud crack, looking up he saw the teacher smacking her cane against the desk. It was well known she didn't need any aid in walking, the cane was simply for show, it gave her something to hit students with, to get peoples attention in the manner she was now; and to give others the impression she had a weakness, perhaps tempting some fool to strike at the old cripple, hence giving her a reason to hurt someone.
The teacher continued hitting the desk until she was sure she had everyone's attention, giving the assembled students a look of disdain, she spoke in her crackled unpleasant voice. "Today we are having a test, a very easy one I'm sure you'll all agree... All you have to do is transcribe all of chapter 35 from your textbooks and hand up your sheets to me at teh end." There were quiet murmurs from the assembled students as they exchanged glances, a few already leafing through the book to the requested chapter. A test? Where one only had to copy a single chapter from the book, surely there had to be a catch Tal decided.
Sure enough there was one, with a twisted smile the lecturer spoke again. "Just one small restriction, you may not hold the quill in your hand..." There was a collection of gasps and moans from the students at the seemingly impossible restriction, but as he leafed through his textbook, Tal already had an idea of what the chapter would be about. Chapter 35: Enchanting - Section 7: Finite Control and Movement
Tal sighed, it was obvious the point of the test was to write out the chapter by using magic to move the pen, a potentially tedious and exhausting thing to do. Still there was nothing to do but get to work, before starting to write he decided to read through the chapter, looking for any insights or tips that might make this process easier. As he read he looked up once of twice to see what the other students were doing, some were reading as Tal was, a few were already trying to levitate pens into ink wells and across paper. Tal was surprised to see several students trying to write with the pen held in their mouths and one particularly dexterous Drow had slipped off his shoe to hold the pen between his toes.
Just then there was a shuffling from one side of the room as a student got up and made his way to the front, presenting the lecturer with several pages, a smug look on his face. Someone was finished already? Tal couldn't believe it, he couldn't recall the students name, merely another face in the crowd, but the thought someone could have written that fast even using normal mundane methods was impossible.
The lecturer seemed to read through every word checking for accuracy before taking in the boys smug grin. "Very impressive, every last word exactly per the text, even all the punctuation is right.... Relonerin'trans Duplication spell?" The student nodded dna and shrugged in a nonchalant manner. "A simple enough spell for one of my abil- AGH!" The lecturer, with no warning, had struck the boy across his upper arm with her staff, the blow nearly knocking him off his feet. "Impressive, but you still failed the test, not get out of my class!"
She watched the student hurry from the room, cradling his arm, the pain obvious on his face, Tal wondered if the old hag had actually struck hard enough to break a bone. As soon as he was gone the Lecturer turned her attention from the student to the rest of the class. "I hope by now the rest of you Rothe Tick's understand the point of the test?!" She took a moment to glare at the few students holding pens in their mouths, before returning to her seat and smacking the cane down on the desk. "Don't sit there like dawdling, times ticking away and anyone who isn't finished by the end of the class will get worse than that upstart." With a swing, she pointed her cane towards the door, the injured student had retreated through.
Not wasting another moment Tal returned his gaze to the textbook, reading as quickly as he could while in the back of his mind he started piecing together the necessary spells. Pass or fail, the only concern right then was avoiding his teachers wrath. all about him the class went silent besides the occasional scratch of pen on paper, as every student struggled to complete the test in time.
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Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 12:41 pm
7. Attrition After the grueling ordeal of writing hundreds of words using a pen kept in mid air solely by the power of ones his mind, Taliesin felt like his brain was oozing out his nostrils. Too exhausted to bother with his next class, Tal instead headed for one of the student common areas, a large open square set amidst some of the dormitories. When he got there a crowd had already formed, most likely they were all there for the same reason Tal was, to observe the duel that had been ongoing for nearly three days now.
Duels in the common area were a regular event, students practicing what they'd learned, settling grudges or most often simply establishing the pecking order. Tal had been in a few himself, he was proud to say he'd won more than lost, but that didn't diminish the vile taste of bile he got thinking of the times he had lost. What made this particular duel so interesting was the fact the two young mages involved had reached an unusual stalemate.
No one was sure why the two students were dueling in the first place and in the beginning no one took much notice, but apparently from an early point it had become clear that both mages were evenly matched, in fact they were almost perfectly balanced. Through out the duel, neither had managed to overcome the others defences, spells, were blocked and counter spells launched only to be dismissed in turn and a new offensive launched. The spells flew back and forth with neither duelist gaining any ground, until one mage cast a spell known as Forcecage, the spell created walls of force all around the target effectively imprisoning them. His opponent must have caught some glimpse of what was happening though, because he cast the exact same spell. The result? Both mages were now trapped in each others Forcecage and neither had the power to break free or finish his opponent.
Normally the spell only lasted a few hours at most, but as neither mage could think of any way to overcome his opponents defences, both simple renewed the Forcecage as soon as the spell faltered. It was now the third day and neither showed any obvious signs of giving in. And the duel was now the main entertainment for the students and even some of the faculty, there was even heavy wagering going on, not so much on who would win, but rather on how long the duel would last.
Tal managed to find a spot in the stands where he had a good view of the two students. To the untrained eye i tlooked like two young men seated cross-legged facing each other in a wide open space, but those with the right training could detect the near tangible aura of magic in the area and to Tal's eyes there was a barely visible waver in the air around both of them, the only visible sign of the Forcecages containing the men.
As he watched, Tal wondered if he would have lasted this long in their positions, neither had eaten or slept in at least three days and were continuously recasting spells and no doubt subtly probing each others defences looking for any weakness that could end the stalemate. But at this stage neither of them had the energy to act, it was probably taking everything they had left just to stay awake and maintain the Forcecages, even if they saw a weakness, they'd have to drop the cage to gather enough power to act, giving their opponent the chance to act. It had effectively become a battle of attrition, with the winner being which ever Drow could keep going the longest.
As more Drow filed into the square, Tal realised it was nearing the time when the spells would collapse and the two duelists would rush to entrap their opponent again. There was a moment of silence as tension filled the air, everyone watching and waiting. then Tal felt the shift in pressure as the spells dissipated and suddenly the two mages were standing, arms held out shouting incantations and the Forcecages reformed. Or at least one did.
It took a moment for what had happened to sink in, then Tal realised what had happened. One of the duelists had become so exhausted he had fumbled the cantrip for the spell, the mistake was so unexpected even his opponent stood there for a moment dumbstruck before he caught on and acted. Gathering what energy he could he cast his arm forward and shouting a single word sent a bolt of lightning blasting towards his opponent. The light so bright in the usual gloom of Underdark, it blinded everyone watching and it was several minutes before Tal could see clearly again. In the square one mage was barely standing on his feat, on the far side of the square the charred and barely breathing body of his opponent lay.
The excitement over, students started wandering off to their usual duties, the sound of chattering and gossip filling the air. People would no doubt be discussing this duel for weeks to come, right then though Tal was more focused on the money he'd lost, he had bet the duel would end some time tomorrow.
Several days later Tal happened to learn the cause for the Duel, it appeared that both Mages had been compeating to win the affections of a particular Female, hoping to win their way into her bed and hopefully from there patronage from her wealthy family. The irony was that while the two had been engaged in their duel to prove who was the better mage, she had chosen some pretty boy of a warrior, who was hardly even literate as a mate. While this was no doubt a grave disappointment for the mages, Tal felt more sympathy for the warrior. No doubt he'd be cast aside once the woman lost interest in his looks, but that was assuming that one of the jilted Mages didn't decide to deal with him first...
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Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 11:30 am
8. Rash Actions Being thin and lithe Tal easily managed to squeeze past the press of bodies to make it to the front of the gathered crowd, eager to see what was drawing such attention. He had been idly making his way to his room after finishing his last class for the day when he saw the flow of students heading this way. Keen for any distraction from his humdrum studies, Tal had followed the crowd into a hall that connected two of the Dormitory buildings.
Eventually Tal made his way to the front of the crowd, where he was stopped by a small barrier holding back the press of people. Beyond was an area closed off, in the centre of which were a few chunks of rubble. Turning to another male standing and watching, Tal asked what all the interest was about, the other mage simply pointed towards the ceiling. "Some fool blew themselves out through the roof" Tal starred at the large, rough looking hole in the ceiling. "Blew themselves out through the roof?"
Tal eventually formed a picture of what had happened by eavesdropping on what the people round him were saying. It appeared that a feud had started between two groups of students from rival houses, things had come to a head today and several duels had been fought as well as some more direct fist fights. One student though had the misfortune of finding himself surrounded by several students from the rival house, outnumbered and with little chance of aid coming, the Drow had acted in desperation.
Rashly he cast a spell creating a Magic Circle against Evil, to hold his attackers at bay, at the time it no doubt seemed a good idea, the spell would stop anything that was evilly aligned from entering the effected area, thus keeping the other Drow away. The mistake he made was that, being a Drow himself, he too was naturally considered evil by the magic and he had forgotten to adjust his spell accordingly. As such the moment the circle formed about him, the reckless mage was evicted from the circle, straight up into the air and with enough force that he crashed through the ceiling above him onto the floor above. He was probably killed the instant he hit the ceiling, his head smashed beyond recognition.
Eventually the faculty cleared away the curious students, telling them to be off to their classes or dorms. The hallway and the one directly above were closed off for the next day while slaves started cleaning up the mess. It was decided to leave the hole as it was though, to act as a reminder to others of what happened when you acted rashly. As he walked back to his dorm, Tal decided he would have preferred the humiliation of getting a thrashing at the hands of the rival students, to getting his brains embedded in the ceiling.
For the rest of the year, the lecturers took a twisted delight on reminding students of the story, emphasising the importance of always considering the implications of any spell they cast. And to remind them that a mage must always keep a cool head, for a spell cast in haste or without thought is a waste of energy and may get you killed faster than doing nothing at all.
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 12:33 pm
9. Subtlety As Tal continued to browse through his notes, while sat at the small desk in his dorm room, he discretely kept a watch on the male lying in the bed on the far side of the room. As soon as he was confident the other Drow was asleep, Tal quietly made his way to a shelf over his bed and took down a candle and a vial of liquid. Making his way to the other Drows bed Tal carefully lit the candle and placed on the nightstand by the bed and then took a sip from the vial, grimacing at the vile taste. He then returned to his desk, reading over his notes in preparation for an upcoming test while he waited for the candle to take effect.
While plain looking, the candle had been treated by Tal so it released a mildly pleasant perfume that had the effect of putting people into a deep sleep, Tal avoided that effect thanks to the tonic he had just drank. The candle though was just a means to an end, like most Drow Tal didn't like taking risks when they could be avoided and he didn't want his plan ruined just because his roommate woke unexpectedly in the night.
Soon enough the room was filled by the annoying nasal sound of the other Drows snoring, at first a sound so unbearable to Tal's ears it had him gritting his teeth in frustration and lost sleep, of late it had become the sign to act. Tal hadn't always had to put up with that noise, his first roommate didn't snore, at least Tal thought so. The boy had hardly been here a week before vanishing, whether he'd gone home in disgrace, or fallen prey to a mugger or slaver, no one knew or really cared what had happened to him. For Tal it meant he had a room to himself and he had enjoyed the privacy that offered.
However it was not to last and three weeks ago another student had been moved in, apparently he had feud with his old roommate and this was a move to separate them. Usually the staff didn't care and turned a blind eye till one boy won out over the other, but in this case both students came from influential families and the University would face grief from the family of whichever boy died. And so now Tal was caught up in it and it didn't take long for him to see why his new roommate had so enraged his rival. The boy was pompous and had an overinflated view of his own self worth, based solely on the accomplishments of his family, as far as Tal could discern the boy had no redeeming qualities at all. But he was older and further along in his training, not to mention from a more influential family so Tal grit his teeth and put up with it as best he could.
It was after the first week that Tal decided the roommate had to go, sooner rather than later, being a solitary person himself, being forced to coexist with the loudmouthed oaf was more than he could bare and he was slowly being driven mad by the students snoring. Obviously direct action was ruled out, the boys family was too influential, poison too obvious and most Drow checked instinctively for it anyway, so Tal had devised something more interesting.
Now that Tal was happy his roommate was deep asleep and unlikely to wake soon, he made his way to his bed. Pulling it from the wall he went behind it and touched a seemingly ordinary stone block in the wall, waited a moment and then tapped it again, and then again. After the third tap the rock seemed to dissolve revealing a small compartment containing a few of Tals most precious items. It had taken a great deal of research and effort to create and hide the little pocket of space, such that it would remain undetected.
Tal pulled out a small velvet bag, then cast a spell, causing the small opening to seal up again. Quietly pushing his bed back, Tal then made his way back towards his roommate as he reached into the bag. As he pulled his hand out, Tal suppressed a shudder as the room was flooded by a nauseating greenish, silvery light, coming from a small stone Tal now held. As quickly as he could Tal lifted bedsheets, pausing to stare for a moment, Tal still hadn't gotten used to the fact his roommate slept in the nude and put the stone down on the other males chest. As soon as the stone was placed, Tal put the bedsheets back smothering the vile light and let out a slow relieved breath.
The odd stone was known as a sickstone, a magimorphic stone that permeated the area around it with an unpleasant light that effected anything it touched with a magical disease. Even the relatively short dose Tal just received had left him feeling slightly weak and tired and rather defiled. Taking a moment to ensure his roommate still slept, Tal then left to have a shower to remove the unclean sensation pricking his skin. Even though he was safe from the stones effects so long as he wasn't bathed in the light he still didn't like being near it and touched it only from necessity.
Once he was clean, Tal went to the library to study, even at this time people where here studying, not everyone conformed to established sleeping patterns and some just liked to spend as much time as possible studying hoping to gain an edge over their fellow mages. A few hours later Tal returned to his room, by now his roommate appeared to be in a feverish state, pale and sweating, his breathing slightly laboured. Smiling at the progress he was making, Tal quickly returned the stone to it's hiding place and snuffed out the perfumed candle, before going to his own bed for the night.
Tal had been carrying out this nightly ritual for a little over a week now and so far he was pleased with the effects, his roommate was constantly fatigued and tired, had little appetite and even less energy and was having more and more trouble concentrating. Tals eventual plan was to weaken his roommate until he was either incapable of continuing his studies and left in disgrace or else weakened enough that one of his more powerful enemies felt comfortable in dealing with him for Tal. The best thing was that the stones effects were difficult to detect, it wasn't detected by any spell that looked for traces of poison and the effects of the disease only persisted while in the stones light, so that went unnoticed too. The only draw back was that he made a slow recovery while away from the light, but it was obvious repeated exposure was having a cumulative effect and Tal could wait.
As Tal started to dose off, his sleep aided by the lingering effects of the candle, he considered one other minor perk of the stone, as his roommate lay there, his weakened body labouring for breath; the snoring had stopped, allowing Tal a peaceful night rest.
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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:35 pm
10. Real World Experience
((This is the first of two maybe three parts of a little story as Tal goes a questing)) Somewhere in the tunnels of the lowerdark, nearing caverns giving off a fetid stench and an odd aura of magic...
Finally judging himself to be close enough to the floor, Taliesin let go of the rope and dropped the remaining distance to the floor, just about managing to keep his footing and avoid embarrassing himself in front of the others. There were six other Drow standing nearby watching Tal or checking on their gear, they had descended the rope effortlessly and landed without a sound in seconds, while Tal had taken nearly three minutes to slide down the rope from the ledge above. Of course they were all seasoned adventurers used to the hardships of clambering about in the tunnels and confined spaces of the Underdark, while Tal had rarely ventured beyond the relative safety of city walls, never mind this far into the wilds.
Turning at the sound of his name being called, Tal just managed to catch his belongings as they were tossed at him. To get down the rope Tal had been forced to toss his staff and backpack down first, the only things he kept with him were his book of spells, carried in a sling under one arm and a large pouch in which he carried certain components needed for his spells. Both of them too valuable and delicate to risk dropping to the rough tunnel floor.
Tal quickly threw his backpack over his shoulder and followed after the others as they went down the tunnel ahead. They paid Tal little notice, chatting amongst themselves in quiet whispers until they reached a branching in the tunnel, where they all stopped and looked at Tal expectantly. Tal closed his eyes and remained still for a few minutes before pointing down a tunnel heading down and to the east. Without a word the Drow set off again in the direction Tal had indicated.
In theory Tal was in charge of this little expedition, he was paying the others to come along and act as bodyguards and guides, but in truth he was relegated to little more than a compass, pointing the general direction towards his objective and relying on their experience to find the best route. The Female leader of the group particularly annoyed Tal, he was pretty sure she hadn’t spoken directly to him since they had left the city and she realised how inexperienced Tal actually was. Tal was sure the only reason they hadn’t murdered him in his sleep the first night out, was that he had only paid them a third upfront with the rest due once he got back to civilisation alive.
To a degree he understood their attitude; it had soon become obvious that for all his arcane skill and power, Tal was helpless down here and would have been lost and probably killed long ago. They knew what fungi you could or couldn’t eat, the safest and fastest routes through the tunnels and how to avoid perils Tal didn’t even know existed. Not to mention their skill with a weapon had come in handed when marauding goblins had raided their camp one night. It had been one of Tal’s spells that had warned the group of the approaching goblins and aloud them to take the would-be ambushers by surprise, but warned or not, Tal knew he wouldn’t have been able to take on that many alone. He had in fact hung back and let the adventurers do what they were paid for and fight off the creatures. Before that night the group had numbered 10, but the others didn’t seem to mind the loss of their comrades, rather calculating their new share of the pay.
It was now the forth day into the expedition and Tal was tired, sore and covered in bruises, his once delicate and unblemished hands now covered in blisters from climbing and crawling his way into the bowels of the Underdark. Still, it would all be worth it if he got his prize at the end, if…
Tal was suddenly brought out of his reverie by a loud snarl followed by Drow voices yelling orders and the sound of weapons being drawn. The group had just passed from the tunnel into an open cavern when they were set upon by a pack of large muscular creatures, vaguely humanoid with bear like faces and covered in shaggy white hair. Tal recognised the creatures at once, Quaggoth. He had seen them occasionally in the cities as slaves, strong and simple minded they made useful slaves for menial work requiring brute strength, though Tal mostly only saw them fighting in the arenas.
It was obvious though that the wild Quaggoth descending on the group from all sides weren’t anything like the obedient slaves Tal was familiar with. Under constant threat for Drow slavers, the Quaggoth clans had a deep hatred for the Drow and seeing this small band of Drow wandering far from the protection of their cities must have been a tempting target for the Quaggoth to vent their rage on.
It was one thing to witness a ferocious Quaggoth tear a goblin apart from the safety of ones seat in an Arena, but to see that vicious wrath coming right at you, invoked a felling of cold fear Tal had never felt before. Suddenly one of the other Drow was in front of Tal pushing him back, yelling instructions. “Back! There are too many, we have to get back to the tunnels and try to find a way to lose them!” Back? NO! Tal refused to be forced back now, he was so close he could almost taste it in the air; he would not be denied by some savage mongrel beasts, not after what he’d been through already.
Spurred by a new sense of determination, the fear that had gripped Taliesin faded, his posture straightened as he stood tall, a calm focused expression turning his face to emotionless mask as he raised his staff up high. “Shield your eyes!” A moment after Tal shouted the warning he made a motion with his staff and a blinding dazzling burst of light filled the cavern. The Drow adventurers were mostly unaffected having heeded the warning, but the Quaggoth on the other hand were looking right into the flash of light and yelled out as the painfully bright light blinded them.
Having bought himself some time, Tal pulled out his spell book and quickly browsed through the pages until he found one his strongest spells. Mumbling an incantation he pulled a crystal shard from his bag and tossed it into the group of Quaggoth, at the same time yelling another warning to the adventurers to get down. Whatever else they thought of him, the other Drow were smart enough to duck when a wizard told you too. As they hit the floor a sound like glass shattering filled the cavern and the small crystal burst sending out translucent shards of arcane energy, like a shrapnel grenade.
The blind and confused Quaggoth cried out as the shards of crystallised energy pierced hide and tore flesh, several falling dead of their injuries as others turned and ran. Seeing their chance the adventurers quickly rose up and finished off the remaining beasts, many of whom were in no state to fight back. One though broke through the Drow ranks and charged straight at Taliesin, his mouth stretched in a vicious snarl as he raised a crude but deadly axe overhead. Tal quickly raised his staff, pointing the end at his rapidly approaching assailant, the air in front of the staff rapidly compressed then expanded again, sending out a shockwave that was barely visible as it moved through the air. The Quaggoth died instantly as the force of the blast took its head off; leaving only it’s lower jaw dangling from the ragged stump of its neck.
For a moment Tal starred at the end of his staff; that was the first time he’d launched a spell for the specific task of killing, the first time he’d killed a sentient creature. Well that was debatable with the Quaggoth, but it was close enough. It took a few seconds for the realisation to sink in, Tal had willingly and deliberately killed, he could simply have disabled or repelled the creature, instead he choose to blast it’s head off. Tal hadn’t expected killing to be like this… He hadn’t expected it to be so… easy? He had snuffed out this towering powerful beast as easily as he would a candle. A slight smile ghosted across Taliesin’s face.
The sound of the brute’s body finally succumbing to gravity and collapsing in a heap brought Tal out of his thoughts. Looking about he saw no sign of the Quaggoth, well none living anyway, the others had finished off most that had not fled, but Tal knew that a few of the corpses had fallen to his other spells. The one thing that surprised him was that he felt no joy. How often had he read, or heard or been told about the joy one felt at killing, the pleasure of snuffing out a life weaker than yours.
He had always expected to feel something similar, but looking at the bodies he felt nothing. There had been that momentary sense of excitement as he wielded power through the magic, but no more so than any other spell. He would have felt the same had he used magic to move a book or snuff out a candle. Looking at the faces of the other Drow he could see their excitement, in some it was a look in their eyes but others wore bright grins, obviously enjoying themselves. But for Tal killing had been no more exciting as putting on his boots in the morning. It occurred to him that perhaps it was because it was too easy, he had felt no challenge, a word and a wave and these creatures fell like gnats. After all a butcher hardly got excited every time he killed a Rothe, a farmer hardly grinned joyously as he harvested his crops, it was just a task. Killing was easy but not a joy, simply something one did to further their objectives; at least that was how Tal was beginning to see it.
With the threat gone for now, the Drow began to pick up their belongings and regroup, for the most part, no one was hurt, just a few cuts and scraps, most from when they had dived to the floor at Tals warning. One Drow had a severe cut in his shoulder, the whole front of his tunic turned darker by the blood flowing from the wound. “Ah, what happen? One of the big bears try to give you a hug?” Mocked one of the Females. The man turned and spat. “No Quaggoth’s gonna get da better of me! It was that stupid mages fault, his damn spell hit me!” The man glared accusingly at Tal, Tal in response just shrugged. “I did say to duck, no use complaining because you were too slow to react.”
“Damn you just fix it!”
Again Tal just shrugged “Do I look like a Cleric? Surely an experienced group like yours has one person who knows a few healing spells?”
One of the others nodded “Aye, we did. She was the one who got an bolt in her eye when those goblins struck the other night.”
Tal sighed and waved his hand dismissively. “Then give him a few potions and stitch him up and lets get going, it’s not much farther.”
“A potion or two won’t fix a wound that deep, if we don’t stop the bleeding who knows what the scent of blood might draw to us.”
Tal thought for a moment then turned to two of the adventurers, giving them a serious look as he indicated the injured man. “Hold him still.” The two exchanged glances with each other and then their leader, she simply nodded and the two grabbed hold of the injured man. Suddenly worried the injured Drow struggled, looking franticly at Tal as he tried to break free of the other men. “W-what are ye gonna do ta me?” Wordlessly Tal approached, rolling up his right sleeve as he mumbled a few phrases, standing over the man, Tal examined the wound using his left hand to push aside the tattered tunic. Pinching the wound closed he quickly placed his right hand over it, suddenly the injured man grimaced in pain as a low moan escaped past his clenched teeth, a smell like burnt flesh filling the air.
When Tal removed his hand, there was a scar in the shape of his hand burnt into the other Drows shoulder, but the wound had been cauterised and the bleeding stopped. “There, you did want me to fix it didn’t you?” The other Drow spat at Tal’s feet and swore. “b*****d!” As he rose to his feet to challenge Tal, the Drow was quickly knocked back down by the leader of the group. “Enough! Be thankful the boy helped you, I was just going to tie you up and leave you here in the hopes the smell of fresh meet would distract any other pests crawling about down here from bothering us.” There was no doubt from her tone and the expressions of the others that she meant what she said.
The man simply averted his eyes and instead set about gathering up his belongings, the others following suite. Soon the group was again moving, growing ever closer to Tal’s destination. Tal noticed a slight change in the group after that, the others paid a little more care and showed more respect when dealing with him. In their eyes Tal had gone from a pampered city boy looking for adventure, to a man who could blow your head off with a wave of his staff without blinking. While Tal appreciated the change in attitude, it mattered little. They were almost there. . .
To Be Continued~
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Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 11:11 am
11. Rotten fish
((Continuation of Post 10
You did read the last entry didn’t you? Puppy dog eyes))
A few hours after leaving the site of the Quaggoth attack, Tal and the band of mercenaries he had hired were sat in a small cave, really it was just a widening of the tunnel they had been travelling, but it was as good a spot as any to rest. Normally the group would have set up camp by now, but Tal was certain they were near his objective and had insisted they press on. Now the group was taking the chance to rest while waiting for a scout to report back, except for Tal who was slowly pacing, eager to be off as soon as possible.
Every head turned as one in response to a subtle sound, breaths held as hands went to rest on weapon hilts, and everyone tensing as they waited to see what was approaching. When the scout finally emerged from the tunnels shadowy entrance everyone relaxed again, but Tal was quick to pounce on him. “Well? Find anything?” The scout scowled at Tal for a moment then turned and spoke towards the leader of the mercenaries, so it would seem he was giving her a report rather than answering to the mage.
“Since our employer is so tight lipped about what it is exactly we’re doing down here, I’m not sure what I was looking for, but I found somethin’. A pretty big cavern, with a great big chasm cuttin’ us off from most of it, but on the far side seem to be some ruined buildin’s, but they ain’t abandoned, they’re crawling with fish folk…” Tal had been listening intently and his hopes had grown upon hearing of the ruins, certain his prize waited within, but at the fish folk comment he suddenly interrupted the report. “Fish folk? Kuo-Toas?!” Tal made little effort to hide the disgust in his voice as he put a name to the creatures, when the scout simply nodded Tal repressed the urge to shudder.
Kuo-Toas were a sentient race of amphibious creatures that lived in the lakes and oceans of the Underdark. Squat and pudgy with spindly arms and legs ending in webbed hands and feet, the Kuo-Toas reminded Tal of toads that learned the trick of standing on their hind legs. Though relations were civil enough between the Drow and Kuo-Toas; most cities welcomed Kuo-Toa traders and the two peoples generally avoided making slaves of each other, still Tal loathed them. He considered them far too ugly to be allowed wander among the obviously superior Drow not to mention the fetid stench of rotting fish that clung to them. Tal hated the smell and taste of fish and the smell off Kuo-Toas made him nauseous, causing him to associate them with feeling sick, on top of everything else.
After Tal’s interruption the scout had gone on with his report, describing what little her had been able to see. He had seen only the one Kuo-Toa, but he’d heard several voices and the smell was too strong for there to be only one, besides he suspected the bottom of the chasm was flooded and a Kuo-Toan settlement was down there.
That was an unforeseen kink in Tal’s plans, he had feared something might be guarding his prize, just another reason for the band of adventurers he’d hired, but he hadn’t expected an entire fetid pool filled with those disgusting fish freaks to be in his way. Far too risky to try and fight their way in, Tal doubted they’d just hand it over to him and he’d nothing valuable enough to trade for it, so that left larceny? Stealth always was one of Tals favourite weapons.
Still impatient Tal interrupted the scouts report again, eager for the details he needed “So are there anyways across this chasm to the ruins?” The scout scowled again, obviously annoyed at the green horns interruptions but answered anyway. “Well I saw a rough trail down the side, might be able to climb down to the bottom, swim across and the just wander up through the fish folks little shanty town, looks like there are steps on their side that lead up to the ruins. Course if ye don’t want to draw their attention, to the right of the chasm as you enter it you can drop about… ten, fifteen feet to a ledge, follow along it and there’s a fallen pillar of rock that bridges the chasm. Couldn’t tell from where I was at, but ye might be able to cross the chasm that way and climb up the other side, not sure if the rocks stable enough for anyone to make it across. I wouldn’t advise tryin’ to get the lot of us across it.”
Tal thought this over for a moment as he considered his options. “So no one was guarding the chasm?” Again the scout just shrugged. “I only caught a glimpse of one of ‘em wandering about near the chasm. Could be they don’t know ‘bout the fallen column of rock bridging the chasm, maybe they don’t know that these tunnels connect to upper levels and people can get in this way. Or maybe they just don’t care enough to post guards that far from their settlement. You’re the mage, you divine the bloody answer.”
Tal ignored the other Drows tone as he settled on his next course of action, eventually deciding to attempt to sneak in and steal his prize off the Kuo-Toa. “Very well then, the rest of you can wait here, he can lead me back to this bridge and I’ll slip across alone and search for the artefact I’m after. If I’m not back in say… 6 hours assume I’m dead and do as you will.” The leader of the adventurers suddenly stepped forward, apparently displeased at the plan, for one obvious reason. “If you die, we don’t get paid the rest of our money! Why don’t you wait here and I’ll send some of the boys across to get this trinket of yours?”
Tal didn’t to seem to pay her much heed as he went about getting ready, picking up his staff and making sure his spell book and bag of magical ingredients were secure. “I have to go, only one with my particular knowledge and skills will be able to find what I’m looking for, your men would never recognise it, even if I drew them a picture.” Mostly because even Tal wasn’t entirely sure what it looked like, having only read a few descriptions, often vague, in the course of his research. “Furthermore I’ll go alone because there’s a better chance of not getting noticed and if I do get spotted I’ll have a better chance of using my magic to escape if no one else is in my way.”
Tal and the group’s leader argued for several more minutes, she kept trying to convince Tal not to go or to let some of them go along, though it was obvious her concern was for the missed profit should Tal die on her. However Tal was unwavering and insisted he go alone, citing the need for stealth, though in truth he worried these mercenaries were too gung-ho and eager for a fight. Eventually he had to threaten to use magic to restrain the others if they didn’t agree to his plan, having already seen what Tal was capable of when something got in the way of his quest, the mercenaries reluctantly agreed and let Tal go on alone.
So it was that the scout led Tal through the tunnels to the cavern and the chasm that he’d have to cross. Lying on his belly Tal stock his head over the edge and peered down, in the distant bottom Tal could make out faint lights that might have been a town of fish folk and the light reflected off the crests of waves showed the water that flooded the bottom. Peering over to the far side he could make out the ruins the scout described, it was hard to say what it had been, several sections had crumbled into loose masonry and at some stage part of the cave roof had collapsed, hiding much of the ruins from view at the angle Tal was at.
Getting up he nodded to the scout who then led Tal to an overhang just above the ledge that led to the column spanning the chasm. Taking his time Tal eased himself down onto the ledge and pressed his back against the wall as he made his way across the thin ledge. Once he was at the column Tal realised it was a stalactite that had fallen from the roof and became lodged in the chasm somehow. Climbing ontop, Talslowly eased his way across, moving on all fours for fear of loosing his balance on the slick rock and plummeting to the depths below. Moving across he became more confidentas the bridge widened, the pillar of rock was lodged solid against the walls of the chasm and showed no sign of collapsing or coming loose.
Reaching the far side Tal managed to find a spot where the chasm wall slooped enough for him to easily clamber up and out of the chasm. Taking a moment to catch his breath and make sure he hadn’t lost anything on his way, Tal started to creep towards the ruins. As he rounded a corner he caught his first glimpse of the Kuo-Toas, a group of five were standing around what seemed to be the only entrance to the ruins. Tal could feel presence of a strong magical field coming from within the ruins, it had to be what he was looking for, and it was almost in his grasp. Even as excited as Tal was, he wasn’t reckless; he needed something to distract the guards long enough for him to get in.
Leaning back out of sight, Tal fumbled in his pouch and pulled out several small copper pellets, as he twirled these in one hand he concentrated briefly and spoke a series of short phrases. Speaking the final phrase he tossed the pellets into the air where they sparked, a crackling ball of lightening forming about them as they held in mid air. With a quick gesture the ball of energy headed back towards the chasm and ducked just below the rim and following the edge for several yards before re-emerging and taking a roundabout way towards the Kuo-Toas standing guard. Tal took every care to ensure the guards couldn’t tell where the spell originated from.
Peeking round the corner again, Tal watched as the guards finally noticed the approaching ball of lightning. Puzzled at first the Kuo-Toans became alarmed as the ball sped into them, striking one in the chest. The struck Kuo-Toan made a gasping pained sound as he collapsed into a twitching pile, the ball already closing in on another of the guards. As the smell of ozone slowly replaced the fetid odour of rotten fish, the guards ducked and dived to avoid getting struck, those who were too slow let out agonising cries before being stunned to the ground where they lay twitching and moaning, until they regained their senses.
Eventually Tal redirected the crackling ball of energy, sending it in a random direction away from himself and the entrance. As he expected the guards gathered themselves up and went chasing after it, intent on finding the source of the attack, giving Tal the opportunity he needed. He only had a few moments before the ball went beyond the range of his abilities and snuffed out, so he didn’t waste a moment in hurrying to the entrance and rounding the corner, pausing just long enough to check that none of the guards had seen him. Content that none of the Kuo-Toas had been close enough to spot him, Tal went deeper into the ruins, closing on the aura of magic that taunted him and beckoned him...
To Be Continued?
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Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 11:24 am
12. Combat Experience
((Continuation of Post 11
You did read the last entry didn’t you? Cause if you didn't this one won't make much sense. . .))
As it happened, the route was simple enough to find, many of the passages were collapsed or lead to dead ends and Tal soon saw that the only clear way through was lit at regular intervals by masses of glowing fungus the Kuo-Toa cultivated in here. Ignoring the side passages and just following the trail marked by the fungus soon led Tal to a long narrow staircase which led down to a narrow hall. As he stepped into it Tal knew he was almost there, the aura of magic was so strong he could almost taste it on the air, but it was almost too strong, at least it was far stronger than anything he had expected to sense, it was also muddled by now Tal should be able to discern more about it’s nature, but the aura was confusing.
At the far end of the hall was a doorway that led to another short set of stairs that led to another room, Tal was surprised to see how brightly lit the stairs were, as something in the next room emanated a pale green light so bright Tal was forced to squint against the glow. Moving to stand against the edge of the doorway, Tal quickly stuck his head round and pulled it back again. He didn’t think anyone was in there but with that glow coming from within it was hard to be sure… Tightening his grip on his staff, Tal quickly ducked in through the door, a spell already half formed should he meet with any resistance.
The room was empty though, of people at least. As Tal relaxed and took in the room he was astonished to find he was standing in the middle of a vast treasure hoard of magical artefacts. This was the reason the magical aura seemed to permeate everything around and why he was unable to identify it, the aura was the combined magical energies of hundreds perhaps even thousands of magically imbued items. Ranging from enchanted swords and shields, magic rings, wizards wands, sorcerers staffs and items he had never seen before, in all his life Tal had never seen so many magical items, he could have opened a store and made himself insanely rich with all this.
Some of it was simple enough, common enchanted swords and rings, some he even recognised as bearing the distinctive mark of being of Drow origin. Examining one or two wands he easily identified the spells they carried, but then he’d pick up an item steeped in magic’s so complex he couldn’t begin to guess at there purpose. There was more here than he could ever carry away himself, but that thought brought him back to his real reason for being here, the book.
The whole point of this expedition had been to track down a very specific book of magic and now wasn’t the time to get distracted by a selection of random baubles. Searching the room, Tal saw that the Kuo-Toa had roughly heaped the items into piles according to what type of item it was. So in one corner was a pile of armour, beside it a dozen helmets were heaped and by another wall was a wide variety of weapons all stacked haphazardly. It was obvious the Kuo-Toa had little value or respect for the items they had hoarded here, not surprising Tal thought, they were even more theocratic that the Drow. In fact he wasn’t even sure he’d ever heard of a Kuo-Toan mage, their people only ever seemed to have divine magic users, so perhaps arcane magic had no use to them. In that case Tal wondered why they had gathered these items here in the first place.
After searching through the piles in the room, Tal eventually found a selection of scrolls and books heaped together. Unfortunately the room was damp and mouldy and not the best for storing manuscripts, several of the scrolls he picked up turned to mulch in his hands and one of the books was so mouldy and water damaged it was illegible. There were some books that seemed completely unharmed though; there innate magical nature offering them protection from the elements and it was one of these that caught his eye.
Several months ago as Tal had been browsing through a book he had happened upon in the library, he had found a reference to a very peculiar book of magic, the Tome of Books. Supposedly the book was enchanted such that its individual pages could contain an entire book, allowing one to carry an entire library of knowledge in just one book. The reference had peeked Tal’s interest and he had searched for more information aver since.
A number of copies were known to exist, but their locations either unknown or simple closely guarded secrets, but then he got a lead. He learned of one that had become lost in the depths of the Lower Dark, the previous owner had died and passed it on to one of her kin, only for the book to be lost when the Drow transporting it were ambushed. Tal managed to track down one of the men who had been assigned to guard that caravan and with a little persuasion managed to make him reveal the place they were ambushed. Using that as a starting point Tal used every form of divination he could to try and track down what happened to the book, until eventually he homed in on this place, the magical aura so strong he couldn’t pass up on the possibility. So hiring a band of mercenaries to aid him, Tal had set off to find one of the most sought after tomes of magic known to Drow.
How the Kuo-Toas had come to posses the book mattered little to Tal, he had it now or so he hoped. The book he held matched the description, bound in a blue leather supposedly made of dragons skin, the spine was bound in Mythril as were the corners and words in a language unknown to Tal were inlaid on the cover, again in Mythril. Opening the book, Tal flipped through the pages and became convinced this was what he had searched for, on each page was a picture of another book, along with the books title and a description of its contents. Tal was eager to test the Tomes abilities, but now was not the time, he had the book but he still had to get away safely.
Tal stowed the tome in the sling under his arm that he used for carrying his own spell book, it was a tight fit and a bit clumsy, but it would do for now. Edging his way towards the door, Tal paused as if a silent voice had called out to him. Looking back he starred longingly at the collection of artefacts behind him, there was no way he could carry it all and get away, but his greed refused to let him leave without at least some of it. Eventually he gave in and rushed back to grab up as much as he could from a pile of jewellery, rings, amulets, circlets he just grabbed what he could. But as he pulled free the first handful, the chain of an amulet he held caught on something causing a poorly stacked heap of shields to clatter to the ground, the resulting racket echoing through the halls and passageways.
Cursing Tal got to his feet and hurried to the stairs up, already he could hear voices and the sound of approaching footsteps and he doubted there was anyway out other than the way he came in. Running up the steps he then raced down the narrow hall and was halfway across when several Kuo-Toans appeared in the opposite doorway. Desperately Tal looked about for a hiding spot, there were a number of niches set in both walls, but none were deep enough for him to hide in. It was too late anyway; from the sounds of the Kuo-Toas it was obvious they had already spotted him.
Standing there Tal was only aware of two things the disgusting squat forms of the Kuo-Toa advancing on him, anger evident in their eyes and the feeling of the Tome of Books sticking into his side. Suddenly, just as when he had been faced with the Quaggoth, Tal felt a surge of resolve well up from somewhere, filling him with a new found determination to succeed. Taliesin’s face twisted into a scowl as he swung his staff towards the Kuo-Toa, a wind picking up out of no where and rapidly growing until a gale was blowing threw the hall. Taliesin’s clothes fluttered wildly in the wind as he stood motionless, but the Kuo-Toa were knocked off their feet by the ferocious blast of air and slammed back against the far wall.
As the Kuo-Toas staggered back to their feet, Taliesin took advantage of the opening and practically snarled as he called forth words of power, aiming the tip of his staff towards the group. A blue glow built up around the staff and then shot out as bolts of pale blue energy slamming into the lead Kuo-Toan, a moment later the bolts ricochet away slamming into the other members of the group. Taliesin maintained the assault for several minutes, the dazed Kuo-Toa helpless under the ferocity of the assault. When Taliesin had finally expended his energy into the spell and letup the attack the Kuo-Toas were in no shape to pursue him, most were lying there moaning and occasionally twitching on the floor but a few lay as still as death.
With out giving the prone figures another glance Tal hurried off up the steps to the ruins, the glowing fungi leading him back to the entrance as he rushed back towards safety. Every once in a while another group of the amphibious guards were come down through the tunnel, where possible Tal ducked down a side passage and hid until they passed, but when this wasn’t possible Taliesin hit them head on, holding back nothing as he unleashed blasts of fire and ice and lightning upon anything that got in his way.
As Tal emerged from the ruins he was exhausted, but at the same time sort of giddy as a kind of odd side effect to the adrenaline rush he was getting from all the combat practice he was getting. Casting spells at target dummies and other students was one thing, it was another to use magic in a real life or death situation. Looking about Tal was surprised and relieved to see that there weren’t any guards waiting at the main entrance, no doubt they had been one of the groups he’d passed or fought in the corridors of the ruins.
Deciding speed was preferable to stealth at this stage, Tal ran straight for the chasm and the bridge across. Reaching the edge of the chasm he leapt down onto the stalactite and rushed across, so caught up in his escape he almost missed the lone Kuo-Toa standing halfway across the bridge. Tal skidded to a halt and froze as the Kuo-Toa warrior started to advance, in his hands was a long staff at the end of which was a vicious looking pincher meant to grapple an enemy.
Backing away as the Kuo-Toa advanced, Tal groped at his waist for a small silver dagger, one of a pair he had owned nearly as long as he could remember. Holding it up before himself defensively, the Kuo-Toas merely sneered, thinking that Tal was making some petty attempt to fight despite his weapon being near useless against the long reach of the pincer staff. As he attacked, the amphibian had no idea Taliesin was actually using the blade as a focus for a spell, the tip of the staff’s pincers were mere inches from Taliesin’s chest, when a black aura enveloped the weapon. Suddenly the shaft of the staff twisted, warping around such that the pincers actually stabbed into the Kuo-Toan. Crying out in pain, the warrior wrestled with his own weapon as it tried to maul him causing him to loose his balance and plummet into the chasm. Unfortunately for Tal the creature cried out the whole way down, giving away Tal’s position to the Kuo-Toans searching for the intruder.
Not wasting another moment Tal hurried across the chasm and clambered up the other side. Standing on the edge he looked back to see a group of at least twenty Kuo-Toas racing towards the chasm, some were already starting across the bridge. Tal stood still for a moment as he racked his mind for a way to destroy the bridge; he’d already expended much of his power battling Kuo-Toans on the way out and with his pursuers so close had little time to think.
Suddenly struck by inspiration, Taliesin dropped his staff and pulled free a water skin and proceeded to pour some of the water into a cupped hand. Mumbling a short incantation Taliesin blew across his hand, his breath shot foreword, tinged with frost and ice and carrying more force than his lungs should have managed. The frost breath knocked into the Kuo-Toans, pushing them back and even knocking a few into the chasm bellow, more importantly the blast had left the pillar of rock slick with ice.
Picking up his staff and setting off again, Tal hoped the ice would last long enough to slow the Kuo-Toas until he could meet up with his guards and they could escape these tunnels.
To Be Continued?
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Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:11 pm
13. Bad Dreams
((this came to me while I was bored at work))
Tal looked around him, he appeared to be in a... what was teh word? For some reason Tal's mind felt groggy, like he was thinking with a head full of fluff. Whatever the word for it, this place was bright, brighter than anywhere Tal had ever been before and colourful, all around him bright vibrant colours glared at him. Looking down he saw a path going forward, with brightly coloured flowers lining the way, small multicoloured butterflies flapping between them. Beyond teh flowers rose up towering brown columns, that arched overhead, bright green leaves nearly blocking the clear blue sky above. Trees? Forest! That was where Tal stood, in a beautiful bright forest.
Looking forward Tal could make out something glinting in teh distance and moving as if being beckoned by some thing, Tal started down teh path. He wasn't sure if he had walked for five minutes or five hours, but Tal suddenly looked up to find himself entering a glade in the forest, in the center of which was a magnificent crystal clear lake. Towering mountains filled the distant horizon, with teh land in between the forest and the mountains was filled with groves of trees and fields of flowers, it was a stunningly beautiful sight.
Just then Tal heard splashing water and the sounds of sweet laughter, there at teh lakes edge a group of sun elves were cavorting and playing. spotting Tal they rushed towards him, but as Tal watched the sun glisten from their naked wet bodies he sensed no malice in their approach. As teh elves drew near Tal realised that they were all beautiful females and all very well endowed.
when they reached Tal they surrounded him and started guiding him towards teh lake, as they beckoned him, called to him, in sweet sing song voices. "Come with us Tal." "Play with us" "Yes play with us Tal!" "You'll love playing with us" "Yes! Yes! Love us Tal~" "Make love to us all! Do with us as you wish." "Let us pleasure you in ways you can't imagine"
The elves voices grew ever more lustful as they called out increasingly lewd and intimate acts, all teh while tugging and pulling at Tals clothes as well as fondling his most intimate parts. Reaching teh waters edge, Tal was pulled to the grass and stripped of the last of his clothes as teh lustful beauties descended on him....
Waking with a jolt Tal sat up straight in his bed, his breathing coming in sharp ragged gasps, his eyes starring off into space as his fingers dug into teh blankets so hard they tore teh fabric. Teh only sound he could hear was teh drumming of his panicked heartbeat pounding in his ears. Tal sat like for several long moments starring into space, into the dark; the familiar, comforting darkness of his room. It was only a dream... no it had been a nightmare, the worst Tal could ever remember having.
Dropping back down to teh mattress Tal found the sheets soaked in sweat. Sighing he got out of the bed and went to have a cold shower, in part to wash away the sweat and stench of fear, but also to wake him up. Tal had no intention of going back to sleep this night,
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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 10:46 am
14. Setting up shop Dropping heavily into the chair with a drawn out sigh, Taliesin let the broom he'd been using clatter to the floor beside him. Tal honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd worked this hard, but it was done at last, his new home was spotless. Looking around it was a bit sparse, but Tal could decorate it to his liking with time, besides he'd spent much of what he had already just buying up the building and getting the basics set up for his new enterprise.
The building was a bit small compared to the neighbouring building, but stood out a little by being an extra floor taller, it was also positioned right on the corner of an intersection, giving it a nice view down two of the roads that met there.
On the ground floor was the small reception hall, Tal had modified to act as his shopfront. Tal got away with it simply because he only had a small box of wares on display at any one time. Rather than wastes weeks, maybe months creating dozens of different rings and hoping he'd have the one a random customer might be looking for, Tal had opted for a more efficient approach. He put some of his best work on display, then if a visiting customer liked the quality of Tal's work Tal would custom make whatever type of ring they needed. Tal could even do it at a cheaper price than other merchants, since Tal cut costs by only making rings that would be quickly sold. Of course the downside was that customers had to wait and some weren't willing to do that, either due to necessity or preference they wanted the ring then and there and would head off to another better stocked store.
All in all though Tal felt this method made the best use of his time and resources, and if business was good, Tal could even hire on some additional workers to help him produce a surplus. But such ideas were still along way off, Tal still had to establish himself as a reliable ring enchanter and drum up some business first.
Behind that shop front, the rest of the ground floor was a cross between a smiths forge, a jewellers and an alchemists. This was the workshop where Tal made and enchanted the rings he sold, it also acted as the laboratory where he dabbled in various forms of magic, to various degrees of success.
On the first floor was the library, Tal had a nice collection of books. True since he had gotten the magical Tome of Books Tal carried many of his spell books about with him constantly, but many of the more mundane books Tal kept here in his library. this is where Tal did most of his reading and research and as such was the room he spent most of his time in. also on that floor was a small room Tal used as a kitchen, since he spent so much time in the library anyway and it was central to the rest of the building, it saved Taliesin a lot of time.
On the third floor were three small bedrooms, Tal only had one made up and one of the others he was using as a storage closet for equipment and materials he didn't have room for in his workshop. He was considering doing away with one of the walls to join two of the rooms into one spacious room.
The Stair case went upwards though into an attic room, while this room had a skylight that gave a marvelous view of the city around, Tal left it unused. For now it just contained all teh junk he'd found cleaning out the house, furniture, useless books and bots and pieces of brick-a-brack, left by the previous owner. Tal got uneasy when he was up there, the floor squeaked alarmingly with each step he took and he feared it might collapse from under him.
While that was the house as he bought it, tal had also started work on a basement. It was relatively easy work when you knew the right spells, he was just tunneling into teh rock that formed the floor of the cavern the city was built in. His only concern was that he might accidentally rupture one of teh tunnels that allowed sewage to flow from teh city.
Still it was all his and would do as a nice base of operations until he was in a position to afford something better. Getting up from his seat Tal trudged over to the table and picked up a phial of dust and some notes. teh only thing left to do was enact a few security precautions. Tal had in the course of teh last few weeks gotten on the bad sides of one or two assassins and it occurred to Tal that he'd sleep much better if he knew they couldn't visit him unannounced.
Tal proceeded to lace every door and window with spells, firstly an Arcane Lock to simply stop it being opened by others, then he added alarms to alert him should anyone force the locks somehow. Finally Tal went to every window and placed Fire Traps upon each, should anyone attempt to open them without the right command, they'd be blasted by a fireball. Perhaps not enough to kill, but it would certainly buy Tal vital time.
Happy that his new home was in order, as clean as he could get it and as safe as was physically and arcanely possible, Tal proceeded to pass out in his library and nap for a few hours.
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Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 1:40 pm
15. It's not Paranoia when you Know People are after you... Tonight Taliesin was going to do something he had been meaning to do for quiet sometime now and make his home and workshop as secure as possible. As it was there were a number of traps and alarms both arcane and mundane guarding every door and window in. Tal even had an explosive fireball waiting to go off if anyone tried climbing down his chimney. Still it wasn't enough, at least not for Tal, he could think of a way around each and ever one of his own defences and prudence, biased with a little paranoia, meant that if he could think of a way around them, he had to assume someone else could as well.
And Tal had good reason to fear someone was coming after him, true all Drow had enemies, but Tal seemed to have a knack for getting on the bad side of assassins in particular. First there had been Micarreth, true the assassin was now a student of sorts and Tal had a strong relationship with the assassins older brother, but Tal expected the boy still held a grudge. Who knew when Mica might decide he'd learned enough and try practicing some of the tricks he had learned out on Tal?
Then there was Vas'ryna, a thoroughly unpleasant woman Tal had, had the foul luck of crossing paths with. He had been out shopping for supplies to get his small business going when she had walked right into him and from there things had simply gotten worse. At the end she had backed down but not before almost pushing things to an all out brawl. Tal was confident he would have won that fight, still there was a big difference having your opponent in front of you and an assassin catching you by surprise; Tal disliked surprises.
So it was that Tal was now finally ready to cast the spell that would let him rest easy at night, Genius Loci. It had taken him weeks to properly master the incantation, not to mention save up enough to buy some of the spell components. Honestly, what spell really needed that much silver and mythril? Still with his life at risk Tal had been reluctant to cut corners, even if it meant he'd had to live on little more than bread and water recently. On that thought Tal decided he'd have to get Mas to bring him to dinner more often.
Pushing that thought aside for now Tal sat cross legged in his library, a thick red leather book positioned on his lap. He'd already finished the initial preparations, mixing the components to make a silver coloured paste that he had used to draw symbols and sigils in key locations around the building. Clearing his mind of distractions, Taliesin began the incantations needed to form the spell. He spent the next hour sat there, mumbling a complex series of words and arcane phrases.
Finally when he uttered the last phrase the air around him stared to hum, rising in pitch to a low whine that caused a slight ache in his ears. Then there was a sudden flash of light, so bright it blinded Tal and caused a sharp pain to shoot through his eyes. The light and sound faded in moments and once it was gone Tal was left with the impression of another presence in the room as if the entire building was watching him. True it was rather creepy but at least it meant the spell had worked.
Glancing through the notes in the book, Tal read that it was at this stage that he implanted the task of the spell. Felling a little odd talking to an empty room Taliesin cleared his voice and spoke to the empty air in front of him. "Repel anyone besides myself that tries to enter the building by any means other than the front door. And kill anything that tries to do me harm." Tal had given a lot of thought to the wording, too vague and he risked the spell turning on any potential customers, or even himself, yet he still had to make sure it got the job done.
Getting to his feet Tal closed the book and left it on a nearby table, at some stage he'd have to get around to cleaning those symbols off the floor, walls and ceiling, but that could wait till he had rested. For now he intended to relax, knowing that nothing could come at him unawares again. Should anyone trigger the command he had set, then in theory a fire elemental should manifest on this very spot and carry out his instructions. In theory anyway...
Tal began to wonder if he should invite Mica over sometime soon and see if he could get him to help test the spells effectiveness. Like asking him to try sneaking in through a window or something, Tal would just forget to mention his new security measure.
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