[Alliance] Chapter Two: Session Fourteen
July 19th
0:00 Jumping back to the written exam, Uther is also taking it. He can’t help but be a tad concerned, because some of them are a bit advanced. He makes as good as a guess as he can at several of them.
Vel had seemingly had to slow herself down, and Theo looks shocked, as he apparently ran out of time.
In the practical exam, Uther picks firebolt, greenflame blade, and mage hand. Uther manages to strike the targets with a good deal of accuracy in regards to firebolt. Magister Duskwither then summons some old brooms. Uther focuses, and his weapon ignites. He lunges forward and swings in. However, right as the weapon cleaves in, he underestimated the agility of the animated broom, and he just narrowly misses it. He strikes again, and the broom dances around him, and Magister Duskwither has a curious look on his face. Uther swings again, but once again misses.
Duskwither comments that Uther’s ability to control the flame is adequate, but he needs to not underestimate the agility of small creatures.
Duskwither then places a quill on a desk, and he causes several objects to float around, forming an obstacle course. He tells Uther to retrieve the quill without touching anything else.
Uther does, and his mage hand bumps into a book. He winces as Duskwither writes something down.
For his tiered spell, Uther chooses shield. Duskwither tells him to prepare himself, and an aura of energy forms around his hand. He hurls the first spell at Uther. Uther is able to block the brunt of it. Uther is able to block the second spell he casts completely.
Duskwither then hurls 5 arcane missiles at Uther, and he manages to block most of them, but 2 managed to slip by.
Duskwither makes some notes, and Uther goes back to his seat. He informs them they can speak amongst themselves.
0:18
They all got their results back. Both Uther and Vel passed. Theo, however, got a really, really low score on the written portion. He just missed the mark.
Vel and Theo try to appeal to Duskwither, and he relents, informing Theo that if he fails that poorly on any other exam he will be dropped. The group then leaves, and they go to gather their supplies for the year. Theo mentions his embarrassment on his performance, and Vel simply informs him it wouldn’t happen again.
The kits that they got included alchemist kits and several notebooks, as well as a scholar’s pack. They are also given little stones that are connected to the various dormitory sections of the spire.
Uther and Theo are roommates.
Vel, however, gets a keystone to an already occupied dorm.
When Vel arrives to her dorm, her roommates half is completely covered in black sheets, black curtains, and the like. She informs her that as long as “Thalia” stays on her side, they wouldn’t have problems. Her name is Levia Wildflight.
Vel tells her that’s fine, and then she goes to regroup with Uther and Theo.
0:36
During the first week, Vel is working on actively creating a tracking spell that can be used to keep track of an item (as well as helping Theo study). She gets about two thirds of the way done.
Uther, meanwhile, focuses on blending in while they attend the classes.
The three instructors are Kethas Morningvale, a stuttering, timid elf with thick glasses. However, he’s far from a pushover, as he immediately presents a pop quiz on the first day.
The second instructor is Gladia Autumnshard, who is always late and is very loud. She has fiery red hair cropped short, and she has the scent of brandy and strong alcohol wafting around her. On the first day, she had the glass throw down their quills and follow her outside.
They are doing laps.
Vel’s roommate is having a hard time, and is panting and red faced, and Vel goes to make friends and uses cryomancy to keep them both cool. Levia informs her, “You’re alright, Thalia.”
The last instructor is rather notorious for picking favorites. The flirty casanova was flirting with her constantly, but doesn’t seem to have any setbacks for doing so.
Throughout their interactions over the three days, they observe several individuals.
Allien Oddfluke is very clumsy, but eager, though he frequently doesn’t get the answers right.
Du’thema Startwist is effectively a male Vel who is taking his schooling very seriously, and has straight black hair and glasses.
Enrian Silverfall is one of the most popular kids in class.
Win’thas Keenblossom is constantly sleeping, and he barely pays attention. However, he manages to slide through. It’s pretty certain he probably deals drugs.
Kemir Eagerhold is very strange. Vel has caught him playing with a fly in the room on one than occasion. He seems to whisper to it, and he constantly asks strange questions. When speaking of conjuration magicks, he has asked things like if it’s possibly to conjure an additional arm.
Kelili Wildshine is constantly passing notes and frequently never pays attention. She seems to be friends with Kinalia, the instructor.
Aure Azurecloud has fluffy auburn hair, and she always seems to look out the window or sleep. She says that “she was dreaming about the class,” but she frequently has good grades.
There’s Levia, of course.
Zealeane Flareblade is an aspiring musician.
Jaeli Silvertrick has pink hair and is always fidgeting. She seems to be the sportiest girl.
After the first day of classes, they hear Theo say “Hey” as he is shoved by Enrian. Enrian comments he should watch where he’s going.
Uther steps in his way. Enrian said he should watch where he’s going. Uther said he was standing still. There is some back and forth. There’s a lot of grandstanding. Vel also pipes up.
Enrian claims they don’t know who they are talking to, and Vel comments that his name must not have spread as far as he thought it did.
They continue back and forth, and Enrian storms off, but as he tries to leave, he finds his keystone is gone. Levia has it. She comments that he should pay more attention.
Enrian storms over to her, grumbling, gets the keystone, and left.
Uther, Theo, and Vel then leave.
1:03
Meanwhile, Tess and Vincent are working to uncover things amongst the nobility. Tess had mozied around the Withering Vineyard, and got the attention of an older woman.
She comments that Tess was far from home, and Tess said that she was just traveling as she had a goal to go around the continent at least once in her life. The elf said that was wonderful, though she was curious. She asked Tess if she wanted some work.
She introduced herself as Cedrea Velvetwish.
She guides Tess away as the work isn’t something that she wanted to just spread around in the open. Tess follows her to a small, but nice establishment. Cedrea explains that she was offering the opportunity to be an escort, as people would be very intrigued by a human in these lands, and she could certainly hear some things that way.
Tess asks what she’d be doing, and Cedrea tells her that would be up to her to set her limits. Tess then agrees, and Cedrea starts to get her set up. She also introduces Tess to her daughter, Sharana. Thus, Tess has contacts in the Company of Dusk, a brothel in Duskwither Spire.
1:25
Vincent, meanwhile, is going around looking for information, and realized he lost track of one night. When he returned to the tavern he was called “bench slayer,” and was teased further.
The proprietor shoos him off, informing him that he isn’t welcome back after what he did last night.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t a good week for Vincent getting info.
1:32
About halfway through the week, Jaina comes back. She had gone to one of the neighboring towns. She grabs Vel and Uther and has them return to her room.
She’s reporting her success. She pulls out two matching amulets. They are amulets of proof against detection. She also asks about Theo. Vel reassures her that he can be trusted.
July 25th
The group meets up somewhere inconspicuous.
Arator informs them that there is only one man working at the chapel, and Arator has been helping him out a lot. Uther mentions no one has figured out he’s a human.
Rowan has chosen to lend his support the barracks. They didn’t bat an eye at the idea of a spellbreaker helping.
They continue to exchange their information, and Jaina informs them she is going to return to Lordaeron for a brief time to try and make sure news of this assassination attempt doesn’t spread.
About halfway through the week, everyone hears a voice in their heads.
It’s Thal’ena.
She wanted to say thank you, and that she was safe. She then also thanks Gil directly. She said that she’s really far away right now, but the people there are really nice.
She also mentions that Nori is also heading back, and her mother, Lana’thel, was released, and both Lana’thel and Thalorian want to help where they can.
Thal’ena then explains that the night of the demon summoning she was with some friends, and they said they knew some people that could maybe get her mother out. Thal’ena fell for it. However, when Gil went through the portal to fight the demon, she had been taken away.
So the Thal’ena at the meeting hadn’t been her.
Gil asks her what friends she had talked to, and Thal’ena said they probably wouldn’t be around anymore. But if they go to a certain brothel, just say that she sent them, and they may be able to help.
Vel asks if it was the “Siren’s one” and she confirms. Vel sighs.
Thal’ena bids them fare well.
They discuss things further, and it’s presented that Gil can be one of the only ones that can access the brothel currently.
Tess starts to pursue her position at the brothel. Her first “client” is the groundskeeper at the academy, and he seems very stressed. As he hands Tess a glass of wine, she notices his hands are bright red and he seems to have burn scars on it. Tess asks about it.
The groundskeeper explains that it’s people like him who keep the academy floating, though they get no appreciation for it. He explains maintaining the crystals is difficult and dangerous. Tess thanks him for the hard work, and they continue talking. Apparently the crystals have been unstable.
The groundskeeper explains there are three power crystals that keep the Duskwither satellites floating. All the satellites are connected to one of the three crystals. The groundskeepers are there to keep them in control.
However, the fluctuations are more frequent currently.
The heat hasn’t been helping.
Tess keeps praising him, and eventually the man suggests they move upstairs.
Tess isn’t a virgin anymore by the end.
July 28th
2:00
Tess takes a day off because it’s the full moon. They manage to find a room and barricade her in it. As soon as she was transforming, Jaina manages to cast sleep on her, nullifying the effect.
2:05
2:19
Vel does tutoring. She makes money.
One of the individuals that takes Vel up on it is Levia. After they are done, she then mentions she is going to go out on a walk. She mentions how nice it is to go out at night. Just her and the night sky. No one is judging her. It’s nice.
“Thalia” asks her if she wants company, but she declines. She starts to ask her something else, but waves it off and leaves. She doesn’t come back until three or four in the morning.
Uther spends the time to brush up on his magic. He starts to get really confident. And then comes a lesson on divination, and Uther realizes just how far out of his element he actually is.
Meanwhile, Vincent changes up his disguise, and then goes to do some gambling. He manages to find some gambling rings. Namely, the Guardians of Eternal Spring barracks, after dark, doubles as a gambling hall.
He lost some money on dice, but regained some on mana wyrm fight betting.
However, the last night he is there, and elf enters. He’s a hot shot with silver hair and a low-cut shirt. It’s Enrian. He looks at Vincent as he’s gathering his winnings.
He comments that he looks like a high stakes better. He asks if he was planning on placing anymore bets that evening. Vincent comments perhaps.
Enrian said he was going to enter his own mana wyrm, a silvery creature, against the top mana wyrm. At the stakes of 100 gold pieces.
Another individual steps forward, and a hobo of an elf steps forward and he said he’d take him up as his mana wyrm is basically undefeated.
Vincent puts a bet in on it. The mana wyrms square off. The purebred one, Enrian’s, bites into the larger one, and then in a flash, it disappears. There’s just arcane dust on the ground. Everyone is surprised.
There’s a subtle grin to the drop-out, Win’thas Keenblossom. Something unnerving.
Enrian storms up and demands what he did, as he doesn’t even feel his familiar anymore. He grabs the burn out, but the guy tells him to let go. Enrian runs out.
Vincent pokes around a bit, and uncovers that the other guy was Win’thas, a supposed drug dealer and current student.
3:05
Gil heads back to the brothel in Silvermoon. When he arrives, there are people around the brothel chanting and protesting. “No respite, no Light. No warlocks, no night.”
Gil is stopped by a man holding a symbol of the Holy Light as Gil goes to enter, asking if he would go and offer patronage to the place given the stories. Gil retorts with “Well. I wanna see what they got.”
When he gets inside, the proprietor is talking to a captain of the Eternal Spring, asking him to break this up as the singular incident was dealt with. The captain said he couldn’t do so, especially with the rumors and missing people.
The captain leaves, and then the proprietor greets Gil. He then recognizes him as the Farstrider that was present during the night with the demon.
The proprietor goes on a small rant, mentioning the ridiculous claims, like himself being a warlock. He asks why GIl was there.
Gil says Thal’ena pointed him there.
The proprietor said that Gil was a bold man. He has him follow him, and asks if Thal’ena was okay. Gil confirms. He asks him what he knew about the night Thal’ena was taken.
The elf explains that Thal’ena never worked there, but she was friends with a lot of the girls there. She would visit periodically. She had come by that night, speaking with some of the girls, though he didn’t recall who. She seemed upset, likely because of the situation involving her mother. She was rather desperate.
The proprietor explains the incident several years ago. A wealthy man had taken a liking to Thal’ena, and overstepped his boundaries several times. He was powerful with a lot of connections. However, luckily, tragedy struck, and his fortune dwindled. So clearly, Thal’ena wouldn’t want her mother to suffer. They have fought, but she cares deeply for her parents.
The proprietor then bonders something, and mentioned that Gil had claimed they destroyed a demon that had impersonated a girl there. He asked who it was. Gil gives the description.
The proprietor mentions that if she was an entity like Gil had claimed… Thal’ena was close to many, including the woman. The proprietor couldn’t be certain, but if it were possible, it’s possible that the woman--the succubus--offered her a way out, which lead Thal’ena to her capture.
Gil asks if any of the other girls knew more, and the proprietor said they may be able to tell him more about Cenelia. However, they are terrified. The man offers Gil a deal. If he can break up the protest, he would let Gil speak to them.
Gil agrees.
He goes back out, and he starts to talk to the priest. The man argues with him, saying there could be other demons, and Gil presents that there may be some among the crowd. Some people look concerned.
They start to debate, and Gil counters that spreading fear and the like isn’t very within the tenents of the Holy Light.
Some of the protestors pause, and they start to mutter that Gil may be right. They ultimately start to leave.
One of the Guardians of Eternal Spring thanks Gil for his quick thinking. The Guardian explains that the city is at a boiling point, and Gil says that this entire situation is exactly what the warlocks want.
Gil goes back inside, and the proprietor thanks him.
He is permitted to talk to the girls, and he asks about Cenelia’s background. She was very vague. They thought it was a bit strange that she believed her so quickly, though, and she seemed capable of powerful magic, though the girls never pressed. However, one of them saw Cenelia go to an estate of a certain magister, though they didn’t know the name.
Her clientele was varied, and she got several return visitors. However, there was a core group that didn’t want to meet with anyone but Cenelia.
She didn’t seem to have any family, however.
However, Gil follows the girl back to the magister’s place. Or at least, she tries to lead him. She gets a bit turned around. However, she gets him to some estates, and is quite certain it is one of three.
One belongs to Magister Rommath Pyrewing. A second belongs to magister Zanridel Freeshadow. The last is a Lorvaen Runesight.
While there, Gil tries to sense portals, and gets nothing. However, when he senses for demons, he senses two. They are coming from the direction of the Runesight estate.
Gil goes back to the ranger enclave, and he encounters his aunt Vereesa. He informs her what he found, and she said Runesight was preparing to depart the next morning. He also informs her one of the girls from the brothel had followed the demon to his estate.
3:59
The next morning, Vereesa informs Gil she pulled some strings, and they are now on the team. They go to meet with Runesight, who expresses that he hopes their familial ties won’t interfere. Vereesa and Gil reassure him they won’t. Caleron and Zaeneas are also there. Runesight mentions he also hired a mercenary who may know the seedier routes “Vel” may have followed.
It’s Valeera, though Gil doesn’t recognize her directly, but he recognizes the name.
Runesight is a diviner, specifically, and he is seeking looking for the dagger that Vel supposedly had. Gil senses for demons, and he senses one with them, but is unable to see it.
Gil presents that Vel likely wouldn’t go to anywhere with arcane sanctums or the like, as it would probably be too obvious, and Runesight comments that’s possible, but mentioned there are some hives, like Duskwither, which would be folly not to check.
