RP:Creative Differences in the Council

From HollowWiki

Part of the Lies Within Us Arc


This is a Mage's Guild RP.



Summary: When he discovers what has become of the Larketian child, Odhranos confronts Brenwyn, leading to a brief but heated exchange.

(NPCing by Josleen)


Mage Tower

Odhranos runs headlong down the corridor, almost stumbling as he transitions from the granite flagstones of the inner tower to the polished timber of the outer corridors. Colleagues and apprentices are moved aside as delicately as the mage can manage without losing speed; no doubt the Magister's already shaken reputation is being damaged further, but Xalious damn and blast it, who even cares anymore! Odhranos, panicked and wild-eyed, screeches to a sudden halt outside Brenwyn's office, and with a swing of a clawed hand, the lock erupts, tearing the recently replaced door open. Odhranos stalks through the door, not even asking permission to enter, slamming the door shut behind him, the lock contorting into some semblance of closed, with a squeal of tortured metal. Odhranos strides up to the heavy bankers desk and slams his palms down on the mahogany surface, his dichromate eyes blazing with frenzied energy at the Administrator across the table. "Larket will have our heads!" Odhranos manages to spit out, his words barely intelligible through the panicked heaving of the man's chest. "And the heads of every member of this Guild right after! Xalious screw your pride, Brenwyn! You'd rather have us go to war than let the Academy lord a miniscule win over us?! Are you mad?!" Odhranos covers his face with his hands, raising his face to the roof as he groans agonisingly. "Why couldn't you have just let Larket have him! Or, Xalious forsake the notion, even have feigned some actual interest in the boy's safety, instead of leaving him unattended?!" Odhranos drops his hands with a bang to the tabletop and roars at Brenwyn with a fury that would have dragon's pause. "The child is dead! I found his corpse in the forest at the base of the tower! Our only hope of resolving this peacefully, is now lying dead, with a broken neck, in a f***ing bush!"


Brenwyn snaps out of a meditative trance and quickly throws a lid onto a rune-inscribed bronze urn on his desk. His hisses as he looks up sharply to confront whoever dares barge in unannounced. “ODHRANOS!” he barks, but the terramancer pays him no mind as he vomits words onto the brightly polished desk that sits between them. As Odhranos roars back, Brenwyn slams his own hands on the table and stands up forcefully. His anger is briefly disturbed by the news that the boy is dead. A hiccup of panic flashes in his own dark stare, but the doubt is quickly replaced by the initial rage. “You forget yourself -- a new habit of yours, of late! You rolled over like a submissive dog in front of that idiot Macon, and now you come here barking at me?! You forget your allegiances. No. Worse. You’re a coward who only shows courage when you feel safe from punishment, but let me correct your assumptions, Odhranos, you will be spared no punishment here,” he bangs his fist on the desk, “You’ve made a mockery of my faith in you, of the Council’s promotion, and now you come here blaming me for the death of a boy you -also- failed to protect! You’ve failed! SIT DOWN!” He bares his teeth as he glares at the newly minted Magister Templi. “What did you do with the body? Who else knows of this?”


Odhranos grits his teeth as the Administrator rises to his offense. Odhranos is jittery with the energy of adrenaline, as much from this impending confrontation as from his panicked flight here, the man is no doubt in the grips of thorough shock, but he intends to ride this wave, rather than let it crash over him once again. At Brenwyn's accusation of cowardice, Odhranos rears back and howls with laughter, his shoulders convulsing with each cackle. "A coward when safe from punishment! Brenwyn, I took you for an egotist, but I was unaware that you were deaf. Which one of us offered themself as martyr so that this conflict might possibly be delayed, huh!? My allegiances have been made very clear, I serve this Guild to the death." Odhranos leans across the table and glares in the administrators eyes with a baleful stare. But let me be very clear, Administrator. I serve the Guild. Not your deathwish of an agenda." Odhranos holds the gaze for a heated moment, before he lifts his head and folds his arms in front of his chest. "I did what any sensible person would do. I blocked off the scene of the crime and left the body untouched. As for who else knows, Veneficus D'Chath was accompanying me when I found the boy." With his arms still folded, Odhranos looks scornfully towards the chair behind him, then turns his attention back to the Administrator. Whatever needed to be discussed, it could be done standing.


Brenwyn rolls his eyes at the word martyr. “There is no heroism in martyrdom. It is the same as surrender! You made an offer nobody wanted, not even the Larketians! But you didn’t know you were worthless as an offering because you are young, inexperienced, and lack judgment!” He thinks for a moment when Odhranos reveals that Magik knows. “You should have killed him the Veneficus the moment he saw the body,” Brenwyn says straight faced. When he sees Odhranos react he snaps almost performatively, like he baited Odhranos into reacting with shock simply so he could say this: “Oh don’t look at me like that, I’m not serious. Do you really think so low of me, Odhranos? You’re having a complete mental breakdown. You can’t tell what’s up or down, what’s a joke and what’s not. It is clear to me that you do not have the resolve, the experience, or the wit to handle any of this.” He shakes his head ruefully. “You’re not equipped to handle these politics. Your skillset is in research and if was my mistake to believe you could govern. So I AM taking responsibility. You need to go. Take a sabbatical -- this is not a suggestion, but a command. Go focus on your research, and leave Xalious until you hear from me again.”


Odhranos is unsurprisingly taken aback at Brenwyn's blunt suggestion of killing the Veneficus merely for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. When the Administrator revealed it to be a baited joke, Odhranos bares his teeth in a furious snarl. "Quite fine of you to make your diagnosis this late, Administrator, when anyone could have told you the same months ago! Working under you has driven me to this state and it's a wonder I hadn't snapped sooner!" Odhranos grinds his teeth, so much that he can feel the reverberations in his skull as he resists the urge to roar obscenities at the elf across fr him. "I could have told you that I was unfit for politics, but oh, how the Great Administrator was far to possessed with weaving another fly into his web, he neglected to notice what'd he'd woven was a stone." Odhranos scoffs, glowering at Brenwyn with a smouldering fury. "Well I've had my fill of your weaving, and I suspect the hole I leave is plenty enough for you to fall through. So let me leave you with some parting advice. For whatever vestiges of a sane man reside in your prideful corpse." The mage's mouth quirks up at the edge as he raises his chin towards Brenwyn. "I'm just the beginning. If you think this Guild will roll over and gut itself on Larket's blade just to sate your ego, well, I just hope you have your affairs in order." Odhranos turns to leave, prying the destroyed lock open with a gesture, turning to shoot one last quip over his shoulder. "Oh, and don't bother wasting paper sending your insipid missives to me. I'll return when I see something worth coming back to." With that Odhranos walks out the door, and minutes later, can be seen striding through the doors of the Guild tower. Gone are the fine soft grey robes of office, the sash of speckled violet. Odhranos walks out the doors in the rough grey cloth he entered in, staff in his hand, bag slung over his back and golden cage slung under his arm. Descending the steps, the mage lets slip a world weary sigh, before venturing into the forest to the north of the Guild Tower, vanishing from view.


Brenwyn ‘s lips remain pursed throughout Odhranos’s initial tirade. The smug look wavers only a little when Odhranos suggests that The Guild will resist Brenwyn. Briefly the elf wonders how much Odhranos knows? But he quickly puts the paranoia out of mind. Once Odhranos has left, he lets loose a long, satisfied sigh. The terramancer has been unwittingly refocused on Brenwyn’s priority, the administrator is sure of it. That’s the ultimate victory here. Sure, there’s a couple loose ends to deal with, namely Magik, Kaaname, the dead boy, Macon. Nuisances, all of them, flies in his soup. His goals extend far beyond the reach of idiots and idiot kings… He briefly allows himself the indulgence of savoring what he has just achieved. He’s winning. He grins to himself at the fact.