RP:Rock, Paper, Fire?

From HollowWiki

This is a Mage's Guild RP.



Summary: Thag applies to the Mage's Guild, hoping to be accepted as an apprentice. Upon meeting Odhranos, and after a surprise visit from Quintessa, Thag faces down the Spellblade-swinging Steward and the Pumice-producing Provost in a low-stakes duel of magic.




Dear Odhranos Kerrigan

I hope this letter finds you well and in good health. I do not believe we have met, so my name is Thag, a high elf. I wish to study and master the spells and abilities of arcane magic. During my travels, I have encountered one of the guild members, Lanlan, and he told me to speak to you if I was interested. If I am able to join, I will be sure to follow the rules and respect other and higher ranked guild members

Thank you for reading this letter

Thag Kkalog



The Mage Tower

Odhranos sits crosslegged near the entrance of the Mages Tower, enjoying the late evening sun as it peeps over the mountaintops and warms his face. The terramancer breaths calmly, savoring the break from his office and his endless corrections. He keeps one eye half-open, watching the winding gravel path that leads to the Tower's front steps, so as to be ready to greet the expected arrival when they make their appearance


Thag approaches the Mage Tower, spotting Odhranos at then enterance. He makes his way to the terramancer, and when he does, he greets him with a nervous "hello"


Odhranos climbs to his feet, dusting his robes as Thag approaches. "You must be Thag. It's a pleasure to meet you." The terramancer extends his hand towards the elf for him to shake. "My name is Odhranos, I'll be your interviewer for this admission today." Odhranos gestures towards the steps ascending behind him. "I thought it would be nicer to conduct the interview out here, since the weather is so good today. It would be a waste to be squirreled away in my tiny office with sun like this. That is, if you don't mind?"


Thag "It's a pleasure to meet you too" Thag responds. "And I don't mind at all. I love the warm weather"


Odhranos smiles. "Wonderful! Right, let's get the dreary paperwork out of the way, so we can get to the interesting stuff quicker!" The sunlight seems to have revitalized the academic, who stomps energetically up the steps to where he left his satchel. Fishing out a sheaf of paper, along with a corked inkwell and quill, the mage returns back down the stairs, before sitting himself on the second last step, stretching out his legs with a groan. "Right so! May I ask your full name?" The mage uncorks the inkwell and has his quill poised over the first page


"My full name is Thag Kkalog" Thag responds


Odhranos begins writing, the frowns slightly. "Ehh, hmm, give me a moment, my spelling of elvish surnames is a bit rusty. How does... this look?" Odhranos turns the sheet towards Thag. Written in cursive Common script is the name "Thag Kakelog". "I feel like my spelling is off. How do you spell it?"


Thag says "It's spelled: K, k (two Ks), a, l, o, g. Kkalog"


Odhranos nods, correcting the error with a quick scratch of his quill. "Perfect, thank you. Right, so, could you outline for me what level your magical education is at your current state? What sort of magic you employ, where your strengths lie, etc."


"i've only learned the fire bolt spell. I met a mage on the side of the road once doing these cool magical spells, so I went up to him and asked if I could learn one of his spells", Thag said "And for the strengths... to be honest, I don't think I have any!"


Odhranos nibbles the end of his quill, then breaks into a smile. "It's a good staple spell to begin with. The pyromancers will be glad to hear that they'll be getting a new inductee." Odhranos jots down some quick notes, before shrugging towards Thag. "We all start from somewhere. There was a time when I was in your position, with only the skills I learned from a street firethrower. Part of the mission of our Guild is to educate you and help you discover your own abilities. So, no worries there." Odhranos reads over his existing notes, twiddling his quill as he does so. "Anything else of note that we should be aware of? Any particular goals in mind that the Guild could be of assistance for?"


Thag || After a moment of thinking, Thag turned to Odhranos."I always liked to be a pyromancer, but I also think being an electromancer would be cool to!", he said with a smile.


Odhranos raises his eyebrows curiously. "There is an overlap between the domains of flame and electric, so you are on the right path if that is your end goal. I'll see if I can put in a word with some of the stewards, there are a few that specialise in electromancy, they'd be delighted to introduce you to the art." Odhranos jots down some final comments before getting to his feet. "Right! That's the majority of the boring formal work done with. Now, lets get a look at your magic, shall we?" Odhranos beckons Thag to follow as he begins walking around the base of the tower, towards the open verge of grass that forms the border between the Mage's Tower grounds and the forested foothills of the Xalious Mountains. "If electromancy is the field you would like to study, then one skill you will need to perfect is accuracy. Electromancers are some of the fastest and powerful mages there are, but only because they can tightly control where and how they direct their magic. Lax control can result in harm to yourself, or allies who happen to be standing too close. And I can tell you from experience, arc lightning hurts like nothing else." Odhranos raises a hand, and from the middle of the field, a cluster of apple-sized stone shards burst out of the dirt. "I'm going to form these into a ring. Your task is to get a fireball to sail through the middle of the ring, without hitting the sides. Do you think you can manage that?"


Thag hesitated "um, I don't know, but I can try!"


Odhranos clenches his fist towards the floating shards, and with a dry scrunching noise, the stone melds together, forming a hoop about the size of a grapefruit. "Take as much time as you need, and as many attempts as you need. Perseverance is as much a skill as raw talent is."


Quintessa follows behind to watch, finding a nice place against the tower where she could judge the new initiate with her own eyes. Plus it made sense to watch how Odhranos handled recruitment since the responsibility might one day be left in her clawed hands. With an expressionless gaze, Quintessa brought a clove cigarette to her mouth before lighting it with a simple cantrip; A flame conjured by the snap of her fingers. If this elf, Thag, could pick up firebolt from a wandering magician, then perhaps he had the talent for much more. Fire and lightning were also on her preferred list of spells, so she wanted to see what the guild was working with.


After a little concentration, Thag produces an orb of fire and carefully directs it to the ring of stones. He slowly raises it above the circle and lowers it inside. The flame just barely toutched the stones, putting little burn marks on them. As soon as the flame was centered, Thag stopped producing the flame, then sat down, exausted from concentrating so much, and glad that he did it on his first try


Odhranos, oblivious to Quintessa's quiet observance, strokes his chin thoughtfully as Thag plys his craft. The benefit of the practical part of the interview was that as much could be told about a person from their magic as from talking to them. In Thag's case, the methodical way with which he maneuvered the flame into the ring of stone spoke volumes about his way of handling himself. His instinctive response was careful, that would stand to him. But unfortunately, Odhranos would have to press him further to learn more. "Very well done. Now, lets see can you do it while your target is moving." Odhranos gestures with a wave, and the ring spins away, floating gently through the air in a wide circle, spinning slowly.


Quintessa gives a silent nod of approval as she flicks her ashes. The changeling would have to offer her services as a tutor sometime. Better to help mold them early on than have to correct mistakes later, at least that's how Quintessa saw it. One day she'd finally get to take an apprentice under her wing personally, but for now she was content sharing what she could with the less practiced mages.


Thag Producing another flame, Thag concentrated as hard as he could, willing his ball of fire to chase after the ring of stones, almost like a race. Knowing his orb had to go inside the ring, he raised it above the hoop while trying to keep up with it, then made it go faster, until it was directly above the ring. When he was ready, Thag tried to quickely lower the flame into the stones, but failed, touching the sides. "Dang", he mumbled to himself and tried again. this kept going until his fourth try, where he finally got his orb to the center, without touching the sides.


Odhranos can't help the corners of his mouth from turning up. This is the reason he signed up for the job. Not endless corrections, or the countless tiring lectures. No, it was working alongside other mages, learning from them as much as he taught, that was what Odhranos had lost touch with. "Huh. Maybe I will look into those apprenticeships again later." The terramancer mumbled to himself, before returning his attention to the present as Thag's firebolt sails gracefully though the centre of the ring. Odhranos claps enthusiastically. "Fantastic work, Thag. You adapt quickly, and you persevere when challenged. You could make a fine apprentice." Odhranos' smile quirks and a slightly mischievous grin creeps across the Provost's face. "Hmm, I think one more challenge should just about do it." The mage turns to go back to the front of the tower, only now noticing Quintessa's arrival. "Ahh, Quin! I didn't realize you were around."


Quintessa smiles at Odhranos before blowing a plume of smoke above her head. "I'm always around," she says cryptically, "Just stepping outside for some fresh air. The show is just an added bonus." The changeling flashes a fanged smile at Thag. "God work out there. You show a lot of potential."


Thag smiles back " Thanks!", very proud of himself


Odhranos eyebrows lift and he grins. "I shall have to remember that next time I have a pile of corrections to do and some students come knocking. You're just down the hall, after all, I'm sure you could handle a few stressed apprentices." Odhranos chuckles as he turns to Thag. "Thag, may I introduce Baroness Quintessa Dragana of Vailkrin, Arcane Steward of the Guild, Spellblade instructor and soon-to-be-published academic author." Odhranos bows flamboyantly as he gestures towards Quintessa with a playful glint in his eye. "I have to fetch something, I'll be back momentarily." The terramancer waves over his shoulder as he strides off around the curve of the tower's base, and out of sight.


"Nice to meet you then, Baronness Quintessa" Thag says


Quintessa tilts her head at the titles listed off in her name and she nods with approval at his ability to recall most of the ones she used. "...And Warden of the Dark Forest," The changeling adds to teach Odhranos before he excuses himself and disappears out of view. Left with the new recruit, Quintessa sets her gaze upon him and gives him a slight bow of her head. "The pleasure is mine," the baroness says as she snuffs the cigarette against the base of the tower. "Thag, was it? I overheard some of your interview and decided to follow you out here. I like to familiarize myself with the new recruits and let them know that I'm here to help them with whatever they need. As part of this guild you are part of a family- and House Dragana takes this bond seriously." Quintessa pushes herself away from the wall of the tower and approaches the elf, her left hand idly resting on the hilt of her sword. "You want to study fire and lightning magic, right? I can show you some tricks sometime."


"That would be great!" Thag said


Quintessa smiles again at Thag. "Excellent. I have an office here in the tower not far from Provost Odhranos'. If you stop by sometime when I'm not busy I'll teach you the proper way to cast magic. Firebolt and Chilling Touch are merely stepping stones for exploring the true art form that spellcasting is deep down. Given time you can connect to that expression inside yourself and create beautiful works of art too, if you want to." The stewardess shrugs, "Or if you simply want to zap things and set them on fire, there's beauty in that too I suppose. The choice is yours, really. You can become whatever kind of mage you want here, as long as you follow the rules."


Odhranos returns a while later with a handful of sheets clutched in his fist. "Your Baronessness, I have a request for you, and a challenge for Thag." Odhranos proffers the sheets to Quintessa. "Three sheets of paper. One for each of us. Our task is to keep our sheet intact, while trying to rip, burn or generally damage the sheet of the others. All without moving from this spot." Odhranos turns to Thag as he hands the paper across. "Combat is unfortunately a reality that we have to prepare for, but I wouldn't be as rude as to toss you headfirst into a duel this soon. So this will serve as a sort of light dueling stand-in, if you will."


Thag || "I like zapping things and art, so that works for me!"


Quintessa takes the piece of paper and holds it with her left hand as she walks out a few paces to give them all room for spellcasting. "A training exercise, hmm?" After her duels in the Titans of Winter tournament she was glad to be able to train in such a relaxed setting. Slowly the changeling draws her katana, her boots digging into the earth as she takes a defensive stance, the blade held horizontally between her and the two men. "I'm ready whenever you two are."


Odhranos plants his feet squarely on the ground and with one hand pinching the corner of the sheet, he draws a hissing streamer of sand from the golden cage slung at his hip, which sits swirling in his palm. "Begin!" The terramancer announces cheerily, before the swirling ball of sand in his hand explodes outwards. The sand forms little sand-bees, which fly around chaotically, ducking and diving about the place, trying to home in on the two sheets of paper with their small stone stingers ready to poke holes if they got close enough.


Using his ball of flame from earlier, Thag keeps it in his palm as a sort of self defence, and somehow, without getting his sheet pierced, he managaed to burn away the sand-bees. In turn, he willed his orb to hover towards the terramancer as fast as he could, which wasn't too fast but fast enough to make someone think quicker


Quintessa smirks when she sees she swarm of sand-bees and she immediately brings her sword around to her side as she recites the words to her fire incantation. "Ton dân!" The hex blade calls, twisting her sword around to swing in the empty space between herself and the psudo-insects that homed in. With a flash of heat and light, Quintessa's sword sets ablaze before she whips it around a second time to complete her spell. "Streic!" The changeling's last word causes the flames to leap from the steel of her weapon, swiftly engulfing the swarm that closed in. One by one the sand-bees transform into glass and drop to the ground, some shattering while others survive as perfectly formed bobbles that scatter along the ground around her. Her mismatched eyes flicker in between Thag and Odhranos, noticing that Thag had focused his attack on the terramancer and left her uncontested. A slow smirk grew on her face. Perhaps it was cruel to pick on a fresh mage's blindside, but these training exercises were meant to point out things like this. Quickly shifting her stance from defensive to aggressive, Quintessa bursts into a sprint, tucking her paper under her left arm as she aims a new spell for Thag's own piece. "Tân!" The changeling calls, closing the gap as a flaming strike threatens to split Thag's paper in half, if not immolate it completely.


Odhranos lamented the collective frying of his little sand-bees on either side of him, but he was quickly distracted by Thag's flaming sphere hovering through the air towards him, blasting an uncomfortable amount of heat against the side of his face. "Oop.. woah!" Odhranos wobbles as he tries to avoid the fire, conjuring a tendril of sand, which flattens into a paddle, attempting to bat Thag's flames away with some ineffectual swats. Odhranos tries to rebalance himself, so that he doesn't move from his position, as per the second clause of the challenge, when he sees Quintessa darting across Infront of him, flaming blade at the ready. "What happened to not moving from our spot?!" The terramancer laughs, before tossing a sphere of sand underhanded towards the spellblade's trajectory. When it crossed her path, the sphere would expand with little hooked tines like a sea-urchin, offering as many paper-threatening spikes as it did clothes-catching hooks.


Breaking the rules and moving away from Quintessa, Thag noticed a ball of sand coming between him and the attacker. He also noticed the terramancer having a hard time with his ball of fire, so Thag sent him another, but at a slightly higher speed, knowing that Quintessa will probably get distracted by the sand ball.


Quintessa skids to a halt as the sand-orb moves to intercept her and her quarry moves out of the way of her flaming attack easily as she fails to fully commit. The sharp spikes and hooks of the sand-urchin were too intimidating to try and face full on. Instead Quintessa tries to duck and roll beneath the spinney obstacle, but she is unable to escape without her cloak and robes getting caught. Like a small girl trying to get out of a field of tall, stinging nettles, Quintessa tugs her sleeve to force the sand-spine to release her before she gestures her free hand in Odhranos' direction. "Asgwrn cefn rhew-" she mutters, causing her own spike, one made of ice, to materialize before her hand before it jets off in the direction of the terramancer's piece of paper. The sticky situation Quintessa has found herself in causes her to let own own paper slip from under her arm as it delicately drifts down next to her foot. Spotting it on the ground, the changeling moves her foot to stand over a corner to prevent it from flying away, sacrificing her chance to send another attack at Thag's paper. Hopefully she'd have another chance…


Odhranos spies another fireball wafting towards him, and when he hears Quintessa's incantation of an ice spell, he quickly throws up a sheet of sand with both hands, which solidifies into stone. The ice bolt skitters off the angled surface of the stone, before flying on its new trajectory - into the heart of one of the fireballs. Leaving the two projectiles to a mutually destructive meeting of fire and ice, Odhranos grins at his ingenuity, before noticing a singed scrap of paper drifting past his eyes. In his haste to enact his clever maneuver, Odhranos' paper had been skewered neatly by the ice bolt, the slipstream of which had carried the tattered remains of the sheet into Thag's fireball. Thereby thoroughly destroying Odhranos' sheet. "Right! I submit!" The terramancer laughs, taking a step back and raising his hands in submission.


Seeing the terramancer's "defeat" gave Thag hope that he could win, although he knew that facing Quintessa was a big challenge. Without another thought, Thag launched another fireball towards the changeling, this time as fast as he could, but he figured that wasn't enough to stop her, so he threw a couple more in some of the possible directions she could dodge


Quintessa still couldn't get free, her movements still hampered by the hooks of Odhranos' spell. With a volley of fire balls closing in Quintessa didn't have many options. Dropping her sword and replanting her feet, Quintessa throws up both hands and shouts "Wal rew!" creating a barrier of ice just in time to absorb the plethora of blasts that impact the surface. The spell does a good job at protecting the baroness, but as the fireballs chip away at her shield her piece of paper drifts away behind her, picked up by the wind from the series of blasts. Without her knowledge it gently begins to float a few meters above her head, just in view of the two men.


Thag || Seeing the Baroness' paper, Thag threw two fireballs towards her, as a distraction, pretending to have not seen the sheet in the air above, then a few moments after, one at her paper. Thag was sure he was going to win, but just in case, kept on pretending not have not seen the paper.


Odhranos merely stands back to let the action unfold between the pair.


Quintessa smugly keeps defending against the fireballs, thinking that she's outsmarted the new spellcaster when really she was defending thin air. Trying to peer through the thick ice, Quintessa isn't fooled when a fireball flies higher than the rest and she follows it with her eyes just in to witness it burn away to ashes. "Elazul's Bite," she mutters, slightly embarrassed to lose this little game. With a small flick of her wrist, the changeling's wall of ice shatters, showing the sheepish look on Quintessa's face. "So, he beat us both, huh?" She continues to try and free herself from the provost's trap. "Not bad."


Odhranos breaks into a grin as he watches Thag's subterfuge and subsequent victory. "Not bad at all." Once the pair have dispelled their respective ice and fire, Odhranos strides across to Thag, taking a small crystal from his pocket. "If I could see your sheet for a second." The mage reaches out and presses the black crystal to the corner of the page. The colour seems to bleed out of the crystal and washes across the page, settling into ornate cursive, as it leaves the now clear crystal behind. "What you have there in your hands is a certificate of acceptance. Welcome to the Guild, Thag."


Thag || With a big smile on his face, Thag was glad that after all those challenges, he was able to join the Mage Guild