RP:Shocking the Stewards
This is a Mage's Guild RP.
Summary: Tezzavallia applies to the Mage's Guild, hoping to be admitted as an apprentice. After an interview is organised, she is greeted by not one, but two Arcane Stewards; Lanlan and Odhranos, and never was there a pair of more differing personalities to have on an interview panel. Sparks fly as the dragon puts on a show of arcane and alchemical ability.
A letter on rolled parchment has been delivered to the mages guild, sealed with blue wax with gold fleck and the little effigy of a dragons head. The letter read as follows.
“To the entry board of the Mages Guild of Xalious,
My name is Tezzavallia, with the prompting of two friends of mine, Apprentice Karasu, and Apprentice Quintessa of the Black Pond, I have been urged to send this as a show of my interest in joining your ilk. My skills currently lie primarily in alchemy, the crafting and brewing of potions. I am studying in transmutation but can only work with base materials so far.
There has been some obstacles in my past that have kept me from exploring the mystic arts until later on in my life but I am a quick study though most everything I know now is self ought or pilfered from borrowed tomes. I wish to increase my knowledge and better be of use to those around me when they are in need.
The aforementioned apprentices have been using some of my healing potions in the recent battles and they seemed to have helped some. I want to help more in any way I can.
I thank you for your consideration, sincerely,
Tezzavallia.”
A few days pass, before a response is delivered to Tezzavallia, transported by the strangest of couriers, a large stone labrador, with the scroll stashed in a case around its neck. Upon tracking down the prospective interviewee, the labrador delivers its payload of scroll case, before giving a happy bark bounding back the way it came. The scroll reads as such;
"Miss Tezzavallia,
It would be a pleasure to make your acquaintance, it is always heartening to hear of talented individuals interested in joining our Guild. Even further heartening is that such an individual has made themselves of service to our apprentices.
If it is convenient to you, I will be present in the Mage's Tower for the next few days and willing to carry out your application procedure. Assuming my construct finds you and delivers this message within the fortnight, I would be pleased if you could travel to Xalious for the interview and aptitude testing process.
I look forward to meeting you in person.
Signed,
Odhranos Kerrigan, Arcane Steward."
Mage Tower
Lanlan hasn't been returned for long, but probably longer than people think. After his ordeal with Haladavar, it took days to recover. Physically, at least; emotionally, mentally, he doubted he would ever be the same. But in an effort to reclaim some of the power he'd lost, he decides to join Odhranos in accepting additional responsibility. Normally judging potential apprentices is reserved for members of a higher rank, but leadership was scarce, and apprentices were many. To begin the interview process, he ordered some apprentices to produce a table big enough to seat three. How did they do it? Did they magic it into existence from nothing when before there was dust? Did they animate some planks, hammers, nails and watch the scraps collaborate and combine into a working desk? No! They grabbed two desks from their own dormitories and plopped them on the floor here. Lanlan didn't care, he wasn't a teacher here. He was there first, and expected to be bored. He wasn't! Never before had he paid much attention to the enormous pillars here. Sure, they looked cool, the runes gave the exact aesthetic an establishment like this should have. But now he appreciated them for deeper reasons. He understood them.
Tezzavallia had been alarmed to say the least when a stone golem of all things had shown up at her cabin. But after the initial shock and the receiving of the letter she settled considerably. In a whirl she gathered her things and headed out at that very moment. She had been living in the Xalious valley not so far from the very tower the message was posted from. She chose to walk thought to better calm her nerves and try and quiet the little voices of doubt that constantly hounded her. The tower came into view and steadily grew in size as she got closer, the doubts returned. Fighting with herself weather she should run or stay had so consumed her mind that she didn’t even realize she had walked right up to the tower and into it. She blinked a few times as it takes the airhead a few moments to realize where she was. Tezzavallia stands just five foot five with a lithe pear shaped frame and long ivory hair that stretched halfway down her back before it started to curl up at the tips. Her features were soft and rounded, large inquisitive glacial blue eyes darted all about trying to see everything all at once. A smattering of periwinkle blue freckles dot her cheeks and nose as heart shaped lips mumbled in awe at everything. She would appear just as any human would until one looked to the pair of ram style curling horns that curled up and out from the sides of her head to find their points upturned just above her forehead. Her dress was simple, a fitted simple white shirt with a black skirt that stretched down to her ankles. Hands clung tightly to a shoulder strap of an old worn satchel where she carried all her examples of her alchemic works. She wore a pair of glasses, gold rimmed though for those who could see enchantment they would read as magical sensors the dragon using the enchanted glasses to gauge magical content of potential ingredients or potential troubles. thankfully she had not activated them here as they may shine her to blindness with all the magic around her little frame. Her attention is then stolen by the mashed together desk and the rather bored looking drow sitting there looking rather bored. Tentatively she inched towards the set up, “H-hello… I’m Tezzavallia, I was asked to come here.” She found it hard to keep eye contact with the drow, this being the first she had actually met, she has not heard good things.
Odhranos /hurried down the corridors of the Tower's upper floors in a frantic rush, loose sheets of paper threatening to peel away from the stack in his hands as he scurried along, the heels of his formal brown shoes beating a frantic rhythm into the wooden flooring as he goes. "Xalious blast it, I'm late, I'm late, for a very important... interview!" The mage's breathless sing-song was cut short as he reached the spiral glass staircase and he proceeded down at an alarming rate, skipping every second step on his way. "Ahh, I see you got the desks sorted, Lanlan!" Odhranos called over the banister as he revolved his way down into the large lobby. When he was two revolutions from the foot of the stairs, the grey-robed scholar took too far a step and landed funny on the third step down, causing him to lurch forwards as he began to fall. "Oh Sven ABOVE!!" The mage cried out, as the handful of sheets erupted from his grasp and dispersed into the air, like a flock of seagulls, fluttering gently down above Lanlan and Tezzavallia. Odhranos narrowly managed to halt his fall, holding onto the banister with a death grip, before he leaned out over the railing and called down. "Sorry! Would you mind grabbing those sheets? I'll be down in a second."
Lanlan smiled as best he could when Tezzavalia walked through the door, and it wasn't a very good smile. But it was also very generous. He wasn't expecting anyting in particular, but was surprised anyway. her clothes seemed to be the only ordinary thing. Horns? Blue freckles? White hair? Almost human. But something he didn't know. "Hmm." His feelings had been fleeting lately. It was strange, he realized that normally he'd ask what the heck she was, but to ask would be to get an answer...and maybe a whole conversation. His associate could handle that. "Lanlan, arcane steward." Mhm, he was content with silence...But only for so long. The time going by started becoming very noticeable. "Some mages take their responsibilities more serius than others it seems," he mumbles with an exhale. Tezzavalia's first lesson! From Lanlan at least. After another moment he stands and begins to walk away, "I'll be right back," he lies. Almost to the front door, he stops. Someone had built a dog out of hammers and it was chasing a cat upstairs? That -is- worth investigating. He turns around and waits for this strange experiment to find its way down the stairs. "Ah," says Lanlan, disappointed. "I thought you were a hammer-hound." Odhranos is too busy exploding to notice. Lanlan watches numbly as his friend's paper guts fall all over the place and turns his back on the whole scene, looking again at the front door. It's tempting. It's tempting. It's so very tempting. But he puts his game face on instead, there were normies out there. "There are only so many hours in a day Odhranos," begins Lanlan faux(?) grumpily, "It couldn't have been easy to mix them up. I'm impressed!" He lazily begins picking up leaf after leaf of the pages, glancing at an odd one with casual curiosity. Anything familiar? Eventually Lanlan would plop a messy pile of paper on the desk and sit back down. "Odhranos has this terrible fear of folders, you see."
Tezzavallia was a little nervous, but she did dip into a bow as he introduced himself. But when nothing else was forthcoming from the drow as he just seemed to sit there and stare at her the nerves started to grow again.. The dragon would start to fidget under his pressing gaze her hands wringing on their hold of the satchels strap. Then he stood, should she says something, she already introduced herself should she attempt small talk? That went horribly last time. Then the sound of another stone golem making its way down the seemingly endless spiral staircase. She heard the subtle verbal jabs by the drow steward. Wide glacial eyes blink rapidly as the rain of paper started and the flustered mage continued his flight down the stairs just like a living meteor. As Lanlan came to gather the pages she to would help, getting those that floated closest to her, a few slipping behind her where lifted with a hidden appendage, a tail tip holding the edge of a page and lifted it up and around to the little stack Tezza had made. She put them with LanLans, “H-here..” the tail slipped back away under the hem of her skirt. “So if we fold some of these pages will he think they are folders and run back up the stairs?” a soft masked smile is hidden away as she lowered her head trying not to make fun of one of her apparent proctors.
Odhranos had by now made his way safely to ground and joined in with the retrieval of his scattered sheaf of papers. "It's less so much that I have a fear of them and more that I have too many sheets for any one folder to manage. Better to do without, it saves cost too." Odhranos then pauses to look around at the chaos of sheets and his cheeks coloured slightly with embarrassment. "Maybe I should invest in one or two though…" Once the papers had been safely collected and piled neatly on the second desk, Odhranos turned to face Tezzavallia and smiled ruefully, smoothing his grey-brown hair back where it had come loose in the fall before offering her his hand to shake. "I do apologise for my tardiness, I was caught up in my research and lost track of the time. I assume you must be Miss Tezzavallia, am I correct?" Odhranos graced the timid interviewee with a gentle, kindly smile as he introduced himself. "Odhranos Kerrigan, Arcane Steward, it's a pleasure." Once the necessary pleasantries have been seen to, Odhranos turned to the desks that Lanlan had arranged to be set up. "Wonderful, we're all set then." The mage clapped his hands enthusiastically as he rounded the table, taking his seat and gesturing for his colleague and Tezza to take their own seats. "So, Miss Tezzavallia, this will be a simple enough process. We're going to ask you a few questions, just to get to know you, to get a sense of your personality and interest in the Guild, then we'll undertake a short test of your magic ability, to judge your aptitude, specialities, everything we might need to better tailor how your education in the Guild would progress." Odhranos pulled a pair of blank sheets from the pile, offering one to Lanlan, before producing a quill and inkpot from a pocket of his robes. Uncorking the inkpot, he regarded Tezzavallia across the table, noticing her nervous mannerisms. "You needn't be worried, this is a largely informal interview." Compounding his statement with a warm smile, Odhranos dipped his quill into the ink and raised it over the page. "Might I ask your full name, Miss Tezzavallia, or the name you would wish to have recorded on the Guild's register?"
Lanlan suddenly tilted his head so hard it hurt his neck. Did he hear her correctly? Must not have Her stone face doesn't look like a funny joke just came out of it. Not that he laughs, but he would if he still had a soul. He can acknowledge that much. Anyway he returns to his seat and waits for Odhranos. Kerrigan? Was that always his last name? If Lanlan was really only going to have two friends he ought to get to know them better. Later, though. "Hm." He takes the blank paper offered by Odhranos with some skepticism in his eye, and mutters, "Do I really need this?" Then he watched Odhranos get set up and very mechanically turn his head away. Everything was so much fancier now. 'Neednt' be worried'! That was the goal of his interviewer Lanlan theorized. To worry him. "Yes, I've some questions prepared as well," he says to Tezzavalia once she's finished answering Odhranos. He pulls out a tiny pad of paper from a pocket. "Before committing yourself to this guild, ask yourself this: Are you prepared to sacrifice everything? To risk it all? To lose all sense of self and dignity in the endless pursuit of knowledge and power?" As he awaits her reply, he turns over the page to reach his next question. Then another page. And another. Eventually he stops turning, realizing silently that he forgot to write anything else down. So he improvises. "Do you," he begins slowly as he looks her over again. "Do you run experiments on yourself?" Surely the answer is yes, and that explains her strange appearance.
Tezzavallia took a slow deep breath and moved to take the seat across the makeshift table from the odd pair of mages. One so chipper and seemingly ready for all that life has to offer. Then the other who seems to have just a little less life and enthusiasm in him that the stone laborer that brought her the reply. She there was also something else with the drow, he was just off, like a person who wasn’t a person. A little shake of her head would snap her form the explorative thoughts about the drow and back to the task at hand. First in addressing odhranos, “Tezzavallia is my full name. I have no family name as I have no family. The name itself I gave to myself upon my release from... unwelcomed bondage. But if a second name is needed I guess you could put The Blue.” She offered a slightly helpless shrug before her attention slipped to the hollow drow, his questions a little more in-depth. “I seek power to help those around me, knowledge and skills to protect those I hold close so I don’t lose anyone else. I would forsake myself for knowledge and power, but I will not forsake those I hold dear.” Her answer given with conviction and unwavering calm, she truly meant all of it. “And I have been the subject of many experiments, both of my own making and not. Sometimes you have to take risks to test out theories.” She had seen him eyeing her horns and the way he wrestled though the question, he didn’t ask the blatant one. “I’m a blue dragon” she simply states to the drow, offering nothing more than that, for now.
Odhranos cast a concerned glance sideways at his companion. Having only returned recently after his disappearance in the Sage Forest, Lanlan seemed, haunted by his experience. Like when whatever had taken over his body vacated him, it had taken a part of the drow himself with it. The terramancer was worried about his friend, by his mannerisms, the questions he put to Tezzavallia, by his seeming disconnection with the world. Now wasn't the time to open the lid on that tin of worms, but Odhranos made a mental note to take Lanlan aside afterwards for a heart-to-heart. When Tezzavallia answered his question, he jotted down her name in quick cursive across the top of the page, nodding as she explained the past behind her lack of family name. Wincing at Lanlan's cold blunt inquiry, he was worried that Tezzavallia might be upset by the question, but he was pleasantly surprised by how well she handled the question, noting as such on his sheet. When she mentioned her blue dragon heritage, the mage perked up, equal parts enthused and intrigued. "Could you outline to us very generally the magic you employ? If I recall correctly, blue dragons possess innate electric-aspected magic, right?" Odhranos sat up straight in his seat, barely hiding his eager smile; though the years may have changed Odhranos from wandering mage to scholarly professor, the terramancer had never lost his love of saurians.
Lanlan nods, "Ah!" Finally something he could relate to. "You've lost people and now come to the guild seeking to make yourself stronger." He scribbles something hastily on the paper Odhranos gave him (that he didn't need) while covering his work with a hand. "I think I know what you're -really- after." He turns the page around. R-E-V-E-N-G-E is written in huge red letters that bleed like open wounds. A puddle pools onto the table under the sheet, and an organ plays two dramatic lingering notes. He turns the page back over and appears to be listening. He was wrong, experiments did not turn her freckles blue. Why is that disappointing? He glances over at Odhranos and his two different color eyes. "And you've been enslaved and a victim to others' experiments!?" He shakes his head as he turns the page up again. This time the bold red is replaced with long needly black letters. The paper hisses like a ghost, "Reveeeeenge..." Paper down again. "But...who could keep a dragon in chains?"
Tezzavallia let her gaze slip from one arcane steward to the other as at least Odhranos seemed to hold some worries over his spacing colleague. Tezzavallia herself held some worries as she had seen the look in the drows eye before over the years in some of the subjects of her late masters possession experiments. But it was far from her place to instill any of her knowledge here and now. Letting her focus shift fully Odhranos she nodded. “Aside from recovery potions and salves I made offensive concoctions, I have a few examples here.” Rubbing lightly at the side of her satchel. “But as far as actionable magic… I have very little. I can cast a few barrier spell. My own magical power is there… I was just not allowed to develop it any. I have an arcane based healing spell I’ve been developing and it shows some promise.” His words about what she should be able to do as a dragon caused her to look away and even a soft blush to take her cheeks, all save for the periwinkle freckles, those showing more brilliant now against their scarlet backdrop. “I can’t take my true form anymore, when I try I am wracked with blinding pain in my chest. I cannot use my breath weapon that is lightening but I can extend an electrical aura that if focused on a single point can shock and burn.” Then she looked to Lanlan who kept flashing the word revenge. “Sorry to disappoint by I am not seeking revenge, I just want the abilities to help people I hold close now. I was never given that opportunity before and now I have it in some of your very own apprentices. I only want to help and defend those I care for.” She knows it was an overly emotional sentiment and many before had started with that and then ended up doing horrid things to protect those they cared for, she hoped she wouldn’t be listed among those in her histories at the end of time.
Odhranos brows raise with curiosity as Tezza explains her situation and her magic ability. Nodding all the while and jotting down notes, the mage’s eyes fill with gentle concern when she mentions not having been allowed to develop her magic. “I have encountered a number of individuals recently who have had similar experiences, having their arcane education suppressed while their magic power remains trapped inside them. It’s a truly saddening thing to hear, but one I hope we can remedy if your application is successful. Everyone with magical aptitude deserves the chance to develop their power, it’s like not letting a singer sing, the music just builds up inside you, yearning to be let free.” Odhranos huffs in a bothered tone as his quill scratches along the page. As for her response to Lanlan’s urging, he nods approvingly at her answer. “It is a good sentiment to have, and a worthy reason to strengthen yourself. I can respect your drive, Tezzavallia.” The mage smiles warmly at the dragon. “As for your… condition, is this something you have had since birth, or is it a result of some outside force, blocking you from returning to your true form? I ask, because there is the potential that we can refer you to some of our members that might be able to help you overcome this predicament, through whatever arcane means they have to employ.” Odhranos taps the feathered end of his quill against his chin thoughtfully as he glances at Tezza’s satchel. “Would you care to demonstrate some of your concoctions? We can move to a more suitable location if they are particularly volatile.”
Tezzavallia seemed not to be overly effected by talking about her time under enslavement, which could either be a good thing, showing growth as a person. Or bad as it hinting that she has bottled all her tormented emotions up to be volatile at a later date, she herself would like it to the former, but does have occasional fear that it was the latter. “I was able to shift in my younger years, but when I was sold to a mage of considerable skill he made me take the form I sit here now as. Once the form was to his apparent liking I blacked out. When I awoke and tried to shift my whole form I was hit with the pain.” She idly touched her chest, just below her collar bone. “The pain is centered here… I know he did something to me. But sadly it wasn’t something that was located to his person as I’ve put some distance between here and that life.” She then tugged slowly at the scarf she wore to show a thick jagged scar that ringed her slender neck. “The slave collar I was made to wear had a stone that limited my magical abilities, and my physical strength. With the collar gone I have been able to slowly develop magic, so that leads me to believe that whatever he did was located sole to my ability’s as a dragon.” She fell silent then, tugging up her scarf to hide away the scar once more. After a few long silent moments she stood and started to rummage in her satchel. One after another a glass vial is placed atop the table in a line, the liquids each varying in color, red, purple, clear, yellow. Then a selection of jars are produced, one holding a cream while the other held translucent oil. The final she had brought was a thick viscus red fluid she set a little farther from the rest. An ampule was placed next to that one with clear liquid most similar to the small vial she had on the other end of the line. “These are for recovery in differ ways. Health, strength, magical power and stamina. And a topical paralytic allowing to work on the worse wounds with little pain to the subject.” Her hand slipped over the jars. “A healing salve that mends and eases pain. And this one is a flame jar, the oil inside is ignited upon breaking causing a localized fire.” She moved to the ones set off to the side. “These are ones that effect area, the red being one to blind and choke with its fumes. The other to paralyze also with its fumes.” She had a few more at her cabin but theses where her most potent currently she could bring to bear.
Odhranos’ hands drift instinctively to his arms as Tezzavallia presented her scar, to the similar wounds encircling the skin of mage’s wrists. Tucking his hands deeper into his loose sleeves to impose discipline on himself, the mage leans forwards, his face showing undisguised concern as she explains her incarceration at the hands of another mage. Odhranos is upset, firstly, that such a person would bring such a bad name to the profession, but also is impressed by Tezzavallia’s resolve, to have gone through such an experience and yet apply to join a guild made up of people cut from the same cloth, if not the same mentality as the one who had enslaved her, it was a testament to her resilience and growth from the ordeal. “I may mention your name to one of my colleagues, he specialises in the study of magical species and their abilities, perhaps he may be able to help unravel whatever binding this mage placed on you?” Odhranos leans forwards with great interest as the dragon begins producing a variety of jars and containers from her satchel, studying each one that is presented with a growing smile on his face; try as he might, Odhranos could never mask his delight in the arcane, whenever something new was presented before him, he lit up like a child with a new present. “And you manufacture these yourself, correct?” The terramancer asks, peering into each jar at a time, as if trying to deduce their properties with intense stares. He looks up from the jars and grins at Tezzavallia. “What say we move to one of the training rooms and you can demonstrate their usage, hmm?”
Tezzavallia had never blamed the profession of mages for her treatment for most her entire life, she was able to blame the individual and the system that allowed it, one of the only reasons she was able to show trust in another living creature at all. when he mentioned another that may be able to help her with her affliction Tezza perked right up her face brightening with excitement at the thought of being able to regain her full dragon form. “I would like that very much.” Her voice trembling with excitement already, the dragon herself dipping into a slight bow. At his suggestion she would gather her displayed potions and concoctions, carefully placing them in her satchel to keep them from damage. “I would love to show you.” She let slip a small smile, the first one she had worn openly since entering the tower. She would then allow him to lead the way to the training room. “These I am able to produce from the equipment I have in my cabin. My laboratory is rather small, so my production is not that impressive. Though I do have a steady flow of components from hired help.”
Odhranos beams brightly when he saw Tezzavallia smiling. “I shall let him know right after we finish up then. I can understand how you’d be eager to be free of your binding and be able to fly once more.” Odhranos gets up from the table, stashing his quill and inkpot away, gathering his papers and gestures for Tezza to follow him as he heads for the stairs. “Mind your step, they’re a bit slippy” The mage jokes, alluding to his tumble earlier. He leads Tezza through the Mage’s tower, past wood-panelled corridors and large seminar rooms until they reach the Training Hall. “Now, this place should be perfect, any explosions you might make will be safely contained by the magic barrier. It’s a miracle we have this place, or the Tower would have been blown up by trainee mages years ago.” Laughing warmly as he passes through the magic barrier, Odhranos nods to Oriyan, the elderly mage trainer as he enters, before turning to face Tezzavallia. “What sort of targets would best suit to test your abilities? Moving targets? Fortifications?” As he asks, the spherical golden cage by Odhranos’ hip starts spewing forth gouts of sand, that coat the floor of the training centre. Whichever type of target Tezza specified, the sand would rise up from the ground and form into the appropriate shape, while Odhranos takes a few steps aside to give the dragon room to ply her trade.
Tezzavallia looked around the room in awe as she turns about once and then again trying to see all there was to see, she adjusted her glasses out of a fidgeting habit to try and keep herself a little focused on the task at hand. “Ah yes… um armaments I guess.” Her request being heeded by the sands as it lurched up to make a simple wall for her. That being the structure she needed to show what she had brought. Though two of her concoctions would only work on living creatures she pulled out the jar full of the oil. Slipping it off into her hand she drew forth another, an ampule that she had not showed earlier. Inside was a putrid muddled green liquid. She drew her hand back and let fly the jar. It striking the wall and shattering. In the split second the oil started to spread there was a sudden orange flash, it appeared to be a small pea sized chip of living flame touched the oil igniting the splashed concoction in sudden violent flames. Unlike normal oil this substance clung to the wall of sand while it burned eating away at the very stone. The dragon would will a second wall to come up and this was met with the ampule. The small circular container shattering on impact casting the thick acid over the walls face. With an angry hiss it started to eat away at the magic sand. “The concentrated nature of the acid keeps it from spreading too much but it will eat deep. It could eat a normal person sized hole in a castle wall if given enough time.” Her attention shifting to the still burning wall. “The rendered oil clings to surfaces as opposed to burning the surface… it also spread with the use of water to put it out. The flames turning the oil to a more gelled substance. It has to be smothered out.”
Odhranos raises the walls where Tezzavallia indicates, solidifying them into rough sandstone before she lobs her alchemical armaments at them. His eyebrows shoot up in interest as the first jar explodes, clinging in furious flames against the stone surface. Even from this distance, Odhranos can feel the heat of the flames, while the intense heat cooks the sandstone, melting it's surface into a glassy molten gloop. Meanwhile, Tezza's second toss splatters hissing acid across the stone, which causes Odhranos to wince as he feels it being eaten away with his earthsense. "Very impressive, these could be used to great effect during a siege, breaking a hole in fortifications from a distance." When she mentions that the oil needed smothering, Odhranos stretched his hands out towards the flaming wall. It stretched and curved in on itself, swaddling the flames in a thick blanket of stone and sand, encapsulating it fully before putting it out. Once done so, Odhranos turns to Tezzavallia with a curious look in his eyes. "What say we administer a little challenge, eh?" Odhranos grins, before a new wave of sand erupts from his cage. The floor is soon swamped with sand, which starts rising and forming a colossal formation in the centre of the room. Before long, Odhranos has raised a small fort out of sandstone in the middle of the room, taking up the greater part of the training space. Upon it's walls, stone figures manifested, spears and swords of stone held in their fists. Odhranos turns to the dragon and smiles broadly, fishing around his pocket as he does so. "Your task is to retrieve this;" he presents a small metal object, a steel scarab pendant, about the size of a chestnut, "- from inside there." With that, Odhranos turned and lobbed the scarab with as much force as he could muster, tossing it up and over the sandy walls. "Once you have collected it, we will consider the challenge completed. You are free to use whatever methods you see necessary for the task."
Tezzavallia found herself fidgeting under the praise laid upon her by the sand mage, determining she would ever get used to such things having never been shown the actual act of gratitude until after she had made it to these lands. Tezzavallia watches him smother the flams as she suggested, though his look took her off guard a little to say the least. Then the sudden surge of swirling sands and it was all she could do not to get swept up in it all hopping back a few paces as the structure is erected. And armed she noted the stone guards lining the walls. “They will attack I assume?” Gesturing to the guards. Assuming they will she cupped her hands over her mouth and started a soft silent chant. A soft green glow started to form around either wrist. The glow forming into a soft green lit spell circle that slowly rotated around each wrist. “Have a dragon storm a castle” she scoffed as she started to trudge towards the castle drawing out two of the acid ampules holding one in each hand. The muscles of her legs slowly swelled as the dragon settled into a crouch. Then like a drawn arrow she fired, so much force send into the sand it cause a plume to fly up from her starting point. She tossed the ampule to shatter into the wall then the second to make a bigger hole. As the sandstone sizzled and spit the dragon slid to a stop just before the melting hole. Her left hand thrown up, a single word spoken in the ancient dragon tongue caused the spell circle to activate on the out stretched left wrist and suddenly a blueish green half domed shield appeared before her hand, intent to protect her from any falling weapons while she let her acid eat away at the wall. One draw back to working with acid, it needs time to work.
Odhranos nods as Tezzavallia prepares her attack. "They will defend the fort, though I aim not to injure you if you end up in combat with them. They'll mainly try to stop your advance." As if in response, the stone guards stood to attention, their weapons drumming against the top of the wall as they readied themselves for Tezza's siege. "There is something quite poetic about a dragon storming a castle, but after having heard stories of Queen Hildegarde in her dragon form, it's something I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of " Odhranos chuckles as he sits down cross-legged on the ground, closing his eyes to better focus on the task at hand. Controlling multiple sand-constructs took a lot of concentration, and the mage could better survey the field of battle with his earthsense than with his eyesight. The curse of age, he'd likely to be needing glasses soon. When Tezzavallia kicks off, showering Odhranos in the sand her take-off blasts up, the guards on the walls ready their weapons. A flurry of stone spears fly through the air; their points blunted, but they had enough weight that they'd knock the wind out of her if they connected. Unfortunately for the stone guardians, the dragon's launch was too fast for them, and their spears sailed through the space she had previously occupied, landing just short of Odhranos. Once Tezza planted herself at the base of the wall and began slowly melting her path through, the guards switched to a new tactic. Hefting a hastily summoned stone barrels, they poured a torrent of sand down over the side of the wall on top of Tezzavallia. On it's way down, the sand began heating up, buzzing ever so faintly as it did so, and it would spatter against the ground and Tezza's shield, causing little itchy burns like the sparks from a fire if the heated grains managed to reach her shin.
Tezzavallia had calculated that she would be able to close the short distance with her dragon strength before the animated golems had time to react, one drawback to creating so many and not giving them wild autonomy though now she has to take the brunt of it while her acid eats away. As the heated sands struck her barrier the colors would radiate, shimmering as the flowing material was cast off in every direction around the dragon. The drawback to this barrier would be its omnidirectional nature, so some of the sand did slide around and bite at her extended arm. But the pain was manageable as she focused on keeping the barrier strengthened against the falling munitions. A shifting of sand next to her marked the last layer of the wall getting eaten though as a small hole shone with a ray of light through the acid burrow. Her right hand was then thrust into the hole the draconian command said again to release he second spell shield inside the burnt hole. The force of the barrier spell suddenly activating forced the crumbling sandstone to blow out into the fort. With a flick of her left wrist the shield would blink away as she slipped into the hole she made. Pushing the last of the way though the wall with her new shield. Tezza felt the burning sands bite a few places across her body, their smoldering grains making it into her clothes to her ultimate annoyance. Breaking into the little courtyard on the other side the blue hopped away from the wall, right wrist flicking to cancel the barrier. But as it falls her hands clapped together as she again fell into silent spell casting. Her hands snapped out to either side as her casting reached its pinochle, a shimmering purple bubble barrier now surrounds her completely, a perfect 360 degree barrier though currently it was only large enough for the dragon herself. With this beach head established she started her scan for the indicated metal scarab. Hoping it was under foot, or at least in her current barrier. But she doubted she had the luck.
Odhranos smiles from his seated position outside the fort as Tezzavallia forced her entrance. Her technique using shield spells to hasten her entrance and blast through the sand was ingenious, and just the type of lateral thinking the Guild looked for in its members. Meanwhile, within the fort, the guards hurry down from their positions on the wall to surround Tezza's armoured bubble, six stone spears prodding at the purple barrier, testing it's strength and preparing for the dragon to make her move. Meanwhile, at the centre of the courtyard, a large pile of sand dominated the space, large and hulking, shaped like a tapered cylinder, with its ends curled around and tucked in on itself. As if signalled by some indeterminate cause, the mound decided at this moment to uncurl itself and reveal itself to Tezzavallia. Standing on four thick stone legs, and rearing it's stony head back, the colossal wingless stone drake let loose a roar as it planted itself, ready to attack. At the centre of the drake's stone-scaled head, sat the metal scarab, inset into the brow between the drake's eyes. Stomping across the courtyard, the drake slowly circled the ring of guards, gazing balefully down at Tezza within her bubble, before it roars out another cry of anger, raising one clawed foot high in the air, then slamming it down on the bubble of magical force, accidentally taking out one of the guards in the process.
Tezzavallia focused on bolstering her barrier as she sand soldiered mythically surrounded her bubble and started to hammer away with their stone spears, each impact on the violet bubble causing a flash of light, but ultimately the attacks did little to nothing to the magical defense. The dragons mind rolled over the possibilities on how she could come out on top in this instant. Then the pillar would shift into a animated sand drake, her possibilities narrowed. But the blue was much to stubborn to give in, she took quick mental stock of what she had left, she had used the last of her acid, the disabling concoctions wouldn’t work on the golems, she had one fire jar left. Tezza was snapped from her thinking as the heavy blow from the sand drake impacted her barrier and sent a ripping wave of energy along its circumference, the whole of the barrier bubble sinking into the sand a little from the impact. Well it would seem her time for plotting was over. She drew from her satchel her final fore jar and a slender white wood wand with a silvery metal tip. The air of the training hall would suddenly become charged like the air during a lightening storm. She waited for the sentry behind to bang his spear off the barrier then with a thought a small opening would appear a flick of her wrist sent out the jar, pivoting Tezza leveled the want at the exiting jar, “pelekta ndu” a sudden flash and the crack of thunder heralded the bolt of lightening fired form from the wand. The magic slamming into the jar and blasting it apart sending its ignited oil she hoped over all the sand soldiers, but she doubted. The hole sealed keeping any oil from flying back at the dragon. Rounding on the drake a second opening would form and the wand leveled. The charged air would swirl around the sand drake, little sparks of blue lightening licking off its animated surface. She wondered honestly what this would do, what better test subject. “Pelekta ndu” again the flash and crack but as the bolt leapt through the barrier it would drag the lingering charge in the air with it the bolt multiplying in power and size, aimed to slam into the sand drakes shoulder.
Odhranos' eyebrows shoot upwards as he feels the detonation of Tezzavallia's last oil jar rippling through the ground. From his point of view, eyes closed tightly, the world was rendered in shades of white, silver, grey and black, a shifting miasma of vibrations as the sand grains were disturbed by movement. The subtle reverberations of Tezzavallia's shield where it forced the sand back, as well as her self weight on the sand depicted her whereabouts for him, but he couldn't see anything that was not directly affecting the sand. All he heard was her shout and suddenly, burning oil splashed across his sand soldiers, illuminating their bodies with the searing heat of the oil. One by one, they stumbled backwards from the shield, succumbing to the heat as their limbs began to slough and melt, collapsing into gloopy piles of half-melted silicates on the ground. Meanwhile, angered at the loss of its comrades, the sand drake redoubled its assault on the bubble of force protecting Tezzavallia. Suddenly, the mage felt a curious static charge on the air, and the faint taste of toasted almonds, while the hairs on his skin stood on end. The grains of sand on the drake's skin began dancing as the static in the air increased until, with a screeching crack, Tezzavallia's wand released its bolt of lightning through the drake's body. As if in slow motion, Odhranos watched as the superheated arc blasted through the sandy mass, each filament of blazing energy burning a path through the sand. Odhranos' face lit up with glee and fascination as he witnessed this transformation in exquisite detail, as the heat of the lightning flash-melted the sand, leaving an intricate tracerie of glass, threaded through the sand in its wake. The sand drake froze still, as if it had been truly turned to stone and silence fell over the training hall. Suddenly, a single percussive noise broke the silence, then another, and another, as Odhranos jumped to his feet and broke into applause The sand walls of the fortress disintegrated and fell to the ground, quickly being swept across the ground and back into the cage by Odhranos' side as he strode towards the dragon, clapping enthusiastically. "Magnificent! Absolutely magnificent! I have studied natural examples of this before, but never have I thought to create an artificial sample! Simply exquisite!" The terramancer babbles excitedly, coming to a half before the frozen statue of the drake and gazing up at it with wonder-filled eyes. He turns to face the dragon and smiles delightedly. "Fulgurite! When lightning strikes are grounded in sand, soil or rock, the extreme temperatures of the lightning's passage melts the material, creating naturally formed glass!" With a wave of his hand, the sand drake begins to break down, pieces of sand falling away slowly as it reveals something within. Bit by bit as the drake is disassembled, the fulgurite formation is revealed. The branching, twisting glass follows the precise path that the lightning took, and for all the world looks like a bolt of petrified lightning. "It's exquisite!" The mage cried, clapping his hands as he turns to Tezzavallia with a delighted expression on his face.
Tezzavallia was ready to send a second bolt into the drake, not feeling anymore impacts from behind on her shield by the soldiers. She had brought all her focus upon the sand drake, but as it stands so very silent and so very still she holds her tongue from crying out the command to the enchanted magical item. Then the clapping pierced the silence and the dragon jumped out of fright. Instantly embarrassed by her reaction to his sudden praise the alchemist wished to turn her bubble opaque and hide within. But all his attention was devoted to the frozen construct. When the sand walls drop she slid her wand back into its hidden sheath in the shoulder strap of the satchel. Snapping her finger the barrier cracked and then shattered into a shower for sparkling purple light, though the sound it would make with its release would be more akin to the popping of a balloon. Slightly ridiculous for a conjured barrier that withstood a blow from a drake, but the blue was kind of an oddity like that, “I’ve seen it before... but never made one myself. Beautiful” Tezza muttered softly as the Fulgurite is revealed by the terramancer. Now as if she had just thought of it, Tezza rounds to look at the smoldering piles that used to be the soldier, her flames apparently being enough to get them all, she made a note of the devastating combination of her fire jars and her lightening wand. But her attention is snapped back to the man as he rounds to look at her with such glee, “I’m g-glad to impress” her cheeks growing a soft crimson, deep glacial orbs dipping to the floor as if hiding from his direct gaze. “You didn’t make... it easy.” Her cobalt tail tip drawing a nervous circle in the sand, waiting for his assessment of her display.
Odhranos had stepped closer to the fulgurite, carefully running his hand along the roughly cast glass, all the while smiling delightedly. The slight popping sound of Tezzavallia's shield broke his attention away from the glassy formation and back to the present. "You've most definitely impressed. There are not many applicants can pull off that sort of offensive technique, especially in tandem with holding a defensive spell while under heavy attack. I am very impressed indeed." By now, the rest of the sand had been swirled away into the seemingly bottomless storage of the golden cage, leaving only the branching fulgurite formation left in the centre of the hall. "I do apologise if the challenge seemed quite extreme. I assure you, you were not in any real danger, but it was a good means of judging how you would operate under stressful and potentially dangerous conditions. Life in this Guild often involves many of both." Odhranos bowed apologetically. "As for the completion of your challenge-" Odhranos lifted his hand with a wry grin. Dangling from his grasp, the steel scarab pendant swung on its chain. "- I do believe you may be missing this." The mage held the pendant out, before retracting his hand momentarily. "Before I give this to you, I have one last question." The mage smiled, tilting his head to the side with curiosity. "What would you like from this Guild? What do you wish to gain from joining our ranks?"
Tezzavallia squirmed just a little more under his praise than she did under Lanlans scrutiny, praise was still a new sensation for her. As he spoke about her use of the lightening she pat her want tucked away in the satchels strap. “It’s a simple magical tool, speak the command it fires a basic lightening bolt. But I leaned to increase its output with the aura I exude. Lightening all wants to go together.” Hands lightly clasping together before her, she was eager but she wasn’t sure what price would be exacted from her if she was to eager, the common one for where she was from was the loss of a digit, fist offense. “I...it wasn’t so bad. Though if I knew I would have properly stocked, half of my offensive concoctions are for living things. I can’t rightly chemically paralyze a lump of sand.” A very weak broken chuckle was given before her attention was stolen by the dangled steel scarab, her hands gripped tighter again holding back her eagerness. His question was posed and her retort was instant. “Knowledge, in this tower I will find the knowledge I need to expand my skills in alchemy, expand my magic, and maybe... even find a way to fix myself. Then you’ll have a dragon on your side to, we can be mildly helpful for many a task.” She offered up a weak smile, her cheeks again being kissed with scarlet.
Odhranos raised an eyebrow and smiled ruefully. "Often we don't have the liberty of knowing in advance what we may be going up against. As a member of the Guild, you'd likely be sent on missions where you have little to no information on your task, and it pays to be prepared for everything. That said, the ability to improvise on the spot with the tools you have on hand is worth as much as any level of preparation." Odhranos spread his hands wide and laughed warmly. "All that to say; I think you are in a very good position already." Odhranos nodded approvingly of Tezzavallia's answer. "I appreciate your motivation, it is an honourable goal, and one you share with many of my colleagues, as well as myself. There are many who would join the Guild in search of monetary gain or to gain power that they might turn on others, I find it is often prudent to ask. However, I am heartened to hear your answer." Holding the pendant aloft, the mage offered it to Tezzavallia. "I believe this is yours." Placing the scarab in Tezzavallia's hand if she offered it, the mage continued; "With that, your application process is just about complete You are welcome to keep the pendant, consider it a congratulatory gift." The mage broke into a broad smile. "In recognition of your successful induction as an apprentice, I should say. Welcome to the Mage's Guild, Apprentice Tezzavallia." Bowing towards the newest member of the Guild, Odhranos gestured for her to accompany him towards the entrance to the training hall, falling in step alongside the now-apprentice as they walked. "I will have to finalize the paperwork with Administrator Brenwyn, but it won't take long. You will be an officially registered member of the Guild before the day is out." Odhranos folded his arms behind his back as they walked, addressing the dragon. "If it would be alright with you, I would very much like the chance to discuss your magic with you in more depth at some point, once you're settled in the Guild; general magic theory is my field of study, so I always find it interesting talking to new initiates, before they've had a chance to assimilate the Guild's teachings."