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[Amber Brightwing]

OOC: Continued from here.

A nod was all she needed from the mage. She’d never hear him speak much so it wasn’t a surprise to receive a wordless approval. Given his silence, she couldn’t know about his disapproval of her race. If she had known though, she wouldn’t have agreed with him at all. Small and vulnerable? Sure. Faeries were pathetic creatures? Of course they were. If she would have thought otherwise she wouldn’t have been here. Vysstichi being better at arcana? Ridiculous. Arcana ran though her veins. She breathed it, literally. It was down right idiotic to claim such things.

For the first time since long she descended the ill illuminated stairs. As she went down, she could feel the arcana getting stronger around her. It had been several months since she’d been here and so far nothing looked like it had changed. When arriving at the bottom, she was greeted by the ever friendly light elf, apparently still stuck at answering the front desk.

I’ve come to continue my training with master Aribeal.

She had to hold back to respond with some kind of witty remark on how he still hadn’t changed his welcoming behaviour, even thought it had gotten into a lot of trouble. Even though the mer had put him in his place after the incident with the vysstichi, that didn’t mean she was going to provoke him about it. After all, if he turned on her, it would have been a very similar situation, only this time with her on the receiving end and the Aribeal might feel the need to remind her that she was still only mere initiate.

[Mevius]

As Amber flew steadily downwards, the arcana around her grew thicker, as a forest growing thicker from border to center. While it was not a very pleasant feeling, the feeling no longer drowned her. With her small experience in necromancy she now felt some familiarity to the arcane and herself. As she grew in experience, this feeling would increase aswell.

The punishment from master Aribeal had apparently rubbed off a bit, for as soon as the light elf spotted the little creature, he sneered: "Oh, look who we have here. You think the masters have enough time to invest in your slowpaced learning, weakling?" The elf looked at her arrogantly. He was perhaps a bit disappointed that Amber did not respond to his taunts, and as she dryly stated her reason for coming, could not think of anything better than: "Have you forgotten the way already?" He did not make any efforts to stop her though.

Ofcourse the faery still knew her way to master Aribael's room. Opening the door was quite a trouble for her, but she managed nonetheless. Inside awaited her a common picture: a dark gloomy room with the pool in front of her, an awkward contained to right and to the left, a desk with the dark coloured mer behind it. As Amber entered, Aribael laid the book aside and although she could see the title, Amber did not understand the letters. The master necromancy looked up to her and said, supposedly with a smile, although she wasn't sure: "Back for more?"

[Amber Brightwing]

Slowpaced learning? She? She didn’t have much to compare with, but she was pretty sure she was not slow when it came to the arcane arts. Even only because she was a fae and because Aribeal had told her so last time. Sure, there were probably faster learners, but on the average she was quite confident she was not slow at all. One could argue that she could have returned months earlier, but she had been busy and it hadn’t been that long. For a human, six months might be a long time, but - and Spirotyn should know that, being a member of the long-lived races himself - it was only a blink of an eye compared to the several hundreds of patterns she had before her.

She remained silent though and those thoughts were safely tucked away in the back of her head though. Arguing with the pointy eared doorman in front of her could only bring her harm, so she did that what she had the most experience with: hiding her true feelings. Maybe when she had caught up with him she could show him how slow she learned, but that wouldn’t be for a while.

She hurried past the unfriendly elf and quickly found her way to the room where she had received her training before. After a bit of trouble with the door - why did people always made them so heavy anyway? - she looked around, finding little had changed. Aribeal was sitting behind his desk.

Yes, I’ve finally found the time to continue with my training.

Giving in to her curiosity, she looked at the book he had been reading from the corner of her eye, only to find the title to be an incomprehensible mess of characters. Possible titles popped up in her mind, ranging from necromancy and Aetheria related things to how to bake a cake or maintain a vegetable garden. The previous ones would be more likely, but it would have been funny it was the latter.

[Mevius]

How to bake a pie or "a hundred tips on gardening". That would have been funny, but in fact the book did deal with necromancy and power. No secrets sides of this Master necromancer.

"You've come to continue your training..." the mer repeated. He stood up and walked slowly towards his pool. Without looking at the faery he continued: "That is good, there is much potential within you." Aribeal stepped into his pond, then lazily let himself slide into the water. After enjoying himself in his natural habitat, the mer turned his attention to Amber again. He lay close to the surface of the water and spoke rather soft and not directly to the faery, but his voice was hearable throughout the chamber.

"However, with aditional knowledge, there comes additional responsibility and duty. In order to be considered worthy to become my apprentice, you must serve. First of all tell me how is your faith? Who is your prime deity?" Aribeal still did not bother to look directly upon her, but rest assured he was aware of all happenings.

[Amber Brightwing]

Her primary deity? She landed on the table and scratched her chin while she thought about her answer for a second. The whole religion thing was a big mess as far as she was concerned. Even those that followed the ‘sacred’ three, which was supposed to be the imperial point of view or something, were bickering amongst each other. And still followed the same gods. Church of Faith, Diana versus Carmelya, Aetherians, Planetars, Aeternians… Once you considered the multitude of religions and the views on them, one could wonder if religion was a thing created by Jorel himself. Even if you wanted to follow the ‘right’ path there was no way of telling what it was.

The combination of that, her general dislike for all she had been thought, and a very long time of being alone and thinking things through had made her come up with her own way of looking at things. She had found that the one thing all seemed to have in common was that it was created at some point, but eventually destroyed again. Everything she knew on the surface of Telath followed the circle of life and death. Therefore she considered the two most important gods those that were in charge of life and death, Carmelya and Jalat. All other things could be derived from that, and thus those were the two gods she had the most respect for. She knew that it was possible that she as well was completely wrong, but unless one of the gods would take his or her time to disagree with her on the matter, it wasn’t likely her views would change much.

I’m not a devote follower of any of the gods in particular. I don’t really see the point in doing so, since the gods normally don’t seem to bother much with mortals either.

Mentioning the wrong god at the wrong place or against the wrong person could get you into a lot of trouble, so she decided to keep things a bit open for now. Although Vortex was fairly tolerant in those matters compared to the rest of the empire, she didn’t feel like claiming to faithfully follow any god. Jalat was the patron god of the city and most of those living above the surface followed him, but she knew there were still some followers of Jorel around and from what she had heard, they didn’t like each other that much. It had always puzzled her why though, as from what she had learned in schola, she had always thought the two of them would get along well. They both seemed to have a fond dislike of the Aetherians for example. Still, everyone believed in something, so she felt she had to at least give Aribeal a name when answering.

But if I have to pick one then it probably would be Jalat.

She awaited the reaction of the mer. Even thought she had named a god it was clear she wouldn’t be to bothered with doing things in the name of another one. She was only getting her orders from a mere mortal after all.

[Mevius]

The mer lay silently in his pool, considering Amber's words. "That is a wise point of view, Initiate, but remember this: as necromancers, we are Aethernians. We follow this path and none other. As you become more powerful and spread our faith and dark arts, the Gods will take notice and will bother with you." He paused, letting his words sink in. "Ofcourse, there is but a small chance you will ever become powerful enough for that to happen, but if you do, you wished you had paid them more hommage than you do now."

The mer rose up and sat in his pool. "Jalat you say? There are many who share the same faith in this city. This cult has Jorel as it's prime deity however, although we have a fairly lenient policy on this matter. Just be sure never to mention your prime deity anywhere from now on, 'an Aeternian' will do." Airbeal left in the middle which god he primarily followed.

Before the actual training would begin, there were more things Aribeal wished to know. "Very well, now let us speak of duty. Tell me Amber, what do you know of this cult and how do you think you may serve it?"

[Amber Brightwing]

Of course followed the path of the Aethernians, but it was not because she was a necromancer. In fact, it was the other way around: she had chosen her sphere because the path she had decided to follow. When only trying to destroy a lot of fae, Elementalism might even have been the better option, even only because she would not have to be as careful not to mention her craft without the risk of being killed on the spot. Still, she had chosen necromancy anyway. To make a statement, to rebel against her upbringing, to reflect her chosen path. She believed that if it ever got to a point where gods started taking notice, it would be actions like those rather then words that would speak for her faith. And it’s not like they could blame her for doing the wrong thing if they never told her what was right.

The cult? Well, for one I just learned that it is in fact a cult and not some kind of other underground organization and that it follows Jorel.

The cult thing wasn’t that surprising though. She had found out that many - if not most - things in Vortex seemed to be tied to some god, in this case Jorel. Although she personally prefered Jalat, she didn’t mind doing some stuff for the mer. After all, most of her actions would be to the benefit of both gods anyway.

Other than that I know it teaches necromancy and at least one other sphere of arcana.

She had sensed spells from one or more other spheres when passing thought the halls, but it had been too vague to identify more about them other than that they were not necromantic. It was possible that there was more that was hidden under this tavern though, but she wasn’t too sure about that. Since they followed Jorel and used necro that was reason enough to stay well hidden, even in Vortex.

As to how I may help out? Well…

She scratched her chin again as she thought for a moment about what she could do.

It depends on what you need to have done of course. I have my magic, although only I’m only an initiate of course, I can fly, but I don’t know if that’s really helpful, I’m small, so I can easily hide and such and maybe spy or something, and that’s about it I guess. Oh, and I can sense arcane things without the need to enter clara.

She wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty, be it as messenger, spy, assassin or something else, but she lacked the size to have much use in the front lines. Still, there were other things that could be done by one as small as she was. After all, with just some sparks a whole forests could be reduce to ashes and a small could cause an avalanche.

[Mevius]

Amber's natural feel with magic did not fail her. "Very good!" Aribeal commented as the faery voiced her belief that another sphere of arcana was being taught here aside from necromancy. Since the nature of that sphere was not really a big secret, the mer chose to tell her. "We also count a master mystic among our ranks, who teaches that sphere of magic to the disciples."

The mer stepped out of the pond, shook himself dry and took place on the chair before his desk. He was very close to Amber now, if she remained to sit exactly where she did. The master necromancer had an odd smell, faint and not really a stench, but awkward. The faery did not know whether it was because Aribeal was a master necromancer or whether it was a 'mer thing'.

"Exactly." The mer nodded. "Your stature can serve us best in the role of a spy. Before I brief your mission though, I will Promote you. I sense you are ready for that. By Promoting you from Initiate to Apprentice, your Vis capacity will increase threefold", he explained. "I will also Impart the standard necromancy Apprentice spells in you. We will train the techniques later. Ready?" He asked, but before Amber could answer, he began.

Not that Promotion from Initiate to Apprentice was a very eventful process, nowhere near the opening of a world as Unbinding was. Still, sensitive to arcana as the faery was, she felt more powerful, frisk, when he was done. A natural built-in protective layer of her mind was erased, allowing her to channel more Ara from the Essence Plane, amongst other benefits.

[Amber Brightwing]

A mystic? That seemed to make sense. Now that she thought about it, she might even have guessed it herself if she had tried a bit harder. Especially when you considered she knew almost for certain that the bartender of the White Night’s Drink was one of those non-necromantic mages. It suddenly made sense why they had put a mage behind the counter. A mystic could easily make people turn the other way or make them ignore of forget certain events. Like the amount of traffic that went in and out of the kitchen.

Amber didn’t move other then turning a bit when Aribeal came closer. Normally she avoided close proximity of the larger folks as a general precaution. Not that suspected everyone to want to do harm towards her, but in a city as this one she was rather safe then sorry. With the mer however that was rather pointless. Although she didn’t expect him to do her any harm - mostly because she was more useful alive then death to him - it wouldn’t matter much if he did. After all, he could kill her in within the blink of an eye, no matter where she happened to be in this room.

The smell the mer was emitting she considered to be just a 'mer thing'. It was a bit odd, but it didn’t bother her that much and she found it the safest to ignore it either way. The thought of it having a necromantic origin didn’t even arise in her mind. After all, since she could smell arcane things, it didn’t come into her mind that a non-arcanic smell might have an arcanic cause.

Yes.

Of course she was ready. It had been what she had come for after all. Oddly enough, she felt the difference with the promotion, while se had felt anything of the unbinding. You could say that was because she had been out cold, but even when she had come by again she hadn’t been able to tell that something had changed (at least not until she attempted at reaching clara). The promotion however tore down a wall of protection and granted her access too a larger vis reserve, and that she could feel. She was flooded with it, almost instantly having triple the capacities she had before. Gradually she got used to the new feeling, while she awaited further orders.

[Mevius]

"Feels good no?" The mer smiled cruelly. "I shall now Impart the standard apprentice spells in you." Aribeal closed his eyes for a short minute. If promotion was an uneventful process, the Impartment of a few spells was even less noticeable. In fact, Amber would feel nothing. Imparting spells was a simple transfer of guidelines. The apprentice necromancer now possessed the blueprints of the spells. Were they followed correctly, they would produce the wanted result.

"There you are." The master opened his eyes again. "You are now able to cast all apprentice spells. At first, your spells will probably produce ill results if at all, but as you practice them more often, you shall see their effectiveness increase. Given your natural arcane abilities, I'm confident you shall pick up the entire repertoire in no time." Aribeal paused, looking down on his little faery apprentice. The annoying thing about her size was that she could not be used to carry his books or refresh his pool. She would have to compensate this with different duties. Possibly dangerous duties. It did not matter, she was expendable. "On to your mission then."

"As of recent, we've been having troubles with a certain group of thugs. They are called the Blood Alley Gang; I'm sure you've heard of them. Ofcourse there is nothing they can do to threaten us, but they are becoming a bit bothersome. Every now and then, we cleanse the surroundings of the tavern, but as vermin they keep coming back. The head of the cult has now decided that we must seek a way to do more... permanent damage. I want you to go to their hideout and do some reconnaissance. Find out who their leaders are and how they are protected."

"Your new gained skills will aid you a lot. Darkness, Fright, Stench of Decay are all useful new apprentice spells for a quick escape. Spirit Armor is a must to compensate your lack of defense. Convoke Shadows, the initiate spell, will also be invaluable." Aribeal paused for a moment, pondering if he had missed anything. "Any questions?"

[Amber Brightwing]

The first thing she did after getting her newly imported spells was having a good look at them. After all, she was curious after all the neat thing she could do with her new toys. Although some of the were quite intriguing, her biggest interest didn’t go to them. There was more to being an apprentice then just more spells, both in a day as overall. She was especially interested in the new techniques the promotion brought and in Reshape Mana to be more specific. She knew that there was the possibility to alter and tweak the spells she already knew and she already had a pretty good idea what would be the first thing she was going to try out.

Darkness, Fright, Stench of Decay and Spirit Armor. It didn’t take her long to find the matching ‘blueprint’ for each spell. Darkness was obviously the enhanced version of Blindness and Spirit Armor of Spirit Shield. Fright and Stench of Decay were pretty self explaining and she had no trouble finding exactly what they did. She doubted any spell would be very useful for a quick escape though. With the time needed to cast them she would need start well in advance and there wouldn’t be much place for last second improvisation. If she was going to do a quick escape it was going to be a planned one. And perhaps it was best to avoid being detected altogether. There wouldn’t be much use for her information if they upped their security after she had left.

Well, just two. First, do you want me to use one of the newly thought spells or can I stick to ones I already knew if convenient.

She did not yet know the effects of her new arsenal yet and it wasn’t too unlikely that spells would be a bit off compared to what she was expecting. They could easily be less powerful then or, in the worst case, they might fail completely. Her initiate spells on the other hand she knew inside out and she could use three times more of them - if that would be needed.

The mission in itself seemed fairly easy. Thugs normally didn’t have mages among them so with Convoke Shadows she should be able to snoop around unnoticed. Even if they did employ a mage or two she would find out fast enough due to her arcanic sensing. Getting in might be a little tricky, but considering the neighbourhood she figured she’d find a hole somewhere. A bigger problem could be how to identify the leader.

And second, I’ve heard of the Blood Alley Gang, but I don’t know much more then that they are some street gang, so all information that could help me out would be more then welcome. Like where I might find those leaders, how many there are of them or how I might recognize them… If that’s available of course.

She didn’t know how much the mer already knew, but any extra information would be welcome. She was pretty sure that he could just walk in, probably even on his own, do an excessive amount of damage and live to tell the tale. If he brought some more mages with him she figured it would be a walk in the park. Still, it couldn’t hurt to be well informed so she waited to see what he had to say.

And maybe other things that I should be aware of or look out for.

[Mevius]

The master necromancer patiently listened to Amber's questions and waited until she had posed all of them. "Use whatever seems best in the situation at hand. While some apprentice spells are useful in my opinion for your task, using old, familiar spells is also good ofcourse."

He chuckled before he answered her next question. "Well, you must understand that these thugs are far simpler than us or our organization. Theirs is based on brute strength and a big mouth. Their leaders identify themselves through their acts and their size. It is exactly your mission to find out more about them." The mer said the last sentence with some frustration. It was her job to find out, like he had said.

Lastly, the master commented: "I know not more than I've told you. I usually do not bother with anything happening upstairs, unless the master is specifically interested. This gang has however proven a nuisance, so action must be taken."

"The main goal is to stop them from bothering us. I could easily kill a few or a lot of them, but as I said, it is like clearing the rats from one corner of the dungeon only to find another bunch entering at the other. I want a permanent solution, and you must provide information to aid me in finding that solution." The mer rose from the chair and turned his back to Amber. He stepped slowly in his pool. When Aribeal stood at half his heigth in the water, he spoke without looking behind him. "You have your instructions, now leave." Then he disappeared in the dark water.

[Amber Brightwing]

OOC: Can I assume that my PC knows where the gangs headquarters are? If not I’ll edit my post. And do you want me to post in that thread or continue here?

She nodded at the mers words. She would decide when convenient what spells she would pick out of her arsenal. Convoke Shadows would obviously be the first choice. Considering that Aribeal had just confirmed that they were simple thugs that relied on muscle only on strength she should be able to wander about unnoticed. Depend on how good or bad things went she might not even need to use an other spell.

It was slightly disappointing he could not provide her with much useful information to give her something to start with, but that was not entirely unexpected since the lack of information was the reason why she had gotten the task in the first place. When the master returned to his pool she was a bit unsure if she should leave or if he still would have something to say, so when she was given the command to leave she quickly left the room and returned to the surface.

Once outside the surface she didn’t waste much time and immediately headed towards the Blood Alley, the place that was know for it’s high concentration of lowlife criminals. Since that’s where their headquarters were she figured that would be a good place to start looking around. Before she entered the street however she landed on a rooftop nearby and entered clara.

Only when she had successfully cast Convoke Shadows she continued her way, flying about a meter above the crowds. As she made her way towards what looked like the main entrance, already alert and with her eyes and ears open wide open for any useful information. Not that she expected to find out something useful before she had actually entered the building.

[Mevius]

OOC: Continued here

[Amber Brightwing]

OOC: Continued from here.

She grinned as she heard some last fragments of conversation. It certainly wasn’t a bad thing that they were going to put the blame of the destroyed ceiling and carpet on this Daywatcher person. With him as scapegoat it would be even less likely that they would suspect anything or anyone else, more specifically herself. Not that it was very likely that they would ever make the connection between this and a faerie necromancer send by the cult under the White Night’s Drink that was sent out to go spy on them. That would be just too far fetched. Even if someone would suggest it would probably be laughed away.

As soon as she was back in the fresh air she headed straight back towards the tavern. And in her case that could be taken literally, flying over the roofs rather then taking the trouble to follow the streets. Entering the tavern for the second time this brightening she thought about how easy that had gone. She was quite confident that master Aribeal would be pleased with the results.

I’m back.

She didn’t expect the elf to stop her – given she was on a mission for Aribeal – but she waited for a sign of approval anyway before continuing further down into the complex that lay under the tavern.