The Stone Cottage - just east of the Free City

The Sage stood with a spear in hand. It shines like white gold. The shaft was wrapped in some king of cloth. The cloth looked ancient but was in remarkable condition, the spear itself had no flaws. It was 4 heads taller than Leiron, almost hitting the highpeaked roof about the sage. "First, as expected dragon rider." The sage knew of the elf's destiny but he dare not say a word. No spoilers. "This is for you. A Spear of mythril, long enough to strike foes from the back of your dragon, even when she is full gorwn." The Sage turned to Asadobres, "I have something for you aswell, Broken Wing." He laughed, "She will need a new name, else she breaks her wing again."

Hirhan's boots sloshed through the mud, sending a faint spray up onto his pantaloons. He had been walking with the party for almost a day now, and the combination of his wet socks and the long march had done a number on his feet. He resolved that he would dry them out when they next stopped; his feet would likely thank him.

As his wards zapped another bog-mosquito, he wondered to himself why the sage had built his cottage in the woods so close to the swamps. Overhead, Leiron soared on his dragon, bypassing the swamp all-together. Hirhan couldn't help but be jealous: he could fly with his magics, but doing so would consume much of his energy. After his fight with the Loa, he thought it would be prudent to conserve his energy a bit. As he walked he dished out an introductory lesson on metamagics to his (mostly) unwilling new students. Their groans and dead eyes were completely missed, as Hirhan was engrossed by his lecture.

"So, there are four main schools of magic, according to the Archmage Jeakuo III. First there is evocation, the most commonly used school. This is the purview of battlemages, spellswords, and other such unenlightened brutes. Their philosophy is thus: that magic is to be channeled unpresisely, in large amounts. Think of them like a waterfall surging with power... but utterly at the whim of the contours of the land."

He adjusted his glasses.

"Next comes cantrips. Like evocation, cantrips are supposed to be cast quickly, though they differ in that they tend to be more complex, and that they consume less energy. If evocation is a waterfall, cantrips are a pipe with a valve on the end: more focused, but still capable of instantaneous surges of power."

His lesson was cut short when he sighted the cottage around the bend.

"Oh, we are here! I will tell you all about curses and artificing next time!"

He approached the sage with the rest of the group. Rani spoke first.

Leiron shrugged at Rani. He wanted answers too. He set his spear in the ground next to asadobres who was already sitcking her head in through the window. He followed the sage inside. There were several seats around a low square table for companions to sit in. He picked one closer to the Sage, just in case.

Hirhan would follow Leiron, trusting the Elf's judgement. The cottage seemed mundane enough, though Hirhan would use his lenses to scan for any magical traps or wards. If he found nothing of interest he would duck his head, taking a seat at the table. He would sit in the chair farthest away from the sage, as he had yet to meet the sage.

Ralf advanced behind the group as they trudged through the swamp, wary of any traps or approaching enemies. He kept his old wooden-steel shield clutched tight and his sword tighter. The whole time Hirhan was talking about various magics and different fields of study, all of which made little to no sense to Ralf.

"In Asgeir," Ralf replied to Hirhan, "magic is not as widespread. Us Varan have a high resistance to most magical elements, perhaps that is why I survived the Loa's blast. Anyway, because of that resistance, it is nigh impossible for the Varan to learn magic as you other men, elves and whatnot do. Our magic is concentrated through the use of Runes, which we use to enchant our weapons and armor. Prayer to the gods allows us to change the weather, but only when the will to do so is strong enough."

The group finally approached the Sage's old cottage and went on inside and sit down. Ralf sat down next to the table and grabbed a cup of tea. "Hmm," Ralf sounded curious as he peered into the mysterious drink. "Tea," he said, remembering what it was non-Varan called this beverage. He slipped from it slowly and, despite not taking a liking to its taste, nodded at the Sage. "Thank you, dear Sage, for the complimentary beverage."

The Sage responded to Ralf, "Your welcome." He sipped his tea and waited for Max. When Max came in the door the Sage cut him off, "The flower should have been left be. That piece of cloth Rani has is proof enough of the death."

The sage sighed deeply. "I did not know what the creature was. I was shown what would happen if it was left alone. It would have made it to this city. It would have been killed all the same but it would have killed hundreds of innocent people. Again though, I did not see what it was until it was too late." He was directly talking to Rani by this point. "I am really sorry. I would have sent you to seal it up somewhere so it couldn't roam, instead of slaying it. If I new it was Nati Loa..." The sage's voice trailed off in sorrow for moment.

He stood slowly and motioned to a wall. A small armory was there. "These are your rewards. I gave Leiron his already because I couldn't get it inside. A blade for Max, a shield and chain mail hauberk for Ralf. A magical vambrace for Hirhan. For Asadobres, a piece of draconic armor, sadly not a full set... And for you Rani, a gauntlet."

Max's sword was a typical longsword by design but the guard, pummel and blade where all hewn from one piece of steel. Black leather coated the grip. The blade was balanced slightly toward the blade for stronger but slightly less controlled hits. The steel shone with the same white gold shine as leiron's spear.

Ralf's Shield was a round shield like the one he currently has. However the shield like all the trinkets the Sage was offering had a white gold shine to it. It however had etched into its face a wolf snarling. "Sure to intimidate foes." The edges of the shield had runes in it that had no power, their purpose unknown save perhaps to Hirhan and his funny glasses. The chainmail was of the same material, "To replace what was destroyed..."

Hirhan's Vambrace was mostly of the same material as the others. it was a metal plat that sat upon the top of either forearm. However the mythrill only outlined the heart of the vambrace. The heart was made of obsidian, strange curving geometric patterns wove through it and in the center a diamond like gem. "This is special. This device, it in itself is completely immune to magic. The gem in its center absorbs the spell structure, and part of the energy of the spell... and recast it. This includes your own spells. The gem will change color acccording to the type of magic used. Do try to hide it under a sleeve or something, the gem is sure to attract bandits that spot it.

Rani's gauntlet was as the others a white gold looking material. The gaunlet looked like it was made of feathers. The first 2 didgits of each finger was left un armored. The back of the hand had a red jewel, The forearm of the gauntlet looked like it was make of metal feathers. The gem allowed better control of the fire element.

Asadrobes draconic armor was a chest plate. The metal like the other artifacts were white gold in color. the plate had a central plate and several plates that would fold out or collapse in based on movement. It was for a young dragon, designed to be grown into. The armor would fit Asadobres for sometime. The sage had adjusted the straps on the armor so it fit would fit Asadobres perfectly one she was equipped in it.

After the sage had handed out the rewards he began to speak. "You killed a God. This was not what I thought I was sending you to do. But you, mortals, have slew a god. I rewarded you accordingly. Everyone of these items are made of Mythril. This material can only be forged by dwarves and altered by magic. Not one of these items holds the original shape the dwarves gave it. But all are true to purpose. These weapons cannot be broken, pierced, or destroyed unless struck by another weapon of mythril, or pitted by magic." He stopped talking and turn his back to the group. He sighed deeply and mumbled under his breath, "It'll take years to gather this much material again. I should have gave the dragon something smaller."

Hirhan barely registered that the sage knew his name, or that he had known that Hirhan was coming. Knowing such things seemed like a wizardly thing to do, so Hirhan thought nothing of it. Clearly the sage was a practiced artificer, as enchantments such as the one his vambrace carried were remarkably difficult to make, and very time consuming. Indeed, he had only met the group by accident that morning, but the sage likely would have had to have started the enchantment process on the embrace about a week ago. Wizards. Addressing the sage with the enthusiastic glee of a 12 year old who had just opened a new gaming console on Christmas day, Hirhan sputtered,

"MARVELOUS, simply marvelous! For me!? You shouldn't have. AHA, not that I would ever complain. A masterwork no doubt, in mitheral too AH!"

He rolled his eyes back, pantomiming a gasp of pleasure... or at least everyone hoped he was pantomiming one. As soon as the sage set it down on the table, he would snatch it off the table, immediately strapping the device onto his right forearm. (Though he, as always, was sure to check the equipment for malevolent enchantments before touching it himself.) Muttering with the same childlike glee as before he would stand, turning away from the table while looking out the window. Speaking his thoughts aloud, he imagined the possibilities the vambrace opened. Though no one had seen it happen, he had produced his cracked leather journal from his bag, and was already flipping through the pages in search of some spell formula.

He eventually registered that he was indeed still in the company of strangers. He would return to his seat, though little could separate him from his book now. Then there were the other rewards, those looked promising. Hirhan had little doubt he could render powerful enchantments on to them, if given the time. To work with mitheral, it would almost be a pleasure in itself. He would have to stay along with these people... indeed, he had yet to find the rare moss he had been looking for, and a researcher such as himself could always need more "research assistants." Yes, that would do splendidly.

"Yes... but I am afraid to trust my visions. There is man removed from time. The man is the most powerful Wizard I have ever seen. He carries items of a lost time. Their enchantments similar to Hirhan's gift. This man was shown to me, fires of doom and fate roaring around him. He stood amongst them, watching them burn the world unopposed. When the fires went out the man began to walk. My vision left me at that moment. Visions too far in the future or the past tend to be short and filled with riddles. The thing is... I could not tell if the vision was from the past or the future. In short I want to seek this man out. Learn about him. He either watched the cataclysm take place long ago, or plans to unleash a new one in the future. If he plans to destroy the world of Men and Elves once more. He must be put to an end. I cannot promise much reward in the way of legendary items... You lot already cleaned me out of my Mythril. I can offer other things. Not sure what yet..."

He eyeballed Hirhan, "Magical knowledge," his gaze moved to Ralf, "A vision of family and friends in a faraway land," to Leiron and Asadobres, "a teacher," to Rani, "a location so sacred it has been forgotten," and lastly to Max, "a hand removed from ones throat."

Leiron watched as the Sage replied simply. "They shone like suns. Orbs glowing with light. They varied in size and held magics... Each one was like a vault of magic." His eyes began to glow a pale grey from under his hood. "Crafted by magus whose kind no longer exists. Magus so powerful they did not channel energy but were made of it. Beings of pure magic." The Sage closed his eyes and said one word. "Extinct." He sighed deeply. "I have a feeling your questions will trigger visions too often. Do me a favor and keep them sparing."