The Enclave

Straightening her clothes once again before entering, Millianna made her way up the stairs and into Andraste Ruana's study room. As she walked up the stairs, she couldn't stop herself from admiring this artistic office. She really liked the combination of obsidian and wood, although she would prefer a flame emanating red light instead of blue. Taking in the surroundings she noticed all the shelves full of books on the walls. This had to be about hundreds of them. Had she read them all?

"Yes." she answered the question and stood in front of Andraste's desk, moving a strand of her red hair back behind her ear. "I am Millianna Knightwalker." she said with a bow. "I have heard numerous tales about your adventures and accomplishments and decided to become your student. I am a sorceress myself, but I still have much to learn." she said with newly acquired confidence, which she didn't know where it came from.

"I have talked to the Lord of the Free City, Ildesias Xen Torsal, who examined my magical powers and verified, that I have the talent to become a student of the Conjunction. But my intention first and foremost was to train under you, Miss Ruana." she said and was surprised how mature she sounded. She still carried the letter of approval from Ildesias in her hand, but wasn't sure if she should hand it over.

It would make her look complacent and that was the last thing she wanted. She only had this chance to prove herself so she had to give it her all. Her heart was beating like crazy again and it would depend on Andraste's answer, if her confidence would start to crumble or not.

Ildesias passed through the doors of The Enclave tower, his idle words to Sariandi immediately hushing to respect the work of mages present. As he made his way through the reception and waiting area, he spoke to the clerk behind the desk in order to let them know he would be using The Archives, then moved down towards the library itself.

"I suppose I will attend this public meeting," he whispered to his companion, turning corners and pushing open doors as needed. "It would be nice to see how things are going since I departed after all. Ah, here's the archive."

He turned, opening one final door and stepping through into a large library space featuring a maze of shelves stacked from floor to high ceiling, numerous subsections and small commons areas and the occasional mage or student reading up on some area of study. He moved over to where a small map of the library stood encased in glass, then turned towards the elf woman and furrowed a brow. "I hadn't actually thought about where we would begin searching. I suppose it might be quicker if we split up... Let's... Look for books on known mystical and/or magical objects and uhh... Keys?"

After what seemed like hours, Ildesias returned to one of the seating areas with absolutely nothing. He had searched everywhere he could think of - he had even passed Sariandi several times as he scanned the shelves and flicked through any book that might have something of interest on the object from the lockbox. Alas it seemed as though fate was not being kind to him today.

He would wait a while to see if Sariandi found anything, but eventually he would call upon her and sigh. "I've looked everywhere I can think of. I suppose you've not found anything either? Perhaps we should call it a day and come back some other time.. Maybe someone's taken the book we're looking for, or maybe it was just never here."

On a relatively quiet but otherwise unremarkable summer afternoon, Lady Naoki makes her way through The Citadel toward The Enclave tower. She walks without any particular sense of hurry- the majority of her work for today is already done, all that remains is a meeting scheduled in another few hours. Without quite enough time to have a nap or go elsewhere to have a meal, Naoki figures that now is as good a time as any to do some of her personal research.

With this in mind, she enters the Enclave Tower. One of Isra’s foremost repositories of magical knowledge. As good a place as any to start, she figures. Past the towering double doors, past many robed practitioners of magic. Up a short flight of stairs. Past a section dedicated to magics elemental. Past a set of acolytes not-so-subtly sucking face behind a bookshelf without anything more than a smirk.

After a short while, however, Naoki reaches her goal. The portion of The Enclave dedicated to magics of the mind. Scrying, telepathy, telekinesis, and all of their ilk. Another short while is spent perusing the shelves, selecting a small set of books that would seem to be as reasonable a place to start as any, pulling them off the shelves and forming a stack.

With her stack of tomes, Naoki seats herself at a conveniently placed table presumably intended for just such a purpose, and begins to read.

Vigil had finished one of his experiments and was looking over the work of the other Magi. With Andraste's absence he was the Arch-mage. In his years since he became an Adult Ethereal, he had come to control his power and had some nicer robes and his wrappings had been redone to be more uniform. He see's the witch enter on her broom and immediately gives her attention.

"Please don't knock anything over with that." He asked politely. He examined the girl and noted that she is quite short for an overworlder. Vigil himself was about 2 meters tall. The being of magic introduces himself. "I am Vigil, the Arch-Mage. What are you called, and what is your goal?"

"Hmm." Vigil takes some time to put thoughts together before responding. The ethereal mage always seemed to sound calm. "So you have come to Isra in this troubling conflict. I assume you wish to lend your magical talents to the cause, that is why you've come to the conclave."

"Arch-Mage! I need help, for some reason this incantation isn't working."

"I'm in the middle of something... let me see the incantation and listen to you attempt it." Vigil takes the apprentice mage's notes and listens to him reciting the incantation. "The problem is that your notes are written too close together, halfway through the incantation you began speaking a verse from the next incantation on the list."

"What? Oh wow, I didn't think it was something as stupid as that! Sorry for interrupting!" The mage leaves to get back to his studies.

"My apologies. Back to our conversation. While we are still on this subject, I shall share with you my philosophy on this damnable conflict. I have no problem with Magi of the Enclave wishing to participate, even if I do not want to myself, as long as they follow my guidelines for magic. Since I am an alien to this realm, I choose not to involve myself in Overworld conflicts. I will defend if needed but will not go out to destroy. Politics do not concern me, so long as the biosphere is not being put in jeopardy." Vigil finishes explaining his perspective of war. "Moving on, what school of magic are you a practitioner of?"

"Oh, so you have a large repertoire of spells without total mastery in one particular class. I'm interested in seeing what you can do. Would you come with me to demonstrate the different skills you have?" Vigil led the way to a fortified room, this was a chamber made especially for containing magic without causing structural damage to the rest of the tower. "This room is safe."

Vigil would sling a large magic missile into the wall to show Eloria. The spell hit a liquid-like layer of magic and disappeared, no damage was made to the wall.

"An impressive array of powers you have. To have command over multiple elemental abilities is admirable. I'm curious to how you will develop in the future. Yes." Vigil floated around and turned to Eloria. "I think you will do well. I know I asked what your goal was before, but now I want to know what your Mission in Life is. What is something you want to achieve in your lifetime? Mine is to protect the realms from catastrophe by promoting responsible use of magic."

"So you wish to be a loyal servant to your Deity. I suppose that's fair enough. You may consider yourself a resident of the Enclave and use its facilities for study, I must warn you, there are some boundaries in magic that shouldn't be crossed. It is good to study them, but always consider the consequences of unstable magic. The military will likely make good use of you in the war. I just hope this will not escalate past being a war, that the overworlders will show restraint. I must have faith in these people that they will not destroy their own world." Vigil starts floating out of the room, "I shall get to work on my own studies, unless there is anything you need to ask. Do not hesitate to seek me out. "