4.3 - The Spire of Ba'aal, part 2

That morning, the group was awakened by a loud knock on the door. Nala, who had been up reading until late, groaned and rolled over in bed. She wasn't getting up. So Echo went to answer the door instead. She opened it to reveal the form of Capricornicus, once again on his hind legs and wearing a mage robe. With a disapproving scowl, the deer looked down on her.
'Did you have fun playing dress-up?'
Woops.
'I-I have no idea what you mean,' the Tiefling said, surprised and caught off-guard so early in the morning. Capricornicus scowled even more. He was stroking his deer-like goatee- not with his hoof, but with Mage Hand. It would have looked rather comical, if not for the daggers in his eyes.
'Pegasus would like to speak with you this evening.'
'Oh.'
Echo shared an uncomfortable look with Mialee. Then she shrugged, and turned back towards the deer.
'Any idea what it's abou-'
But Capricornicus had already walked away from the doorway and halfway down the hall. He turned around just long enough to use his Mage hand a second time – this time to aggressively make the eyes-on-you gesture at Echo. She gave him a smirk in response.

Not long after that, everyone had gathered in the dining hall for breakfast. Since they had stayed up until near-sunrise the other night, most of the group was very tired. Nala and Echo especially looked as if they were about to fall asleep at any moment. Which soon became reality. The Dragonborn drifted off mid-breakfast, plopping down right next to her plate. The Tiefling followed not soon after, only she grabbed a pillow from a nearby chair first.

Not long afterwards, Alatar got up from his seat.
'What's on the program today?' Telyn smiled at him. 'Another tour?'
She was eating some sort of fancy-looking pink pastry. The wizard shook his head at her.
'I have a few things I need to take care of while we're here. You all should rest until the afternoon. We've been on the road for a while. It's a good chance to catch up on sleep and prepare for tomorrow.'
He made a good point. Especially with Nala and Echo conked out at the table. Mialee, Yorda and Telyn seemed somewhat awake, though. The robed wizard shrugged at them.
'I'll be back in a couple of hours. You've been told where and where not to go. Capricornicus will be with you all in just a moment. Stay out of trouble until then.'

And he was out the door. Mialee, Yorda and Telyn shot each other a glance. Then shrugged, and kept eating. For a lone tower in the middle of the desert, the food really wasn't bad. There were even sandwiches. Yorda was in the middle of gorging herself on those when she spotted someone else come in from the corner of her eye. Expecting it to be Alatar again, she turned around to face him.

Turns out it wasn't Alatar. In the doorway, their physical features hidden by a hooded mage robe, stood a small humanoid. They were even better at hiding their face than Alatar. Yorda could only see a glimpse of it – a lavender skin, framed by pale, stark white hair.

As soon as the figure laid eyes on them all, they froze. Glanced over at the sandwiches. Glanced over at the group. Then took a step back, turned around and bolted out of the room.
'There's some leftovers if you- aaaaaaand he's gone.'
'Who was that?' Telyn asked. Mialee could only shrug.
'No idea. There's a lot of weirdos here.'
The pale half-elf frowned, looking at the hallway. She seemed to make up her mind about something. Yorda grabbed another sandwich from the table, put it on a plate and began walking away.
'Where are you going?'
'For a walk,' Yorda replied over her shoulder.
'Hey! Wait, we're not supposed to go around unsupervised!'
Telyn quickly jumped up to follow her. She ran out after Yorda, disappearing around the corner. Before too long their footsteps trailed off into the distance.

That left just Mialee. On her own. Again.

Except this time, her partner-in-crime was asleep on the breakfast table. And so was Nala. Mialee, who only needed four hours of meditation at night, did not feel like taking a rest at all. But that did leave her on her own. She stayed in the dining hall for a few moments, waiting to see if Echo woke back up. When the Tiefling did not, Mialee left to roam the tower by herself.

She didn't get far before running into more shenanigans.

Alatar

As Alatar made his way up the stairs of the Spire, he came across a familiar face. A brown-haired human mage with green eyes crossed paths with him in the hall. His name was Cedric, and he was one of the other apprentices. Alatar gave him a nod as a greeting. He expected to get the same courtesy from him. But as soon as Cedric saw him, his brow furrowed. A giant scowl spread on his face.
'Where's your little apprentice, huh? Tired of her already?'

Alatar blinked in confusion. He had no idea what Cedric was talking about. And the mage did not explain himself. Alatar was roughly shoulder-bumped as the man moved past him and down the stairs, his arms wrapped around a bunch of scrolls. He watched Cedric go with a confused look on his face.

What had that been about?

Yorda

Telyn had followed Yorda as she made her way through the Spire's halls with the sandwich. The pale half-elf wasn't entirely sure why she'd tagged along. She wasn't sure about lots of things regarding that bard, though. So Yorda shrugged, and kept walking.

The white-haired figure had piqued her interest. She had never seen someone with white hair and lavender skin before- not in this world. Maybe that was a coincidence. Then again, maybe it wasn't. And if it was not...
Then she wanted to know who it was.

It did not take her long to find what she was looking for. As she rounded another corner, the figure from before came back into view. They were sitting in a darkened windowsill, reading some kind of book. Their face was still almost entirely covered by the hood. It really was a mage thing, then, Yorda concluded. She began to approach the figure.
'What are we doing?' Telyn whispered behind her.
'Giving him food.'
'Why?'
But Yorda did not feel like explaining herself to the bard. Their whispering had drawn the figure's attention, though. Their head jolted up as they approached. Yorda could see another glimpse of white hair. As a peace offering, the pale half-elf held up the plate with the sandwich.
'You didn't get any breakfast.'

The figure didn't respond. They looked... tense, as if they were about to take off running. Like a cornered animal. That was odd. Yorda and Telyn weren't being threatening at all. Or so she thought. But their body language said otherwise, and it threw her off.
What would be non-threatening in a situation like this?

The pale half-elf bit her lip, doubting herself. Then she made up her mind. Her body shifted, shrinking down into the form of a little white squirrel.
And it had the exact opposite effect of what she was going for. The figure let out a scream, jumping off the window and bolting away as fast as he could. Within seconds they were out of sight.
'Well that didn't work,' Telyn thought out loud, shrugging as Yorda changed back.
'I noticed.'
'Maybe you shouldn't do that again? I can try talking. I'm pretty good at that, you know.'
That would defeat the whole point of seeking them out herself. Yorda grumbled something in response, not engaging with Telyn's suggestion. The pink-haired bard turned towards the windowsill.
'He left something behind.'
She went to grab it. It was the book that the figure had been reading. It looked old, with folded corners and loose pieces of paper sticking out of it. More like a notebook than a novel. Telyn opened it up, curiously flipping through the pages.
'Oh... that makes sense.'
'What makes sense?'
She pointed at the book.
'He's a Drow. That's why his hair was white. And an albino, too. Man, it must be hard for him out here.'

Yorda had no idea what a "Drow" was. The bard said it like it was something negative, though. Telyn handed the book to her. Inside were a series of scribbled notes in Elvish, together with drawings of what looked like subterranean plants. It didn't mean anything to Yorda. But Telyn seemed to recognise it. She looked back in the direction that they came from.
'Maybe someone near the mess hall knows where his room is. We shouldn't be out here.'
'You go on ahead,' Yorda replied to her. The bard did not seem to like that.
'We shouldn't be out here on our own!'
'Then go back. I'll join you all later.'
Telyn opened her mouth to argue, and then decided against it.
'Fine. I'll see you back in the mess hall.'

Mialee

Mialee had been poking around the various hallway entrances, trying to make it look like she knew where she was going. Emphasis on trying. Of course it caught people's attention.

Mialee was in the middle of trying to act as if she belonged when her eye fell on a hallway spiraling down. A golden cord was strung in front of it, blocking people from getting in. The few mages in the main hall all stayed clear of it, giving it a wider berth than was normal.
There was definitely something down there.

The ranger nodded to herself. Mialee stealthily attempted to move over to the restricted section – and bumped head-first into Senga, who had stepped in to cut her off.
'Going somewhere?'
'S-Senga!' Mialee said, smiling as best she could. 'No, not going anywhere. Nope. Not me.'
The dark-haired twin raised a single eyebrow. A knowing smirk played on her face. She did a quick look around the hallway. Then Senga stepped towards the elven ranger and leaned in, whispering into her ear with an ominous gleam in her eyes.
'Do you want to see a dead body?'

That was not what the elf had expected to hear. Her eyes narrowed as she looked the twin over. Senga had a familiar look of mischief playing on her face. Very familiar. It was almost as if she was looking at a human version of Echo. Or herself. The expression was the same.
'What dead body?'
Senga grabbed hold of Mialee's wrist in response.
'Not here. Come with me.'

And she dragged the elf off to the right, down another hallway. There was a little corner, built around a statue of something or other. Mialee didn't have time to take a good look at it. Senga pulled her into the corner by the hand. The twin did a quick double-take of the hallway, to make sure that there was nobody there. When Senga was sure that they couldn't be overheard, she turned towards the ranger. Her eyes were gleaming with mischief.
'I saw Pegasus carry in a dead body the other day. He took it down into the basement.'
'The restricted area?'
Senga nodded, her grin widening.
'The restricted area. Students aren't allowed in there, either. I've never seen what's down there myself.'
'Why would he need a dead body?' Mialee whispered back. She didn't like the sound of this. Her mind traveled back to the wizard's tower in Neverwinter Woods. And the ruby.
'That's what I want to find out. Pegasus is out for the day, and Capri-sun is busy with Alatar. It's now or never.'
She pointed at Mialee.
'You have a good look in your eyes. I noticed it right away. I bet you don't get scared quickly. Or shy away from risks.'
'Of course not,' the ranger responded. Senga gave an approving nod.
'I knew you wouldn't. You're the perfect partner to go investigating with me. What do you say?'

Mialee only hesitated for a second. Then the elven ranger nodded, her thoughts trailing back to Dario's grave.
'I'm in.'
'Perfect,' Senga smiled. She cast a glance in the direction of the mess hall.
'Should we invite your Tiefling friend as well?'
'No, she's asleep, Mialee said, shaking her head. Senga looked disappointed for a second. Then she nodded.
'I see. All right, then.'
She dug around in her pockets, pulling out a scroll with arcane writing on it.
'I st- borrowed this from the Arcaneum when people weren't looking. It's a scroll of invisibility. I'll cast it on both of us, and then we can sneak past the cord.'
Mialee cast a quick glance into the pocket that she had pulled the scroll from. It was a big pocket. It was also stuffed to the brink with scrolls just like the other one. Mialee raised a single eyebrow at the sight.
'Looks like you "borrowed" a lot.'
'Yeah, well. There are defenses down there. You never know what you might need.'
The brown-haired elf shrugged. She'd never been in a building like this before, so she didn't know. By now, though, she was itching to get down there. Mialee nodded at Senga, gesturing at the scroll.
'Okay. Cast it.'

She did. Senga opened the scroll, reading the spell under her breath. Mialee felt a slight tickling sensation in the tips of her toes and fingers. She brought her hands up to her face – only there was nothing to see. Her body had vanished from sight. Senga had turned invisible, as well. Her voice rang out from the air in front of her.
'Okay, follow me. Oh, and don't worry. The cord is just a cord. We can slip underneath it no problem.'

Mialee nodded. Then realized that Senga couldn't see it even if she did. The elven ranger killed her breathing, clicking into sneaky-mode. She moved back into the hallway.

There were still a few people there. But as Mialee was invisible, nobody took notice. She slowly made her way over to the cord, careful not to get too close to anyone. Mialee reached the entrance without a problem. Invisibility made this almost too easy. Carefully, making sure not to disturb it, Mialee passed underneath the cord. There wasn't an alarm. No spells went off. Senga was right. It really was just a cord.

The elven ranger kept going. Behind the cord was a staircase, spiraling down into the ground. Mialee carefully made her way down. It was a longer walk than she had expected. In fact, just making it down that staircase took almost a full minute. It opened up into a dark, stone hallway. The walls and floor were lit up by torches. Not with normal fire. This fire was blue, and cast eerie shadows all over the hallway. It reminded Mialee of being underwater and underground at the same time. It was not a nice feeling.

She could see a couple of heavy doors in the distance. Mialee gulped, and kept going.
And bumped into something with a dull thud.
'Ow! Hey!'
Senga's voice.
'Sorry. I didn't see you there.'
'Oh, ha-ha.'
Mialee made a move to keep going, but Senga's invisible arm held her back.
'Wait. There's a barrier in front of us. I need to dispel it, or it'll alert everyone in the tower that we're down here.'
'I don't see anything.'
'It's invisible, just like us. You have to be trained in the arcane to notice it. Just... hold on a moment.'

Mialee could hear the rusting of paper, followed by another muttered incantation. The next moment, she felt something heat up in front of her. Then that sensation faded. A faint breeze trailed past Mialee's arms.
'It's dispelled. We can keep going now.'
'Why is there a breeze down here?'
'Bad isolation?'
'We're underground,' Mialee replied.
'I don't know! Who cares? We're in a giant magical tower. This basement could be in another plane of existence for all we know.'

They kept going. Mialee carefully made her way through the dark hall, occasionally bumping into Senga. It was eerily silent. The ranger could hear her own breathing. It was cold down here, too. Not cold enough to be a problem, but just enough to start feeling uncomfortable.

Before long, they reached two large doors. One of them was made out of thick metal, and the other looked like solid stone. Both were closed.
'Which one should we open first?'
'Left,' Mialee whispered. The stone door had caught her attention. She could hear the invisible form of Senga move over to the doorway.
'Senga, do you have any lockpicks?'
On closer inspection, this door too seemed to be devoid of locks. Strange. Senga did not let that discourage her, though.
'I have something better.'

More rusting of scrolls. Mialee could hear a short incantation- and then the door swung open. On its own.
'Never underestimate the value of a good Knock spell,' Senga whispered to her. The next moment, both of them turned visible again. Just in time for the triumphant smile to vanish from Senga's face.
'Oops. Forgot about that.'

The two of them moved closer to look inside. It was a dark room, completely smooth and windowless, with a stone platform in the middle. There was something resting on top of it. Mialee could see a bubbling, heaping pile of black goo. It looked disgusting. It was moving, too. As soon as the door opened, that pile of goo started crawling towards the doorway. Towards them. Mialee watched as a writhing, bubbling pseudopod emerged from the ooze and reached out towards her-

And Senga slammed the door shut.
'Right! Not that one.'

As they moved over to the other door, Mialee felt a strange sensation on her skin. It took her a while to figure out what it was, but then she realized. The wind had changed directions. Instead of trailing towards the stairs, the air was now moving further into the basement. Almost as if it was being pulled there.

Strange.

'Are you ready? I'm opening it!'
Mialee was snapped out of her contemplations by the creaking sound of a metal door. It swung open the same way that the previous door did. As it did, the invisibility spell on both of them ended. They became visible again. The elven ranger braced herself, expecting another ooze to come blubbering out towards them.

But not this time. Nothing came out. It was dead silent in there. Mialee slowly approached the doorway, peeking in. The room looked the exact same as the other one, with one exception. Where there had been an ooze before, now she could see a long, wooden table. There were blood stains on it. Mialee could see a humanoid figure lying on that table, covered with a black sheet. It wasn't moving.
'That's it,' Senga whispered next to her. 'That's the body.'

It was a large, almost hulking figure. Part of a pale white foot poked out underneath the sheet. Mialee's mind was again taken back to the tower in the forest, and Dario's hulking form. The hairs in the back of her neck rose up as another gust of wind trailed past her. She slowly moved into the room. Her eyes were locked on the table in front of her. Behind her, Mialee could hear Senga walk in as well. The black-haired twin was clearly letting her take the lead on this one.

Mialee gulped nervously as she reached the table. The figure underneath the sheet lay completely still. Not moving at all.

Maybe it was a jackalwere?

But... what if it was a villager?

...

Was Mialee about to find the corpse of Dario?

With slightly trembling hands, the elven ranger grabbed hold of the sheet that covered the figure's face. Still no movement. She hesitated. Inhaled. Waited a second. And then slowly, slowly pulled the sheet off its head.

It wasn't Dario. It wasn't a human or elf, either. What was revealed under that sheet was something that they'd encountered before. A grey-skinned humanoid, with teeth that had sharpened into fangs and a long, lashing tongue. A ghoul.

Just as Mialee realized that, the undead monster in front of her suddenly jolted upwards. It was going for her throat!
Mialee let out a scream, jumping back in surprise. The ghoul did not pursue her. It flopped over and fell off the table. A purple floating mage hand revealed itself where its back had been a second ago.
Senga burst out laughing behind her.
'A-Ahahahaha! You should have seen your face!'
'Senga!'

The human mage was almost rolling over the floor with laughter. A purple blush spread across Mialee's cheeks. She threw the sheet back over the ghoul, with Senga wiping the tears from her eyes.
'Oh, that was priceless! Sorry. I couldn't resist. It was just too perfect!'
'Are we done here?' Mialee replied, annoyed.
'Yeah, yeah. Sorry. Hold on.'
Senga walked over to the ghoul as well, and pulled it back onto the table. It looked... almost the same as before. The sheet was a little off-mark. Senga didn't seem to care. She turned around, moving back to Mialee.
'Ah, that was great. I can't wait to see what else we can find in-'

At which moment, from further in, they could hear a loud, ear-piercing "CRACK!"

Both of them jumped up in surprise. Senga threw Mialee a nervous glance, then looked towards the doorway.
'...What was that?'

The wind had changed directions again. It had gotten stronger, too. Mialee could hear a windy howling coming from further in. A howling that was rapidly gaining in strength. Very rapidly. Senga didn't realize it. She went to the doorway.
'What's going on out-'
'No, wait!'

Mialee grabbed Senga and pulled her back just as the howling winds became unbearably loud. Something that looked to be made out of wind bulldozed by, breaking the metal door out of its hinges and making it slam into the wall. If Senga had moved an inch further out into the hallway, she would have been decapitated.

The figure stormed right past their door. It was heading towards the stairs. Within a split second it was out of sight again.
'What the fuck was that?!' Senga yelled. The ranger looked out into the hallway nervously.
'I don't know. Where'd it come from?'
'Don't ask me! Fuck!'

The two of them ran out. Mialee was the fastest. She sprinted into the hallway, looking down the direction that the howling figure had come from.

There was someone there. Someone familiar. Jogging towards her, his hair frazzled and his robes looking like they'd been dragged through a hurricane, was the apprentice from the other night. The one from the Arcaneum. He seemed to be in a panic.
'Oh gods, oh gods, oh no-'
His eye fell on Mialee just as she sprinted outside.
'You?!'
Those eyes grew even wider when he saw Senga run up behind her.
'Senga?! You're not supposed to be down here!'
The black-haired twin took one look at him and screamed:
'NEITHER ARE YOU, FUCKFACE!'
'What is happening?!' Mialee yelled at him. Cedric fiddled with something behind his back, looking incredibly guilty.
'Now I... I didn't mean for that to happen! It was a small error in my calculations. A mistake in the arcane runes. A trifle. It has nothing to do with-'
'We don't care, you moron!' Senga screamed at him. 'What the hell did you do?!'

Mialee could see a piece of paper behind his back. Part of a scroll. It looked suspiciously much like the one that she'd seen him with the day before. The one that he had tried so hard to cover up. It was torn, and the edges were burnt and smoking.
'I, uh... I might have tried to summon an elemental,' Cedric said sheepishly. Senga's expression turned to one of shock.
'An elemental? A fucking elemental?! What the fuck, Cedric?! People are going to get killed!'
'That's not what I wanted to do! It was supposed to be controlled!'
A giant crash resounded from the floor above. They could hear things breaking, and the screams of other students.
'Does that sound fucking controlled to you?!'
'Come on!' Mialee yelled at them. 'We have to go!'

And she sprinted towards the staircase, with the others not far behind. There was another crash above, followed by a tremor. One of the torches fell out of its sconce and onto the floor from the force of it.

This was bad.

This was really bad.

Nala

The gold-scaled Dragonborn was in the library together with Echo, making a second attempt at finding information about the High King of the North when she heard a crash. The sound of breaking objects.
And screams. Terrified screams.
'What the-?!'

Her weapon and shield were leaned against the library table. She made a leap to grab them, just as Echo jumped up from her table as well. The library was right outside of the main hall. The doors were closed – but there was so much screaming going out outside that door that both of them instantly knew what was up. They nodded to each other.
'Come on.'

And Nala ran off, taking the lead. She smashed the doors open with her massive form, like a battering ram. They were blasted backwards to reveal a scene that was very, very different from when they had entered the Spire.

The magnificent crystal chandelier was on the floor. In pieces. So were the wall decorations, the shelves with the visitor robes and the cord blocking entry to the basement level. There were people left and right, sprinting away from the main hall in a blind panic. Some of them were bleeding. It was pandemonium.

The cause of it all floated in the middle of the room. Nala wasn't actually sure what she saw - it took a moment to sink in. Floating twenty feet off the ground was a cyclone of living air. As it moved, Nala could see the vaguest outlines of a facial expression in there.
An expression of absolute rage.

'What the fuck is that?!' Echo screamed, as she ran up next to Nala. The paladin shook her head.
'I... I have no idea.'

On the other side of the room, three figures came running out of the basement. Mialee, Senga and Cedric. As soon as the elemental saw him, the expression of rage increased tenfold. It took a dive, blasting forwards like a tiny hurricane. Coursing right for Cedric and Mialee.
'Watch out!'
Senga tackled Cedric at the last second, throwing both of them out of harm's way. Mialee wasn't so lucky. The air elemental rammed into her at full speed. She was picked up by the swirling winds and flung against the wall. Hard. Nala could hear something cracking when the elf made contact with the stone. Mialee let out a pained scream as she fell on the floor.

And the elemental wasn't done. It had lost sight of Cedric (who was hiding behind a pillar like a coward), and so changed targets. It went after Mialee again.
'Oh no, you don't!'
Nala jumped in front of Mialee to protect her from the raging elemental. She saw the thing come towards her, inhaled – and used her breath weapon, exhaling a burst of orange flames at it. For a moment, the elemental looked in pain. Then the flames were sucked in by the vortex, making the air elemental light up with orange flames instead.

Great. Now it wasn't just an angry elemental, but an angry elemental made out of burning air.

On the other side, Senga had gotten up from the ground. As she threw Magic Missiles at the elemental, the twin screamed at Cedric:
'Stop hiding, you coward! This is your fault! DO something about it!'
But the brown-haired mage was frozen behind his pillar. They would receive no help from there.

And the elemental wasn't stopping. Nala barely remained standing when it slammed into her, the winds howling and cutting into her scales. It hurt. Bad. From the connecting hallway, Yorda came running in as well. The half-elf's eyes grew wide upon seeing what was causing all the chaos. But her reaction was very different from everyone else.
'No. No, let it out!'
And she bolted towards the front door. The group didn't get a chance to ask what she was doing. As soon as Yorda reached the exit, her eyes began to glow bright. She slammed her foot on the ground- and a massive Thunderwave, stronger than they'd ever seen her do, crashed out from under her and into the door. And through it. The force of it violently broke the doors open. They were catapulted out into the desert, leaving a massive gaping hole in the wall.
'The fuck?!'
'Echo, watch out!'

The Tiefling wasn't fast enough. She got sucked in by the whirlwind and flung out towards the broken chandelier. The landing wasn't soft. Echo crashed right into it. The broken shards painfully dug into her skin.
'Hey! HEY! YOU FUCKING COWARD!'
It was Senga's voice. She was screaming at Cedric, who had finally crawled out from behind his pillar. But instead of aiding the group, he fled. The mage ran towards the nearest hallway as fast as he could.

And his decision cost him. The air elemental had stopped fighting for a split second, gazing in the direction of the hole in the wall – but as soon as it saw Cedric, its rage returned. It took off after him. In a whirlwind of air, it chased Cedric into the hallway and out of sight.
'Fuck! After it!'
They could hear Cedric's screams from the hallway. Nala grabbed Mialee, pulling her up from the floor. Yorda did the same with Echo. They all ran to Senga, who stood at the beginning of the hallway with a murderous expression in her eyes.
'That fucking piece of shit. When I get a hold of him, I'm going to-'

She never got to finish her sentence.

'YAAAAAAGH!'

BOOM!

The entire tower shook. Mialee and Yorda were thrown off-balance, slamming into Echo and Nala. Senga barely remained standing herself. They all stared at the hallway in shock, watching as a thin trail of smoke began to waft out.
'What the hell just happened?' Echo squeaked. The rest could only shake their heads. They didn't know, either. Cautiously, they began to move down the hallway. The smoke was coming from around the corner. Cedric had managed to run quite a way... and then what? Had the elemental caught him?

What had happened?

They rounded the corner... and came face-to-face with Adoriil Pegasus. He was standing in the middle of the hallway, next to a very winded and frazzled Cedric, whose robes were torn to shreds. The wall opposite of them was burnt and charred, like the aftermath of an explosion. Or a fireball.

As soon as Yorda saw that, the half-elf abruptly turned around and left. They didn't get a chance to call her back. In front of them, the Archmagus spoke up.
'An explanation, Cedric,' Pegasus said.
'I- but they- It wasn't my-!'
'Now.'

The Archmagus had drastically changed from when they first met him. He had seemed like a kind grandparent back then. Not anymore. Adoriil Pegasus towered over every single one of them, looking down on the group with an expression that was both stone cold and terrifying. Nala, Mialee and Echo immediately understood why the others respected his power so much. The Archmagus appeared completely calm - but it was the sort of calm that came just before a storm, and it showed. Cedric and Senga were both shaking at the sight.
'There... there was a wind monster,' Mialee said, attempting to help her out. Pegasus gave a single nod.
'I saw the elemental. It has been taken care of. What I want is an explanation of how it got here.'

At the word "elemental", Nala and Echo both piped up. They cast a glance in the direction that Yorda had vanished off to.
'It... it was research, Archmagus,' Cedric stammered. 'Research into understanding the elemental planes, and -'
Senga viciously cut him off.
'No, it wasn't! You summoned that thing! You took the other summoning scroll from the Arcaneum, and you hid in the Spire's restricted levels so you could stroke your own fucking ego by summoning something above your power!'
'We saw him down there,' Mialee added. 'The wind started getting pulled further in, and then Senga almost got decapitated by a door when the elemental stormed past. You did that. And then you ran away from it like a coward.'
As she was saying this, Alatar, Telyn and Agnes, Senga's twin sister, appeared from the connecting hallway. They'd been far away when the fighting started, and had only now made it downstairs. Agnes and Alatar managed to catch most of the conversation, though. Their eyes narrowed simultaneously.
'Other summoning scroll?'
'What do you mean, you "saw him down there"? That is a restricted section. What the hell were you doing there?'
Mialee and Senga froze at that, glancing at each other.
'Uh...'
'We- we were just-'

But Pegasus put his hand up, silencing both of them. A shadow had spread over his face. The Archmagus gestured at Senga and Cedric.
'You two. My office. Now.'
Agnes had moved up behind Cedric and Senga. She slammed a hand down on both of their shoulders, the nails digging into their skin. It looked painful.
'I'll make sure they get there.'

She turned them around and made them march off. It looked like a walk to the gallows. As soon as they were out of sight, Pegasus turned to the remaining three.
'I am sorry that you were caught up in this. Are you all right?'
'Eh, we've had to deal with worse,' Echo attempted to joke. But when Pegasus made eye contact with her, his gaze was just as stone cold as when he'd looked at his students.
'Echo, Mialee and Sarasshan, when you find him. I want all three of you up in my office by tonight. Alatar, you too.'
'Yes, Archmagus,' Alatar nodded. Echo and Mialee shot each other a glance.
'Why... why do you want us there?' the Tiefling tried to bluff. But Pegasus wasn't having any of it. He gave her a single hard stare, and Echo fell silent.

They knew exactly why he wanted them there.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in guilty suspense. Alatar and Nala refused to let Mialee and Echo out of their sight, keeping them on lockdown for the entire day. Telyn, attempting to lighten the mood, came up with a self-composed song about Djinni. It didn't help the mood much. Only Yorda was free to roam about as she pleased. The half-elf still had that Drow's book.

She found him in the library. He was in a dark corner, reading. His white hair fell in front of his face, shrouding his features from view. As soon as Yorda approached, he tensed up again, ready to run. The half-elf kept her distance this time. She carefully placed the book on the ground.
'I'm sorry for scaring you. It wasn't on purpose. But you look a little like me. I got overeager. I'm sorry.'
She held up her hands as she said that. For a moment, the Drow did not seem to respond. Then he lifted his head. A pale, albino-like face framed two piercing, silver eyes. They made eye contact. Then he looked away again. Yorda smiled, and left.
'Goodbye.'

That evening, Alatar, Sarasshan, Echo and Mialee made their way up to the Archmagus's office.
'It was just a little prank, you know?' Echo said to Alatar on the way up. 'Nothing serious. Come on, you know us.'

The wizard did not respond. With a cold look on his face, he lead the group up to the door. Alatar gave a short knock. It was answered by Capricornicus, who once again opened the door for them. This time, their dynamic was completely different, too. Both of them were dead serious. No jabs exchanged. No snarky words uttered. Capricornicus stepped out of the way to let them in.

Besides him and Pegasus, there was one other person in the office when they arrived. Senga was just on her way out, her face pale. She made eye contact with Mialee as they passed each other. The dark-haired twin put a hand on her shoulder.
'Good luck.'
And she left. Capricornicus closed the door behind her. It fell shut with a soft click.

Pegasus once again stood in the middle of the room. He nodded to the group, once again gesturing for the chairs near his desk.
'Sit.'
There was not a trace of warmth in his voice this time around. They quickly sat down. Echo was wearing her poker face, but Mialee and Sarasshan were visibly nervous. Pegasus took a seat opposite of them. He looked them over for a few seconds, before letting out a weary sigh. Then he began to speak.
'It is perfectly fine to want a tour of the Spire. You are our guests, after all. I can imagine you being curious. But sneaking off after explicitly being told not to, troubling my students and impersonating not only one of my apprentices, but me personally, is completely unacceptable.'
The three of them shot each other a sheepish look. They could feel Alatar's gaze, burning into the back of their heads. He had stayed behind and was leaning against the wall with Capricornicus. Pegasus sighed again.
'Explain to me why you did this.'

They stayed silent for a while. Then Echo took the lead, rising up from her chair a little.
'We were curious. It's not every day that you get to tour a place like this. And Alatar is always so mysterious and stuck-up. Don't touch this. Don't do that. Don't go there. We just wanted to know what Alatar was being so mysterious about and didn't want us to see.'
'And has it not occurred to you that he might have refused to show you for good reason? For privacy? For your own safety? You are guests.'
Mialee wiggled around in her chair uncomfortably. Even Sarasshan looked a little guilty. But Echo did not seem to agree. With a frown on her face, she turned towards Alatar.
'We're sorry that we snooped. But you made it far too tempting to do so. Maybe you could explain to us why we can't go somewhere next time. In detail, so we aren't tempted.'
'I shouldn't have to,' Alatar replied with a glare. 'It's none of your business.'
'It was our business when that ruby that you refused to tell us about was attached to a monster.'
'That was a long time ago.'
'That wasn't even two weeks ago.'
'Enough,' Pegasus interjected, just as Alatar was about to growl a reply. 'Enough. It does not matter. The offense is still the same. You have violated our trust and hospitality and I will have an apology. From all three of you.'

Echo deflated a little. The three of them shared another sheepish look. Like naughty children, they eventually muttered:
'Sorry.'
Pegasus sighed.
'I suppose some of the blame also lies with my apprentice. Secrecy and curiosity do not go well together, after all. It is a lesson for next time.
Now then. You.'
His gaze shifted to Mialee. The elven ranger slumped back in her seat. The whole situation reminded her a little too much of being reprimanded as a child.
'I am willing to accept your involvement in Senga's schemes as accidental. You were an accomplice of circumstance, while she had been scheming this little escapade for a while now. But that does not change the fact that you went into a section of the Spire of Ba'aal that was explicitly off-limits to you, while being fully aware of that fact. Not only that, but your messing with the cellar's defenses allowed the air elemental to make it to the main hall, destroy my furniture and assault my students. Incidental or not, your trespassing endangered everyone in the Spire.'
'I didn't mean to,' Mialee replied softly. 'I was just-'
'Curious, yes. I understand. But you need to understand that this behaviour has consequences.'
He sighed again, looking the elven ranger in the eye.
'You will promise to me that you will never do this again. You will be placed under restrictions for the remainder of your stay. You are not to go anywhere without the guidance of either Alatar or Capricornicus. And if you are in any way involved in any other kind of incident... all of you will be permanently banished from the Spire. I will never allow you to return, and you will be treated as hostile.
Do I make myself clear?'
She nodded.
'Good. I will have Agnes prepare transportation for you out of the desert. You should all leave soon. My students are not used to this level of excitement, and you have worn out your welcome.'

Not long after that, the three of them were allowed to leave the office. The door fell shut behind them with a soft click.

That left just Alatar. The wizard walked towards the desk, sitting down in his usual chair before letting out a sigh.
'That was not how I imagined this day going.'
'It rarely is,' his mentor smiled at him. They shared a moment of silence, with Pegasus pouring the both of them a drink. Grape juice. Both of them disliked alcohol.
'All distractions aside.., it is good to see you, Alatar,' he finally said. The wizard nodded, sipping on his drink. Now that the scolding portion of the evening was over, the two of them were a lot more relaxed.

Pegasus actually looked a little pale. Alatar knew why. Incidents like this were rare. And it wasn't entirely the party's fault. This wasn't the first time that a student had caused such a significant amount of trouble. The Spire was not used to things being like that.
'How have you fared on your travels?'
Alatar dug around in his pockets for a bit. Then he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a book, dusty and with eerie scribbles all over the pages. The necromancy book that had been in Dario's tower. His group had not seen him take it. Alatar had made sure that they would not find out.
'It hasn't gone that well. Barring the shenanigans that these people get me into... I haven't made much progress yet. Information is hard to find. I did find this, though.'
And he handed the necromancy book over to Pegasus. The Archmagus took it from him with a thoughtful frown.
'Other than that... no results so far.'
Pegasus nodded at him.
'I have been searching for our lost sheep, as well. I taught him too well, I fear.'

With a slightly pained look on his face, Pegasus reached for his left sleeve. He pulled it back to reveal what was once a healthy arm. The limb was shriveled up, all the way up to his shoulder. Alatar frowned when he saw it. The last time he'd been here, it had only reached up to his elbow.
'This curse is quite something, indeed.'
'Galu hasn't been able to slow it?'
'Not enough,' Pegasus replied, shaking his head. 'He tried his best, though. But as I said. I taught him too well.'

He lowered his sleeve again, blocking the arm from view. It looked like it caused him pain to do so. His expression didn't show it, though. With a warm smile, Pegasus looked at Alatar.
'But enough of that. Your recent experiences are much more interesting to me. How do you feel about your recent companions?'
Alatar immediately remembered all of the shenanigans up until now. He sighed, facepalming.
'I am so sorry.'
That made his mentor laugh. Pegasus chuckled, refilling Alatar's glass.
'Curiosity, at least, is a good quality to possess.'
'Yes. But it should have limits.'
'That is true.'

Another silence fell between them. It was a comfortable silence, with both of them left to their own thoughts. Eventually Alatar put his glass down, staring out the window.
'They are... interesting. I am not used to their level of- well, you've seen them. They're weird. Sometimes naive. But they're good people. It's good. After today I'm not so sure though.'
Another chuckle escaped Pegasus's lips.
'Keep them around. From what I've gathered, you will need them in the future. Did you say you were headed north?'
'We are,' Alatar nodded. 'The Dragonborn is worried for her village. We'll probably sort out the situation there, then head back.'
'Be careful, Alatar. Something is brewing in the north. Tensions are rising. I'm not sure what is going on... but something has happened. Or is going to happen. Something big.'
'We've heard some troubling things, yes,' Alatar nodded to him. His thoughts trailed back to the orcs from before, in Neverwinter forest. What they had been doing. What they had said to Nala, and the ugly implications of those words.
'Whatever it is... it's spreading to the south, as well. We can't ignore this.'
'No. We can't.'

He and his master spent a moment in contemplating silence. It was a moment that they had shared many times in the past. But this time, no new answers came forth. Alatar let out a sigh, getting up from his chair.
'I guess there is only one way to find out what is going on.'
'So there is. Be careful, Alatar.'
Alatar nodded at Pegasus. He would try. With a last sip of grape juice, the wizard began to make his way to the door.

Then he stopped.
'One more thing. About one of the people in my group. The half-elf.'
'Ah, the luminescent one,' Pegasus responded. Alatar gave a single nod.
'Yes.'
Pegasus placed his hand underneath his chin, a frown spreading on his face.
'She appears to be Fey-touched. I'm not sure how that happened.'
'What do you know about it?'
But the Archmagus shook his head.
'Painfully little, I'm afraid. It is not my area of expertise. Capricornicus, do you have any thoughts on the matter?'
The deer had approached from his spot in the corner. His brow, too, was furrowed. He crossed his hooves in contemplation.
'Feywild. I don't go there often. Not if I can help it. I can take a look around to see if I find anything.'
'I would appreciate that,' Alatar nodded at him. 'Please let me know what you find.'

With that, their talk was over. Capricornicus escorted Alatar to the exit, bowing to Pegasus the whole way. The Archmage gave his apprentice a smile as he went.
'It's good to see you, Alatar. Be careful in the north.'
'I will.'

Guys my group is not meeting often enough. WHY ARE ADULT SCHEDULES SUCH A PAIN?

I have half a chapter left to write before I catch up to our most recent session. Next session is scheduled for end October.