Chapter Three, Return of the vengeance of the mage.
I don't have a beta so this is bound to have several grammatical screw-ups.
Also, language.
"Irwing, Holy fuck!" Is what Alim would have shouted if he didn't have a single shred of self-control. Instead, the young elf knocked on the First Enchanters chamber door.
'Quote the raven, nevermore.' Alim thought to himself with a chuckle.
The older man soon appeared after a moment of Alims rap tap tapping upon the chamber door, "Ah, there you are." He said as he ushered Alim into the warm study.
'I'll never get over how much this place reminds me of Harry Potter.' Alim thought while staring at some of the weird shit the enchanter had around his room.
"You must have made a good impression on Duncan, when I ran into him he said he was glad to have met you," Irwing said in his scratchy grandfatherly voice.
"That's good to hear, First Enchanter," Alim said, knowing full well that the old man would just continue on no matter what he said. The glimmer in his eye seemed faded and his shoulders seemed to slump in exhaustion.
"You should speak to him more if you get the chance, He's a wise and learned man." Irwing continued on, "Now, you haven't seen your friend Jowan have you?"
Alim morphed his face to make it seem like he was furiously debating something.
"What is wrong my child?" Irwing inquired placing a gentle hand upon the elf.
"Well First Enchanter, he's the reason I came here." Irwing looked at Alim in confusion for a moment, then his eyes darkened further when the Brunet elf continued, "He wants me to help him escape."
The old man pulled Alim deeper into the study, closer to the warm fire and sat the man down in a chair.
"I've known about his… relationship for a while now, and I'd guessed she would have told Jowan about his Tranquility… But she still should've known better." The elder mage slowly slumped into a chair across from Alim.
"If he wishes your help in his escape, then do it," Irwing said his face hardening somewhat, "They both need to face punishment, and without undeniable proof, the Chantry will defend Lily with claims of blood magic."
'Well, you wouldn't be completely wrong.'
"Help them however you can, we will catch them red-handed. No one will be able to dispute their crimes." Irwing said coldly, a bitter note entering his voice as he continued, "Every once and a while we must remind the chantry that their members are not as perfect as they think they are."
"Go convince them that you will sacrifice all for their cause, and I will have a contingency of Templars waiting outside of the repository, so that they may see what their initiate had helped create." Irwing placed a firm hand on Alims shoulder as he stared into the younger mages eyes, "Do this, and your loyalty will be rewarded."
Alim tilted his head in confirmation, a grim mask hiding his true emotions.
'This is done neither out of loyalty, or spite, or greed.' Alim thought to himself, 'This is only to get me into the Grey Wardens.'
It was hard for him to tell if he was just stating the facts or comforting himself. He did have good memories with Jowan, but he'd also never felt a true connection to anyone around him since he woke up here.
'Jowan is a nice guy, he just made some bad decisions, like heresy and dark magic.' Alim stopped in the curving halls of the Circle at his thought.
'Time for that flame stick.' Alim thought as he spotted a certain distressed Elf Senior Enchanter.
"Is there anything I can do to help you, Senior enchanter…" Alim trailed off, fishing for a name.
"Leorah, I'm in charge of the Circle's laboratory." She gave Alim a once over, "What do you want?"
"I just bloody said that I want to help you," Alim said slightly exasperated.
"And what makes you think I need help?" Leorah shot back.
"The fact that you're out here and not in the laboratory," Alim glanced around the room to make sure no one was within hearing range before leaning in to speak in a low voice. "I've also heard a rumor that the laboratory has been infested by giant spiders"
Leorah froze for a moment, visibly paling.
The older elf looked around anxiously, "It's the truth If anyone where to find out they'd think I'm incompetent."
She looked down as she fidgeted with the sleeves of her robes, "It's probably my fault anyway, barely a Senior enchanter for a fortnight and already mucking things up."
Alim Nodded sympathetically, "I could take care of them for you."
Leorah's head shot up, "Oh, I would owe you a favor if did."
"Alright then, I'm planning on getting a rod of fire for something later. If you can get me that, I'll get your spider nest cleared up."
"Deal, here's the key." She pulled the iron key from her pocket and quickly handed it to the younger elf, "Do try and keep the damage to a minimum,"
Alim turned towards the door, "You won't have to worry about that, most of the spells I know are rather tame." He said with a smile.
The old iron lock was soon removed and pocketed by the young elf, it would do him no good to get stuck and die in some Maker forsaken cave.
"Let's do this," Alim said confidently before he started to mumble the long chants for the spells he was about to use on himself.
First, he called forth a small green glowing wisp that danced around his head and filled the young elf with a small hum of power.
And Secondly, Alim channeled his magic into his skin and clothes, granting them rock like durability while retaining their natural flexibility.
The brunette stretched his body and quickly adapted to his adjusted form.
"Let's see what we have here," Alim mumbled as he ruffled through the various boxes and chests around the room, scoring himself some Blank Vellum (Truly a commodity in this mid-evil as fuck time period), a Trade Manifest that could help pad his pouch later, and charm that he was almost certainly going to sell later.
"Oh yeah, this place is somewhat a maze." Alim recalled as he looked down both of the diverging paths, "Welp, left it is."
Not even ten minutes later and Alim was face to ugly face with a giant spider, and in a quarter of that time, he was covered in said spiders guts.
"Gonna need a fucking bath after this." The elf mumbled as he moved to dig through the spider's corpse, "How the fuck did this thing get a health poultice- you know what, I don't care."
The elf moved further down the rocky tunnel, where he was met with an ambush in the form of a giant poisonous spider and a regular spider.
Deeming the poisonous spider a greater threat, Alim cast Weakness on it and quickly tried to take the other spider out with an Arcane blast and several weaker bursts of magic from his staff.
The regular giant spider fell quickly under the barrage, but before Alim could turn back to the poisonous spider it leaped upon him knocking both of them to the ground, and the staff out Alims hand.
The giant arachnid already started clawing and biting into Alim before the two hit the ground, barely doing any damage against the mages stone armor, but still doing damage none the less.
"Fuck off!" Alim shouted as he lifted his index and pointer finger up to his head and channeled his magic, the resulting blast knocked the spider off of him and into a wall.
Alim rose to his knees and started going through the needed gestures for a staffless Arcana blast, and barely finished the spell before the poisonous spider rose again.
The Spider burst into a shower of blood and guts against the cave wall.
"Fucking hate spiders Alim grumbled as he checked the scapes and scratches the arachnid left across his torso and arms. Luckily for the elf, he had used his arms to shield his face from the spider's attacks, at the cost of his robe sleeves.
Again the elf dug through the corpses of the spiders, earning another health poultice (don't question it) and from the various boxes, he got some miscellaneous junk that was going to end up in the hands of a merchant in due time.
Two more spiders later and Alim found himself in what he thought was the center of the cave, standing before a chest.
"Wonder why this isn't locked," Alim mused as he flipped the lid of the chest and collected the items within, some more blank vellum and a new pair of boots that hummed with a soft magic.
"Fade strider," Alim said as he read the inscription along the heels of the boots.
"Mama always said, never look a gift horse in the mouth," He mumbled as he shifted out of his lame non-magic boots into the cool magical boots, the hum spreading faintly to the rest of his body.
"Time to start killin shit again." Alim said in his best Sam Elliot impression, laughing softly to himself, "God I need friends."
Alim found himself back at the door of the cave four spiders later and Alim was twenty-five copper richer, had an extra apprentice cowl that totally wasn't going to be sold and equipped with a rang named Icebrand, which despite it looking like a frozen chunk of metal actually made Alim feel warm and cozy.
Alim was barely a foot out the door when the Senior enchanter turned to him with a look of hope.
"Your back! Are the spiders gone?" She asked in an excited whisper.
"All dead," Alim said with a smile, 'though you'll have to clean the corpses up at some point later, wonder if she'll notice the stuff I took.'
"Really! You've saved my hide I'm sure, and I owe you a favor, so if you need anything, I'll be here." Leorah said with a smile.
'Really hoped she would've saved me the trip and got the fire rod for me.' Alim gripped to himself as he gave his farewells to the older elf.
'These fuckers give me the creeps.' Alim thought as he approached Owain.
"Welcome to the circle stockroom of magical items, my name is Owain, How may I assist you?" Owain droned on in a monotone voice, focusing intently on Alim with dead eyes.
"I need a fire rod," Alim said jumping straight to the point, hoping to end the encounter quickly.
"Rods of fire serve many purposes, why do wish to acquire this particular item?
"I don't know any fire spells and I need to research burning things," Alim said bluntly, knowing Owain couldn't give enough of a shit to be suspicious of anything he said.
"Here is the form for a rod of fire, have it signed and dated by a senior enchanter. I will release a rod to you when I have the signed form." Alim had already started walking away when he was handed the slip of paper.
"Hey Leorah, I'd like to call in my favor," Alim said as he strolled up to the table the Senior enchanter stood at.
"Already?" The elder elf said in surprise.
"Yeah, I need you to sign this form." Alim slid the paper across the table, where Leaorah picked it up and looked over it briefly.
"Well, could be worse I suppose," She mumbled as she pulled out a feather pen and ink, quickly filling in the relevant information and handing it back to the younger elf, "Do try not to set anything too important on fire."
"I won't," Alim said with a cheery smile. 'Melting things doesn't count as on fire I think.' Alim thought to himself as he strolled away.
"Hey Owaine, I got your form." Alim half shouted as he approached the tranquil.
"Everything looks to be in order." Owain droned on, "Here is the rod you requested."
'Giggidy.' Alim thought as he accepted the rod from the stunted mage.
'Time to enact my master plan.' Alim thought to himself, despite the fact that his master plans heavily revolved around letting the guiding hand of fate do what it was already going to do.
Turns out I did not get this one out as soon as I would've liked, but oh well. Hopefully the next one will be out sooner since I'm on break.
Have a good whatever now!