[Location] Toherro's Dark Teachings and Prayers

[Mevius]

The light elf regarded Keeva with a sour face, but before he was able to utter any unpleasantries, her hero arrived. "Oh no, Spiro, those are bad thoughts! bad, bad, bad." Mainel Earthor was dressed in a lavish purple robe in which he strolled around like a king. Unfortunately, it was a little too long for his stature, so that he was ever in fear of tripping over his regal garment.

"Ah... lady Keeva.." the gnome said with a sigh. "I thought you were an illusion, subconsciously fabricated by my own self, but it is you." The mystic smiled broadly, grabbed her hand and kissed it gently. He nodded, as if to confirm himself she was truly real. "Come, we have so much to talk about!"

Mainel had to restrain himself not to run to his quarters. When there, Keeva found nothing changed in the room. Pots, books and exotic plants and creatures were still fighting for space on every shelf, table and even the ground. The only thing which was missing was the unicorn, but Keeva was old enough now to do without. The master mage shoved a few books from a chair, ushering the human to sit. "Sit down my dear, sit down.. cup of tea? I have a very special recipe I'm certain you'll enjoy."

Without awaiting her answer Mainel walked quickly around his stuffed room, rumaging through his possessions for the correct ingredients. Sometimes he stood still for a moment, trying to remember in which bottle he put a certain object. "Now where did I put those rattails.." Keeva heard him mumble once.

[Keeva Kaldres]

Seeing master Earthor again brought a smile to alight upon the young woman’s face. Even though it had been a while now, the gnome still appeared very much the same as he had done before. Flamboyant dress to match an equally ‘spectacular’ personality, the girl could not help but wonder what a person such as him was doing in a place so dark as this. The gnome did not outwardly strike her as the type of person to cavort with shadier types, in spite of his quirks and love of collecting various items of decrepit interest.

After he had kissed her hand so gallantly the young woman beamed, the memory of his effrontery coming back to her now in vivid reams. “Master Earthor, it is such a delight to see you again.” She spoke, before following the overenthusiastic gnome back towards his chambers. Keeva was hardly surprised that nothing had changed- she had not expected anything to be all that different, although she could have done without the sight of the various creatures available on show.

At the offer of tea, Keeva’s gut inwardly recoiled, and especially so after the mystic’s mutterings of special recipes and rattails. Almost hastily, she made to speak again, her tone of voice kept as cordial as possible in the face of what dire fate might await her hapless sense of taste. “It is quite alright, master Earthor- I am fine. Please, as you said, we have much to talk about.”

Hoping that the gnome would be deterred from his plight to find the right ingredients, the human would then continue on nevertheless, hoping to steer the topic of their fledgling conversation in the direction that she wanted it to be, no matter how early the time. “I found your teachings to be very helpful, and they are the reason why I chose to return to Vortex. I wish to learn more, Master Earthor- more of mysticism and of the journeyman spells and techniques. That is, if you would have me again..?”

He had probably already known this to be the reason for her coming here, and she hoped that no harm would be done in speaking it out loud. Mainel Earthor was the only tutor that she truly wanted for her lessons after all, strange behaviour or no.

[Rak Ssss'vin]

The dark saurid followed the man that kept on calling him weakling. And that was most likely what he was compared to them, at least in their minds. In his own mind, he thought he could take all of them on, but then again, knew that he probably would fail, seeing as how he had absolutely no combat experience, save for the brawls he had with his father, when they weren't doing slave work given to them by the Xet. As he would move into his room, his eyes scanned the almost bare empty space. If this was what it took to become a great necromancer, then he would do it. Giving his life would be almost meaningless compared to what he would hope to accomplish with the power of necromancy. And he had the will to work as hard as he could, and to do whatever it would take to get the strength to take revenge on the Xet for what they had done to his people...

[Mevius]

Keeva

"Sure you won't take a cup of tea? It's no trouble at all and truly lovely tea." The gnome froze in his movements. After ten seconds of silence he chuckled. "The rattails are for something else ofcourse, I wouldn't put those in the tea!" The little master shook his head and chuckled some more. "You always were a silly girl..." Had he just cast a spell to read her mind?

Not about to be distracted by her silly thoughts he furiously continued his hunt for ingredients. After a while the gnome had finally amassed enough ingredients. With a cool attitude he tossed them nonchalantly one by one into a pot above the little fireplace in his room. The boiling water -soon to be tea- already filled the quarters with lovely smells of lavender and other spices. In a few minutes she would be done.

Master Earthor took place at the other end of the table. The gnome looked at Keeva with sad little puppy eyes. "Studies? I thought you were just here to see little old me..." Then he grinned again. "..but I suppose that reason will have to do, my love dove. You're still seeing that.. ehm.. boyfriend of yours?" He asked with a hopeful smile, ignoring Keeva's question.

[Dareion]

Dareion's heart leaped into his throat as the Vystiichi accepted his answer and moved on to another room. This was finally the moment that Dareion had been anticipating since he arrived in Vortex. This was the moment in which Dareion's future was being made, if he went on with the Vystiichi then his path was set into one of darkness, pain, and suffering. A path that many will frown on but a path that will give him power beyond his own comprehension. It was a path Dareion was eager to follow.

So with that, the dark black and blue Dracon got up from his seat and silently followed the dark elf, trying to avoid the imminent stairs from his fellow brethren. He hadn't even started his training and people were already frowning, but Dareion was not concerned. He knew that soon enough he would have the strength to make those people run the opposite way instead of stair down at him.

As Dareion reached the staircase the Vystiichi, who he still did not even know the name of, ordered him to go down. Before this point in his life Dareion would have been quick to snap back at the demanding party but instead he was quick to follow the order. Dareion had no doubt in his mind that if he wanted to succeed, he had to put aside his pride and follow instructions. So he walked down the stairs and into the immense underchamber, waiting for the Vystiichi and whatever was meant to happen next.

[Amber Brightwing]

The staring eyes of his brethren must have been a figment of his imagination. None seemed to show any interest in Dareion to the point where one might even believe they acted as if they were ignoring his existence.

The Vysstichi didn’t follow him down the stairs. On the contrary, as soon as the Dracon had started descending the stairs he would find the door closed behind him and if he would care to try and open it again he could spend a lot of time in idle searching. There was only one way now and it was down.

“Your name, weakling.”

After he had entered the hall, Dareion's was greeted by cold and bitter commands again, this time from a light elf. It seemed that he would have to put aside his pride for more then just a moment.

[Dareion]

This brightening was turning all the more weirder as Dareion's eyes adjusted and landed on the light elf who had already begun insulting him. Dareion's first instinct was to spit out another quick witted insult right back at the offender, and he almost did, but he realized that would get him no where. Maybe later he would show the light elf the disadvantages of making enemies but for now he only answered.

"My name is Dareion," he answered, trying very hard to keep his tone on a neutral level. He didn't want to insinuate any bad feelings, even those his conscience was already writhing with the thought of having to listen to a light elf. Meanwhile the dark hood around Dareion's head was already bothering him so he brushed it off in order to reveal his full facial features too the light elf, who seemed to be his future teacher, or tormentor.

[Amber Brightwing]

“And what do you want?”

Spirotyn spoke as if the Dracon some annoying fly that was pestering him and as if he was hoping he would get lost some place instead of bothering him. The light elf didn’t make much friends with his friendly greetings, but he was a good mage nonetheless and he had earned some respect for that. Respect that the Dracon would have to show for a little longer if he wanted to even have a chance on catching up with the light elf.

[Dareion]

Dareion held a clenched fist inside his robes, his eyes gleaming with many different quick witted comments but his snout staying tightly shut, delicately formulating his response. This was going to be harder for the dracon then he thought, Dareion now knew that he was not only going to get out of here for Necromancy training but also for obedience training. He hated the sound of it, it made it seem as if he were some sort of dog.

"I'm here for training, in Necromancy. I believe you or someone down here can give me that?" he replied, still trying very hard to keep his tone on a neutral level.

[Amber Brightwing]

The light elf smirked at the Dracon’s displeasure.

“Yes, we have someone that can teach you that. Whether he will even want to see you remains to be seen. Sit over there and wait until someone comes to get you.”

Spirotyn pointed to a bench that stood against the wall of the great hall. Just as with his dark skinned kin in the tavern his words had sounded like an order that was not to be disputed. Again his obedience was tested, together with another quality: patience. Over two candlemarks went by and nothing happened other then the occasion Toherran passing by. But eventually his patience was rewarded and one of them stopped before him.

“Master Aribeal will can see you now. Follow me.”

The voice was a more friendly one this time. If Dareion would have known anything from the Toherran dress code he might have guessed the reason for this as he would have been able to deduct that this human was only recently unbound and still an initiate. There wasn’t any time wasted on idle chatter though and the man just turned around and walked away again, not looking back, apparently assuming the Dracon would follow him. After walking a short walk through cold and dimly lit corridors the human halted for a wooden door. He gave a short, rapid knock on it and then pushed it open, signalling Dareion to enter. As soon as he did he would have the door closed behind him again.

The sphere in the room was much like the corridors, dark and only lit only by random torches on the cold stone walls. In front of him he would find half-circle of a pool filled with water taking up over half the room. An odd thing to have in an underground chamber, but not so odd once one knew who the inhabitant was. On the left in front of a large bookcase there was stood a table, well lit by two short, thick candles. Behind the table sat a Mer, busy writing something on a piece of parchment.


OOC: You can start a new thread for your training.

Edit: Continued here.

[Amber Brightwing]

OOC: Didn’t bother posting at the WND since I’m supposed to be a known member and such. And given the amount of Fae in the city I doubt he’d forget me anyway

Brightening 2 of the First Cycle of The Month of Optia in the Season of Spring
Era I of the Celestine Mandate, Era XIII Post Fractum in the Age of the Darkening

A simple nod had been the only thing she had needed to gain entrance to the underground complex. She had been thinking about this for a while, wondering if she was ready for it, but eventually she had decided to just go for it. So now she just flew up to Spirotyn. Perhaps it was her imagination, but he seemed to have become a little be more friendly – if that was even possible with the light born – since she was an apprentice.

“Serale, this slow student thinks she’s ready to catch up with you.”

She grinned at him, her words being no more then a jest, referring to what he had said to her the previous time she had come here to be promoted. She knew that even if she was promoted he would still be quite a bit ahead of her, having more experience and all. From journeyman to master, the step was much larger then from unbound to journeyman after all.

“Is master Aribeal available?”

[Kalinda]

„Look! The slow student is back.“ Spirotyn exclaimed in fake delight. The elf had a sour look on his face. While he had become a little friendlier since Amber had advanced in her studies, he was very pissed off at something this particular brightening – or rather somebody, a couple of somebodies to be exact.

Another bunch of completely clueless wannabe necromancers that had wet their pants as soon as they heard about Toherro had arrived. He had no idea why the tavern sent such people here. Maybe Rogaku wanted to annoy him. Maybe he was also getting senile. They weren’t that desperate for students yet! He had made those idiots clean the floor and given them a little punishment first of all – to clear their minds and make them a little less stupid.

“We’ll see if you can catch up with me.” He grinned at her – a grin that didn’t look particularly friendly or happy. “What makes you think that the Master will see such a slow student?” he asked, but he did not try to make her leave. He did not insult her. Instead he gave her a sign that she should fly next to him, that he would take her to the Master. He was friendly – almost. The look on his face was one of arrogance and disdain, but his gestures and actions themselves seemed … alright. Strange – and maybe a bit worrying considering that this was Spirotyn.

[Amber Brightwing]

Things seemed to be going alright. She found it near impossible to guess what was going on in the light elf’s mind at any given moment, but right now he seemed to be… accepting that she was trying to become a journeyman. Did he believe she would be allowed to advance? He didn’t seem to be one to play nice (well, nice compared to his normal behaviour) just so he could be more cruel afterwards. Maybe he was just covering himself in case she made it and would revert to his regular self when she failed… Did seniority matter for anything at all in the cult or was skill only factor determining the hierarchy? She hadn’t had enough contact with other member of an equal level to make any judgement on that.

“Well, he agreed to teach me twice before so I figured he might agree a third time. No you have and yes you can get after all.”

Even though she had kept up her training she hadn’t been advancing much lately, feeling she was slowly starting to reach the limit of what an initiate could do and she was fairly confident that The only catch this time were the requirements on teacher’s side. Toherro’s only had two masters so the would need to convince a third one not belonging to the cult or… well, if the rumours were true she just might have one of the most interesting encounters of her life so far.

[Dimitri Wladisyaw]

Dimitri halted at the top of the stairs, he would not descend into the unknown without a little warning and light. He took a few minutes to enter meditation and tried to perform his most accomplished spell, globe of fireflies, he imagined the little bugs wizzing round their ball little bottoms alight with a bright red glow. He would take his time with the spell making sure the ball was perfect before he would craft it fully and bring it into the light.

It would serve a dual purpose below in the Toherran lair, first it would show the smaller members of the cult Dimitri had magical aptitude, fair enough the spell was small and weak but as long as they knew he was not defenseless, second it would provide illumination and allow him to see totally clearly. Even if it failed he would descend into the darkness on the lookout for his destination, some sort of cult member would no doubt be milling about who he could harass for his audience if the enigmatic dragon decided he was worth talking to.

[Kalinda]

There were no windows down here, no natural source of light, no connection to the surface world apart from the stairs from which Dimitri had just descended. It was dark ... but as the druid shaped his spell, tiny insects began to gather around him. A little globe appeared in front of him, glowing bright red. It illuminated the vast hall, and he could suddenly see ... It was breathtaking. The walls were as high as a four story building, grey walls that were covered with engravings, with runes and paintings, with messages in a language only a few people could understand. There were doors on both sides and at the end of the hall ...

There were people there as well, people of all races, going about their business or talking to each other. There were guards, standing completely straight, on guard, watching the happenings around them as if they would never grow tired or need a break.

There was a light elf there as well, and he approached Dimitri as soon as he entered the hall. “Welcome”, he said. His voice was devoid of warmth, of cordiality. To Spirotyn such things were a waste of time and energy. He favoured much darker emotions. “A new student? Rogaku must be getting senile if he already sends druids down here.” He looked at the globe of fireflies. “I’m not sure whether you have what it takes to be a Toherran. Anyway, come with me, and I’ll take you to your quarters. Let’s see what the Masters say to you, weakling ...”