A New Experiment Begins.

[anerausa]

The blinking lights of the candles danced across the desk of the Master Enchanter. His collection of tomes, scrolls, and small slips of paper had only grown over the years. Thankfully, a guild full of apprentice mages had lent itself to keeping his growing collection organized. After all, it was easy enough to require they spent time in the library organizing the books as they performed their own research and study.

In the past years, he had taken to researching rune symbols. It was his belief that words held power. It was easy to see in the power that politicians held without magical means. A simple order from a Lord or King was enough to change the course of their city. As a Sorcerer, he had long ago learned the practice of using words to alter and summon elements and bend what many would call natural order. His time in the Enchanter’s guild has also taught him the power of symbols and seemingly mundane items. The eye of a newt could be crafted into a rune to protect from the cold.

Moving the sleeve of his azure vestments out of the way, he slid a simple piece of parchment closer to the center of the desk. It was full of musings and half marshaled thoughts. If the power of an entire incantation could be focused into a single rune character, then he reasoned it would be even more powerful. This had been the driving force behind the creation of the rune of shadows that he’d crafted. The simple stone rune that he had woven into the fabric of his clothes allowed him to simply trace the shape of the rune in the air in front of him and fade into the darkness as he moved around the lands.

This rune had taken years to craft. It had required the correct magical essence, gathered from a Shadow elemental. A stone with the properties and strength required to carry the magic held by the very essence of shadows, which he’d been able to find in the Mirovian caverns below the guild. And a symbol that could hold the very meaning of shadows and darkness, which he’d found in a symbol once used to describe Dramor, the hidden moon.

It had been some time since he’d been sitting in his office when a voice that seemed to reach from both the heavens themselves, and from the darkest reaches had spoken to him. It was this conversation and subsequent thought that had lead him to his next project. The project that had kept his mind occupied for months now. He had sent a request to another mage, one much more familiar with the topic at hand than he, but had not gotten any response. It was for this reason, he had resolved to begin his own trial and error. Hopefully without drawing any unwanted attention. While parts of the experiment would cause no one to bat an eye, other parts could land him in some trouble. Giving a mental shrug he thought to himself an old saying about eggs and omelets. He stood from his desk and made his way to the lower levels of the guild, to the enchanted area where many of the Enchanter’s kept their mounts free to play and roam about with each other. Ducking under the tail of a Leviathan, he stopped by his pair of gargoyles, one pearl white, and one with white tipped wings. With a hissing smile, he ran his clawed hands along the cold hard surface of their heads letting them know his appreciation of their years of partnership. He moved on to Nakatot, his dragon bound to him through the Temple of Magic. To the dragon he reached into his pouch and threw a morsel of meat into the creatures mouth before moving to the back of the area where a roost was built to house owls, eagles, butterflies and other creatures. He paid the stablemaster a small fee for caring for his eagle, then climbed atop it.


The creature flapped its wings and took flight, soaring from the guild and out of Frostfall, however, instead of heading south as most all journeys from Frostfall began, they turned quickly in the air and began a journey north into the mountains.

[anerausa]

The lizard man walks through a library, the tomes and scrolls that fill the shelves each providing an assortment of thesis’s outlining different naturalistic magical studies. The range is incredible from herbalism, spell casting, enchantments, and arcana. He holds a scroll in front of him as he watches a Seraph guard exit the building.

With a swirl of fabric from his robes, the Saurian stands and follows the guard out of the building and down the street. The guard makes his way down the road before turning away from the Inn. His narrow eyes glancing around quickly he ensures that the guard is walking away and enters the Inn quickly before the next guard’s patrol route brings him across this path. Tracing a rune of shadows in the air in front of him, the matching rune in his robe begins to pulse absorbing the light from the area and wrapping the shadows around his form.

Anera enters into a secret room and hisses out an arcane phrase before passing through a portal into a much less guarded, much less affluent portion of town. A passing smile crosses his face as he sees these Seraphs. Here, where there are fewer guards, this will be his home for a short while, it is here that he will try to gather a new resource for his experiment. Here if any missteps are made, they will go hopefully unnoticed. When looking for things to represent the “light” in the world, a city of angels seemed to be a great opportunity. And to find a portion of town not as heavily guarded as he originally thought the town to be was perfect.

Now if he could just find an abandoned building or a room to rent with few questions asked things could begin to move along. With a hiss he mutters the phrase to dissipate the shadow cloak and steps out onto the street, a tome in one hand, a wand in the other.

[anerausa]

A soft hissing fills the streets of Lunra as Anera’s tongue flickers between his sharpened teeth. The streets are filled with darkness and shadows as the stars twinkle above. The stars are much brighter here than on the surface of the lands. Gazing down through the clouds below, his mind is filled with memories of looking through the telescope in the Observatory of Magic in Raislin’s temple. He climbs atop an eagle and soars down to the frosted mountains below. Stopping by the guild, he makes a deposit in the drawer of his desk.

The small grey pouch is filled with down it seems, but it the saurian knows better. The feathers are softer than any from a duck or chicken or any other sort of feathered creature of the lands. The feathers are from the Seraphs of Lunra, the first component of the creation that the Enchanter has set his mind to. The next would be much easier to gather. Closing the drawer with finality, the mage climbs the stairs from his office and passes through the guild atrium, giving a nod to Wrathbellum, he begins the decent down another set of stairs. He leaves the eagle in the room below the room meant for the care of creatures and climbs the stairs once more towards the atrium. Entering into a rune covered chamber, he passes through a portal.

As if passing through a wall of water, the green scaled mage vanishes from sight and appears near the coast of Norland, staring out into the Eastern seas, his robes and aura glow for a moment before dimming slightly. He reaches behind his back and pulls on a large staff strapped there. With a sigh, he sets the staff firmly in thr ground and begins to walk north down the road.

[anerausa]

In the city of Hammerguild, the waters flow to the ocean with a gentle babble. The sand and stones beneath the water appear as gold grains and precious gems. A swirling vortex of shadows appears briefly as a Saurian stalks out. Anera gazes into the water for a moment with wonder. The Guild master reaches his clawed hand into the waters and pulls out the gems and gold and as the water washes between his fingers, the materials become mundane once more. With a long drawn out hissing between his teeth, he reaches into his pockets and pulls a small flask. He lowers the flask into the waters until it is full.

The effects of the light piercing this water seems to have some sort of magical properties and could be a useful reagent in his experiment. Thinking briefly on his notes that have been gathered regarding his project, another component or two might be needed, and he knew he would have to find the appropriate symbol to truly capture the power he was aiming for. Sliding the flask into his pack, he traced a symbol in the air that was becoming very familiar to him causing the shadows from the nearby trees to stretch towards him. The shadows wrapped around his scaled form until he vanished from sight once more.

Leaning heavily on his staff, he began the journey back towards his guild to consider carefully his next step.

[anerausa]

The sun gleams from the crystal castle floating over the lands. In one of the tallest turrets of the Temple of Magic, Anera looked over the spread of parchments and scrolls covering the furniture. A collection of notes and ideas gathered together mostly referencing "light" and what sorts of things people attributed to it. While he had done a good job gathering resources and items that held some properties of light, finding the correct combination of items and the correct rune of power to carve into the stone would depend on what the runes goal would be.

The water of Hammerguild seemed to bend and manipulate the light to turn the appearance of things into something else. To harness the power of light to create illusions could be quite useful. The lizard crosses the room to the telescope that gazes down into the realms allowing the Magi to observe and make notes regarding the use and flow of magic in the realm.

Turning the telescope to the north and lifting it's altitude quite a bit, Anera gazes at the city of Lunra floating above the lands. The angelic Seraphs of the city were unmatched in the realm of herbalism and healing magic, they had libraries that few had looked through containing their own research and creations. A rune of unmatched healing would also serve the Enchanter well. There was always a premium to be paid when it came to restoring and mending the body. Adventurer's always bit off more than they could chew.

Finally his mind wandered to the day that the project had begun, even before the task of collecting components, there was the voice....

Perhaps he could craft a rune that could summon light in the same way he had crafted one to summon the shadows. What use would that be he couldn't help but wonder.

[anerausa]

Deep in the Enchanter's guild, in a hidden laboratory put aside specifically for work with runes and the powers they can hold, Anera takes the items on the table in front of him in. Two feathers, one from the Seraphim of Lunra, and one from an Astral Phoenix, the creatures from beyond the void that fly to the aid of the guild when needed. A vial of water from the rivers of Pebble Beach. A small pile of assorted minerals. A large variety of tools to use in the rune's construction. And finally a large tome of symbols and ancient writings. It had been some time since he'd decided what the purpose of this particular light rune would be. The search for the symbol that he felt would best amplify the magic contained in the construct had taken some time, Ancient moons, elements, and the names of Immortals who had stood in the heavens holding the power of their spheres, each of these had been considered. But finally, he was content with his choice.

Once more he would attempt to craft a rune to attach to his robes. He muttered a few quiet words and sparked a flame. Reaching his scaled hands across the table, grabbing the water, he placed it over the flame watching the red heat flicker across the bottom of the vial. Nodding, he placed the feathers carefully into a stone bowl. He slowly turns his wrist as he uses the mortar and pestle to rip the feathers into shreds. Slowly he added sand he'd gathered from a temple long forgotten. The water began to bubble slowly as the heat caused it to boil. Carefully he poured the water and the mixture together as he muttered and hissed under his breath. Weaving the spell over the concoction it began to form a rock has it quickly hardened. Tracing his fingers through the rock as it hardened he traced a rune symbol, the sign of Cleopatra. This rune would bear the ability to manipulate illusions, bending the light that others would see. The Rune of Light was completed.