by Langland, J.
Rupert shrugged, uncomfortable now. "Yes, essentially." Jenn was shaking her head.
"Yes, he asked, but that only gave the demon a pretext. It obviously had hidden plans of its own. I'm pretty sure it wanted the book. It might even be in league with that archdemon Lenamare was talking about." Damien sat up as Jenn said this.
"Book? Archdemon? I think you haven't mentioned this before." Jenn looked embarrassed. She'd said too much, now there wasn't much she could do but go on. She explained the mix-up with her diary and Jehenna's book and how they'd finally brought it back to Lenamare and Jehenna.
"OK, that's the book. I don't know what it is, but what archdemon?"
"You mean you don't know?" Gastrope' asked, surprised.
"No, this is the first time I've heard archdemon mentioned does that come later in your story?" Damien asked.
"No," Jenn said, "It's what Lenamare told us this morning. He told us an archdemon was after the book, in addition to Exador. I would have thought you knew. He said the archdemon and his horde were on their way to Freehold now to claim the book."
Damien smiled sickly, rubbing his head. "No. Curse them. If that’s true, then no one has bothered to tell us. Although it would explain why the Rod is marching on us." The five travelers looked uncomfortably around at each other. It didn't seem to be a good point to bring up the real reason the Rod was marching toward Freehold at this point.
"We'll have to investigate this and prepare accordingly. I'll also have to ask Lenamare and Exador both, a few more questions. Did Lenamare happen to mention which archdemon?" Jenn just shook her head. "Very well, continue with your story." Damien told her as the servants began replacing the now empty dinner plates with desert bowls. Ice cream, it appeared to Edwyrd.
Jenn continued from there. Detailing her capture and subsequent rescue by Rupert and the demon. She passed rather quickly over their trip through the Abyss, and essentially neglected to mention Verigas at all. She simply told the wizard that the demon's gateway was a bit off and that they'd ended up in Gizzor Del.
Edwyrd was relieved when Damien didn't ask about the coincidence of just finding Rupert's cousin there by happenstance. He did appear curious about where Tom went, but no one could provide him with any answers. Jenn told the story of the pirates from her perspective, and neither Edwyrd nor Maelen contradicted her interpretation of events. After she'd passed out, it was mainly the story that Edwyrd had told her. When asked by Damien about these events, Edwyrd basically reiterated the same story. Maelen simply looking at him in his usual inscrutable fashion. Jenn simply stated that from Hoggensforth they'd made their way directly to Freehold.
"You didn't encounter the Rod along the way?" Damien asked.
"No," Gastropé told him, semi-truthfully. "They must have been behind us the entire time."
"You made remarkable progress then." Damien said thoughtfully, apparently trying to add up days.
"Well we were in a hurry to get to Freehold. We knew that Lenamare would be wanting his book back, even if we didn't know what was in it." Edwyrd told Damien.
Damien just nodded thoughtfully. "This other demon, the little one, it is still waiting with you for the return of the big demon?" Damien asked.
"Yes," Jenn said sourly. "Whenever that is. Apparently it claims it can't get back to the Abyss on its own."
Damien looked puzzled over this. "But demons can always return to the Abyss on their own, if they aren't constrained from doing so." While they can't make their way here without help, return is never a problem."
Jenn looked surprised. Mainly surprised she hadn't thought of this. Edwyrd hadn't thought of it because it was a non-issue to him. He'd assumed Tizzy had wanted to stay around and would just leave when he felt like it. It really didn't seem fair for Edwyrd to insist on him returning. It was, after all, a free world. Free for those without masters, Edwyrd corrected himself.
"You're right!" Jenn told Damien, looking around at the others. "Why didn't we think of this?" Gastropé just shrugged, Maelen shrugged, apparently feeling like Edwyrd, that it wasn't his business what the demon did. "It must be acting as an agent for the big demon!"
"Don't you think you're being just a little over-paranoid here?" Edwyrd asked her. "Must everything have an ulterior motive?" He was getting tired of being blamed for being more devious and evil than he was.
Before Jenn could angrily retort, Damien spoke up on her behalf. 'We don't know for sure what the little demon is doing. While it may just be hanging around for its own enjoyment, we can't be sure. We have to at least consider all possibilities. Mortal politics can be complicated, demonic politics are often even more so. If there is an archdemon after this book, this Tom demon could be working for that demon...or...nevermind that." Damien had obviously been going to say more but changed his mind. Now, Edwyrd was getting paranoid, and he was the point of the paranoid discussion.
Eventually, Damien ushered his guests out with a servant to lead them back to their rooms. He had continued to question them for about another hour after desert. He finally decided he had as much information as he was going to get from them.
"What do you think?" Antefalken asked as he shut the door. The bard had been hiding in a nearby room listening to the entire conversation with his demonic hearing.
"I don't know," Damien answered as he moved to sit on a couch. "Their story of traveling through the Abyss to get to Gizzor Del certainly coincides with what you smelled in Tom's cave. Most of the rest sounds more or less like what either Exador or Lenamare have said, without so much frosting."
"The trip from Gizzor Del seemed a bit strange." Antefalken commented.
"Yes, they weren't telling us everything. They certainly arrived amazingly fast. However, since that's where the Rod is and presumably the archdemon, maybe they'd become hesitant. I know they hadn't meant to give away the part about the archdemon. They'd just assumed I'd known."
"Yes. That's an interesting piece." Antefalken flew up to the back of a nearby chair to take his usual position. "I wasn't aware of any archdemon's definitely involved. However it fits in well with what we're starting to learn of this Tom."
"Even on the time part of it. It may just be the way they learned of it, but I'm reasonably certain the involvement of this archdemon is pretty recent. It could coincide with the disappearance of Tom in Gizzor Del. He could have gone to report to his superior, or if he is the archdemon himself, to muster his forces."
"Well, since it was only last night I talked to Tom, we at least have some idea of what he's doing. He's training and dealing with at least one other demon in the Abyss right now. I don't know of any armies mustering though. I'd have thought to hear something in the Courts."
"Things aren't getting any clearer. That is certain. What about this book? Any ideas what book an archdemon and two powerful conjurers would want?" Antefalken just shook his head, as puzzled as Damien.
Damien shifted on the couch. "At any point did you get a good luck at our guests?"
Antefalken shrugged, "somewhat."
"Anything?"
"Well," Antefalken mused for a moment, "Jenn and Gastropé seem to be what they claim. Edwyrd and Maelen are both big time players though. Maelen is probably what he modestly says he is a Seer and a Healer. Probably pretty good at both. Edwyrd didn't claim to be anything. I would guess however, from looking at his aura and listening to him, he's a world class player. What part he plays, I don't know. The little kid is also probably what he says; kids are hard to read. Whatever the case, he's got an awful big aura for what they claim. He could just be a prodigy of some sort. Further, his aura is in the same range as Edwyrd's. Edwyrd's shares a few similarities to Maelen. Knowing what Maelen does, I'd have to guess that Edwyrd is in a similar line of work. At least in terms of how he handles mana."
"An animage then?" Damien asked. While Maelen had claimed to be a Seer and Healer, usually only Animages were both. The man hadn't said he was an Animage though.
"I guess, I haven't read the aur
as of that many Animages." Antefalken said. "Rupert on the other hand had similarities to different parts of Edwyrd's aura, and other things that I've taken to indicate a wizard in the past."
Damien just shook his head, not knowing what to make of the information. "The problem, as you know,” Antefalken continued, “is that while demonic sight is a little bit better than wizard sight, it still isn't very exact. I'd suspect that a Seer like Maelen could be a lot more precise. That's part of what Seers do for a living after all."
"The question," Damien said, "is where do we go from here in our little jigsaw puzzle. We now have more of the pieces, but none of them seem to fit."
"I suppose, you'll want to tell your buddies on the highly-esteemed Council of Wizards, that in addition to having two warring wizards and a marching Rod on their hands, they've also got an archdemon coming for dinner?" Antefalken suggested with a smile.
"Don't," Damien groaned, "remind me. This is not going to be pleasant. I fear I'll be trapped all afternoon and evening."
Animages and Animagic
Curriculum Proficiebat: College of Wizardry
University of the Council States
Maelen’s Note: This information, which I have uncovered in the Council’s Private Library here in Freehold (apparently the doors are not locked, ahem). Seems to have been pirated from documents from an Animagic School. It is too similar to some of own introductory texts and we should, at some point look into how this information was attained.
Animages are individuals who use their minds to manipulate their own personal animus. Using their animus, they can manipulate mana, and hence the elements and the physical world around them. For all practical purposes, animages are individuals who simply need concentrate in the proper manner to achieve magic or spell-like effects. Consequently, the manipulations of animages are far more basic and simplistic than clerics or wizards, yet also much more flexible. Using their power in a building-block manner, animages can achieve almost any effect imaginable. The cost and difficulty, however, is often higher than that for wizards or clerics to do the same thing.
People actually calling themselves animages are actually relatively rare. This does not, however, imply that there are not very many animages. While there are probably both more clerics and wizards than animages, animages are not as uncommon as the general populace believes. The reason is not exactly that animages are in hiding, although in some regions this is the case. The real reason is that animages often specialize in particular disciplines and the most common of these specializations have names associated with them that many people mistake as a profession.
This confusion is not helped by the fact that certain animage specialization groups have even set up schools, as if they were a separate profession. In fact, it is these schools that really cause confusion. While it is not that uncommon to find a school devoted to a particular specialization, a pure animage school, which goes by such a name is almost completely unheard of. Most animages, outside a few select specializations, are either taught on a one-to-one basis by a single master, or in a few rare cases, semi-self-taught. The various specializations as well as the learning structure of animages are discussed in the Animage School section.
Part of the low profile of animages is due to the fact that with the possible exception of the hermetic druids, the animage is probably the least understood of all professions. The majority of other mana-wielding professions hold animages at some level of suspicion. This suspicion is usually transmitted down to the laymen as well. The reason for this is that most other mana wielders do not understand exactly what animages do or how they manipulate mana. Among the non-magical population, the Animage’s position is looked upon suspiciously due to trepidation and fear. The trepidation and fear comes from the stereotype that all animages are mind readers and telepaths. This is not actually true.
With the exception of hermetic druids, other mana wielders are, by and large, spell casters. In other words, they use rituals, pronouncements, incantations, etc. as well-defined vehicles of mana transport. Animages, on the other hand, do nothing of the sort. What animages do is to manipulate mana using their own personal animus. In other words, they bypass the traditional frameworks and achieve spell-like effects solely by force of concentration and will.
Actually, this is a slight over simplification. In actual point of fact, an animage cannot simply will something to happen; rather he or she must manipulate his or her animus in such a way as to cause mana to behave in the desired manner. While it may look very easy and straightforward, it is, in fact, a much more difficult, albeit more direct, method of using mana. Learning to manipulate animus, and hence mana, is something that takes many years of intense study, practice, and literal 'soul searching.' Hence, an animage's ability to achieve desired spell-like effects is measured in terms of skill-like abilities. These animage skills are referred to as Disciplines.
Animagic Disciplines
Animagic Disciplines
1
Aeromastery
Aeromastery is the discipline of manipulating the element of Air. Thus, aeromastery involves the manipulation of the air and gases. Winds, vacuum, breathing, gases and clouds all lie within its realm. Great masters of the air can summon huge winds and tornadoes, and combined with Aquamastery and Electromastery great storms can be summoned. Aeromasters can also affect the local atmosphere to disperse or induce poison gases and to create vacuums. Aeromastery combined with body mastery can allow an individual to become lighter than air and to rise above the clouds in flight
2
Animastery
Animastery is the direct manipulation of animus. This discipline allows the user directly to manipulate animus in much the same way one might manipulate an element.
3
Aquamastery
Aquamastery is the discipline of controlling liquids. All liquids can be controlled, in a manner similar to that of gases in Aeromastery
4
Astramastery
Astramastery is actually a slightly misleading term. On first examination, it might appear to solely be the study of the Astral Plane, but in reality, it is a whole lot more. Actually, astramastery is a catch-all category for skills relating to out-of-body travel. As such, it often incorporates tidbits from other disciplines. This is seen in the prerequisites for some of the effects.
It should also be noted that Astral and out-of-body travel for animages is much more primitive yet more flexible than for most other professions. Animages project their spirits from their bodies (forming a silver cord in the process) and then must form a 'spirit' or Anima Body to hold their animus together. At this point, they move around freely just as any out-of-body individual within the Planes of Man. If they wish to then travel to the Astral Plane they must create an Astral Tunnel.
5
Body Mastery
Body Mastery is the study and understanding of how to control and assist the functions of one's own body. Originally, this discipline was used for manipulating the practitioner's own body, but knowledge of one's own body can be extremely useful when working with others', especially for healing. Thus, this discipline can also be used on others at higher skill levels. For use on others, Link Mastery is usually required.
6
Cell Mastery
Cell Mastery is the study of living cells. It is also the study of flesh and the body. Cell Mastery can be used to study and examine the cell structure and the interrelations of cells within the body. If Link Mastery is known and a link established to a target, any of these effects can be used on the target of the link.
7
Clairomastery
Clairomastery is the study of extending one's senses beyond the normal. In its simplest form, it allows for extended mundane senses. At high skill levels, the clairomaster can see into other realms and places, and used with Prescience Mastery and Temporamastery it can be used to see through the very veils of time.
8
Electromastery
Electroma
stery is a specialized study of the element of Fire. Electricity is actually an aspect of Fire, but its use has been studied intently and has actually become a separate discipline from pyromastery.
9
Geomastery
Geomastery is the study of the manipulation of the Element of Earth. In addition to soil, minerals, and other things of the earth, gravity is also under the jurisdiction of Geomastery.
10
Kinetomastery
Kinetomastery is the study of motion at a distance. It is the study of all things involving movement, including that which is usually called telekinesis or psychokinesis.
11
Link Mastery
Link Mastery is the study of animus and mana links. Link Mastery is fundamental to many animage disciplines, as it is that which allows an animage to contact another being for healing, mind reading or any number of other activities. While the specific effects of Link Mastery are not spectacular, they are critical in the function of most major animage disciplines.
In the case of living beings, these links are animus or mana cords between the individuals. In the case of objects, small amounts of animus or mana are attached to the object (see Object Mastery) and a link is then formed. Animage mana links are identical to the links used by wizards in bindings and object links. Animus links are usually the sorts of links used by clerics, such as in the Wedding Ceremony. The silver cord seen by out-of-body travelers is an example of a very strong animus link.
12
Mana Mastery
Mana Mastery is similar to Animastery in that it is the study of the manipulation of true mana. This discipline deals with the channeling and controlling of mana in its raw form.
13
Multimastery
Multimastery is a discipline unlike all the others. For very experienced animages, it is perhaps the most useful discipline there is, opening a whole new realm of possibilities. For less experienced animages, however, it can be of limited use in the game of survival.