Quoted By:
The academy is a clean place. "Purity of surroundings leads to purity of mind", they believe. It is something you learned from them and integrated into your life since then.
"It's a wonder you were able to discern this much without harm for yourself." the high mage of the academy, Norrun Calabierre, says. "Unlicensed mages should not mess with malicious forces at all, much less those of this calibre."
The high mage's study is, unlike most places in the academy, a disorderly place. Well, perhaps not disorderly - an average person would keep their surroundings about this clean - but not impeccably sterile like most of the halls and studies are. There are some books and unfinished papers on the table, and everywhere are foci and stands with strange contraptions. This makes the room feel a bit more... alive than the rest of the building.
"Nevertheless, my findings are what I told you." you reply. "If I may request an expedition to aid us..."
"It shall be done." the high mage says confidently. "For all your foolishness, you did well analyzing the manaflow. This confirms our earlier findings. I will dispatch a couple mages to assist you and head the expedition. Frankly, I do not trust your experience would be enough to be a leader. This should be enough to get you through the woods and to wherever the heart of all this may be. You should make it even if you encounter a corrupted nymph."
"Thank you." you mumble. Norrun's presence was a bit... overwhelming.
"Rations will be taken care of by us, but your equipment... well, it is lacking to say the least. If you are to be of use to the expedition, you will need better. Tell me what you have on your mind. If it's not too much, we could provide funds. Leather armour? Do you know medicine? Could we entrust field kits to you? I think we could provide a budget of about 100 or 200 silver for your expenses."
"Well, you won't entrust me with books of magic," you say. "high-level magic knowledge is not provided to unlicensed people. And my bread and butter is not in equipment, but my skills and knowledge. But I guess armour would be good. Who knows what we could find there."
"No high-level magic knowledge to unlicensed... I don't know about that. Have you heard of the Liber Sorceria law?"
"No."
"The inner council of the Academy has passed a law that offers opportunities for mages to gain licenses by ways other than formal study at an educational facility for a set period of time. It opens up possibilities for independent subcontractors to perform tasks for the Academy both within the borders of Nousia and abroad, in exchange for access to libraries and eventual examination after periods of self-study on missions. It's a difficult and long path, more so than the regular process. But if you managed to learn enough to inspect corruption by yourself, you may succeed in it."
