Rolled 15, 14, 20 = 49 (3d20)
>>5930647>>5930593>>5930497>>5930488>>5930481>>5930460“I’m no fool,” you answer. “I understand the advantages that come with being a Tower Magus… Archmage’s Apprentice most of all.”
The Archmage, sensing you aren’t done, waits in steely silence for you to finish the thought. You gulp, and do so.
“But I have other responsibilities. First, to the Queen, to go on a… Diplomatic mission.”
“To the Queen,” the Archmage asks dryly, “or to her Reptilian handler?”
You cringe at this characterization, believing (certainly HOPING) it’s wrong. The man whom you spoke to in that study, when the others had left, who hissed like a snake but also spoke of resignation to a difficult path for the sake of love, and family… He felt more human, in many ways, than the woman you now spoke to. Perhaps it was in that moment of sympathy—that moment where you actually turned to him for ADVICE—that Carazzi was truly born.
“If you care about Hawksong and its people—about the human race, or the elven one—then the only path forward is the accumulation and implementation of arcane knowledge,” the Archmage says.
“But what about the dangers that come with blind pursuit of that progress?” you ask. “It’s not just about the Queen, or the kingdom or either race. It’s about the world! There are spells… Secrets… That aren’t meant for this world!”
“Is that what you discovered,” the Archmage asks, “in the Silver Realms? On the moon?”
You practically choke on your next words, caught off-guard by the question.
“You seem surprised,” Archmage Henzler notes. “Did you think the girl was given her new hat, all her funding for that little primitivist commune of hers, because my latent maternal instinct caught up with me late in life, Van Houtzmann?”
“Izzy told you everything?” you ask quietly.
“Oh, I sincerely doubt it,” the Archmage replies. “I imagine she thinks she’s keeping many secrets—hers, yours, those of other ‘friends’. But I did not survive this long or ascend to my current station by being ignorant.”
You feel a little ill at the prospect, but perhaps also vindicated. After all, in spite of your commitment to Izzy and to Costella, you’ve not shared everything with either of them.
“I bet you believe YOU are quite the sly one as well, child,” the Archmage says. “What is it you desire? To be a Field Researcher instead? Sap my funding, my resources, while feeding me only a trickle of the most ‘harmless’ information, so that you can make sure that it is being sued in a way that you and your fairy friends approve of?”
“I’m… Not saying I don’t wish to be your apprentice,” you say.
“Oh?” she says, with the slightest hint of a smile upon her pale, placid face. “You want the prestige of my name without any of the commitment or risk? While still having total control over our professional relationship? You really have grown BOLD, Van Houtzmann.”
