At the Lodge..."Nice to meet the two of you as well."
"And this guy..." he points at the green orc.
"He doesn't have a name. Doesn't talk. Can't fight, either. His tribe's doctor diagnosed the issue as owing to the replacement of the Saren Kahigan with a duplicate Cha. He came to this university as an outcast, and I have been devoting my undergraduate studies to solving his problems. I am a second-year student, you see."The orc stares blankly, as if unsure--or unable--to respond to the introduction.
"We just call him Green. His clan disowned him, so that he lacks a surname."Christine nods, starts to turn to leave, and then does a bit of a double take.
"Wait. What's left of the Wind Building?"
"It was an incident..." the old woman seems hesitant.
"Which most of us speak of only in hushed voices. Lives were lost, several other buildings were damaged, and the school would have been closed down if not for our reputation...
Needless to say, you only need to see it to recognize it."
At the Forest...Take a breath, meditate, then with renewed focus pick out a path and stick to it.
You take a breath and meditate for some time, coming to an awareness of a deeper aspect of reality. You begin having visions, much like your former peers, visions of green strands suspended in the wind, passing through ordinary matter, and present all over nature. Most notably, you see tendrils emerging from the various charms and dolls scattered around the trees. These tendrils in particular have odd shapes. They look like... strings of letters, connected perhaps by invisible thread.
At the Life Department..."Nah, I'll pass. Teaching is your job, not mine. Old fart."
Ditch the ancient one, go find someone with more sense of humour. Perhaps on the top.
You check out the top of the pyramid, and find a person hanging out in the tree. Hanging, as in hanging from his legs with his feet wrapped around a branch. His ears are pointed.
It looks like he is sleeping. But at the same time, birds and animals such as squirrels seem to be awake and quite active for this time of year, chirping and running around and making noises around him.
An orange cat approaches you and brushes past your foot, mewing.
"That's not a name I can pronounce. Please don't tell me you were a past student."
"... Or even worse, a professor."
"I don't like the concept of humanity encroaching one of the prime features of nature."
This better not be a representative sample of crow life on campus.
Raioyris continues with the aim of meeting a Life professor.
"As of now I'm in need of this fleshly vessel. A major component of magic seems to be speech, without this carnal heap I would be a leg short in my practices."
"Besides I don't imagine you could manage a bite. Unless you're hiding a set of fangs under that beak."
"Why do you suppose speech is needed? Does that mean we can't use magic?"You bump into another student searching for professors at the base of the pyramidal structure. A snakewoman, in fact. Demihumans have been a rare sight so far.
Looking around for nameplaces, you discover that each door to the side of the stairwell on the bottom level leads to an internal space that splits into three branches containing offices. A giant taproot runs through the center of the waiting room itself, and there is an arcane construct behind a table serving coffee. You notice its eyes are red instead of green.
"Hmmmm... I wonder if it'd make more sense to start at the bottom? They might teach newcomers at the bottom and then build upwards..."
While Dan's racing to the top, start opening and peeking in doors at the bottom. Drag Dan down or climb up to meet him if either of us discovers the right professor.
You head out and find a fellow student at the base of the pyramid, talking to a crow on his shoulder. The bird isn't talking back. He also smells somewhat odd, like rotten meat.
...
You discover that the inside of the pyramid contains all of the offices. Three separate paths split off from a central waiting area perforated by the taproot of the big tree. A construct behind a counter in the center area is serving a pleasant-smelling hot drink to guests nearby. Its eyes are red.
The three branches are split by sub-department:
>Subdivision: Research and Discovery
>Subdivision: Academics and Instruction
>Subdivision: Interdisciplinary Arts
You notice a painting at the end of each wall depicting a historical event: A siege (the Research wing), a graduation (the Academic wing), and a religious ceremony (the Interdisciplinary wing).
At the Earth Department...aaa
Walk around the spire and get a feel for what Earth magic can do, and keep special watch for ways to earn money with it.
The first floor contains murals, dioramas, and artwork concerning the troubles of the Earthweaver's Guild, a proto-magical organization originally founded here in Folstag. It was essentially a stonecutter's guild formed with the intent of using magic to improve business. It first set out to construct a Guild Hall for cheap by using constructs to expedite the transportation of brick and mortar. Eventually, they hired a high-ranking fellow of Altarium University's earthworking school who had been practicing earthmoving techniques. Folstag was founded on a solid outcropping of bedrock in the Crestfall foothills, making it a prime spot for the use of earthmagic to build a structure.
'Thus, in 182, the first building fit for human habitation had been raised through earthmagic. It was little more than a solid square, a hundred cubits on each side and one story tall, but it was the pride of Folstag for a time. For many years, it remained the sole earthmagic-raised structure on the continent, primarily due to the impracticality of having a structure so low to the ground when a Solar storm hits. The ensuing floods and natural disasters would cause massive property damage every decade. But Folstags geographical location protected it from most of these dangers; it was only natural that Folstag became the site of countless architectural feats in its continuing fame.'
'The Earthweaver's demise occurred in 234, when the guild was contracted to construct the Spire of Inverath, a great tower on the coast large enough to house a city; here a family of rich magicians sought to raise their future generations. Unfortunately, a rogue god sent tidal waves washing over the construction site, and when the waters finally drained it was discovered that all the Earthweavers had been killed. These events have been attributed to the Silent God, a being worshipped by an illegal cult whose activities are outlawed in the majority of city-states.'
At the Department of Time and Shadow..."The building certainly looks the part. Dark colors, stylistic architecture..."
Enter the building and try to find the library. In it, search around for a book about the basic's of Time magic.
From the book 'A brief history of Time Magic':
Author
Topic: Folstag University of Magic (Between Light and Shadow) (Read 54944 times)