Open Chronicles Books and Cleverness (Elbion College)

[Becca La Croix]

If Becca could move her room into the library she would do it in an instant. Ever since she came to the college at age 16 Becca spent most of her time absorbed in Elbion College absorbing as much knowledge as she can. When Becca was first accepted into the College, she had one mission, one goal in mind: To understand the mysteries of magic. The young woman excelled in her studies getting grades no lower than outstanding, Becca was a perfectionist a trait that was hammered into her by her parents since she was child. Dress right, be an upstanding citizen, accept nothing but the best that was all Becca heard as a girl that and being nicknamed: "Becky" which she hated being called. It sounded like Becca was some red headed stepchild begging in the Residential District.

Becca sat on the brown chair behind the window using the suns rays as a light source. Her painted finger nail slowly glided over a page that was talking about how magic always had a price. Part of her wondered if she could ever break that rule, magic was infinite, it was a gift something that should be used to its highest potential yet like all things in life under mortal souls limits were placed.

 

[Klor Bishop]

Gaining entrance to the college as an outsider was a feat, but he was able to convince the officials concerned that his intentions as an independent magic user were for research only.
He had never had access to formal magical education, an old hag hidden in the forest could only teach one so much and that was only the beginning. Furthermore one could only learn so much through dissection and field research, the tomes and discoveries of scholars past held secrets and revelations one would have to work centuries to uncover on their own.
That is why he finally came to Elbion, to draw upon the knowledge of these ancient magic users. He held no illusions of finding or gaining access to forbidden volumes in regards to his particular craft, but he came to learn what he could, take what he needed, and leave.

He was shown to the library by one of their fascinating gargoyles, such a technique for brainwashing would be invaluable but no doubt hidden.
He stepped into the expansive room lined with rows of shelves.
He was dressed in his usual black garb though he wore no cloak or hood, his white mask held its normal grim expression and his combed black hair cascaded down to his shoulders.
Had he been found in a coffin he could easily be mistaken for a funeral corpse.

There were few people in the library at this time of day and the few that were there he took little notice.
He went to a book shelf and began perusing the spines and titles, taking special interest in the subjects regarding anatomy, life, healing and rituals.
The woman by the window was only noted and filed away, otherwise he paid little attention to her till he brought a stack of books to sit a few tables across from her.

 

[Farzad Oldsummer]

Illumination trickled through the paned glass, shimmers of different light made sharp to the geometric curve. Laws were placed, ancient wizard kings depicted and that one stained glass that he swore had been remade and shaped a thousand times before. It was like a placeholder waiting for someone grand to fill it. Farzad never assumed it would be his. Quite frankly he was rather keen on not becoming a household name in the college.

Farzad wandered the halls, putting a hand to a section of books, pressing his digits through like a rough spear digging into it's quarry than walking straightways across and toppling a cacophony of text into a rather long and obstinate cart. It was half the length of a shelf and made leaving an isle of shelves only half worth the effort. It was strange really.

It was strange in the way that it was wrong. In the halls of Elbion manual labour was the unnatural, levitation magic was in most syllabus' and curriculum. Any score of magic was picking the thing up and if it wasn't in your repertoire to learn you almost certainly had another way around it. Afterall, the college held troves and treasures unknown in hefty paperweight and so few a wizard could carry the thing. Farzad was the same. But he found the mundae a far greater exercise than simply a hovering ball a few feet behind.

It was an exercise in noise as he started walking past. The collection he had was estranged from the regular readings. If one was to decipher what he had grabbed it became clear for all the injustice that word holds, that what he was reading was advanced. But advanced in the worst way possible. They were advanced because they were fumbling and bumblings of self proclaimed genius' in the schools of magic, or 'bridges' as Curtis von Peridurile would say in his infamous for his time, now a forgotten relic happily stored and forgotten in cobwebs and darkness, 'Magic, the Soul of my Shortcomings and your Misgivings.' That was as close as he could transcribe the damn thing since the font was barely literate and the text seemed from an almost other world. But crackpots like this so often hid their treasures in more than just paper. That, and there was always money to be made in restoring the illegible to the readable.

As he came around with all the grace of an ocelot with a broken spine and propelled on the speed of a tornado, he nipped between the funeral corpse of black attire harshly contrasting his personal explosion of colour that laced his dress. "Sorry, pardon me. Just gotta nip that book there." It was a small thing, halfway between a journal and a novella. 'Rituals for the Idiosyncratic', a boring read but one that he had needed to brush up on. Giving a tip of his spired hat and headed unintentionally to the reading woman with a clatter and bang as his pile of books danced that fine tightrope between upright and a stampeding collapse.

 

[Becca La Croix]

The sound of a stack books crashing onto the desk caused Becca to immediately look up glaring at whoever was foolish enough to be so loud, so inconsiderate. This was a library for crying out loud! And not just any library for that matter. The Elbion College Library was home to over four million volumes and two hundred fifty thousand periodicals. Becca had at least read half of the books and almanacs during her stay here and the first and only rule of this grand library was to be quiet!

Becca sighed brushing a strand hair that fell beneath her red eye. The man's face was covered by a mask which was interesting to say the least. Judging by the rest of his body however, his skin was very pale as though he lived most of his life under the Elbion sewers. Becca frowned examining the books that he was reading mostly theory that had to do anatomy and healing.

She hadn't seen this man before but many travelers come to the College of Elbion to seek knowledge. The Library had arguably the most comprehensive array of books in Arethril. the College had dedicated themselves to preserving every lost book about magic throughout the Ages. So much knowlege had been lost due to fighting and stupidity.

Once again another man reached over the desk trying to grab a book. "All right that's it!" Becca threw up her hands. "Are you gonna keep talking and getting into peoples' way?!" She hissed at the two men. "The only rules in the Library are no noise and no talking. Are they so hard to understand? Or do I need to translate it into your native tongues?!"

 

[Klor Bishop]

The colorful wizard that toted about a cart drew his attention as well, his mental sentiments were similar to the woman seated a few tables over. But Klor always had a love and longing for silence and accepted it as simply his pet peeves being stoked, so at first did his best not to pay him any mind, he was a guest here with limited access so he did his best to remain unobtrusive.
Still, every time the left front wheel of the cart squeaked, every time a mass of books were unceremoniously dumped into the basket of the cart all wore on his patience.
His blue lifeless eyes watched the disturbance from behind the grim expression of the mask.

The colorful wizard came close and had his eyes on one of the books Klor had selected. As the wizard reached across to snag the book he had the urge to grab the offending arm and throw him into the cart of books... But the lady seated nearby acted first so Klor restrained his unsociable tendencies.

Once again another man reached over the desk trying to grab a book. "All right that's it!" Becca threw up her hands. "Are you gonna keep talking and getting into peoples' way?!" She hissed at the two men. "The number one rule in the Library is no noise."

Klor turned his gaze from the wizard to the woman who, perhaps inadvertently, lumped him in with this doddering fool.
He slowly stood up, grabbed the book the man was after, placed it in the wizards hands, then gently took him by the shoulders and moved him backwards out of Klor's personal space.
All of this without breaking eye contact with the lady. In response to her outrage he gave a slight bow of his head and his voice was a projected whisper in respect to the sanctity and silence of the library. "I make no excuses for him. But if I've caused offense I apologise."

 

[Farzad Oldsummer]

Farzad seemed. Distant. Removed almost from the tirade. He gave a sniff as the mage seemed to move Farzad out of his way. Farzad held little, in fact no, resistance at all as he was given the book. As the lady screamed Farzad talked in a barely audible whisper. "Cheers mate." He gave another sniffle as he grabbed the handle of his cart and slowly meandered forward, towards the lady with a cocked brow. His face gave it away. He was unimpressed. He was raising a finger to his mouth with one hand, as the other pulled down a scarf of intricate write and swelling magic.

"Shhh. We are in a library."
​

He chided, as he looked over the ladies shoulder. His keen eyes looked at the book covers, he had a hunch he could tell what they were reading. He looked over to his cart and grabbed out one of the tomes, he played jenga with the tower and moved quickly, fingers making purchase with the cover, ripping it out as a cloud of dust rolled out, books atop it falling quickly but balancing with curious caution. The book he held was 'The Laws of Magic and how I broke them.' - By Jeanette Picourde. "Yea you should give this a read. It was hidden behind about four other books so people didn't want this book found." His voice ran quite, pulling back up the scarf to his mouth as he waved a hand away from some of the dust that so desperately wanted to claw his insides. "It has a fantastic twist ending. Turns out, he was using his internal organs as fuel for the magic." He paused tapping himself on the forehead, "Oh woops. Spoilers." He continued in his hushed tones, kicking straight the left front wheel that was seeming to nag at some loose tile on the floor.

 

[Becca La Croix]

Well at least the masked man was nice enough to admit his mistake the same could not be said for this colorful fellow. "Oh look at the wit on you," she muttered lazily waving her hand to stop the falling books. They froze in place before they even hit the ground. "Clearly if you're not coordinated," Becca stated bluntly setting the books back in their shelves with another casual wave of her hand. "You should see the herbalists they have remedies that enhance hand eye coordination."

To say that Becca didn't like to be distracted while she was reading would be an understatement. It was why she liked to seclude herself in farthest corner of the library so no one would bother her. Of course sometimes there was that person who had the bright idea to practice their magic or conduct their experiments and thus nearly set the Library on fire to where Becca had to resist the urge to place a compression spell on the perpetrators and turn them into statues.

"Jeanette Picourde," Becca sighed. "Overrated author who comes up with bizarre and grandiose reasons on how she broke the first law of magic. Not to mention she came with methods that were easily disproven through sheer common sense."

She can talk a person's ear off on why Jeanette was a nutcase but it would cut into valuable study time for Becca. "So clearly you two aren't students of the College," she said. "Who are you two and what are you doing here?"

 

[Klor Bishop]

The book he held was 'The Laws of Magic and how I broke them.' - By Jeanette Picourde. "Yea you should give this a read. It was hidden behind about four other books so people didn't want this book found." His voice ran quite, pulling back up the scarf to his mouth as he waved a hand away from some of the dust that so desperately wanted to claw his insides. "It has a fantastic twist ending. Turns out, he was using his internal organs as fuel for the magic." He paused tapping himself on the forehead, "Oh woops. Spoilers."

It was an interesting subject, subverting the laws of magic. But the result was predictable, for one to think they are casting magic without repercussion only to find that the price was simply far more dire than they imagined because of their folly.
This was a price he related to on an intimate level though his circumstance was different, and he knew his limits.

Interesting comments aside, the colorful wizard seemed far more cracked than any hermit Klor had ever met. And thus dismissed him as mentally incompetent in spite of any magical talent, he may serve a better use as a brain in a jar... If even that, maybe a disembodied hand...

Klor was about to sit back down when she asked a question of him.

"So clearly you two aren't students of the College," she said. "Who are you two and what are you doing here?"

He stopped sitting down mid way. He hadn't been loud or noisy so he didn't know why she was getting on his case in the first place, even though he apologized it wasn't because he actually believe he did anything wrong.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the little slip of paper, showing her his guest pass that marked him as an outsider magic user with permissions to utilize their general resources. He wordlessly replaced the slip after showing her and sat down again.

 

[Melusine Flarell]

Even though Melusine had made a visit to Elbion shortly before meeting Ser Gavin Halbert and beginning training, the whole business with the undead in Greywood was still driving her crazy. She had done well enough, she supposed. But what had she missed? Muttering quietly to herself, she knew there was a chance she'd still be heard. In fact, she rather hoped she would, as she was not entirely sure which section to look in. Did one find the information she was looking for under 'Zombies'. 'Spells', or even 'Zombie Spells'?

Stupid things. Stupid her. What she wouldn't give to have been more prepared for her first encounter with the undead.

Then again, last time she was here, she hadn't exactly planned on becoming a knight. She was finding that it suited her, but that didn't mean she had expected it entirely. Do- gooder, yes. Mercenary.... of a sort. Knight, at least one officially. no.

She nodded hello to the other people in the library, hoping someone would know how to help her navigate the system she had thought she knew so well while attending here full-time.

Becca La Croix Klor Bishop, Farzad Oldsummer

 

[Farzad Oldsummer]

Farzad looked annoyed.
Farzad looked flabbergasted.
Farzad. Grabbed his books that this lady was putting away and putting them back into his cart.
​

It was like a puerile game of cat and mouse. And Farzad was ever the mouse that ran and bumped a cat on their nose before scurrying off and laughing about it. He didn't worry about the jab or jibe. Quite frankly he had more pressing issues. Like the fact this lady was putting away books he had been gathering through the Library and all into a section about restorative fiction.

"Well. I'm Farzad Oldsummer." He replied, exacerbated in this childish game, "I'm here because I sorta needa earn some scratch and one of the best ways, is to translate these books into common tongue." It was a thankless task. In fact, it was a task few people wanted to do. If a book held merit, it was translated into a hundred languages. Or more commonly, they had some magic to translate. Farzad was a niche solution to an unworried problem considering if it hadn't been translated in the college, it was because of three reasons. It was already in common vernacular, it was gibbering's of fools and not warranted or it was in seldom seen and seldom remembered language. Lucky Farzad. That latter was more a speciality. "So I'd now like to ask what you are doing in the Library." He chided in response before giving a wave to the lost looking puppy that seemed to meander their way into a show off of wizards babbling and arguing. Though admittedly in this case, it wasn't about the merits of a school of magic. But whatever all this was. "Hellooooo" Farzad gave before returning back to the discussion at hand, his whimsy at turning from one conversation shown by the fluttering of his voice from irritated to a fáilte for a stranger.

 

[Becca La Croix]

Look what we have here a comedian, Farzad Oldsummer is really dishing out the wit. And by wit it means the type that would make Becca transform him into a Toad. "You're fine masked man," Becca sighed seeing the man looking a bit uncomfortable. "This Farzard fellow is quite..... unusual." She quickly turned her head to see whom Farazard was talking to.

A young red headed woman was stumbling around the library looking for something. Becca gave a soft sigh before rising up. "If you're going to continue to disturb my studies Farzard," she whispered. "Then I Becca La Croix Maester of the First Order bid you adieu."

She then turned to the redhead who still was looking like a child lost in the marketplace searching for her parents. Of course being a Maester, Becca had to show some courtesy especially to newer people. "What are you searching for my dear?" she asked in a gentler, softer tone. "There are millions of books that you can find in the College of Elbion. I'm I can help you find what you are looking for."

Melusine Flarell Farzad Oldsummer Klor Bishop

 

[Klor Bishop]

"You're fine masked man," Becca sighed seeing the man looking a bit uncomfortable. "This Farzard fellow is quite..... unusual."

He nodded in agreement. He'd met very eccentric people before, and this man verged on damaged in spite of his obvious intelligence to be able to translate ancient text.

The red head that came in was interesting and drew more than a cursory glance from Klor, but he didn't pay much attention, he needed to get back to his research.
He said nothing and allowed the lady to go without complaint.

Just keep your head down and don't draw any undo attention... Places like these often had prejudices against certain practices like necromancy, and that's exactly what he was indirectly studying. By researching topics of life, transmutation, and the body, he was learning more about the body that he could utilize for his own gruesome craft.

 

[Farzad Oldsummer]

Farzad's face turned to stupefaction as he collected the texts, "You continue to talk as if I'm not here." He waved a hand in front of their face. "By Eleth. The invisibility spell I cast over eight years ago has finally activated." He continued with dispelling humour before being faced with a maester. It was revealing. Farzad's face grew despondent and bored.

"Well Maester of the First Order. It seems you have seen through my invisibility spell. But if you continue to remove my books from my possession, I Farzad of the Order One Higher than That, will bid you adu... adil... gooday." ​

He replied rather quickly, dispelling the game of whispers by being rather doltish in reply, speaking a shade louder for everyone around them to hear. It wasn't that he was unaware of the rules, the position or even the power. He simply wasn't one to care. Wizard's often worked so strictly with a code of reputation and theory. It was why he never warranted them worry when he encountered them. For every thousand wizard an expert in their field, only three would seemingly be capable of working in a practical field. For every thousand that could cast spells of unrivaled power, only two could cast it in practice and without hours of preparation. For every wizard that demanded respect, Farzad would give none.