Taiborn’s joints ached as he made his way into the city, the sound of metal striking the cobblestones as he used his staff to walk. Confused looks by people he passed by as they heard the sound but not the sight of metal always gave him a chuckle. He had been on the road far too long this time, and he definitely wasn’t getting any younger. 

“Excuse me, where might I find the Academy?” Taiborn asked a dwarf as he loaded a cart with various wares.

The dwarf was silent, only pointing his way toward the center of the city, to which Taiborn nodded, thanked the dwarf and headed off. During the travels he made sure to keep an eye out for buildings that may catch his fancy later once he attempted to gain entry to the academy. Busy streets always were a staple for the big cities and Taiborn was never a fan, busy streets meant pickpockets, pickpockets meant annoyance. His lips parted as he made his way towards the Academy, “Envilio.” The wonderful dark blue robes changed into shoddy, dirty, and torn rags. The perfect disguise to keep ones gold to themselves from the lower side of civilization.

The distractions of this city were abundant, Waterdeep would have had a run for its money here. Shops abound, with every trinket one could imagine. Blacksmiths, bookkeepers, magical merchants, arcane components, everything one could wish for was found within this city. He made note of each of them, as his slow footfalls landed him towards the building that looked like the stories he had heard of the Academy of Magii. This was step one into the journey of more knowledge, he told himself even if it wasn’t going to be easy.

The door opened as soon as he stepped in front of it, the brightness of everburning candles and torches illuminating the hall. As he entered, there was a voice that called out.

“Oy! Old man! No coin to be found here for beggars, get out! Learn ya place!”

“Envilio.” Taiborn spoke the word, glamour returning to his robes. “Beggar? I know not which you speak guardsman, but I appreciate you trying to keep me safe from the riffraff, I am just an old codger.” He winked at the slightly stunned male human as he continued walking forward.

“I would like to join into the service of the Magii, there are many things to be learned, and I want to learn them all.”

“Well as wonderful as that may be sir, right now I would need you to follow some steps to get things moving.” He sighed looking down at the rules and stipulations of paperwork. There was more bureaucracy in this than he wished to deal with.

“May I return with this? I just made my way into the city and I need to read over everything before I sign my life away.” He said, with every intent to do just that. The female elf nodded, smiling warmly before allowing him to leave with a copy of everything he would need to understand what being in the service to the Academy would mean. He stowed everything in his bag leaving in no hurry.

He would need to have time to check over every detail, but that could only be done while not having to worry about being watched by every humanoid that existed. A spark of an idea caught fire, he had seen an inn on his way inside of the city, the common district area that didn’t look to be so terrible. This would do for his reading. He made his way back slowly towards the Foamy Crown. As he approached he smiled at the doorman, and entered inside. While not busy, it wasn’t exactly empty. His eyes checked upon everything that was within the establishment as he made his way to the bar man. The thunk of metal against the floor as he stopped.

“I would like to buy a stay, unknown for how long it will be, but here, this should be a fair down payment?” His fingers hooked into a bright purple bag, and withdrew 10 gold coins, before placing them on the counter. His eyes adjusting to the lighting, finally caught wind of something... odd. Without hearing the response for his room, he immediately walked towards a large woman her skin... a hue of blue gray he had not seen in a while. He approached the woman, smiling as warmly and friendly as an old man could. “You... you are one of the giant-kin, a Goliath are you not? My word I feel like I have not seen one of your kind in an age.” He inspected her from the other side of the table, not sitting but still close enough to truly see her. “Yes you must be, and every time I see your kind it is impressive as always.”

[@Hellion]