[hr][hr][h1][center]E S K E L R I N D A R I U M[/center][/h1][hr][hr]The village of Ilmar had always had a mage. For as long as anyone could remember, wizards had made their home in the narrow stone tower that stood atop the granite bluffs that overlooked the village and the lake from which derived its name. In times past these were venerable figures, retiring senior scholars from the schools of Bradena, seeking the peace and quiet of the countryside as they went about their research in mysteries of the arcane. The previous mage had certainly been such a man, a grandfatherly gentleman, who had sported a long white beard which he had liked to stroke thoughtfully while he considered his pontifications. It had come as something of a shock to the residents of Ilmar when he had been killed unexpectedly whilst away in Trai Spia. But before long a new Mage of Ilmar had taken up residence there, a former apprentice of the previous wizard and a greatly renowned hero no less, who had helped destroy the terrible Eldritch Dragon. His name was Eskel Rindarium. At first the stranger was given a hero's welcome to the humble rural town. But rather soon, the relationship between Ilmar and its mage began to sour. He was not the sort of genial elder that they had become accustomed to. The young mage was of a moody disposition, openly expressing his derision and distain towards the town and its residents. On his rare appearances in public there, his one good eye had a wildness to it that many took as a sign of madness. The people of Ilmar learned quickly to stay away from the mage and his tower, yet kept a watchful eye on the tower atop the dark granite bluffs. That morning, more folk than usual would cast their gaze up and mutter a prayer to protect them from evil. For it seemed the mage had been most busy these last few days, judging by the amount of strange lights and eerie phenomena that had been noticed in the village below. They shuddered to think of what exactly the Mad Mage was doing up there, and what dreadful spells he could be casting. [center][sub]__________________________________________[/sub][/center] "Fucking useless piece of shit!" Eskel shouted as he hurled another crystal ball into the wall of his study. It shattered against the stone with a deafening crash and broke into hundred jagged pieces. His attempts at scrying had got him nowhere, the auguries had been to vague, the tangled threads of truth and fate to difficult to unweave. It had been the exact same with the silver basin he had tried beforehand, the knucklebones he had thrown as well. Eskel was running out of methods of divination to attempt, unless he wanted to down into the village and find a sheep to slaughter so he could read it entrails. That would give them something to gossip about. The point of a planar banishment was to make it impossible for being to be able to interact with world it had been driven from. But a spell the likes of which he had devised for the destruction and sealing of the Eldritch Dragon had its side effects. Totally removing something from one plane of existence would prevent it from appearing in forms of remote viewing like he had been attempting all night. Or... some other force was preventing him from observing their vanquished foe. Or maybe the dragon really was dead and hence there was nothing for his spell on latch onto across all the planes. Or maybe there was some other possibility to he could not yet conceive of because he hadn't slept properly in gods knows how long, and his head was aching worse than wounds on his arm. Eskel turned back to his desk and took a sip from a steaming cup of a magical infusion he had whipped up from the herbs in his store cupboards. It contained potent magical enhancers, some mild stimulants, a little something for the pain, and couple of other things that he couldn't recall what they did exactly but had seemed like a good idea at time. Anything to keep him upright and keep him casting spells. He swallowed with a grimace, it tasted bitter. He had spent the first night frantically repairing the wards and around his tower and laying some additional ones just to be sure. The second he had tried every method he could think of finding out if the Eldritch Dragon was still alive and escape the binding spells they had placed upon it. But nothing had worked, as much as he loathed to admit it, divination was not Eskel's strongest area of expertise. He needed sleep. He needed rest. He needed help. Blast. Eskel sighed theatrically to the empty room. He was going to have to ask [i]them[/i] for help. [center][sub]__________________________________________[/sub][/center] A flash of light exploded in the portal hall of the Mage Guild Association of Bradena. The clerks and assistants at the table looked up from their paperwork, the coming and going of mages was not an unusual occurrence, but there had been no scheduled arrivals for that day. From out of the violet light and smoke strode a figure dressed head to toe in black robes, strands of dark hair shot through with grey hung over his gaunt face. A pale scar running down through one blinded eye. He briskly made his way out of the portal hall without evening pausing to give the clerks a look. As he made his way through the corridors of Guildhall, a ripple of whispers followed him in his wake. Eventually they made their way to the chief secretary of the Guild Association, who frantically scurried their way down to the entry hall to catch him just he was about to leave. "Arch-Mage Rindarium!" The chief secretary cried out, panting from the effort of their hurried journey to catch up with the Mage of Ilmar. "Ah, good to see someone still recognises me around here." Eskel replied with a stony face. They were wasting his time. He had more important things to do than deal with Guild bureaucrats. "Arch-Mage Rindarium! The council requested your presence months ago, we have been receiving concerning reports about the nature of your research at Ilmar and will be conducting a formal investigation should you not immediat-" Eskel stopped them with a wave of his hand. "Yes, yes, yes, I am aware of the posturing your council of so-called 'Arch-Mages' are attempting to make. But I don't have time for this. I need to see Naivara Amakiir at once, the fate of the world is at stake." [hr][hr] [sup]Characters mentioned in this post: [@Abstract Proxy][/sup]