A letter to Galmair's mages

[Cartaphilus]

Loud croaking heralds the arrival of a raven at the Sleepy Bujhaar Inn's rooftop terrace, where it drops a sealed letter before taking to the air again.

o the esteemed Mages of Galmair, Lady Clairette and Ms. Belisai
I send to you my regards and the results of the alchemical analysis of the black ooze from the Rod of Erlick, conducted by Deanna of the Faculty of Nature and Alchemy. The study revealed that the ooze is unrelated to any known form of slime, such as ectoplasm, but an inorganic substance based on obsidian, created in equal measure by arcane and alchemical means; an "alchemagical" substance, as Deanna chose to call it for the lack of a better word. Similar to other obsidian-based concoctions, the ooze may possess some yet unknown nature-altering properties. At the time of the study, the ooze was inanimate, meaning that whatever spirit had possessed it is no longer present in the ooze.

At best, the spirit was recaptured by the Rod of Erlick. At worst, the spirit could have used the ooze to breach our ritual's protective circle and escape. In such an event the spirit would require a new vessel to remain in our plane, and anyone touched by the possessed ooze could have been its target. Therefore, I advise Ms. Belisai and all around her to be vigilant for mood swings or other unusual behaviour, for she of us all was sullied by far the most by the ooze. Although I have no doubt in Ms. Belisai's mental fortitude, utmost caution is imperative, for the threat of an aggressive spirit's assault is not to be underestimated.

Nalcaryos von Weißhafen, a mage of great experience, has recently returned to Runewick and offered to join our next ritual. His magical powers and expertise will doubtlessly be of great avail to our efforts. Until then, we shall deliberate on our further course of action, and welcome, of course, your sage counsel.

Signed,

Docent of the Academy of Runewick

[Mirai Belisai]

A few days later Mirai and Clairette can be heared discussing about the letter in the Galmair Kitchen Lounge, even though some of it may have been drowned out by the noise of fight training.


well.. i know the Bearers just... partly.. mostly by Djironyma
He did lecture Magic back then... even did some very interesting experiments with his servant.
I knew Djironnyma wrote a book and the shaman didn'T think fondly of him.
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Some other male voice: Who dis Djironnyma oomie? Dah shaman nub likeh? Meh will beat dat oomie up yubbahs!
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Well... i think he was... talking of things in one way... and acting quite differently.
you know.. he once did a demonstration on his servant... some live proloning ritual..
And what bearer did Chartaphilus write about ? Is the Nalcaryos one of them?
yes.. if i remember right.
I heard talk of that, and that the bearers burnt people.
yeah a very... onesided view on magic they have.
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I tried to ban the black slime thingy... but I am not sure if it worked. It all happend so fast.
Also... who knows if it was a creature or ghost anyway?
I really wonder if it was not satisfyed by devouring this... element.
But you did not have any other backlashes did you?
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Oh yes... sudden disruptions in potent rituals can have.... ugly... effects.
And I shall try to not take part in such ... uh... unappreciable-ly organized rituals.
You heard their spells...the shaman would have grilled these two amateurs.
It is dangerous ... and it put us all in danger.
I don't understand why you'd go full-scale-ritual even before glancing at the arcane-structure.
Or not checking the ritual place ...
Oh yes... i cannot imagine what would have happened at that very place they chose.
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Well... this slime kind of petryfied on the element right? and then exploded for some reason or other.
I believe i tried to put up a fire barrier around it.
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What about this new mage?
well... if he is a Bearer... then we should be carefull... he might do stupid things.
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Ok.. so i think i will express my extreme gratitude for his worry... weeks after what has happened.