Solo Higher Learning

[Elias Caldera]

25th of Spring
514 AV

PermissionRe: Institute of Higher Learning

Sent: May 9th, 2014, 6:03 am
by Abstract
You can simply write a solo. As for the NPCs... you have my permission

Sent: May 8th, 2014, 9:38 pm
by Elias Caldera
Shall I start a thread where my characters asks for acceptance into the school, or can I solo a thread in which he is accepted to study magecrafting, but the rules are laid out that he must pay for his tuition with the results of his craft.

I imagine I would need permission to use the NPC's related for that.



"My name is professor Lazarin." He had proclaimed when Elias first walked into class. There had been eight of them when it started and the young mage recalled how excited he had been at the beginning, walking into his very first lesson for the very first time. It reminded him so much of Zeltiva and the university there. Friends were easy to come by and knowledge flowed into you from every direction, sometimes even if you didn't know it. He had hoped for the same here. He searched out his correct room with an unusually superb sense of direction for a first time student, but if he had been asked just how he had found it so easily on his first day, he would have simply replied "I just followed the smell of magic, of course." Of course, no one had asked him, in fact, apart from the guards and their grim glares, no one had even bothered to look at him.

It had unsettled him at first, but he had decided he wouldn't let their obvious jealousy put him off. He would have fun with this, enjoy it as much as he could. That had been the plan anyway, right up until he met his teacher for the second time, and the facade of joy shattered like glass on stone. "My name is professor Lazarin." He had said, his harsh gaze scanning over all of them. Elias didn't enjoy the old man's angry, judgmental gaze as it lingered on him for a tick too long. "And I will be your instructor in the art of magecrafting until either you have learned enough, or I have had enough. Now- YOU!!!" That was how it had started. A gnarled, bony finger flying out from beneath the man's dark robes and stabbing out towards a pair of young men in the back. Everyone else turned around. "Yes, you. Do I amuse you? Do you find something I said funny?"

"I-" the tanned skinned boy began, but he never finished. Elias wasn't sure what he had been doing, but he watched in morbid curiosity even as his companion tried to slink away and back into his seat as subtly as a man with a dozen or so eyes on him could.

"'I' what? 'I... just couldn't care less about this class? I... just wanted to waste Professors. Lazarin's time? I. What. Boy?!"

"I'm... sorry?" He said, clearly confused as to whether or not he actually was. Lazarin's eyes burned with impatience and a barely contained fury that made Elias sink into his own seat for safety. "I think what you meant to say," he looked down at piece of paper on his desk. "Mr. Relens, is 'I'll see myself out, thank you.'

"...What?"

"Get out of my classroom!" Thadeus screamed. He knew the man was a Thadeus because he had graciously written on his chalkboard, just like he knew that poor bastard who was now running from his desk to the door would never be back, because not only was this man a part of the Ebonstryfe, he was a part of house Lazarin to boot. Any complaints that would stem from this would have likely fell on deaf ears, or worse, one's that reported back to Thadeus himself. For a brief moment Elias wondered if he should have joined the other novice on his escape. It was only for a brief moment, then the thought was gone completely. He wasn't going to be scared so easily. The worst was already over now that he was in, it was all smooth sailing from here...

By the end of class, there were only four students remaining, and Elias couldn't decide if he counted himself lucky or cursed to be still among them.

[Elias Caldera]

The doors swung shut with a foreboding thump, one louder to Elias than simply the crash and bang of reinforced iron and wood. He suddenly felt the absence of the grim faced, no nonsense guard that had escorted him this far. The room the young man found himself large and almost completely bereft of – well, anything, really. The bare bones, skeletal cathedral like structure of the Institute was all that was evident here, from the vaulting roof to the deeply grooved alcoves, it all demanded an air of awe and grandeur.

At the center of the room was a long and dark table, a single, dusty chair on one side, and another, larger, more imposing one facing it from the other. A solitary middle aged man sat upon it, his frame and figure hardly what Elias had expected to be waiting for him upon such a commanding throne. Next to him however, was a man wrapped in darkness, a pointed pepper-gray beard and hawkish, beady eyes that whispered of dark intelligence. There was his true judge, he realized, and stepped forward. Elias's eyes danced over to the two of them, almost polar opposites in stature, yet both would be pivotal in their up coming roles as his jury.

“Elias Caldera, you have come to our hallowed halls seeking knowledge and through it, power.” That, surprisingly, was the smaller man, his spare chin shaking restlessly as he spoke. The mage to his side said nothing, and the silence stretched, but not for long. “A privileged pursuit, and one this institute has found you potentially worthy of. Your letter was received and read, intriguing us enough to grant you entrance, now you have your chance to speak your case, and we two will decide whether you are truly deserving to walk these hallowed halls.”

With that, the smaller man seemed to relax a little, as if he had been reciting a script. He motioned Elias forward and the novice bowed, obeyed, and seated himself. "Thank you, masters." He began, clear and resolute. "I will begin."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"You can see why we'd be... concerned-"

"-Suspicious."

The two had said the last words at the same time, exchanged a look, then returned their attention back to Elias. He suppressed a wince under their glares. His chair felt a little less comfortable all of a sudden.

The man, whose name he had pointedly not received, sat across the dark wooden desk that separated them. Papers were stacked in neat, tidy mountains, laid out in what the young mage had to assume was a system that made sense only to one who had created it. He had pulled out one more piece of parchment, this one just for Elias, and his quill now tapped against it unconsciously. Perhaps he was a bit nervous, but It wasn't Elias who had the balding man unnerved, that was for certain. It was instead the warlock that stood next to him, scrutinizing and glaring at Elias that had both of those sitting so uncomfortable. Thadeus Lazarin was not an obstacle he had expected to face so early, but the Caldera would not shirk away from this fight. It was one that had to be won.

He had thought about lying all out, that by going as Tomen Cander, he could avoid all this and simply enter without all the baggage his real life carried with it, but while three years may have been a long time, there would always be people like the man behind the desk, writing reports and keeping meticulous records. Elias Caldera was not just something he could shake off like an itchy coat. They would discover who he was sooner or later, and better he be a misunderstood citizen of this city, than a pretentious liar and fraud caught in the act. The former was less homicidal in its repercussions, he decided.

"I understand." He began again, calmly as he could. "But it is as I have said. While I was heartbroken at the prospect of putting on hold my training among the Ebonstryfe, my mother's health and security was paramount. As a son, and a loyal servant to Rhysol, I could not simply forsake one of his most dedicated followers to die, alone and so far from her home." His lie had been a simple one that incorporated the truth rather well he believed. He had left Ravok so suddenly because his mother had fallen deathly ill in Zeltiva, calling to him to join her in her final moments, but as a good and gracious son, he had gone to help save her instead, quitting all other responsibilities until his noble rescue was complete. Not something an uneducated outsider would expect from an evil, black hearted Ravokian, but people were still people in this city, not mindlessly, chaon waving monsters.

Lazarin had not been impressed. In fact, his beady eyes grew only sterner. He knew this man was an interrogator -in a most cruel way, all Paladins were- but the mage's magical powers only compounded his terrifying potential for harm and discovery. Elias tried his best to keep his composure and hoped he looked better than he felt under such pressure. When he noticed he wasn't being tortured yet, he realized they were expecting him to keep going. He cleared his throat and adjusted his seat. "Unfortunately, during my time in Zeltiva, I learned my mother's condition was indeed terminal, and that she would never survive the trip back to Ravok. So I stayed with her there, trying to find a healer who could cure her of her ailments. Unfortunately, before I could, the..." He added a small dramatic pause there, his eyes falling downward in sadness. He heard a hushed grunt from behind Thadeus's beard. "... The storm hit. My mother... she did not survive it, and I almost joined her. I was wounded terribly by the flooding and was left bed ridden for a better part of year, infection and broken bones crippling my body even as I mourned."

He thought he saw a gleam of something wet in the other man's green eyes, but he quickly wiped it away. He saw Thadeus however, moving to interject, no such emotion on his face, but Elias raced to continue. "Once I was well enough, I set out to return to my home, eager to rejoin my brothers and what was left of my family, but I understood fully that the way I had left would put my faith in doubt, which I why I am here. I one day wish to return to the ranks of the order, but I feel to best do so, I shall need to bring something to atone for my actions. As a magecrafter, I know I can do a great deal of good for all the the faithful of my city."

He looked at Lazarin now, earnestness forced in his dark eyed gaze. "All I ask now is for a chance at redemption that best serves Ravok and Rhysol."

[Elias Caldera]

He doesn't believe me. He doesn't believe me at all.

Lazarin glared, studying and scrutinizing over him as he would one of his magecrafted creations. No doubt using his auristics to tell if I'm lying he groaned inwardly. "I find it hard to believe, Mr. Caldera," Elias didn't think a name could have been spoken such casual scorn. "That an apprentice would reach so far into his training that he would be granted acceptance to take the crucible, and not come to understand that nothing, absolutely nothing, comes before service to our great lord, not even petty family matter." Lazarin had unleashed an inquisition of questions upon Elias after that, digging deep and probing for details and falsehoods that would have normally undone anyone else. Anyone else didn't have what Elias had in abundance however. Time. He had had a very, very long time to think on this, to rehearse it, to practice and believe it. It showed when the master mage descended upon his soon to be student like a proper interrogator, restrained from his tools but allowed only his wit.

"As you say, master Lazarin, I had yet to take my crucible and officially join the Stryfe. My decision stemmed from my naivety, sir, as my training was obviously incomplete." And that was how he dealt with each question in turn, letting truth hide his flares in aura, masking his panic and anxiety with an air of remorse and calmness. By the end, he was practically meditating in his seat, and it drove the old wizard mad.

The young mage on the other hand, was just grateful the clerk had been there in the end. Elias had picked a suitably tragic disease for his mother, explained in detail the injuries he had suffered during the storm, and even going so far as to lifting up his shirt to display the ghastly scars hidden underneath. That had sealed the deal for the clerk, but his professor was still not convinced. Thankfully, and not surprisingly, the clerk had been less inclined to believe Elias's tale because he was simply sympathetic and deeply touched by the boy's story, but more because he fancied himself the entrepreneurial type.

"You know, there is actually precedence for your case. I believe you yourself, professor Lazarin, taught the young apprentice who set it, did you not?"

The mage folded his arms and grunted, his back and fourth with his subject done for the time being. Elias could tell the old man was now distracted with his reminiscing. "I did." He replied. "He settled the costs normally appointed to students by working in the labs when he wasn't learning." This was no surprise. Elias hadn't had the idea himself, he had learned of the concept weeks ago when he had thought to inquire of other students about joining the Institute. The idea just fell into place after that. "That's right. As I recall, it worked out quite nicely for all parties involved, did it not? Your own workload in particular was lessened considerably, while the Institute benefited greatly from the items you and he created. I do believe..." And as such he droned on, pointing out all the flaws in not using Elias -which was exactly what this arrangement was, using him- along with all the not so flaws of keeping him around.

By the end, Lazarin hardly seemed satisfied, but after he and the admittance clerk discussed things in private for a while, they eventually had Elias rejoin them. The clerk smiled, handed a few pieces of paper over, and like that, he was in. A smile etched its way unto his own lips, even as he was made to swear allegiance to Rhysol, put his name to a document that held him to oath that he would not reveal the secrets he learned while within the walls of the Institute, and that anything he created while there belonged to the Black Sun and Ebonstryfe to do with as they saw fit. He signed warily, but exuded excitement none the less.

He was in!

[Nemesis]

Elias Caldera

Knowledge :

Skills

Skill	XP
Meditation	+1
Observation	+2
Persuasion	+2
Rhetoric	+1
Storytelling	+2

Lores

*Agreement of Entry to IHL
*First Impressions of Thadeus Lazerin
*The Institute of Higher Learning

Micellaneous :

Injuries

*None

Loot/Expenses

*None

____________________________________________

Notes

*Good thread - not much to give, but it's nice to see an intro thread like this will be interesting to see what he gets up to in the IHL...

Feel free to PM me with questions, comments, or concerns, if you have any.
Also, remember to either delete your grade request or edit it as 'graded'.
Thank ye!