Elves of Dahud (1)

In the city of Dahud, a group of elves were gathered. In their elven gatherings, sometimes pairs would face off and engage in lyrical contests to settle disputes. While they were doing so, often other elves would keep time or make the occasional interjections.

Sometimes, elves would also dance or do other things, their dance being seen as a show of skill and power among the other elves. Most of the elves in these gatherings were fairly young by elf standards, generally under 100 years. The older elves would tend not to attend, being generally more serious and uptight about the various matters of great significance in their world. But, many of the younger elves had instead began to adopt aspects of human culture, but it was generally understood by most of the older elves that the young elves would gain in wisdom as the time passed on, as in their youth many of them had also indulged in the trappings of human culture.


A group of elves gathered in a fairly large and open room. This room was on the third floor of a building that was generally left as a public access building.

On the first floor, there is an entry area, with a combination coffee shop and food area. The coffee and food items sold on the first floor are relatively expensive. The second and third floors were mostly left for offices and private use areas. This community of elves had rented out this part of the building for use as a meeting space, with each of the elves paying a small part towards its overall rental fees.

Near the edges of the room, in one corner, there are two walls of large glass windows from which it is possible to see the outside world, the street below and the other buildings. Within the room, there are various couches and sitting areas. The floor is lined with commercial style gray carpet, fairly hard with small and tight loops.

In the other corner of the room, there is a row of counters, over which there are counters. These counters mostly contain disposable utensils and plates and other similar sorts of things. There are also several large refrigerators containing beer and soda, along with some amount of food items. Though, with many of these gatherings, they also order the food by delivery. Some amount that is left over either goes into the refrigerators, or it is taken home by whoever wants it.

Ownership over these shared spaces and resources isn't particularly well defined within the elven gatherings, so everyone is mostly free to take whatever they need, but expected to pay up whatever part is needed when resources are low, just sort of throwing money into a pile until the pile is big enough.

Along the interior walls, there are several doors into large hallways shared with several other rental spaces on this floor, which is roughly divided into four main quadrants, of which this room represents one of these four quadrants. However, the rooms representing the other quadrants tend to be locked up outside of normal working hours.

Near the central part of the floor is the elevators, public restrooms, and access to the stairwell. There are also a multiple floors above this floor, all with the same basic layout. Most of the rest of the building is used for office spaces and cubicles.

Going below the ground level floor, there are several half-height floors with only limited access from above. These floors are primarily the domain of the gnomes. On the gnome floors, working space, living space, and communal eating spaces, are all combined. This space is dimly lit and largely decorated with faux earthen walls and small wooden structures carved to resemble roots, in contrast to the boxy minimalism of the above ground floors. Sometimes, one may see gnomes on the above ground floors, but usually whenever the group of elves encounters a gnome, they are usually there either to complain about the messes the elves keep leaving, or to ask about or request the rental fees for their part of the building. Every so often, a group of gnomes will exit from a special elevator near the central part of the building, pulling a wagon behind them. They will then ask the elves to pay up, which mostly consists of throwing money into the wagon until the gnome keeping track of payments is satisfied. At which point, a pair of gnomes will pull the wagon back to the elevator, and then typically disappear not to be seen again until the following month.

There is a rumor among some of the elves that part of why it is so hard to access the gnome floors, is because if one could get to it, they would find piles of coins from all of the years worth of rental payments. Some of the other elves disagree, saying that likely the gnomes use it to pay for other stuff, rather than just using it to fill ever expanding swimming pools of money in the basement. One of the elves jokes that they should send Gloriwen down to investigate, at which another said that, even if she did find piles of money down there, she wouldn't tell them about it. Another responds that, even though he knows this is a joke, he would still recommend against anyone doing anything that would get them on the bad side of the gnomes.


In this gathering, it all started out as usual. A dispute had arising between two of the elves, and they had decided to settle it according to their tradition.

The two two elves faced off. The first elf was Lazindir, who was not well respected due to his tendencies towards indulgence and not respecting the personal boundaries of others. He had recently gotten on the bad side of Thalron, another of the elves in the group.

Lazindir:
 "I don't know why.
  I gotta be so fly.
  Honeys look at me, I be a real man.
  I see her booty, I be like Damn.
  She aint be fake.
  Damn she got cake.
  You can't be so hung.
  When I get sprung."
Thalron steps in:
 "My heart is aflame, that she is my girl.
  This I can exclaim, she is pretty as a pearl.
  Of this I am sure, she is not just some toy.
  Her heart is pure, not to be played by you boy."
Another elf exlaims, "Burn!"
Lazindir continues,
  "There aint no shame,
   When I be playin' my game.
   I got me a duty.
   When I see dat booty."
Someone in the crowd yells, "Weak!".

It continues, the crowd increasingly turning against the first elf both for his lack of dignity and skill. Though, despite this, a few do sort of see Lazindir's point, as Thalron's girlfriend, Gloriwen, is unusually curvy by elf standards. Most, of the elf girls tended to be tall and thin, whereas she is a lot shorter and thicker, more like a dwarf. However, it is sort of an open secret among the elves that Gloriwen is not pure elf, as her father had taken dwarven wife. Gloriwen's mother had long since passed on, with dwarves having shorter lifespans than the elves, but her father did not regret his decision. Despite her smaller stature, she looks youthful and is still going strong at 70 years old, beyond the lifespan of most dwarves.

At a previous gathering, Lazindir had tried to make a move on Gloriwen, and her and Thalron felt offended and left the gathering. It was becoming obvious to the other elves, as all this went on, that Lazinder's character was lacking even by their comparably lax standards, and a time was coming when they might be forced to "draw a line in the sand" regarding his behavior.


Then, as things were getting under way, the gathering was disturbed by an unwelcome visitor. A highly decomposed and dessicated corpse breaks into the scene, letting out an undead howl. Very little remained of the vocal cords he once had, so actual sound of the howl was more of a hiss. The liches magic, however, was still enough to give him a voice despite his lack of vocal coords, but the sound was still highly unnatural.

Many of the elves in the group were armed with a type of projectile weapon known informally as a gat. Using explosive charges, the gat would project a small piece of metal up to a high velocity, letting out a bang as it did so. As was their custom, many of the elves held their gats sideways. Some would have two gats, one in each hand, with the tops facing each other. Getting shot was not often as big of a concern, as they had enough of a healing factor that unless they were unlucky enough to get shot somewhere unfortunate, their wounds would heal relatively quickly and without too much damage. However, the power of the gat was much more intimidating among the other races, and it was usually more effective in a fight than the more traditional elven weapons.

These were not originally a product of the elves, rather they were in common use among humans and the elves got them usually in trade for elven crafts.


Upon seeing the lich, one of the elves excaimed, "Oh teh Shiznit, it be a lizich." as the other elves proceeded to open fire. However, the lich had magic, and bullets would usually pass through or around him without causing any real damage. The bullets would seemingly do little more than rustle his cloak, which was itself resistant to their weapons with the bullets sliding on the surface and being deflected. The lich wasn't particularly concerned with their attacks, merely standing and gazing around the room with his otherwise empty eye sockets and skull for a face.

As he looked at part of the room, his mouth opened slightly and a visible glow is seen its eye sockets as he lets out another wind-like hiss.

The lich then raised his staff and then takes aim at the couch. The large jewel on the end of the staff glows, then a large burst of purple energy erupts from the staff and blows a hole in the couch. From behind what is left of the couch, a wizard named Ganzathir jumps out, and takes a shot at the lich with his own staff, which produces a smaller burst of yellow energy that is mostly ineffective. Ganzathir yells out at the elves as he runs by, "His weak point is the ring, aim for the hand!" expression on the lich changes as the elves again raise their gats and begin to open fire.

Ganzathir then also yells, "There is a sight on the top of your weapons, use that! Focus your attention on where you want your shots to land." One elf takes the advice, turning his gat from a horizontal to vertical position, and making use of his elf eyes to line up shot with the ring. The lich takes notice of this elf and begins moving his hand away from the elf's point of view, but it is too late. The elf takes a shot, and just as he does so, the lich's finger explodes and the ring flies off into the corner of the room near the intersection of the two walls of windows.

At just this moment, the body of the lich almost instantly crumbles into a pile of dust and bone fragments, its robe laying on top of the pile, a small cloud of corpse dust filling the air where it formerly stood.

Ganzathir goes over near where the ring landed. He does not touch it, but points his wand at it. His wand lets out a yellow glow, and as it does so there is a cracking sound and purple sparks coming from the ring.

Some of the elves come by, and Ganzathir says, "I can't touch it, but it needs to be destroyed. His evil essence still lives on inside the ring, and until it is destroyed, he can not pass into the great beyond!", "Yo dawg, I don't think passing on was his goal.", "Right. This was his doing, a way to avoid passing on when his time came, but his time came and went 250 years ago. He was a normal wizard once, but fell into a dark path, and here we are. If the physical form of this ring is destroyed, he will have no other choice but to move on from this world."

The elf who took the winning shot, who goes by the name Elzoran, tries to pick it up but immediately drops it again, "Yo, it be hot.", "Yes, that stands to reason. Try picking it up with something." The elf pulls a bandana from his pocket, and proceeds to pick up the ring using the bandana, wrapping it into a small bundle and putting it into his pocket. Him and two other elves (Zelthir and Laridon) then leave with the ring.

And, slightly exhausted, Ganzathir sits down on what is left of the couch.

Thalron comes over, and asks Ganzathir, "So, wizard, what should we call you." at which he responds, "You can call me Ganzathir.", "That seems like an odd name for a human." Ganzathir lifts the side of his hat, which has a large sagging brim, to reveal his pointed ears underneath, and responds, "Who ever said I was human?", "Well, you have a certain look to you."

In some sense, he did look human. He was an elf, but far older than the other elves in the gathering. He had been a wizard for far longer than many of the other elves had existed, and with the relative stratification in elven culture and the common tendency of older elves towards isolation, many of the younger elves had not often seen an elf of his tenure in person. These elves are not immortal, rather they grow and age, albeit at a slower rate than most of the other races, and to many of them a 300 year old elf was an unfamiliar sight. More so given he was an old elf wearing a saggy cloth hat and ochre cloak, neither of which were common among elves. In times when older elves would appear in public, they would traditionally wear white clothes with complex embroidery, and would have their hair styled. Contrast Ganzathir, who merely ties his hair back with a cloth ribbon under his hat.

Ganzathir argues that he is not that old, that many of the older members of the guild have been there for around 700 years. The other elves remain skeptical, even among elves it is rare for anyone to live much past 500. He thinks for a moment, and he isn't sure he has actually seen anyone that old. Though it is said that wizards that old exist, they never make themselves visible as such.

By most normal elf standards, Ganzathir would himself be considered to be on the older end.


The other elves then get back to what they were doing, as one of the elves begins to rhyme about the event,
  "As we gather here, we go the length.
   We aint got no fear, we stand in strength.
   In walks some lizich, try the best he would.
   We make him our bizich, We da best in Dahud."

The gathering goes on, but with the main issues settled, the elves again begin to disperse.


===

The elves leave the building where their meeting place was, and then begin walking along the sidewalk in front of the building.

As the other three elves walk, Elzoran starts to take on a slightly odd expression, and says to the others, "I have a different idea." his voice sounds odd, deeper and more gravelly than usual.

The other else say, "Hey man, Elzoran, are you OK?", "Yes. Nothing to worry about here. Everything is fine."

They walk a short distance into a nearby shopping plaza in the same city block as the building they just left. The shopping plaza contains a jewery shop, a food court, several clothing stores, and a shoe store.

He then leads them to the jewelry shop with a gnome named Gwildin at the counter. As they walk in the door, the gnome at first begins to say instinctively "What can I do..." before looking at them and stopping abruptly, saying "Oh..."

His patrons are usually human women with more money than sense, willing to spend unreasonable amounts of money on trinkets to try to impress or pass themselves off as better than the other women. The gnomes don't really understand it, but if humans are willing to buy this stuff, gnomes are willing to make and sell it. Elves, however, are a different story. If an elf stops in a jewelry shop, it often means trouble, more so when it is /that/ type of elf. Unless the jewelry is magic, most elves don't care, but the gnome is paranoid they are there to try to rob the store as many of the items in the store could fetch a fair price if one can find the right buyer.

Despite being built to serve human patrons, the shop is not all that large, and if more than a few people enter at a time, the shop will very quickly become crowded. The interior also has a very gnome design character, with a lot of curvy wooden structures almost resembling tree roots. Despite being built above ground, it still manages to capture the look of it having been built by digging all of the dirt out from under some giant tree stump.

Elzoran stands in the front near the counter, while the other two elves stand in the space between him and the door.

Off to one side of the door, there is an open space where maybe several more people could stand, mostly featuring two jewelry racks. These racks are popular, but mostly hold the cheaper items in the gnomes inventory. Almost invariably, human girls and women will try to silently drop some of these items into their pockets. But, in a way, that is what they are there for. Much better to have them steal what is effectively cheap garbage, rather than anything of actual worth. They always thing they are being sneaky, just out of view, but the gnome knows what they are doing, as he stands at his counter roughly 2 yards from the jewelry rack.

The Gnome is clever in a way, they think they are getting over on him, but really all the jewelry on the open racks is made of a tin-zinc alloy and then gold plated, made to look like the actual pieces of jewelry. When someone actually buys a piece of jewerly, after getting payment he will go into the back and get the real item to swap out for the fake. For those that never actually buy the items, they are none the wiser. If one of these fakes is taken, the gnomes can make another to replace it.

Or, if they just want the fake, the gnome will give them a fair discount, and some added respect for them having actually bothered to pay for it. While the tin alloy isn't free either, the cost is covered by those who do make legitimate purchases. This is then treated as a cost of doing business.


Elzoran says, in closer to his normal voice, "No need to worry about us. We are just here to sell an item." at which the other elves have some concern in their expression. He then retrieves and unwraps the ring from his pocket, putting it onto the counter. Gwildin then looks over it, and says, "Looks good quality." He puts it on a scale, writes down the weight, and tweaks a dial on a nearby machine, then puts water into a dish, filling to a line, and drops the ring into the dish. He writes down another number, and adjusts the other dials on a machine. He hits a button, and a few dials spin around, by stopping on a symbol that one of the elves recognizes as being the symbol for gold in the gnome language. The symbol is slightly misaligned, and the edge of the symbol for platinum is visible. Gwildin looks at the dial says, "Hmm", before putting the ring back onto a small piece of wood on the table. He then pulls a small bottle from under the table drop, and carefully puts a drop of a clear liquid onto the ring. The liquid does nothing to the ring, but part of the drop falls onto the wood, causing it to smoke and leave a small black spot. He then picks up the ring with tongs, and then dips it into two other clear liquids, before shaking it off and setting it back on the counter.

Despite the room being fairly cramped for the elves, at the counter and his side table, he has plenty of room to work. His machines and bottles are a good size for him to work with, but for the elves would be too small to use.


He seems satisfied, even if the ring were poorly crafted, it would still be valuable solely by its composition as a rare gold-platinum alloy, but this ring is also well crafted, with no signs of any visible defects in its craftmanship. He figures he could probably turn around and resell it as-is for 6 or 7 Benjies.

Gwildin says, "Yes, good quality indeed. I will offer 3 Benjies.", the elf responds, in a once again gravely voice, "9 Benjies.", He looks some more at it, and with hesitation responds, "5 Benjies?" and the elf says again, slightly louder, "9 Benjies!". At this, the gnomes expression changes slightly, as if he understands what is being implied. He pulls out a small wand with a crystal on the end and holds it over the ring, at which point the crystal begins to glow a yellow-white with bluish tinges, "Oh, I see, it is also enchanted, this increases its value, 9 Benjies it is!". He then leaves, and comes back with a small cloth bag with, and hands it to the elf before taking and begins walking off with the ring. As the gnomes back is turned on the elves, he suddenly disappears, surprising the other two elves.

The first elf then takes the bag, opens it up, and hands 3 benjies each to the other two elves. Upon doing so, he becomes weak, and stumbles, before then looking around and being like, "Yo, what just happened?", "Yo man, we just sold the ring...", "We gotta get it back, and do what the wizard said!", "Nah man, not our problem now, shop keep just up and disappeared, but, look in your hand.", "Oh, what is this?" He then opens the bag and sees the 3 benjies inside, and says, "Oh, sweet!". The other elf then says, "Yeah, how about we just go get some food or something, and tell the wizard it got destroyed if he is still there when we get back.", "Yeah, sounds good, where to?" The elves then walk out of the shop door, with the open question of where they could go to break a benjie without itself raising questions.

After the elves are gone, Gwildin reappears. His appearance is now changed, seemingly darker and more sinister than before, and he looks down at the ring, rubs it, and says in a now slightly deeper and more gravely voice, "My precious! I could never let them destroy you, destroy, us." the gnome then cackles and walks towards the door, stopping as he approaches. He looks up, and realizes that he is effectively too small to use the main door. He then remembers that there is another smaller exit door to the rear of the shop, and starts heading over that way.

He looks at the ring. It is too big for him to wear on any of his fingers, yet still too small to wear as a bracelet. He opts instead to grab a small necklace off a rack, small enough that it wont hang to the ground if he wears it, and proceeds to put the ring onto the necklace and then wears it as a medallion. He then says, "This body is small, but it will work." He goes by a safe, but can't quite remember the combination. He holds out his hand, and with a purple glow the safe dial spins back and forth before the safe pops open. He then grabs from its contents, some more high value items, and a bag with 37 Benjies another much larger bag of Jeffies, ignoring the bags of Quin and Dhao.

The Benjie is an impractically large unit of currency for general use, roughly 2000 Jeffies, where the Jeffie has smaller subdivisions and is closer to the scale of the currency used in normal situations. Each Jeffie is 5 Quin, and each Quin is 10 Dhao. Where the main use case of the Dhao is to be collected in a jar and maybe later traded up for something of actual value.

He then closes the safe, and heads out through the small door. As he enters, he finds himself in a tunnel, and realizes that one path heads towards the home of the gnome, with his wife and children, and the community of the rest of the gnomes; he doesn't want to go that way right now. Other paths lead to other places, and a few paths lead to exits to the surface. He intends to go that way, as being no ordinary gnome, he doesn't need the relative protection of staying within their traditional network of underground tunnels.

He needs to find a new staff. Even if he could get to the old staff, he would be discovered by Ganzathir, and in this small form, he could not use it effectively. He then finds the exit to the surface leading into an open park like area. This part was a popular place for gnomes when they feel like visiting the surface world.

There are park benches and tables, mostly carved out single pieces of wood, and around the correct size for gnome families to be comfortable. Surrounding this part area are a number of large bushes. For the gnomes, these serve a similar role to park trees, but they also have the dual purpose of preventing the gnome friendly parts of the park from being quite so easily trampled by the much bigger elves and humans; though human children sometimes wander into this part of the park and then sit on the gnome furnature. As a result, the benches and tables are carved with relatively robust construction so as to hopefully stand up to being sat on hy human children or stepped on by human or elven adults who clumsily wander in to retrieve said children. Often guards may need to be present in these parts of the tunnels durring mid day, mostly to escort out any small human children that happen to wander in. The guards leave at night though as typically there are no children around to wander into the tunnels, and most adults and adolescents are too large to enter the tunnels.

But, it is not unknown to encounter a small crying child who has wandered in and gotten lost, or a much more dangerous threat such as a raccoon. Where a raccoon may pose a similar threat to a gnome as a bear might pose to a human. However, the gnomes can trade with elves to gain magical artifacts to repel raccoons, and the gnomes can offer fine craft work in trade.


As he passes a pond, he debates going to the pond and making a larger body for himself out of pond mud. This is still within his power, but staying in the form of a gnome retains an element of concealment. He thinks to himself, "No, mud, or a corpse, or a powerful body. That is what they would expect me to do. No one will expect a gnome." As he goes by a tree, he uses his powers to select as usable stick, reasonably straight and approximately the right length and diameter for his hands, and sweeps across the rocks lining the path with his hand. He finds a rock that resonates with him and begins glowing purple, a decent size chunk of quartz. He picks up and holds the quartz rock and holds it to the end of the sick, and as he walks by the pond a small snake-like stream of mud comes out of the water and crawls onto the stick and wraps around the stick and base of the rock, before smothing out and then forming a pattern of carvings and shaped arms around the rock. As it does so, it steam comes from the mud as the rock glows and changes shape, and for a brief momemt the former mud also glows. Now a staff has been formed, with approximately the right properties for this body, and if anyone asks he can pass it off as a cane.

He then decides to sit on one of the gnome benches and decide what he will do next. He will miss his old body, it is the one he has had the whole time. He started to feel sentimental, that body was his, what little was left of the person he once was, when he was still alive. He couldn't stop the decay, and with all the damage it had taken over the years, his magic was left as the only thing holding what was left of it together. Moving over to a purely artificial body made of clay wouldn't be that much different, but like his previous form as a dessicated corpse, there would be little to hide what it is he was. At least this gnome body, is alive. But, then again, he is not as evil as the wizards may claim, he did feel a sense of wanting to let this gnome go free, to return to his own life and family.

He then feels part of the mind of the gnome within him, memories of the times he and his family had spent in the parks, and a sense of the sadness of his wife upon her husband never returning home again. Eventually, against his better judgement, he decides to go for the clay body.

He then goes back over to the pond, and holds out his staff. As he does to, it begins to glow, and the pond turns brown. Streams of mud begin flowing from the pond as abnormally long snake-like forms, twisting together into a human-like form. At first they form into a skeleton, which then begins to steam and then briefly glows red, leaving a shiny white skeleton.

He picks up rocks, and molds them into a heart. He takes a red gem that he had taken from the shop safe, and puts it into the heart, and as he does so the heart itself turns red. The skeleton then lowers itself to his level, kneeling so that he can reach. Its ribcage then opens up as if to welcome him, and he inserts the heart. It leans back as the ribcage closes back up around it, and growing extensions from the heart begin to fill the body cavity forming patterns resembling those from an anatomy textbook. More mud then wraps around the skeleton until it starts to resemble a human body.

He finds some more quartz rocks, and some other small rocks, and with his magic they turn into eyes, that he places into the face of the figure. He grabs some other rocks, which crush in his hand as if they were made of sand. He then puts the sand onto the face of the figure, which then flows like a fluid and covers much of the body. The body then steams, and the resulting face looks almost human if you don't look too closely, with a body mostly resembling a human body apart from the general lack of anatomical detailing.

As a final step, more mud forms into something resembling a robe made of small interlocking rings, which will hold up at least long enough for him to get to a clothing store. After this, he feels satisfied, and the figure reaches down and takes the ring and puts it on its finger, and takes the staff, which then takes up more mud and reconfigures itself into a larger size. And then takes the other items the gnome had taken from the safe.

Gwildin is then sent wandering in a dazed state back towards the entrance to the tunnel, and as the figure begins walking off, he is then left wondering what had happened or why he was in the park. He vaguely remembers looking over the ring the elves had brought in, but nothing after this. He notes that it is dark outside, and heads back into the tunnel and makes his way back to his family. He can sort out whatever happened at the shop later.

He looks into the tunnel, noticing it is darker than usual. He pulls the elvish lightstone from his pocket, and it is very dim as if all of its magic has been depleted. This is strange to him, but not terribly concerning as this is known to happen, and the elves treat them as a disposable commodity. It is inconvinient though as the tunnels are so dimly lit. As he makes his way back past the fork, all the light stones in this part of the tunnel are back to normal. He makes his way home, and his wife asks where he had been. He has no explanation, so just sorta lies and says it was a long day at the shop and he got lost in the time.


Back with the three elves, they are still debating about what to do about their newfound (relative) wealth, and whether to tell the wizard. They had previously stopped by a food place in the plaza's food court and bought some burgers and fries for around 5 jeffies, but now feel unsure about the whole thing. They have been sitting at this table some time, loitering and mulling over what to do next given the situation.

Elzoran gets an odd sense, and looks over to see a figure wandering in the distance. As he walks by, he notices the lightstones subtly dimming. The elf stands up and pulls a lightstone from his pocket. It has also been mostly depleted, but as he stands and points with it, he says, "He lives, we need to tell the wizard." But, as he does so, the lightstone starts glowing more, and changing color from its normal bluish white to golden yellow; and at the same time, the food trash on the table starts rustling around.

Zelthir exlaims, "Dude!", as which point, the glowing dies back down and the rustling stops, the elf partly dazed sits back down. The other elf continues, "Dude!", "What?", "Dude, you got magic! Like, actual, elf magic.", "What, you mean the lightstone, we all got these, and this one is mostly dead.", "Nah man." He then points at the stone, and says, "Look closer, try focusing on it." He does so, and it lights up again in a golden glow, before dying down again one he stops. "See, dawg.", "Yo man, seems I do."

As they head back to their usual meeting place, all the other elves have left, apart from Ganzathir that had seemingly decided to set up camp. He says to them, "So, how did it go." They respond, with hesitation, "Not well. He got away, then revived in a new body." The other responds, "He sold the ring to a gnome shop owner.", "Dude, I have no memory of that part, just us walkng out the door and then suddenly being at the shop after the fact!", "Still that was what happened."

Ganzathir responds, "It is not your fault, I figured something like this would probably happen. So, how do you know he has revived.", "I could sense him, the mana he was taking from around him, the dimming of the light stones, and the facade of humanity he had created for himself.", "Up close?", "No, around 100 yards.", "So, you are saying you could see and feel a facade human dimming light stones from 100 yards.", "Errm, kinda.", "So, it seems I was right. I had just slightly overestimated your fortitude.", "How so?", "No normal person could have taken that shot. Even in the off chance your aim was dead on, his power would still have deflected your bullets. It would have taken both will, and magic, to have made the shot hit the target.", "Does that mean I am also a wizard?", "No, it means you have potential. Being a wizard also requires training, and practice, and skills.", "Man, I got skills."

Ganzathir then gestures with his staff towards an empty beer can, "OK, pick up that can, without touching it in any way." The elf then holds out his hand as if trying to grab it from a distance, and stares at the can, and grunts, and makes some faces, before giving up and breathing heavily after apparently holding his breath the whole time. The wizard responds, "No, that is not the way." The wizard then flicks his hand and the can flies across the room, deflects off the elf's outstrectched hand, and then bounces off his head. The wizard then repeats, "Training, practice, and skills. It isn't about elf or human, nor merely having potential. Potential won't amount to much if you don't know how to use it. But, first order of business, we will need to talk to the shop keeper, if he is still alive.", "Now?", "No, tomorrow. For now, I need to sleep, and you three can return home. We can meet up here again tomorrow."


The next day, the three elves return, and the four of them go back to the jewelry shop. As the shop keeper looks up, he says, "Oh, it is you again. Nothing of value in here right now, but I suspect you know that, if you can return whatever you had taken from the safe, that would be nice, I have a family you know."

The elf responds, "Nah man, we didn't rob you, just came in to sell you a ring, we are wondering if we could trade it back, it was not any ordinary ring.", "That much I knew, the question is, what happened next?", "You agreed to the trade, gave us 9 Benjies, and then took the ring.", "And then?", "You disappeared, like, poof into thin air, you were just straight up gone. After that, we just left; and came back now."

Gwildin responds, "Alas, I have no choice but to believe you. Normally I would not accept such an outlandish story, but after I agreed to the sale, I can't remember what happened next. The next thing I knew I was standing out in the park some time later. When I came in, the money and jems had been taken from the safe, but none of the ordinary jewelry. The safe was undamaged, and the mechanism was specially designed to foil attempts to use brute force. The ring you had brought in is also nowhere to be found."

He looks up, "So what about you, some sort of wizard?..."
He lifts up his staff slightly, and the jewel on the end lights up in a small golden display, before stopping when he lowers his staff, and responds, "Indeed, I am.", "So, I am guessing matters of magic are involved in all this?", "Yes, that is correct. Serious matters."

Ganzathir points his staff at the gnome, and it releases a yellow glow for a few seconds, but little else happens, and he then returns his staff to a neutral (and non glowing) orientation. Before saying, "Just had to be sure about something.", "Of what?", "That you are as you seem to be.", "What else would I be?" Zelthir, "A puppet under the control of an ancient undead lich." Ganzathir, "We didn't need to tell him that part. Also, 250 years is hardly ancient. The wizard masters who sent me to track him down knew him personally when he was still alive.", "Geezers!", "Some might call it, wisdom and maturity. You could stand to learn something from them."

Meanwhile, Laridon is mostly standing in the background near the jewelry racks, generally making motions and hand gestures in an attempt to get the attention of the random people walking around outside through a medium sized window. Most are not looking in the direction or wouldn't be terribly interested even if they did just so happen to be looking in his general direction. Not that he actually expects anything to happen, he mostly just wants them to notice him.

Gnome, "Makes about as much sense as anything else around here right now. Do we have any further business here?" Ganzathir, "Not at the moment." Gnome, "Well, you can be on your way then. My usual patrons wont come in if there are three elves and a wizard just hanging around in the shop." Laridon says, "Yo, yo, yo, where all the women at? I need me some of that white sugar." Gwildin, "They especially wont come in with that sort of thing, now, how about you four get on your way. I have a business to run here."

As they begin heading out, the wizard makes a comment towards the gnome, "As a word of wisdom, it could help to lighten up a little. You may not realize just how lucky you are just to still be alive right now.", the wizard lifting his hat towards Gwildin as they leave, with him then catching a glimpse of the pointed elf ears that were formerly concealed by the brim of the hat. Gwildin had formerly mistaken him for human, but now knows better. Gwildin then mumbles to himself, "Dirty elves." while still feeling a lingering sense of illness from the events of the previous day.

Zelthir asks Ganzathir, "So, what did he do, anyways?" Ganzathir responds, "He lost the way of light. He descended into the dark arts, and began to practice forbidden skills. That he remains in this world can itself be taken as evidence of his crimes.", "Is wanting to keep on living really that bad?", "Part of walking the path of light is the knowledge and acceptance of when ones' time has come, and a willingness to accept the great beyond. Being unwilling to accept this, turning oneself into a lich and bringing others back into this world to serve as minions. These acts are forbidden. He stands accused and guilty of these acts.", "So, they send you? And not someone more powerful. He would have wrecked you if not for us.", "That much is probably true, but they had their reasons, and I just have to trust their wisdom in this matter. Though, not one to brag, but I am still far more powerful than any of you three when it comes to the mystic arts.", "Yeah, that much is probably true. But, it seems our gats were the true power that saved the day.", "Your gats were merely a tool in this case, but yes, that part is probably true. Even with a gat, I couldn't have taken him on my own.", "Yo, dawg, you don't carry?"

The wizard looks around to make sure no one is watching, and then says, "Here, let me show you something." He picks up a small rock from the ground, and makes a hand gesture resembling a gat, placing the small rock on his finger. He then points his finger at an empty cardboard box that was laying in a nearby alley, and gestures like he was firing. As he does so, the small rock disappears with an audible crack and suddenly a hole has appeared in the cardboard box. He then says, "I don't really need one." and one of the elves says semi loudly, "Yo, man! Finger gat!" at which some people who were wandering around look in their direction, and the wizard just sort of waves nervously as they all return to their usual business.

They then head to the clothing store around where the figure was last seen. The store seems abandoned, and all the light stones are depleted. An unpleasant smell fills the air, dank and putrid, as if the bowels of some horrid beast had let loose, its contents brought forth by eating an ancient pizza that had been left sitting out just a little too long. They head near the dressing rooms, and as they look in, they see an awful mess. The walls are spattered in black, and there appear to be dismemered body parts laying around as if someone had exploded in there. There is no evidence of a skeleton in the mix.

The smell is very strong, and as the elf pokes one of the limbs, beyond its skin tone exterior it is revealed to have a consistency of little more than slimy black mud.

The elf asks, "What, is this?" and the wizard answers, "It looks like he had made a body for himself out of pond mud, but this body was unstable or unuseable. In all likelihood he found something better and rebuilt his body with that, and this is all that remains.", "But, that smell?", "While pond mud doesn't smell when it is still at the bottom of a pond, but if you bring it out of the pong, the odor will be pungent. It is likely he had used the first viable thing he had access to.", "It smells like sewage.", "In some sense, it is. Just imagine all those ducks being fed all that bread. Where do you think is their toilet? Now imagine the bottom of the pond, there is little oxygen down there, and decomposition happens a lot more slowly and with much nastier byproducts. Now bring it to the surface, and all of this is now exposed to the open air. This is likely also what was causing a problem for him. It is easier for magic to hold a body together when its components are less active."

On the way back out, they observe that several of the display manequins are missing, seemingly torn from their base stands. Elzoran, "You think he could have built a new body out of one of the manequins.", Ganzathir, "I don't see why not. Ceramic is a good material, strong and rigid; and would give off much less of an odor than pond mud or sewage. Most other factors with it, he can probably work around."

As they leave the store, they see that police have gathered. They see the elves and wizard, and then shout, "Stop right there! We have reports of a disturbance, and here you are at the scene!" The wizard lifts his staff slightly, and all the police then take cover behind their shields.

The wizard takes notice of the emblem on the police shields. They have the emblem of the wizard guild. His staff lets out a yellow glow, and the marks on their shields also let out a similar glow. The wizard says to the police, "We mean you no harm, we are all here for the same reason." The wizard then lowers his staff, as the glowing stops. One of them says from behind his shield, "Explain." The wizard responds, "The disturbance you were called here for was not caused by us, but rather the one we are seeking, someone, or some thing, the guild sent me to hunt down. I also see the guild provided you those shields, intended primarily for magical defense, but of more limited use against a physical attacks."
The officer then asks, "As for them?", "These three elves? Well, they have gats, more your usual domain, but your shields there would do little to stop a bullet, so I can tell you are not here for them. Your shields would matter more against me, but I am not your target, and I have no reason to go against the guild."

The officer says, "We were told that some sort of creature resembling a person entered the store, but then started thrashing around as its body began to fall apart."

The wizard responds, "Yes, that sounds about right. Go ahead and check the scene, but ask yourselves, does that description sound anything like a wizard and three elves?", "No, we guess not."

The police then lower their guard, emerging behind the shields. They still keep a cautious eye on the wizard as they pass to enter the store; a few quickly becoming ill with the smell that has filled the air within the store.

Elzoran asks the wizard as he begins headed in a direction, "It seems like he went in there last night, and they just showed up now? Do we have any leads or way to figure out where he may have gone?", "Police don't always respond immediately to these types of situation, as they are not well equiped to deal with a direct confrontation with such an entity. The shields were more a precaution, to give them a at least a fighting chance at their own survival should they have encountered him still at the scene; but their role in this case is more to investigate the scene and inform the guild as to any important details. As for a lead...", he then grips his staff slightly harder, and it begins to glow, revealing a faint purple trail in the direction he was headed, and then says, "He headed off this way. As with the lightstones, his presence leaves an imprint on the world around him, a trail depleted of its natural energy and mixed with some of his own.", "I thought purple was supposed to be a good color.", "The usual meaning of colors doesn't matter as much in this case, they can reveal aspects of character and the way in which he is using his power, but in themselves, the colors are neither good nor bad. But, if following guild teachings, golden is ideal." Elzoran puts his hand closer to the end of the staff, and a faint greenish tint it seen. The wizard comments, "And, that there, is your power. Weak and unrefined, but something." The other two elves try as well, but there is nothing there.

They follow the trail, which then leads to another entrance gnome tunnels. They then get to the small entry gate, and the wizard says, "Well, this here is a problem. It seems he may have taken to using the tunnels, we can't follow him in there.", "How does he fit?", "His body is held together using magic, he can make himself fit."

Elzoran then sees an image in his mind of of a gnome girl being terrorized in one of the tunnels upon catching sight of the man-snake crawling by; an oddly cheerful expression frozen onto its ceramic face, eye holes carved into the ceramic with the default painted on eyes replaced by its unnatural crystal eyes. A robe wrapped around its loose assemblage of limbs like a snakes' skin. As it crawls past, she sees the sight of its human like ceramic legs and feet dragging along like some sort of would be snaeke tail, with what look like human bones sticking out from between the cracks in the ceramic shell.

Elsewhere, at another tunnel door, the door opens and the man-snake crawls out, and as he moves upright, his cloak loosens up and his body starts to reconfigure into a more human-like shape. The parts of his torso rotate and reassemble, his arms moving back into place along his shoulders, as his overall body length shortening as everything moves back into place. As the legs reassemble, he takes a final step, with his rear leg fully reassembling itself mid step. He then reaches into his cloak and pulls out his staff, which was somehow also present and intact through all of this.

After seeing this, the girl runs through the tunnels back to her home. She then tells Gwildin, her father, what she had seen. He responds, "Try not to worry, Garlina, it was probably just passing though." But, despite his attempt to keep the calm, both Gwildin's wife and daughter could see that he was very concerned and afraid about this. He calmly leaves his house, then starts trying to jog, and then run through the tunnels. With his heavy body and short legs, he wasn't really built for running, but in this moment he could think of nothing better to do. He then bust out the small door, managing to hit Elzoran in the leg with the door in the process as he was standing just a little too close.

He looks up, surprrised to see them there, but without much hesitation he says, "Lich! It went through our tunnels." As Elzoran leans down to rub his leg as the door actually kind of hurt, the wizard looks down at Gwildin and says, "Yes, we were aware of this. We can't travel there, but it might help if you can tell us which way he went." Gwildin hesitates for a moment, before saying, "Meet me back at my shop." and then running back into tunnels.

They then head back over to his shop, but when they get there, they see he is hard at work. He has pulled out a piece of grass paper, and has proceeded to start drawing a map of the gnome tunnels. He marked off where the lich was encountered and which direction it was headed.

Grass paper was not usually used for writing or drawing, but could be used for this task. It was a lot cheaper, but usually considered to be inferior to the use of parchment made from animal skins. However, it was in common use among the gnomes. It was commonly made by collecting cut grass and then boiling and mashing it with a roller, followed by more cycles of mashing and boiling, to produce a kind of pulp. This pulp was then spread out and pressed under significant pressure to squeeze most of the juices out, and the resulting sheets were then left to dry. The gnomes would also collect and ferment the juices from the pressed fibers, making a drink which while often favored by the gnomes, was usually considered unpaletable by humans and elves. Most would use just the juice from pressing, as this gave the best product. However, some other gnomes would also cut this with the water used in boiling the pulp, making the drink cheaper.

After giving them the map, Gwildin also offered them a few bottles of grass wine. The bottles were fairly large by gnome standards, and a bottle this size would be shared among multiple gnomes in a social gathering. However the bottle was still rather small by elf standards, roughly half the size of a can of beer although with a significantly higher alcohol content.

Elzoran was hesitant to accept this gift, but ultimately accepted it. Ganzathir accepted the gift much more openly and graciously. Zelthir is much more openly disinterested, saying, "You can keep it. That stuff tastes like rubbing alcohol and lawn clippings.", "Well, more for me then." and proceeds to put the bottle back into a nearby cabinet.

They then look around to see thar Laridon is no longer with them, having seemingly wandered off and left the shop. As they leave the shop, they find Laridon standing outside, relatively still, muttering quietly to himself, "Nah Man. Nah Man.". He seems to be looking in the direction of a creepy woman, who seems to be shambling around outside the shop and then begins looking in their general direction.

As the others get nearer, Laridon starts to try to approach the woman. She then looks up towards them, with her human-like face suddenly disappearing as she does so, leaving nothing but a skull in its place with a red glow in the place where her eyes formerly were. Laridon then suddenly pulls back and yells "Oh Hell Nah!". She then starts to howl and charges straight for Ganzathir. Zelthir pulls out his gat and takes a few shots but it has no effect on her. Ganzathir quickly points his staff at her, and it then releases a golden flash as she reaches him. She immediately crumbles to the ground with a ghastly sound, leaving nothing more than some bones and clothes and a wig falling forwards carried by her prior inertia. The clothes appear to be fairly new with the store tags still on them, icluding a womens blouse top and a skirt with an elastic waist band. However, the bones themselves appear dusty and old, and fall into relative disorder with the loss of magic to hold them together.

The elves ask, "Just what the hell was that?" as the wizard probes around the remains with is staff, homing in on and then collecting a small red gemstone. He then answers, "Undead." Elzoran, "Another lich?", "No, a skeletal minion created by the lich. Like him, it held its form using magic, but unlike him, it was created after the fact through the use of necromancy.", "Created, how?" He holds up the small red gem and says, "Items of appropriate types can be used to contain some of his power and to temporarily be imbued with a soul pulled from within the great beyond and temporarily given control of a body in this world; though these sorts of practices are forbidden among wizards."

They take the gem back in to Gwildin, who looks over it with a magnifier, and says, "This was one of mine, where did you get it?", "We just pulled it from an undead skeleton, whose remains are just outside your door." He pulls his small wand from under the counter, which then glows as it gets near. He says, "There is magic here, is it safe?" The wizard responds, "Its soul should have been sent back to the great beyond, but I recommend keeping it locked up for now just to be safe." The gnome then takes the gem to the back and locks it away in a smaller safe.

They again leave the shop, and begin heading in the direction where it seems the lich has likely gone. In this direction, there was a graveyard with some stone tombs, and the appearance of skeletons suggests he has been there.


As they approach the graveyard, another wizard appears. He looks much older, and asks, "Can I join you on this?", "Go ahead." Elzoran asks Ganzanthir, "Who is this, exactly." The new wizard responds, "My name is Salzanor." Ganzanthir then asks him, "I haven't seen you around in a while, and rumor had it you were in poor health.", "I was feeling unwell, but I have recovered.", "So, what sends you out this way?", "The guild sent me to tell you to call off your pursuit of Zarnok the lich.", "Why? We are all well aware of all the trouble he has caused since becoming undead.", "What we have seen of your handling thus far shows that you are unqualified for this task, far from being up to his level in terms of power.", "Since when was it about power?", "I was sent to tell you to call it off, not to explain the reason."

As the wizard shifts, Elzoran catches a glimpse of the ring he is wearing. It is a golden ring very similar to the ring the lich had, and in an odd voice Elzoran says, "You did not recover; You died." The wizards then stop and look at him in surprise, and then Ganzanthir flashes his staff and a green glow is emanating from Elzoran, whereas Salzanor has a dark purple glow. Ganzanthir says to the other wizard, "Explain!", "Well, I did not come here to fight, only to relay a message from the guild. But, yes, it is true, I did not recover from my illness; at least not in any traditional sense.", "You refused to go to the great beyond? Why?", "The stories we tell of the great beyond are a lie, no glory awaits us, or rewards for our good and noble deeds, only pain and suffering awaits. I could see into both worlds, and realized I had a choice. I could cross the river of death, into a world where only pain awaits, of those whose only wish is for their suffering to end, or for just one more chance to see the world of the living or to be consumed by the darkness and forget that they ever existed. Or, I could use what power I had left, to stay in this world instead. Those in the great beyond would do anything for a chance like this, a chance to escape their suffering. Just, as for me, unlike them, I had the power and opportunity to do so, to remain in this world."

Ganzanthir interjects, "The guild would never approve of this!"

Salzanor says "Take a closer look at my ring." as he lifts his hand for Ganzanthir to see. The ring has the guild insignia engraved on it. Salzanor then says, "Who do you think gave me this ring? Who do you think told me how to use it. They know full well. I am by no means the first, and in all liklihood by no means the last. The best of us are given the choice to live on, and the others are kept in the dark until their time comes. And, no, Zarnok's crime wasn't that he became undead, or was a necromancer, it was that he turned against the authority of the guild and has began acting in the open and for his own agenda."

Ganzanthir, "What of the teachings, these things are condemned?!", "We teach these things to keep young wizards in line. All things are revealed when the right time comes. For you, it was not the right time." He then glances at Elzoran before continuing, "We did not account for someone with these abilities being in the party. Rather troublesome."

Salzanor then pulls an item from his cloak. It is a sealed scroll, with the seal having the guildmaster insignia. He hands it to Ganzanthir, who uses his wand to verify that the seal is valid. There is a glowing pattern of lines within the seal, which spread to form a larger insignia that wraps all the way around the scroll. Any attempt to tamper with the scroll will break this insignia. Few others know the magic to seal a scroll in this way, and each master has their own magical insignia that can't be forged by another member or master, confirming its authorship.

Salzanor continues, "But, as noted, I am simply here to relay this message. The guild has decided to try a different strategy with Zarnok, and requests that you end your pursuit. Any further action on your part in these areas is no longer approved. I will continue on, I request that you don't get invoved."

Ganzanthir and the elves stop. They were most of the way to the graveyard, and Salzanor continues on ahead. As he approaches, an energy blast comes from inside the graveyard, but Salzanor's staff flashes and it is dispersed forming a momentary purple sphere, with the residual magic creating a circular pattern of erosion in the pavement behind the wizard. He then yells out, "I am not here to fight. I am here to speak on behalf of the guild." A disembodied voice rumbles from within the graveyard, "I have no further dealings with the guild.", "They have agreed to call a truce. You can continue existing, we just ask that you please stop raising up undead wherever you go."

In the graveyard, there are several skeletons shambling around. The other wizard then emerges from inside a small mausoleum, with robes and a wavering human-like face projected on top of the ceramic. Behind him, a woman emerges, seemingly acting timidly and cautious. Like him, her body is also made largely of ceramic, and she is also wearing a ring along with more clothes lifted from the store.

Zarnok then lifts his hand, and the skeletons crumble and their bones return back into the structure. He then says in his disembodied voice, "She stays with me." Salzanor responds, "Fair enough, you can keep your wife in this world if it is her wish to stay." She doesn't say much, just looks around cautiously as if she expects something to jump out and attack her. Salzanor, "She knows she is already dead, correct?" She then lets out a cold stare at Salzanor. Zarnok, "Yes, she knows. It has just been a while since she has been back in this world."

Zarnok and his wife then head back to where he had first encountered the group of elves. Once there, he then retrieves what was left of his original remains from the trash, merging them back into his current body. He then gives the staff he was holding to his wife, and grabs his original staff which had been propped up against a wall near the trash can.

When the staff was handed to her, some of its details began to reconfigure, and the gem at the end changed color from purple to blue. They take note of Ganzanthir's makeshift campsite in the middle of the room, seemingly incircled by rings of old beer cans. Zarnok no longer has much concern for the wizard, but out of curiousity tries to poke towards his tent. He can tell that there was a protection field, but it was so weak as to be ineffective. However, he sees little reason to mess with the wizard's tent.

Since their first encounter, the elves had done some cleanup, mostly consisting of sweeping his remains off the floor and dumping them into the trash can along with the mass of old beer cans and food packaging. While not strictly necessary, his original remains still carry some level of sentimental value for him.


While they are there, a few of the other elves that were in the area catch sight of them and they huddle behind the open doorway, and one of the elves' says to another, "Ah, shiznit, they be multiplying." they look at Zarnok's wife, and one of them says, "Hey, man, you think Lazindir would hit that?", "He might try, but she would probably rip his junk off." As if she heard what they were saying, she glares over in their direction and the shaff she is holding flashes red. The elves then panic and scurry off. With their business there now done, they leave the room as it was, exiting back out through the door.

As they are leaving, they awkwardly cross paths with Ganzanthir and the party of elves, who were heading back in so that the wizard could gather up his belongings. He has since looked at the scroll to confirm that yes, in fact, the hunt has been called off. This whole turn of events has left the wizard a bit shaken, and no longer has much fight left.

Laridon then does some hand gestures and symbolically grabs at his junk, but then immediately shrinks down once she looks at him. Her initial timidness having gone with her now seeming much harder and more imposing. Her appearance isn't entirely stable, varying in apparent age and with frequent glimpses of the broken ceramics underneath. In life, she was also a wizard with the guild, but unlike Zarnok she was not one of the ones they chose to keep around. However, Zarnok was clever, and rather than merely bind himself to his ring, he also bound her. The other wizards didn't know, and when her time came, she had seemingly passed on as usual. Though, the rings were only made for one person, so she was not previously able to manifest in a physical form. However, with some of the materials he was able to salvage from the gnome's safe, he was able to forge a sub ring. This ring, while not as powerful as the original, could be linked to his ring in a way that allowed her to manifest in a new body.

In her newly manifest form, she wasn't feeling particularly keen on young elves making lewd gestures towards her. But in a brief moment of humoring him, lifts her hand, which then explodes into a circling mass of sharp ceramic pieces, like an spinning iris of sharp ceramic teeth. She then makes it collapse inward, then retract. After this, all of the fragments fly back together and re-form into her hand, which she then lowers back down to her side. Laridon then shrinks back against the opposite side of the hallway, realizing what her gesture was meant to imply. Zarnok remains stoic throughout all these events, still not really seeing the elves as any real threat to them.

For the first 200 years after his passing, it was business as usual, though as with the other old guild members, he went into relative seclusion as he didn't really have the power to fully maintain the illusion of life. However, 50 years prior, the old guildmaster stepped down to be replaced by younger guild master, who at this time had not yet passed on. This younger master was much less accepting of him or his ways, so Zarnok then parted ways with the guild and just started doing his own thing and no longer keeping himself hidden away from others. They responded by sending waves of young and mid range wizards to try to hunt him down and destroy his ring, but thus far none had been all that successful, most just ending up dead. However, seemingly in the decade following the guild master's passing, he has now decided to soften his stance.

Within the guild, there were multiple levels, roughly segregated by seniority. Most younger wizards never see the masters in person, making it easier to keep up the illusion that the organization was being run by those who were still living. Those, like Salzanor before his passing, would serve as messengers between the upper levels and mid range wizards like Ganzanthir, who would in turn often be tasked with mentoring and training the young wizards, traveling in parties much like he has done with the three elves. His role would then be to train them in the use of magic, and to promote the guild's ideology. Some would have no skill, or would refuse to accept or conform to the ideals, in which case they would be kicked out and strongly discouraged from any further magical practices. Particularly troubling cases would be sent to meet with the senior wizards, most to never be seen again.

Ganzanthir sits down at his tent, not sure what to make of all of this. He wonders what he was doing with his life, now faced with the realization that much of what he stood for was based on lies. He realizes he can't go back to the guild like this. The elves then offer to let him stay with them until he can sort out where he will go next.

A few days later, the elves gather again for their weekly gathering. They invite the wizard along as well to hang out. Lazindir shows up as well, but leaves not long after after a few of the other elves start joking to him that they had seen just the right girl for him, composed of a humanoid mass of shattered ceramics. He goes away as this struck a little too close to home, as in the prior week he did try to approach a woman who was seemingly walking alone in the street at night. But, just as soon as he tried to put his move on her, she went all scary and skeletal on him. This experience was enough to put him off his game.