A chill wind blows through the castle...

[Twist Rolarian]

Twist's amusement was short lived as a Fireball was suddenly sent hurling across the room, and not because of the potential damage. Standing again, he waved a hand to put out the flames, and took hold of Carn by the arm. Turning her around to face him, he looked directly into her eyes.

"Indeed you do have a gift. Not due to the fact that you cast that fireball spell flawlessly, which only shows that you studied properly as any of my students would."

Releasing her, he paced the room a few moments in thought. Finally he stopped and looked at her again.

"You left out the required material component."

[jadewik]

"Re-Required material component?" carn stammered as she gave Twist a puzzled expression, for she was quite puzzled-- puzzled that Twist hadn't gotten wroth with her for setting his tower momentarily on fire. She was also a little frightened by a certain gleam in Twist's eyes.

"What do you mean I left out a required component?"

Magic was just mana and mettle, wasn't it? What could she have possibly forgotten?

Carn had studied as he'd said. With all the extra time she'd found after retiring from clan leadership, carn still didn't have time to do everything she wanted, but magic had been tugging at her since retirement. Yes, she had bardic traits and could track and hunt with bow and arrows... but the desire to get back to her elven roots pulled at her subconscious like a bad habbit. So bad, in fact, that the desire to learn more kept her up most nights. When she did sleep, she dreamt and the dreams weren't pretty.

Nightmares of past events would terrorize carn as she slept, and a decent night's repose was often illusive. These horrors and her resulting insomina were excellent reasons for her to persist her magical studies, but the long nights and endless spells were beginning to tax her frail body, and in lieu of her more recently expended energy spell casting for Twist, carn finally collapsed into a pile on the floor.

[Twist Rolarian]

Hours later (how many is for the most part irrelevant), Carn would awake to find herself upon the sofa now located across the fireplace from the chair that Twist still occupies. It appears that after her collapse, she was just moved to the couch and covered with a simple blanket.

"Feeling better I hope? You look exhausted. Perhaps I asked too much of you, but I think instead that you've been over working yourself."

Standing from the chair and stretching with a deep growl, Twist began to pace for a moment.

"I also got the impression that you misunderstood my last statement before you lost conciousness. That fireball spell you cast was done well, I admit. However, since you studied with my books, you should have remembered all that was required for said spell to be cast. I do not fault your technique. I instead question how you managed to pull it off at all without the material component."

Seeing the still confused look on Carn's face, he stopped pacing and continued.

"As you may remember reading, all spells have requirements, be they Material, Verbal, or Somatic. These being focus objects, words, and gestures, most commonly hand movements. The fireball spell you cast required only 2 of these; material and verbal. The words you spoke were flawless; it's not an easy spell for a relative novice to master. The component you neglected, in this case, is a small ball of bat guano rolled in powdered sulfer. Consequently, it should not have worked."

[jadewik]

Bat guano rolled in powdered sulphur... carn racked her brain as she plucked at the fibers of the blanket she'd been covered with after fainting. She DID have bats in her chateaux and she had been cleaning up after them earlier that morning. Carn glanced down at her shoes quickly inspecting them for signs of bat guano. She couldn't quite tell from this angle whether or not there were traces of guano and she didn't want to draw Twist's attention... but the sulphur... where could she have gotten sulfer from? Then it hit her all at once.

Ebon-Ashe.

Carn's face flushed with anger as she remembered Ebon had been storing (without permission) barrels of something "highly volatile" as they had been described to carn. Whether or not it was indeed sulphur inside the barrels was to be seen, but carn's red face made it apparent that the barrels would have to find another home.

Her heart raced as she hastilly stood from the couch, instantly forgetting Twist's inquiry.

"Twist, I'm sorry, but I have to go... I can't explain right now."

Carn started for the door in something of a brazen huff, not even thinking about how miniscule the possibility of such circumstances aligning in this way actually were. The thought that this might be some unnatural feat she'd done never even crossed her mind. For carn, the whole thing was to be easily explained the moment she opened Ebon-Ashe's precious barrels of "volatile" substance.

[Twist Rolarian]

Twist just raised an eyebrow quizzically as Carn made a quick retreat out the door. After she left, and a few minutes of thought, decided that whatever was on her mind may answer his question she so deftly managed to avoid.

A few moments later, Twist found himself in his old Laboratory, deep beneath the castle.

Everything was just as he left it, not counting the accumulation of cobwebs, which were easily removed. The object he desired was also where he left it; his scrying bowl, still atop it's pedestal, and still full of water that appeared to be untouched and uncontaminated by the dust of years as the rest of the lab was.

Twist pulled from memory and chanted the short activation spell.

Carnelianfire's image appeared in the water, still in motion down the hallway leading away from his own chamber........

[Tordek]

"I'm telling you, I've heard Twist say it at least a million times! C'mon, is this the face of someone who would lie to you?"

This was initiation, every young up and comer who thought he was the next big thing had to be presented with a task that would set him straight, and frankly, there is no other slap to the face than attempting to rob a mage -- and failing miserably.

So, full moon in the sky, Tordek brought out a novice, not even a novice, a punk, and kept his identity secret. He had told convinced him that with his guidance, the two could get into Twist's tower. Now, they stand at the foot of one of the more private areas, Tordek having gotten them past a few of the more primitive entry points.

Urging the apprentice on, he tells him to chant the pass spell.

"Chee kahh bow wooooow."

"Okay, good keep going though, and faster! Oh and flap your hands too, you need that somatic component."

Watching this fool dance around, chanting, "Chickabowow" in rapid continuation was too much for him, and Tordek nearly burst to the floor laughing.

"Good, good, keep going! Now you have to move your arms like this though."

As the apprentice continues to mumble, Tordek instructs him in the steps to a horribly mangled gigue. The younger thief follows on awkward steps, moving and flailing about like a bird who has just been maimed.

[Courtesan Lemac]

:Lemac smield as she sat in a dark corner of the room. She watched with puzzed delight as Twist approched the scrying bowl and activateded it. For a long time Lemac wanted to know how it worked, but now that she knew the activation spell she seemed a bit disapointed. She sighed and emerged from the shaodws, one hand caressing her pregnat stomac. She walked next to Twist and said nothing, yet. She looked in to the bowl and smield.:

"Interresting person you have chosen to watch there old friend. Carn is full of suprises is she not."

[Twist Rolarian]

Surprised, Twist whirled around, glaring at the intruder. Irritation at being interrupted, as well as shock that his sanctum had been breached and that he didn't sense anyone else present, was nearly overwhelmed by fear of whomever else may have found their way in without his knowing. When he built this Lab (unbeknownst to everyone, especially the HC) Twist had ensured it's secrecy by making no entrances, not even for the cockroaches.

"Lemac! How in the Nine Hells did you get in here?!" he fumed, metallic scales beginning to show on his hands as he fought to maintain his composure and form.

[Tordek]

"I'm tellin' ya, keep it up!. Here, it might help if I play a tune. I don't think you're hitting the right melody...so try listening to the music and doing it."

Tordek shifts his lute into his hands, and begins to strike a few chords. His music comes out a bit choppy at first, as he has to suppress his urge to laugh, but then he finds the right rhythm.

"We're fine...I'm tellin' ya! It's not like he's gonna send imps or golems on us. He'd never miss a few of those old scrolls anyway! Keep goin'!"

[Courtesan Lemac]

"How in the Nine Hells could be more then right as to how I got in here."

:Lemac let out a playfull chuckle.:

"There are things that I can do, and now that I am pregnat can do better. If I should wish to go someplace all I need to do is think. With all the time that Katzen and I have spent down here I began to notice things. Rooms that should be bigger then they where. So placeing things togeter I tried my luck to see what what beyond that wall..."

:Lemac pointed to the northen wall of the lab.:

"... and to my suprise I found this. I have told no one about this place. I will admit that I did touch some things. Not that the layer of dust will show what I touched. I was thinking about giving this place a quick cleaning when you arived just now."

:Lemac raised her hand and qucikly flicked her wrist. The rose about it glowed for a moment and the dust about the room vanished. Well more like relocated to a place 100 feet in the air and several miles away from the place. But needless to say the room was now clean, not sparkling, but clean.:

"Now don't worry. I have taken some steps to better hide the location from people like me. But that aside Why are you watching over the Lady Carn."

[Twist Rolarian]

Arching an eyebrow at Lemac, Twist just grunted. In a way, he was impressed that anyone could have deduced that the dungeons weren't quite up to spec, but then, very rarely did anyone not a prisoner come down here anyway. Although, it wasn't enough to fully allay his suspicions. Turning back to the scrying bowl, he moved around to put it between himself and the rest of the now relatively clean room.

"I will at least thank you for tidying up for me. It was definitely not a chore I was looking forward to."

Bringing back up the image of Carn in the waters, he watches. "To answer your question, she had something of mine, and now has proven herself useful to me in a way."

Suddenly, an idea comes to mind, and Twist looks up at Lemac for a moment and grins.

"Just as you have."

[Courtesan Lemac]

:Lemac was puzzeled at Twist's first resonce, and more so with the second. She once again found herself carresing her stomac.:

"Just what do you intend by that. How can a pregnat Courtesan be of use to you. I sure hope that you are not looking for a maid to keep this place clean, because of that is the case I would have to change that mirror in the corner to one of my mirrors to ease my travel here. Moving from one location to another with out walking takes a toll on my body. It may look and sound easy, but that is far from the truth. Well for the first trip if you don't have knowledge of the location you want to go.... but enough of that. What exactly do you have in mind."

:Lemac simplely smiled at Twist. Yes she was worried that he would ask to much of her, but more interrested in what she could possiably do to help the old mage.:

[Twist Rolarian]

Continuing to watch Carnelianfire in the scrying pool, Twist couldn't help himself from grinning at the circumstances. It's almost like Fate herself was toying with him, trying to show his weaknesses while giving him reason to do so on his own for his own benefit. It was enough to drive one mad....

"Given your current physical condition, I doubt what I have in mind will require much on your part. You have just shown yourself to be quite observant, apparently able to access hidden locations, and I have long since known how 'discrete' you can be when you wish."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"I am in need of an 'assistant' if you will, and Carn has shown a desire, as well as an aptitude, for magic other than that which already graces the elven races. She somehow managed to procure one of my personal spellbooks, now back in my possession, that as I'm sure you can imagine, are not kept in any location open to public use. What I need to know, and perhaps you can help me find out, is just how she managed to get it. Did she get to it on her own? Or did she use someone else? Ebon-Ashe is the only one resourceful enough to have even the slightest chance, but she and Carn don't normally get along."

[Courtesan Lemac]

:Lemac looked in to the pool and smieled as she looked back to Twist.:

"Yes you would be suprised at how one can very easly get into your tower, when one is after something they covet. Not that I have tried. From what I know of Ebon she distrusts magic and most magic users. You and I are two of the few that she trusts, mostly because she can uses our power to her gain or more so amusement. I would be certin that Carn might be hiding this taste for magic from Ebon. I would have to sit down with Carn alone and question her about how and why she wants to study magic. But I will warn you I will not be able to teach her any thing. Where your magic comes from books and study and uses varois spell componets, mine is more of a mental power. Most comonly known as Psionics, and I do not come by them by a genetic blood line. They are part of the gift that is my rose."

:Lemac lifted her arm and held it over the scrying bowl, to give Twist a better view of the rose.:

"Even with all the time that I have had this rose I have yet to unlock all of it's secrets. I tend to add hand gestures to what I am doing to try and cover the fact that it's a psionc power. But the next time that I am alone with Carn I will ask her about the desire to learn and pratice magic."

:As she spoke Lemac returned her riased hand back to her stomac and with out thinking began to caress it.:

[jadewik]

Carn tramped through the forest with a forceful scowl on her face. "We'll just see what Ms. Ashe has to say about these barrels," she grumbled quite angrilly as she nearly stepped on the tail of a squirrel who was almost too slow to avoid being trampled.

As her chateaux came within sight, carn rolled up her sleeves. She strode in her front door half expecting Ebon-Ashe to be standing on the other side of the threshold, gloating about having rattled carn so terribly, but was gladly suprised to find the place was just as empty as she'd left it. And so, it was down to the basement (without bothering to close said door) where the voatile barrels were being stored she went. Her shoes made gentle scuffing sounds as she glided into the basement. With a flick of her wrist halfway down the steps, carn lit an oil lamp attached to the wall. Several similar lamps were lit in succession so by the time carn got to the bottom of the basement, it was rather well lit... save for one corner-- the one with Ebon's rogue barrels in it.

Striding over to the barrels, she pried off a lid revealing.....