Ooh I know the answer to this one! It's COVID! At the board meeting today the boss joking told us that he's considering evacuating the Ukrainian office to Malta until there's no more signs of war :) It would be nice to see more of them, but not for that reason.
Spread far and wide They got coffee from the kitchen at the end of the corridor and returned to Fabian's office, where Fabian discovered that he'd somehow been relegated to his own visitor's chair. Dread looked out of the window, sipping his coffee and waiting for whatever it was Fabian was waiting to say, and Fabian wished Dread were less good at reading his intentions. "Necromancy," said Fabian when it became clear that Dread wasn't going to speak first, and he only had a half-cup of coffee left. "What about it?" "It's not human magic?" said Fabian, wondering how best to phrase it. It didn't sound good like that, but he wasn't sure how else he could say it. "Humans use it," said Dread. He turned back from the window and he was smiling though his face conveyed an air of seriousness. "But technically it's cthonic magic. But that's an old classification of magics and I don't think the Mages College teaches it anymore. Where did you come across it? Some publication?" "A lecture," said Fabian feeling just a little uncomfortable. The visitor's chair suddenly seemed too hard and supportive, with no way to let it surround and hide him. "Elves were giving it." Dread's mouth quirked. "Don't tell too many people you're fraternising with elves," he said. "The Empire claims to be a lot more liberal than it actually is, you know. That kind of news will spread far and wide." "I know! But there's something going on with the Assessors and I think the elves know some of it, and you know some of it, and then there's some more of it that probably only the Assessor's know. But there's the Halls of Sunset, and they apparently contain shadow artefacts and the Assessors are trying to make a key to replace one that was lost and not let anyone kno--" Dread held up his hand and Fabian ran out of breath at much the same time. "That's a lot," said Dread. "You've heard of the Shadow artefacts now, have you?" Fabian nodded, not wanting to admit that that was the extent of what he knew.
"That's interesting," said Dread. "They're only mentioned in higher level courses at the College, and even then you have to have permission to take those courses in the first place." "You took them?" "Two of them. Not all of them. I wasn't a good enough student to get the last three permissions." Dread grinned. "I was spending too much time raising the dead I think, and of course I already had plans to join the Imperial Navy then. So I'm not really surprised. But anyway, Shadow Artefacts. Does that mean you know about the Ombrefé now too?" "I've heard the name," said Fabian. "I think I can find out more next week if you want me to. I mean, if I want to." "Aha. OK, then fine, if the elves are telling you all this I may as well put our side of events forward as well," said Dread. "Not that I know it all, mind you. But... basically, the Ombrefé are some kind of fairy made of shadows and cthonic magic that were kept as pets by the schattenalfen, which were some kind of ancestor to the wisp-elves or maybe the spider-elves. The Ombrefé were very clever pets though and they seem to have made things, or been made to make things, that directly accessed cthonic magic. The thing here," he said, forestalling Fabian's questions with a glance, "is that today, we have no idea how to make a magical item that uses cthonic magic. We can make things that use what used to be called human magic, and the elves make things with elf magic, but no-one makes things with cthonic magic. And cthonic magic seems to be able to keep working without needing a mage or an elf to manage it. Like a machine; you can turn them on and they keep going till you turn them off. But the Ombrefé made some and the elves had them, and there was a war over them, which someone won. The history books are very unclear on this. There was a big event that they don't talk about and then there's no more war." "The Day of no Sun?" suggested Fabian. "Hah! No, this is about two hundred years earlier," said Dread. "The artefacts that the Ombrefé left behind are possibly why the Halls of Sunset were built. To keep them out of everyone's hands; to stop them spreading far and wide, in fact." "So what do these things do?" "I don't know. No-one does, as far as I know. You'd have to get into the Halls of Sunset to find out now." Fabian sat there, staring at Dread. "Which the Assessors are trying to do," he said quietly.
3 comments:
Ooh I know the answer to this one! It's COVID!
At the board meeting today the boss joking told us that he's considering evacuating the Ukrainian office to Malta until there's no more signs of war :) It would be nice to see more of them, but not for that reason.
Spread far and wide
They got coffee from the kitchen at the end of the corridor and returned to Fabian's office, where Fabian discovered that he'd somehow been relegated to his own visitor's chair. Dread looked out of the window, sipping his coffee and waiting for whatever it was Fabian was waiting to say, and Fabian wished Dread were less good at reading his intentions.
"Necromancy," said Fabian when it became clear that Dread wasn't going to speak first, and he only had a half-cup of coffee left.
"What about it?"
"It's not human magic?" said Fabian, wondering how best to phrase it. It didn't sound good like that, but he wasn't sure how else he could say it.
"Humans use it," said Dread. He turned back from the window and he was smiling though his face conveyed an air of seriousness. "But technically it's cthonic magic. But that's an old classification of magics and I don't think the Mages College teaches it anymore. Where did you come across it? Some publication?"
"A lecture," said Fabian feeling just a little uncomfortable. The visitor's chair suddenly seemed too hard and supportive, with no way to let it surround and hide him. "Elves were giving it."
Dread's mouth quirked. "Don't tell too many people you're fraternising with elves," he said. "The Empire claims to be a lot more liberal than it actually is, you know. That kind of news will spread far and wide."
"I know! But there's something going on with the Assessors and I think the elves know some of it, and you know some of it, and then there's some more of it that probably only the Assessor's know. But there's the Halls of Sunset, and they apparently contain shadow artefacts and the Assessors are trying to make a key to replace one that was lost and not let anyone kno--"
Dread held up his hand and Fabian ran out of breath at much the same time.
"That's a lot," said Dread. "You've heard of the Shadow artefacts now, have you?"
Fabian nodded, not wanting to admit that that was the extent of what he knew.
"That's interesting," said Dread. "They're only mentioned in higher level courses at the College, and even then you have to have permission to take those courses in the first place."
"You took them?"
"Two of them. Not all of them. I wasn't a good enough student to get the last three permissions." Dread grinned. "I was spending too much time raising the dead I think, and of course I already had plans to join the Imperial Navy then. So I'm not really surprised. But anyway, Shadow Artefacts. Does that mean you know about the Ombrefé now too?"
"I've heard the name," said Fabian. "I think I can find out more next week if you want me to. I mean, if I want to."
"Aha. OK, then fine, if the elves are telling you all this I may as well put our side of events forward as well," said Dread. "Not that I know it all, mind you. But... basically, the Ombrefé are some kind of fairy made of shadows and cthonic magic that were kept as pets by the schattenalfen, which were some kind of ancestor to the wisp-elves or maybe the spider-elves. The Ombrefé were very clever pets though and they seem to have made things, or been made to make things, that directly accessed cthonic magic. The thing here," he said, forestalling Fabian's questions with a glance, "is that today, we have no idea how to make a magical item that uses cthonic magic. We can make things that use what used to be called human magic, and the elves make things with elf magic, but no-one makes things with cthonic magic. And cthonic magic seems to be able to keep working without needing a mage or an elf to manage it. Like a machine; you can turn them on and they keep going till you turn them off. But the Ombrefé made some and the elves had them, and there was a war over them, which someone won. The history books are very unclear on this. There was a big event that they don't talk about and then there's no more war."
"The Day of no Sun?" suggested Fabian.
"Hah! No, this is about two hundred years earlier," said Dread. "The artefacts that the Ombrefé left behind are possibly why the Halls of Sunset were built. To keep them out of everyone's hands; to stop them spreading far and wide, in fact."
"So what do these things do?"
"I don't know. No-one does, as far as I know. You'd have to get into the Halls of Sunset to find out now."
Fabian sat there, staring at Dread. "Which the Assessors are trying to do," he said quietly.
Greg - hah, well, yes. And that's probably not the worst idea, but hopefully it doesn't come to that.
You have a knack for dialogue, you know? Your conversations just flow so naturally. And are interesting and informative to boot!
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