Some kitchen staff had just arrived to drop off a few platters of food for the meeting, and Master Nigel was busy reading over some reports that had just come from the Prince. The first to arrive at the meeting with Rogdar, an Adept mage who had been in the previous war with the greenskins and was well known to most of the other mages. It was expected that he could make Master at any time, but he liked the freedom that being an Adept gave him. Being a master meant taking on an apprentice and dedicating some of his time to the academy. It was only one school year out of ten, but still, he balked at the idea.

Master Nigel and Rogdar had spent several evenings chatting about old times while travelling together to the Fortress. Even though they were thirty years apart, they seemed to have a lot of history. It was only until recently that day that Brian found out that Rogdar had been Master Nigel's Apprentice many years ago. He was a Battlemage but had declined any command, and his options were limited with not being a master. Still, Rogdar was able to take on the role of instructor for some of the other Journeymen who were experiencing war for the first time.

After him, Mistress Zara and her husband, Master Pinith, arrived together. They were both doing their teaching at the academy and had joined with Master Nigel when he had come to recruit. Their apprentices were Fren and Bren. Master Pinith had mastered Protection magic and had excelled inwards and barriers. He had found that barriers that blocked all damage were very costly and didn't seem to last very long, but shields that negated a certain amount of force were far more cost-effective and had a much longer duration. This year's passion was perfecting the balance of time, Essence cost, and damage mitigation.

The following two arrived were Master Garreth, a Master of Enchanting and Mistress Cordelia, Mistress of Illusions. Her dress was immaculate, and her appearance was that of a 25-year-old with golden hair and jewelry that sparked. It was said that sometimes, people would think she was there, but she wasn't, and when she wasn't, she was. It wasn't enjoyable. Not many knew that Brian had something called Wizard Sight. It was a step up from Mage Sight and allowed him a chance to pierce the glamour that Mistress Cordelia had wrapped around herself. Being a young man of polite origins, he peeked only once during the past few days of travel and could attest that this was a much better image of the Mistress.

Brian made sure that Master Nigel had a plate of food placed before him. While handing out the dishes and making sure everyone had something to drink, Master Xavier showed up. It was easy for him to be fashionable late, only next door. For this reason, everyone ignored his arrival altogether and continued to chat among themselves. Master Xavier was not impressed with being ignored and snarled out a bitter comment, "I didn't realize that Apprentices are invited?"

"They're not," Master Nigel said with his mouth full, "Apprentice Brian is here as my assistant and to take minutes."

"Then, my assistant should be here as well." Master Xavier moved to the only empty spot and sat down next to Mistress Cordelia. Adept Rogdar had taken the end seat, which would have been Master Xavier's preferred seat, but Roger would not give up the chair unless Master Xavier were willing to throw his seniority around.

Master Nigel sat up straight in his chair and looked directly at Master Xavier, "Have you been assigned a Prince's Royal Army role that I am unaware of?"

"No, but.." started Master Xavier.

"Then why do you have an assistant?" remarked Master Nigel

"You have one?" Even as the comment left his mount, Master Xavier knew it was a mistake.

"Well, I am a Battlemage, and once again, the Prince has assigned me the role of commander of the Mage Corp. As such, Apprentice Brian is my Assistant and is herein that role, not as an Apprentice." Master Xavier glared at Master Nigel, not pleased with the response.

"Furthermore, you don't need an assistant until I have assigned you a role. Now, please, let's enjoy the meal, and we can talk about assignments afterwards."

The table chatter was strained, but even Master Xavier relaxed and enjoyed his food. Brian was regulated to being the waiter for everyone, but most of them were okay with refilling their plates from the buffet table. Master Xavier tried to get Brian to get him more meat, but Master Garreth pointed out that everyone else got off their ass and got their food, then so could he. From then on, Brian just made sure that everyone had their glasses full, especially Master Garreth.

Brian sat at his table and got his quill and parchment ready when the meal was done. Master Nigel watched him until Brian gave him a nod to indicate that he was ready.

"Excellent, we will get this meeting started. Please note the following people are present and have a voice; Mistress Cordelia, Master Garreth, Master Pinith, Master Xavier, Mistress Zara, Adept Rogdar and myself, Master Nigel, who has been named Battlemage for the Mage Corp. Apprentice Brian has been assigned the role of my Assistant and will be taking minutes. As we are all aware, the greenskins have attacked the Dungby Outpost and seized it in the fall of last year. The defenders were overwhelmed and retreated to the Fortress, and patrols were set up between the two to ensure that the greenskin forces at Dungby did not press further. They did not. Since that time, the Prince has called a muster of arms and has established the Fourth Prince's Royal Army. This is a copy of the Writ of Authority issued by King Darren to Prince Marick. This is the Writ of Authority issued by Prince Marick to me, giving me command of the Mage Corp. It will be available if anyone wishes to review it." He handed them to Brian, who tucked them under his papers for later storage.

Once the writs were handed off, Master Nigel continued, "Master Xavier, were there any issues finding accommodations for everyone?"

Master Xavier took the opportunity to puff out his chest and wipe his mouth before speaking, "Nothing of consequence. A few of the Journeymen didn't like some of the arrangements due to the number of female mages. Since the standing rule is to keep the sexes separate, two of the female mages got rooms to themselves, and the other six were placed together in three rooms. The two female Apprentices were placed in one room since mine and yours are bunking with us, and two male Apprentices were placed in another room. The remaining Journeymen were situated in nine rooms with two in each. And Adept Ragdar was given a room to himself. Abet, a small one. The Masters and Mistresses were given a room to themselves. I got the room next to yours, it has two rooms, but my Apprentice, the Duke's son, will be bunking with me. And you have this spacious suite with three rooms for yourself. Six other rooms can be used for quarters and five other larger chambers. I thought those would be better suited for a library, laboratory and workshop.

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"Why were two of the female mages separated?" Master Nigel inquired.

"I can answer that question if you wish, Master Xavier?" Rogdar asked Master Xavier.

Master Xavier seemed to smile and nodded for Rogdar to go ahead." These two are rather special cases. One is Journeyman Midge Snowfire. She has an aura. Usually, she can control it when she is awake, but she does not have that much control when she is sleeping. Her aura causes fear. Everyone agrees that she gets extra space around her when she sleeps" There were many nodding heads as they were either aware of the solution or agreed with it. Brian had never heard of this person before and was intrigued by someone with an aura. "The other person is rather difficult to deal with. She doesn't like people, and people don't like her. It was decided in the academy that no one would have to room with her and put up with her behaviour."

"Why is she here if she is so unruly? "Master Garreth asked.

It was Master Pinith who answered, "She is powerful and has some raw talent when it comes to magic. It is hoped that if she can be taught some social graces, she may become useful to the Kingdom. We just put a barrier around her and ensure she doesn't encounter anyone who would kill her for saying the wrong thing."

"Yes, when I assigned her her room, she told me that I was a perverted fat fuck, and if she ever caught me peeking at her, she would gouge out my eyes and ... Well, you get the idea", Master Xavier was a little unsettled revealing his encounter with this Journeyman. As much as some of the people in the room were not pleased with Master Xavier and his self-importance, they knew the person he had encountered.

"She sounds like she has more bark than bite. If she needs something to do, we can always use her to dig ditches", Master Nigel stated, as if that was the end of the matter.

Several of the Masters who knew this mage looked at each other and agreed that they didn't agree with Master Nigel.

"May I suggest that we use a couple of the smaller rooms as storage and one of the larger rooms as a lounge. Perhaps one for the masters and one for the journeyman" this came from Mistress Cordelia, who until now was relatively quiet.

"I am sure that the Journeymen would appreciate a place to unwind that is not their rooms," Rogdar said solemnly.

"I agree." Master Nigel turned to Mistress Zara, "Mistress Zara, will you be able to secure the secrets of the Corp?"

Mistress Zara smiled, "Of course, this floor is now off-limits to everyone other than mages. Anyone breaking that rule will be harshly punished. The exception will be the guards stationed at the three sets of stairs. I will have my assistant post notices on the stairs and inform the guards of the new restrictions."

"Recruit who you need to help with the wards vs scrying and enchantments." Master Nigel said, dismissing the matter. Mistress Zara nodded her head and glanced at Master Pineth before making a few notes on paper.

"Master Xavier will be responsible for gathering information about the enemy. We are not necessarily worried about troop movements and such, as the scouts will provide that, but we need intelligence on their leaders and the extent of their magical threat.

"Bah," Master Xavier said, "They are not a threat. The last war, they only were able to field ten shamen and mages. We would have bested them with the people in this room".

"Except for that one shaman who summoned a fell beast. I believe you almost ran your horse into the ground getting away from it," Master Pineth reminisced.

"It still died in the end," Master Xavier glared back.

"True"

"Moving on, the rest of you will be responsible for finding and teaching promising young journeymen new spells. We need to make them as prepared for the upcoming battles as possible. Also, Adept Rogdar will be putting everyone through some basic combat training and exercises".

"Surely you don't mean to include the Masters in that decree," Master Xavier huffed. He was not the healthiest of mages.

"I will not make it a decree, but I would strongly encourage your participation if you ever need to ride a horse away from a fight very, very quickly." Although Master Nigel said it with a grin, and the people around the room laughed, Master Xavier was not impressed.

"If your Physical Attributes are above 50, you will be exempt. Otherwise, it will be required of those Journeymen and below."

"I have better things to do with my time," Master Xavier muttered.

"Obviously," Mater Nigel muttered just as loudly.

Master Nigel looked over at Rogdar, "Adept Rogdar has also been assigned to his old unit of scouts. They will be responsible for gathering as much data on troop movement as possible."

"As well as the odd 'dagger across the throat'," Master Pinith said.

Rogdar put on a fake smile, "We sometimes need to do unpleasant things, but we do them for the good of the kingdom."

"Like they always say," Master Pinith continued, "The only good goblin is a dead goblin."

Brian watched Rogdar maintain this fake smile but noticed his fist clench under the table.

"Mistress Cordelia," Master Nigel focused on the mage, "The Prince has requested you assist in some misdirection. Some scouts are watching Crossbend Outpost, and he would like them to think that there are more troops there than there are."

Mistress Cordelia smiled, "Of course, Battlemage. It will be good practice for my Apprentice. We can leave in the morning if that is acceptable."

Master Nigel nodded, 'That would be wonderful, thank you. The only other person I have instructions for is for Master Garreth."

"Oh," Master Garreth inquired over his drink.

"The Prince has requested your assistance in creating some magical items."

Master Garreth frowned and shifted in his seat, "Anything specific?"

Master Nigel shook his head, "No, I think the Prince is hoping that we can do what we did last time and outfit an elite unit."

"What happened to all the gear created in the last war?" Mistress Zara asked.

"Expired," Master Nigel looked to Master Garreth, "The Enchanter created the items with a short duration."

"You can't blame me for that," Master Garreth rebuffed, "You asked for enough gear to outfit more than one hundred men in a brief period with no resources. You can't expect permanent enchantments with those kinds of restrictions."

"Well, the Prince is asking you to do something similar this time. Perhaps making a few permanent ones as well".

"If I have the resources to do so, I can get a few Journeyman to help. Since you want us to teach the Journeymen simultaneously, we can at least put them to work.

"That sounds great. Thank you. Does anyone have any other questions?" Master Nigel asked as he looked around the room.

Everyone shook their heads in response.

"Then this meeting is adjourned," Master Nigel turned to Brian, "Apprentice Brian, please make ten copies of the meeting. Please provide one for each attendee, one for the Prince, and one for our files. Thank you, everyone." And with that, everyone stood up and started to head out.

Adept Rogdar paused as he was the last to leave, "You serious about starting physical training for everyone?"

"Yes, why not?" Master Nigel asked.

"No, no complaints, just want to make sure. I know a couple of people would pay good money to be the drill instructors for a group of uppity mages. That's all."

Master Nigel chuckled, "That is fine, so long as I get half."