Pear looked up at the tower in front of him curiously. The tower was made of stone with grand carvings of monsters and armies being destroyed by spells of all sorts covering the curved sides of the tower. Stone was common enough a building material in the city with most of the houses having bases and single stories of stone and the streets were paved cobbles, but nothing in the city rose seven stories to tower over everything else around it the way the tower he was looking at did.
The carvings across the tower were by themselves works of artistry as they depicted so many varied scenes. A tornado ripped through an army and threw the men and horses every which way with no regard for their efforts to survive the funnel cloud's fury. A split in the earth swallowed a horde of drakes whole like the great, gaping maw of a ravenous beast with no care for their lives. A tsunami rose to tower over the head of a great Kraken as it prepared to crush the monster beneath the icebergs that floated within the wave's depths. A fire gleefully surrounded and snapped at a group of men carrying spears and shields as they huddled together for some semblance of defense from the heat's impassive nature. The carvings on the tower continued similarly as they extended upward, each of them never failing to depict a robed figure in total control of the elemental fury the carvings showed.
"Oi, Elf," one of the two guards in front of the tower's door said, pulling Pear's attention from the artwork upon the tower's walls. "Help you with something?"
"I'm looking for the Mage's Guild," Pear said, trying to muster steady nerves and courage from within himself. He wasn't sure he succeeded.
"No such thing," the second guard, a Dwarf with a heavy two-handed hammer, told him. "This is the Mage's College's Tower of the Four Lesser Elements."
"Oh," Pear said dumbly before gathering more confidence he didn't feel. "I guess this is the place I was looking for then. Can I go inside?"
"No," the first guard, a Human in shining chainmail with a tabard depicting a crossed sword and staff on the chest. "Only members are allowed inside the College's towers without an escort or invitation. And we aren't escorts."
"Is there somewhere else I can go that can answer questions I might have?" Pear asked, trying not to sound exasperated at the two guards' blunt words and gruff tones.
"The Administration Tower," the Dwarf said. "Other side of the campus. You can either go the long way around to either side or you can try your luck crossing the campus and hoping that no one snatches you up for their experiments."
"We recommend the long way around," the Human said.
"Thank you for the help," Pear said to them as he turned and followed the street to the side to move around the College's campus. As he walked, he pulled up his stat sheet and studied what was there again.
Pear
High Elf
HP: 100%; SP: 100%; MP:100%
Mage
Inventory:
Simple Robe(equipped)
Simple Wooden Wand(equipped)
Skinning Knife
Currency: n/a
Perks:
Darkvision: Maintain excellent vision in darkness
Arcane Usage: Allows the ability to use Arcane aids to cast magics and spells
Skills:
Examine: Study a target to determine race, name, or danger level
Spells:
Missile: Launch a small missile of magic at a target and deal Force damage
Bind: Use ropes of magic to restrict the movement of a target
Shield: Form a barrier of magic to protect the caster; Force spells are absorbed into the shield, making it stronger
"Excuse me," a voice, sounding exasperated as though it had called out multiple times already, broke Pear from his examination of his few abilities and spells. "Sir, can we help you?"
Pear looked up and saw an Orc outfitted similarly to the two guards outside the other tower staring at him from in front of the door to another tower. Similarly to the first, this tower was made of stone and rose seven stories above the ground with carvings across the stonework that made up the tower.
"I'm looking for the Administration Tower," Pear told the Orc and his companion guard, a Beastkin of some sort from the look of him.
"You found it," the large Beastkin rumbled toward Pear in a bored tone. "Anything else?"
"No thank you," Pear said beginning to stride toward the tower's door
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With practiced ease, the two guards lowered and crossed their spears to bar his path.
"We'll need to know your reasons for coming to the College before we can let you in," the Orc said as Pear looked up at them.
"I have some questions about joining the College," Pear explained. "It seemed like it might be the best choice to ask about it here at the Administration Tower."
"Good enough for me," the Beastkin grunted as he lifted his spear up.
"You can't test to join the College until you're at least Iron rank," the Orc told him, pointing to the token that hung from Pear's neck. "Any other questions, go ahead, but that's the biggest one that people have when they come here."
"I was also wondering about what spells they might disallow for their members or about a fee," Pear explained.
With a sigh, the Orc lifted his spear and resumed his position flanking the door.
"It's the Mage's College," he said tiredly as Pear walked through the door. "There's always a fee."
Pear stepped through the tower's door and looked around the large and oddly square room tiled in black marble with gold inlaid in the shape of the crossed sword and staff before it was covered in a clear, varnish-like coating to protect from scratches and stains. At the far end of the room that seemed to take up most, if not all, of the bottommost floor of the tower, was a desk with two secretaries working on paperwork while other guests of the tower moved back and forth across the room as they waited for something.
Pear approached the desk, trying to project confidence, he'd been told by Axel that confidence was two-thirds of the fight to belong somewhere and appearance was the last third.
"Excuse me," he said as he stopped in front of the desk. "Can you help me with some questions?"
The Goblin moved a paper he had finished writing on to the side before turning his black eyes on Pear as the Half-Elf next to him continued with her work.
"What can I help you with?" the Goblin asked in a nasally voice as muffled sounds began to be heard from the other side of a doorway at the far right end of the room.
"I was wondering about joining the College," Pear told him as the noise began to resolve itself into shouting voices. "More specifically, I was wondering if there were any spells and magics that were banned in the College or ones that were more readily accepted. Also, if there was a fee to take a test after I reached Iron rank in the Hunter's Guild."
Before the Goblin could answer a crash sounded throughout the building and the shouting became understandable as a Human man stalked angrily from out of the stairway with a Gnomish woman following after him sounding distressed.
"-And you tell that overzealous, pompous asshole that he can take those moldy papers and shove them up his ass!" the Human shouted back at the Gnome as she followed after him as fast as she could. "That is if he can reach around his head that's so far up there it's a miracle he can breathe!"
"Please Professor," the Gnome begged, "leaving the College because of this one order is an overreaction!"
"It's not just the one order!" the man said angrily as he waved his hand wildly and showed off the ink staining his sleeves while he made his way across the floor toward the secretary's desk. "First, he tells me that I need to make copies of my research in case something happens to me in the course of my experiments, and then, he tells me I have to take an apprentice, but, when I can't find one, he demands that I teach noble twats and quivering cowards instead! Do you know my area of expertise and study, Professor Herrick?"
"Combat," the Gnomish woman began to answer before the man interrupted her with more wild gesticulations and shouting.
"Combat spells!" he said triumphantly. "You can't learn combat spells without combat! And that arrogant asshole thinks that I can just stuff the knowledge into their brains without spilling their blood onto the sand! Imbecile! I would have better luck finding a suitable apprentice from the new rabble that joins the Hunter's Guild for quick coin! Like that one there!"
Pointing at Pear, who he had just seemed to notice before his final words, the Human approached him. "Boy, answer! What is the difference between spells cast with a wand versus those cast with a staff?"
Pear turned and looked behind himself for the person that the man was talking to and saw no one.
"Yes, you! The Elf with the black robes and the coin eyes! You!" the man said exasperatedly. "Answer the question!"
"Oh, uhm, I don't know," Pear said nervously as the Gnome winced in sympathy. "I guess that spells cast with a staff can be stronger because you can pump more magic through the staff without risking damage to yourself or the staff, and spells through wands are better controlled, since you're using less magic power."
"Hmmm," the Human studied him critically before speaking again. "What element offers the best combat spells?"
"None," Pear said, immediately and with confidence. "All elements offer spells that are useful in all situations and each of them can be used to accomplish the same thing in different ways. Wind spells and Water spells can both throw people away from an area, it's just a matter of using a wave of water or gusts of wind. Of course, Water spells won't corrode and destroy armor and buildings the way that Wind spells do, but the same is true about Wind spells freezing something. It's just a matter of how you go about doing what you're trying to do."
"Last question," the man said, his tone more serious and grave than before. "Is Death Magic evil?"
"No," Pear said after a moment of thought. "Death Magic is a tool that is often found in the hands of evil people because they don't care who they hurt as they try to accomplish their goals. Swords are used to kill people all the time, and we still use them to protect ourselves. Hammers can crush skulls as easily as they can forge metal and build houses, but that doesn't make them evil."
The man took slow, measured steps toward Pear as a grin split his face and a cackle began to bubble out of him.
"Herrick," he said, his hand flashing out faster than Pear could follow to grip him on the shoulder before pulling him toward the door across the lobby, "tell the Headmaster that I'll be out for several days. I've found an apprentice and I'll be training him. I'll fill out the paperwork after I return!"
"Huh?" Pear looked fearfully toward the Gnome that gave him a look of indescribable pity just before the door to the tower closed and he was being dragged down the street to the amused smiles of the guards at the front door. "What? Who are you? Where are you taking me?"
"Don't you put those knife-ears and coin pupils of yours to use?" the man demanded exasperatedly. "I've decided to take you on as my apprentice, we're going to begin your training in the mountains to the west of the city and we'll be back in a few days."
"As for my name," the man continued as people moved out of his way fearfully while Pear futilely attempted to dig his feet into the cobbled street and stop his forward momentum, "I am Theobald Ripspell, Grandmaster of the Nine Elements, Master Rune Carver, Retired Captain of the King's Order of Spellknights, Scourge of the Three Pantheons, and the Last Star of Magic."
You've received a Quest!
Grandmaster's Apprentice: You've become the apprentice of Theobald Ripspell.
Survive.
Rewards: Title: Theobald's Apprentice; Unknown
"Now then, you spoke of staffs with familiarity, what happened to yours?" Theobald asked as he continued to drag the now slack jawed Pear down the street. "Or do you perhaps prefer a different sort of casting medium, such as a sword?"