Laying out the contents of his bag on the ground Aelan began,

“These are the three totems I brought for you to try out, hopefully, you can at least make two of them work.” He said while rearranging the three into a line.

The first totem was a razor-thin disk of black stone about the size of Lleu’s palm with the same spiraling carving that had been on all of the cloud producing replicas. Obviously, this was the actual totem equivalent of what he had been practicing with.

The second was actually a pair of matching jade bracers decorated with a complex pattern of runes and knotted lines. As the bracers still had traces of dust on them from where they had been stored Lleu was sure that Aelan had chosen them because they had been unable to find anyone who could use it in a long time. Noting how the bracers were fairly slim the reason might just have been that they could not find many people who could wear the things.

The third and final object in the line was a small wooden box, finely carved, that had the stained look wood could only gain from extreme age.

“I want you to try this one first”, Aelan said as he handed Lleu the black disk.

“We call these Shroud-Disks, every Pathfinder has one of these and they are what lets us go ahead of the expedition and come back safely. The replicas you have been practicing with are based on them so it should be relatively easy for you to use.”

“Should we… hide?” joked Ria as Lleu reached towards the black disk. The moment his hand made contact with it the room went black as dark clouds billowed from the point of contact.

“Well we know he is a natural at using shadow magic,” said Manix’s voice from out of the darkness. “I can't see a thing.”

The darkness around Lleu seemed to wobble as a minor headache began creeping in, then, it abruptly collapsed revealing three grinning faces looking at Lleu.

“It's pretty rare someone manages to use a Shroud-Disk to fill an entire room on their first try, you even managed to keep it up for a couple seconds”, praised Ria, “You found a good one Aelan”

“Lania found him not I” came the retort although it was easy to see that Aelan was already happy with the results.

“So what exactly am I supposed to do with this, in practice I mean?”

In response to the question, Aelan pulled out an identical disk that unlike Lleu’s was connected to a necklace from under his shirt and held it up. From its center, black clouds began billowing and quickly covered every part of Aelan except for his eyes.

"Camouflage. When we use the shadow magic we pull from the totem we can create shadows and darkness wherever we wish. When we are shrouded like I am right now the creatures beyond the mountains will be unable to notice us unless they are especially smart. We can also use it to blind anything we fight if we make a cloud large enough, stops us from seeing anything as well but it can still be a useful thing to do in some situations.”

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“How come they are unable to see someone shrouded? Won't they notice a blob of black walking around?”

“You are forgetting the blobs are made of magic and therefore the intent matters, we make the shrouds to be able to move about unseen and therefore that is what happens,” said Manix quickly followed by Aelan who continued the explanation,

"Mental images and purpose are everything when channeling magic, the totems themselves matter little for the actual casting as they are not much more than a power source of a specific element."

"I see," Lleu said, digesting this new information. "So what are the limitations?"

"As long as you have the requisite power available the only true limitation is what images you can come up with and your mental fortitude, the more complex what you are trying to do is the more mental strain it puts you under. The only part in which the totem matters is whether or not it can supply as much power as is needed."

Intending to experiment Lleu pictured a coat made of the shadowy fog and picked up the Shroud-Disk. The same room-filling clouds burst forth but did not even get close to what Lleu had wanted.

"It takes some practice to get the hang of, most of us have been using these so long we do it mostly by instinct."

“Before you try again with the disk and make yourself tired you should try the next others” interjected Ria, “those bracers have been sitting in the storehouse for, well, I don't know how long but it's been a long time. Nobody who could actually put them on was ever able to make use of them.”

"What am I supposed to make them do?" Lleu asked

"Make some wind probably, their element is air which is kind of given away by their green color. Most air users have their own unique styles and methods of using the power, just do whatever feels natural, assuming you can actually use them that is." Ria ended with a shrug

“Try and forget the last bit,” said Aelan with a slightly sour glance in her direction, “If you begin expecting no results chances are that is exactly what will happen, try and stay curious.”

Noting that Aelan had avoided promising that they would work Lleu picked up the bracers.

He waited a moment, nothing happened.

“You actually have to put them on I think” mention Manix as he mimed putting them on, “Equipment type totems such as those generally require a bit more than simple contact to activate”

Slipping the first bracer over his wrist Lleu immediately noticed a prickling sensation as it slid into place. The urge to scratch underneath was immense but Lleu resisted and slipped on the second one.

The prickling stopped and the urge to scratch vanished. Lleu looked at his arms each of which now had a light green bracer from wrist to elbow. The pair fit perfectly as if his arms hard been sculpted with them in mind. Looking around he asked, “Is anything happening?”

Aelan looked around and then began inspecting them, eventually ending up poking and prodding them without result.

“They don't seem to be, guess that means they go back on the shelf.”

Lleu tried to take them off but to his surprise, they did not budge. Frowning Ria came to help but had no more luck than Lleu did.

“I think they are active”, she slowly stated, “totems don't like being separated from their user while being used.”

“Come over here, I think I know what those are for,” said Manix suddenly.

“You do?”, asked Ria disbelieving, “You can barely tell apart your shirt from your shoes.”

Lleu walked over to the annoyed expression of Manix who himself got up and motioned for Lleu to follow.

They, closely followed by Aelan and Ria, passed through a set of doorways and found themselves at the foot of a wooden ladder. They climbed up and out of the building ending up on the stone rooftop.

“I want you to focus on the ground,” said Manix pointing down. Lleu looked down, the ground was a bit further down than he was used to. He judged that even if he performed a perfect roll he would still be hurt if he fell.

As if that thought was prophecy he felt a palm connect to his back and with a push, Lleu was removed from the roof, left to tumble through the air towards the rapidly approaching ground.