A new friend?

It is yet another late morning for Wilhelm, while it's already midday for the rest of the waterdeep. The past few days have been hard on the lad, so much that he chose to even skip his studies during the week.

Recently his father, a relatively well known man, had left the waking world, he didn't know about it, rather he was the last one to find out.At first a tatoo, identical to his father appeared on the lads body one morning, he knew that it was called the web of faith, his father told him many stories. Stories about Three sisters, seamstresses weaving the endless shall of faith....Quickly He began to question the origin of the tatoo, he showed it to his mother her mood dropped quite fast, she tried her best to look unbothered, but Wilhelm could feel that something is wrong... That night, after returning from the academy he found out about the loss.



Two months ago (from the current point in time) was his father's funeral, they didn't retieve the body... No... They said that they couldn't find it, as if it dissapeared without a trace. The funeral was held both with family and friends, and the grieving continued at the yawning portal after the burial of the empty casket where your mother stuffed a human sized straw doll dressed in your father's favorite tunic....none of the guests saw the doll, it was a closed-casket funeral...

You could bet that you were going crazy during the days... But soon you realized that together with the tattoo your father left you with a living shadow that has a mind of its own and currently the bugger decided that you had enough of sleep, pushing you outside the bed, as you greet the wooden floor with a thud. It looks at you with a message yet again using the songs of old The evening toad will forever be bound to a swamp...

After a couple of minutes you hear your mothers voice behind the door Wilhelm are you awake? How are you feeling? If I'm not mistaken you have evening lessons today. Do you plan attending or should I inform your teacher that you're not coming?

You open the door and are greeted by the worried look of your mother, that quickly melts into joy as she sees your face

Good morning sweetie, come, let's go have breakfast together.

You sit down on a neat table set for four people, with the sisters already at her spot nibbling the porridge.
she looks at the shadow that with a sort of jump to it's step slams the door to your room as you exit... She puffs her cheeks and crosses her arms. Mommy! Why did he get a friend like daddy? I asked him how to get one every day! I also want a secret Buddy! she vents. Sometimes you think that your parents have spoiled her a bit much...then her attention shifts to the extra plate Are we waiting for visitors? If not... Why do we have an extra plate?

Your mother's eyes slightly sadden as she pats her head and explains Well darling, your daddy might want to visit us, while his spirit still walks the earth, that's why we should be hospitable, so he sees that var are doing alright and can move o without any regrets.... after that the breakfast continues in silence.

After the breakfast your mother turns to you If you don't mind... Get me some sugar cane, grave Lillie's and Katnisa plant, i want to make offering incense for your father's altar... she points at the set of, mirrors, wooden statues and candles at the corner of the room, placed so it isn't seen by the prying eyes looking trough the windows. You didn't really pay attention to it after it has been set up, maybe you should look at it in detail once you return?

---

As you head out the house once more giving your shadow a lecture about not going amock in public, you move trough the busy streets towards the academy... A thought crosses your mind... if what mother said is true...Your father's spirit may still bee amongst the living... This might bring forth some answers.... You need to contact him.. somehow...

You walk through the busy streets, passing both large boutiques and small stalls filled with all kinds of goods. You notice a bunch of colored ones at a young blacksmiths stall, the piece itself has no practical properties, but they do carry that elven astetic that you enjoy very much.The pair costs you a gold piece, and after a quick fastening they are good to go, perfectly hiding the tattoo on your wrist.

After skipping a couple of blocks nearly half way to the academy you notice that your bag has gotten slightly heavier, your legs become harder and harder to move, you look down after almost tripping on something. As you look down you notice your shadow playfully tripping you while you walk.

The shadow looks at you from underneath the book, it hugs one of your legs with it's dark tendrils as if daring you force it to stop...

You give a quick look around, thankfully your plan was successful, you haven't gotten anyone's attention, yet ...

As Wilhelm crouches down readying a plan to deal with another one of his shadows antics, something falls out of his pocket and with a clanging sound falls to the ground. He instinctively looks at the object, it's a small quartz, the piece is not big, but he definitely didn't take any quartz with him from home... Heck.... He never owned a piece of quartz to begin with...

The shadow descents back into it's place as it dissapears it sings a small tune...cold flowers picked from the garden of nexus...a fools loss.. the tendrils retract from your leg, by the looks of it the shadow is really proud with your Discovery...

You spin the item in the air with your mage, hand it's a small rough brown gemstone. It shines i the sun, by reflecting the sun on it's many surfaces.Then you heat from somewhere down street, Where is that thief?! as you look at the source of noise a burly man is forcing his way trough the lively street with a couple of thugs.

You get back up and rush to the academy, the building where it has been located for more than a century was an an old repurposed castle. Historically the building itself used to belong to a line of failing nobles that decided that it would be better to hand the building over to the academics, then to have another aristocrat purchase it and smear it into the previous owners face...

The castle had three wings where new aspiring minds could learn their worth amongst the great minds, The arcane wing where Willam is currently heading, the militia wing, where the the young people are taught a more hands-on approach and the science wing which is mostly occupied with aspiring researchers. When a student got accepted into the Academy they usually are tasked with choosing the main wing which will be the focus of their studies and some side-courses from the remaining two, the result usually is a specialist either with a very deep and specified profession, or a wide one, that can be applied in many situations.

William dashes trough the gate and the building complex towards the arcane study wing, not knowing the exact time the lad can only hope that he's not running late...

As he enters his classroom, he looks around, quite a few students have arrived, it looks like he made it just in time... he looks around and picks a seat for himself..

As Wilhelm sits down he hears faint clinking in his pockets, when he sneaks his hands into them he discovers that the shadow didn't limit itself with a single pretty stone, it looks like there's at least 5 of them. As the lad goes through his pockets he discovers even more new items, a hairbrush, a round stone, a funny looking twig that is naturally shaped as a loop, a needle, two candies and an unfinished Cookie....

The red skinned tiefling looks at you going trough the pile of stuff on the table So... What's up with this... Have you finally decided to share your treasure hoard with me? I will gladly pass on the creepy stuff, by all means, though dem rocks look good, where did you get em? he leans in accessing your findings.

The little monologue gets the young evocators attention as he looks at the two of you, makes a snobbishly exaggerated sigh and comments Treasure hoard? More like trash hoard... Tell me Willy, are you sure that you don't have any goblins between your ancestors?... You know no...not goblins, trash-bugs... he doesn't even spare you a glace as he speaks...
He looks at the elf next to him for approval...

but receives yet another cold-shoulder as the lass doesn't even budge, keeping her whole focus on some kind of magic theory book.

Natasha on the other hand Snickers after Theo's words, sometimes her childishness can be slightly annoying.... She probably imagined you green-skinned or as one of those large beetles...

the tiefling quickly picks up on the joke as he attempts to support you with a comeback OOOOO.....look out William here might become a dragon.... after which he pats you on the back

Natasha having calmed down a bit leans in and whispers to the two He may have more chances with her if he was a dragon... pointing out the long lifespan of the race of his love interest.

The fun discussion is cut short as the teacher enters the classroom and begins his lecture.

The teacher is a blond high elf, dressed in a flowing green robe with golden ornaments, carrying a heavy tome in his hands and another one is strapped onto his belt. He puts the tome on the table with a heavy thud and looks at all of you. His forehead is adorned by what it looks to be a tree symbol, you are pretty sure that you have seen it before...

He does a roll-call and then announces the topic of the lecture with a followup question that is meant to test your knowledge. Today we will be talking about familiars and other creatures that can be summoned from beyond our plane for certain tasks. Can anyone give me a distinctively bad or good example of such summon before we begin the lecture?