Chapter 2 - Independent Learning

As Tannis leafs reverentially through Zanros' spellbook, it becomes immediately apparent why Zanros repeated a year at the Academy: not only was his spellbook a mess, the untidy spidery script interspersed by doodles and drawings, but it appears he was putting most of his efforts into learning magic not on the syllabus. For each spell with a name Tannis recognises, there are two more he has never heard of. The page after Illusory Script is a spell titled The Sick Note Spell. In the middle of the page describing the Invisibility spell there is a side-box titled Wobbly Table, that purports to magically reduce the length of one leg of a table or desk. Even the official spells seem to be adapted for Zanros' trickery - against the Magic Mouth spell are marginalia on how to get the spell to speak in the voice of someone else.

A knock at the door interrupts Tannis's delve into Zanros' trick-filled life.

"You didn't pop down for breakfast, so I brought it up. I hope that's OK. Would you like me to bring it in? Only if you're decent of course. I've warmed everything up. You really should eat and rebuild your strength after all that's happened to you. Not that we're allowed to talk about that. Are you there?"

Tannis recognises the voice of the serving girl he met in the hall. Her habit of stringing sentences together in a torrent of words is unmistakeable.

Gavarenth’s spellbook contrasts Zanros’ in many ways, immediately obvious from opening the cover and seeing a well-maintained index, organized first by page number, then by school of magic. Gavarenth had left ample space in the index, presumably expecting to learn many more spells. Tannis had suspected that Gavarenth’s true passion lay in the mastering of evocation magic. Such suspicions are immediately confirmed from perusing the contents.

Tannis turns the pages delicately, soaking in the beauty of it. The handwriting is laboriously neat and richly illuminated. It is half spellbook, half work-of-art. As Tannis lets the blank pages at the end of the book flip over, he notices a pocket set into the rear cover.


Contents
5 Shocking Grasp
6 Chill Touch
7 Fire Bolt
8 Light
9 Prestidigitation
11 Lightning Lure
12 Find Familiar
14 Cure Wounds
15 Magic Missile
18 Tenser's Floating Disk
19 Thunderwave
20 Chromatic Orb
21 Locate Object
23 Scorching Ray
26 Misty Step
28 Darkness
30 Levitate
33 Booming Blade
34 Alarm
37 Lightning Bolt
40 Fireball
43 Wall of Sand
46 Mending
47 Burning Hands
50 Prayer of Healing
52 Flame Arrows
55 Faerie Fire
57 Wall of Fire
59 Phantasmal Force
61 Arcane Eye
63 Storm Sphere
65 Shield
67 Otiluke's Resilient Sphere
69 Sleep
71 Greater Invisibility
74 Sickening Radiance
76 Bigby's Hand
79 Hallow
81 Comprehend Languages
83 Sending
86 Continual Flame
89 Flame Strike
91 Cone of Cold
94 Polymorph
97 Geas
99 Fly
101 Wall of Stone


Evocation
5 Shocking Grasp
7 Fire Bolt
8 Light
11 Lightning Lure
14 Cure Wounds
15 Magic Missile
19 Thunderwave
20 Chromatic Orb
23 Scorching Ray
28 Darkness
33 Booming Blade
37 Lightning Bolt
40 Fireball
43 Wall of Sand
47 Burning Hands
50 Prayer of Healing
55 Faerie Fire
57 Wall of Fire
63 Storm Sphere
67 Otiluke's Resilient Sphere
74 Sickening Radiance
76 Bigby's Hand
79 Hallow
83 Sending
86 Continual Flame
89 Flame Strike
91 Cone of Cold
101 Wall of Stone

Abjuration
34 Alarm
65 Shield

Conjuration
12 Find Familiar
18 Tenser's Floating Disk
26 Misty Step

Divination
21 Locate Object
61 Arcane Eye
81 Comprehend Languages

Enchantment
69 Sleep
97 Geas

Illusion
59 Phantasmal Force
71 Greater Invisibility

Necromancy
6 Chill Touch

Transmutation
9 Prestidigitation
30 Levitate
46 Mending
52 Flame Arrows
94 Polymorph
99 Fly

Gavarenth's spellbook looks something like this:

The small pocket contains two sheets of paper, both are titled Summon Ghouls.

The first sheet has tear marks down its left edge as if it had been torn from a book. The page is heavily creased and dark with dirt. The black ink is formed into an archaic script that bears resemblance to common, but uses unfamiliar works and mixes word order. The text is annotated with skulls and at the centre of the page is a dagger pointing downwards with a drop of blood dripping from its point. The drop of blood looks as though it is real dried blood, but is shaped as a teardrop rather than the splatter of a drop of blood falling on the page. In the margin in a scrawl are the notes "take care that they not taste flesh" and "a pound of flesh will be your undoing".

The second sheet is clean and fresh. The text upon the page appears to the same spell, written in common in Gavarenth's neat handwriting handwriting and accompanied by abstract colorful illuminations.

It would appear that Gavarenth was copying and translating the original, but it is not clear why she was not copying into her spellbook. From scanning over Gavarenth's translation, Tannis recognises that this would be a challenging spell for him to learn at his current level of proficiency.

Tannis pours through Zanros’ spellbook, the origin of many class pranks and some class mysteries becoming apparent as he understands the devious brilliance of Zanros’ magic.

He first catalogs the spells with names he recognises:

Minor Illusion
Disguise Self
Distort Value
Illusory Script
Silent Image
Cure Wounds
Detect Magic
Identify
Invisibility
Phantasmal Force
Magic Mouth

And then begins the more laborious task of noting down a summary of Zanros’ weird and wonderful collection:

Illusionary Chair (1st Level Illusion)
Creates an illusion of a chair so that people sit and fall on their arse.

Illusionary Doorway (3rd Level Illusion)
Creates the illusion of an open doorway in a blank space of wall, the room beyond the doorway is lit and the illusion has full perspective to trick people into walking into the wall.

Illusionary Food (2nd Level Illusion)
Must be cast on a rotten item of food. The spell makes the item of food look and smell fresh, and feel whole and firm to the touch. The illusion disappears when the item of food is bitten into or the item of food has rotted to dust.

Illusionary Writing (2nd Level Illusion)
Creates illusionary writing on a surface that can be seen by all but one creature. Casting the spell consumes a writing implement (pen, quill, piece of chalk, paintbrush) that must have been used by the target within last week.

The Sick Note Spell (2nd Level Illusion)
The spell enchants a writing implement to write something in the handwriting of its owner. The writing implement is consumed by the spell.

Homework Copier Pen (2nd Level Enchantment)
This spell magically links a writing implement to a book. Whatever that writing implement writes on other pages also appears in the book.

The Fart Chair (Illusion Cantrip)
The spell puts an illusion on a chair such that after being sat on for more than ten minutes, it begins creating the auditory and olfactory illusions of farts. It is particularly productive, if the person sitting in the seat is restless.

Disappearing Ink (1st Level Enchantment)
Enchants a container of ink such that the ink disappears the next dawn after being written.

Winning Hand (3rd level illusion)
Applies an illusionary change to a card to change its value, whilst keeping the design and appearance consistent with the remainder of the pack of cards.

Never-tied shoe (1st Level Enchantment)
Enchantment placed upon a shoe such that the laces come undone within minutes of being tied. If placed separately on both shoes of a pair there is a chance each time the laces come undone that the laces of the two shoes spontaneously knot together.

The Catnip Curse (1st Level Enchantment)
Curses a person to smell like catnip.

The Cockroach Curse (1st Level Enchantment)
Curses a person to frequently see an illusionary cockroach out of the corner of their eyes, but only during twilight hours.

Wobbly Table (Transmutation Cantrip)
Reduces the length of one leg of a table by a quarter of an inch.

A Duplicate in Sand (3rd Level Illusion)
Creates an illusionary duplicate of an object from an equivalent weight of sand.

You Can’t Miss What You Can’t Remember (2nd Level Enchantment)
The curse causes a person to forget they ever owned an object.

Ethereal Item (3rd Level Transmutation)
Causes an item to become temporarily ethereal and float upwards. Allows items to be extracted from a locked container.

Dreamt-of Wealth (3rd Level Transmutation)
Cast upon a person that is sleeping. An object that exists in their dream disappears from the dream world and manifests permanently in the physical world. The dreamer will notice that the object disappeared in the dream, but this is not usually enough to wake them. The caster gets visibility of the objects in the dream before choosing what to steal, but does not otherwise get insight into the person’s dream.

As Tannis reaches the end of his cataloguing, a thought leaps unbidden to his mind: Zanros, whilst evidently talented, was woefully unprepared for a battle.

As Tannis begins to concentrate on copying his hastily written notes on the Sending spell into his spellbook he hears a knock at the door.

"It's me again. I brought you some lunch. I hope you're not sleeping and that I didn't wake you. You really should go outside and get some air. It's a lovely day outside. It'd do you good. Not that it's my place to say so. Are you there? Can I come in? Or should I leave it outside the door? Did you like the breakfast? Is there anything you don't eat, so I know for next time? I'm planning to cook lamb for dinner. Do you like lamb?"

Tannis realises that the day had gotten away from him as he delved into the spellbooks.

The serving girl puts down a tray containing a steaming bowl of green soup and several large chunks of crusty bread. She picks up the breakfast tray and turns to leave.

"Denaothun hadn't mentioned you were magically inclined. That's good for us. We don't have many magic folk down round these parts. Just Ceta, but she's not really learned. And that hermit chap upriver, but don't see much of him. I'm sure you'll come in dead handy. Can you make fireworks? Or bring any excitement to my life? I guess that's too much to ask. Sorry, shouldn't disturb you from your studies. I just keep talking y'see, can't help myself. Denaothun's always telling me off for talking too much. But always so quiet around this keep. And this town. Nothing interesting to gossip about. And now there is something to gossip about, you that is, I'm not allowed to say a thing. There I go again talking. Sorry to disturb, I'll be off."

For the first time in what must certainly be a very long time, the serving girl is lost for words. Her jaw drops at the demonstration, before an enormous grin spreads across her beaming cheeks. Her eyes sparkle with delight.

As Tannis finishes his display, she whispers in slow deliberate words unlike her normal pattern of speech "Anything you need, you let me know." following up in her normal voice "I'm Angela by the way."

With that she gives a light bow, picks up the breakfast tray and leaves.

"Glad that you're practising. Your voice is a little muffled" and "That's less muffled, but your voice is high pitch. Keep up the good work" come back the replies in turn.

By dinner time Tannis has mastered the Sending spell and has completed writing into his spellbook. Another tray of food arrives - roast lamb and a double-helping of sticky toffee pudding - together with Angela's still-beaming smile.

"I spoke with Denaothun before - he's been busy with his paperwork, but will speak with you on the morrow. Anything you need before I retire?"

Tannis continues his studies late into the evening, beginning working on deciphering the Lightning Bolt spell. Finally exhaustion catches up with him and he extinguishes the writing-desk's candle and turns in for the night.

Tannis is sat in class. Gavarenth is at the blackboard explaining the art of the lightning bolt. Another evocation spell. Why won't she get to the material that Tannis craves? Zanros is flicking pieces of scrunched up paper that turn into origami birds mid-flight, whirling around. One paper bird lodges in Florithe's hair. The teacher holds up her spellbook to the class, but instead of the familiar golden tome, it is black and decorated with the image of a dagger pointing downwards above a single teardrop of blood. A thin line of glowing red appears at Gavarenth's left shoulder and extends slowly across to her right hip. She is still talking, still teaching. The line meets her right hip. She is still explaining the spell. Her body above the line begins to descend diagonally downards. She is still teaching.

Tannis wakes with a start. There is a cold sweat on his brow. Autumn's cool light creeps under the curtains. He dresses and resumes his studies. A breakfast tray appears a short time later. After which Tannis readies himself and makes his way to Denaothun's study. Entering, the two exchange morning pleasantries, before Denaothun steers the conversation:

"Did you have the opportunity to connect with Danrer? Master Sternova, I mean. He said had something to offer you that might go some way to mitigate the situation you find yourself in."