2. Some Lessons Belong in the Classroom

Bow's End Tavern
Dorian bids good night to Greta and then says to Zix. "I best attend to my chores before the wine gets to my head."

Of course, wine does not work that way but such is the way of wine that one does not one realize that it is driving decisions until after you've bungled them. He takes long deep breaths.

After leaving the tavern, he makes his way to Sept and Sabre, a strange forge and metalsmith. Within, he moves a certain set of pewter mugs, adjusting their handles. After that, he makes his way to the alter. There he lights a certain incense and prays to the god of wine.

Having been seen he returns to the treasury in order to review correspondence. Unfortunately, it's too early for any responses to the several letters he sent to his contacts. Still, he has accounts to record and ledgers to balance.

In three meantime, he writes a cryptic note to leave later for the Society.

A quill may be said by one of iron heart to be hollow, yet many forget what should flow within. One finds that they wish to know more.

Satisfied, he folds it and stuffs it in his inside pocket to leave on his floor just inside his door tonight.

The next dayDorian wakes early, the soft glow of dawn barely creeping through his window. As he rises, his foot nearly crushes something on the floor—his own note, but now altered.

The parchment has been carefully unfolded and refolded, but someone has written beneath his original message in a sharp, precise hand:

A quill may be hollow, but the ink remains unseen. We, too, wish to know more. Seek Kiraen. She has the eyes to glimpse what others miss, the silence to move where others stumble. Clues point beneath stone and dust, beneath an abandoned house where the past lingers unseen. Some doors may have been locked for a reason - take care if you wish to lock-pick them.
— S. S. T.

As Dorian picks up the note, something else catches his eye—a small, gleaming object resting beside it. A silver coin.

He lifts it carefully, feeling the cool metal against his fingertips. At first glance, it seems unremarkable, but as he turns it in the dim morning light, the weight feels wrong and a faint shimmer ripples across its surface. A whisper of magic lingers around it, subtle yet undeniable.

Mutatio.

A spell of change, of shifting properties. Was this simply an enchanted coin, or something more? A key, perhaps, disguised in plain sight? The Society rarely dealt in the obvious.

Dorian tucks both the note and the coin safely away. Whatever it was, he would have to test it later. For now, there were other obligations to attend to.

With one last glance at the morning sun rising beyond the window, he straightens his coat and strides out the door.

It was time for class.

Introduction to Magical Theory.

Invent a problem? How about a chair that turns into a monster and is about to eat a student?

I used Illusio to confuse the monster, but that was merely just because I had done it before. A well placed Dominatio spell could have shot down the problem from the very beginning. Or Mutatio to change it back into its furniture shape.
She looks to her follow students. Do you have better problems?

Dorian runs a hand through his think hair, unruly but in the way that takes forty-five minutes too look just perfectly unruly without looking slovenly.

He sees Kiraen and slides into the chair next to her. "I need your help later. A saucy problem you're just absolutely right for." Of course, he explains not, letting the anticipation build with subtle nods and winks and silent gestures to only explain later.

The class starts and his eyeballs bulge trying to pay attention. When the assignment becomes clear and the coterie gathers together, Kiraen poses a problem right away. "Excellent, and I used Amplifico to aid Greta, and Tutela to attempt to shield others from its rampage. Only," he leans forward and says in a whisper, "If old Lorridian has heard the story he might dock us for not being original enough?"

He thinks and says, "We were in the tavern last night. Imagine if the wine was attempting to drink us! Tankards with teeth, goblets with gibbering maws, kegs with cudgels, oh my!" He waits and frowns. "My earlier magic choices stand but this time I'll be running in a circle." He shrugs.

Zix raises a hand. "Professor Lorridian, if I may ask for clarification: is each of us supposed to make up one's own problem and solve it (which seems like it may results in coming up with solutions in search of a problem), or all solve the first classmate's stated problem, or solve our classmate's problem and name a next one?"

"Thank you," Zix half-turns to the group. "In that case, the problem of the carnivorous chair. A straightforward thing to do would be to use Excidium - either destroying (or at least weakening) the chair itself, or the magic that animates it. Or one could take the opposite approach, using Creatio, summoning obstacles and nets to immobilise the chair, or helper-creatures that would battle it into . . . harmlessness."

Dorian? Are you teasing my curiosity?
Kiraen feels that they have exausted the assigment, but perhaps she has missed somthing. She tries to go over the problem again, but she would rather know more about Dorians saucy problem.

Marlena initially seems rather distracted, but she snaps out of it. "Oh! Sorry. What schools are left to me? Perceptio and Mutatio? Well, I would use Perceptio to make goggles that show me the future. With prior knowledge, I could destroy the chair before it ever becomes an issue. With Mutatio, I could build a petrification ray that turns it to stone. I believe that would also solve the problem quite handily."

Dorian winks at Kiraen. "Later, when you have a moment. It's a matter of some delicacy."

After the bizarre question from Lorridian, Dorian starts. "A master of Creatio could create think clouds to give rest to the weary countryside. A master of Illusio could give the impression that night has fallen to ease the suffering of those most troubled."

"If the world changes, we can change with it. We could learn and use Mutatio to make the plants adapted to such a lifecycle, flourishing, mighty and beautiful, in the added warmth instead of withering. We could alter the minds of animals such as both the forest beasts and us to become at ease with the new order of the day. And once civilisation is stabilised and adapted, we can begin preparations for dealing with whatever the new watcher might be - whether adversarially, or perhaps learning to reach out to it as a new form of life we haven't met yet.

Or I suppose there is the Excidium option: have cabals of mages cast nightly 'dome of darkness' effects over large areas.

Oh, I have one observation: is it just me, or is this problem's magnitude such that it's fit for an archmaster to solve, not for someone in the university years? In terms of magical capability required, not in terms of imagination."

"Zix raises a good point. Realistically, there's not a mage alive that could single-handedly solve this problem. In fact, the way you describe it makes it seem as if something beyond human is causing it. I feel as if we'd be helpless to resist if some entity really set its eyes on our world. However, I'll assume that we have the ability and resources to enact whatever solution we imagine." Marlena twists her pen in her hand as she thinks to herself.

Soon enough, she comes up with something. "I'm going to use Amplifico and Tutela together. You didn't necessarily say that we had to propose a separate solution for each school, just that we needed to use two schools. I would construct a tower that projects a barrier to filter out the sunlight's unnatural properties. Naturally, I'm using Tutela for the barrier, while Amplifico would allow the tower to self-amplify its own output enough to cover a massive area. To source the massive amount of magical energy that'd be required for such an endeavor, I'd place the tower on top of a leyline. Ideally, the barrier would protect the entire sunlit half of the world, but I'd be satisfied as long as I could protect a settlement's worth of land."

That leaves me Perceptio and Dominatio. Both relate not to the world itself but how it is perceived and what is thought.
With an archmages power, or a university-combined focus, we could alter the way the light is perceived, and quell the restlessness. I don't know enough of those schools to know if it can affect plants as well, but let us assume that they can. These schools can help accept the change, instead of fighting it.
It is possible for an ecosystem to live in the underdarks perpetual darkness, so it stands to reason that it is possible to live in the "everlight."

Zix stares at the professor, puzzled, then turns its head to glance at Kiraen for a second, then at the professor again.

Wonder what I said so wrong that my first adaptation proposal got overlooked entirely but her second one got praised . . . oh well.

The traveller tries to appear unperturbed, but mere seconds later subtly sighs and pets the corvid.

Marlena drinks in the professor's words like a sponge. Yes, she is firmly against the magical bending of minds, but she realizes that is only a small part of Dominatio. As she's rapidly filling in parchment with her pen, a thought comes to her.

"If I may, Professor? What would be your preferred school of choice if you found yourself in this situation?" Marlena asks Lorridian. "I'd like to know what you would do."