Quill Scratcher

On By ravonlockeIn Backstory, QuillLeave a comment

Quill was the smallest of her clutch. Her siblings were always pushing her out of the way, and sometimes out of the nest, or off the roost. She never understood why they always had to be so high up, and got more than her fair share of broken bones from being pushed off high places. Eventually, they pushed her out of the flock altogether. 

She found a new flock though, Penny for Polly. They appreciated her smallness. Taught her to use it, and to be quick, and to stay hidden. But she was always getting distracted by words. On signs, on books that “fell” from satchels, on scrolls that were “dropped” on the ground. Her parents had taught her reading and writing, and all this sneaking about gave her ample opportunity to practice. So, her Master gave her a chance at forging a letter he needed, and she exceeded all expectations. She was Master’s prized forger after this, and earned the name Quill Scratcher. 

Most of the flock teased her about such a boring job. They also teased her about her fear of heights. She could climb like the rest of them, but she clearly preferred to scout from the ground. She even stayed toward the middle of the roost at all times, never watching the city from the eaves with the other young members. They called her Chicken Scratch. All except Master and Whistler, her fighting trainer, and she loved them for it. Not that Whistler knew, she only paid attention to Quill during training. But Quill was always aware of her.

Penny for Polly was a good crew. They took care of their part of Baldur’s Gate, and the Guild left them be. Until one day, Basher and Slicer stepped out of bounds in chase of their quarry. They crossed lines the Guild did not approve of and Master had to turn them over. The Pollies were restless after that, and the Guild paid less and less attention to threats against them. 

It was still a shock to the whole flock when the rival gang attacked in the roost itself. They’d been edging around for weeks, but a frontal assault was completely unexpected. Quill did what she does best, she hid from the large intruders and watched in terror as Master was struck down. Whistler hadn’t given warning, and the flock was falling. Quill ran. 

She ran all the way to the gates and hid in a caravan wagon just leaving for Waterdeep. When it stopped for the night, she crept out, and hid once more. Still deep in shock and despair, she followed the caravan all the way to Waterdeep, scavenging what food she needed from the wagons, but barely eating. 

Halfway through the trip, she started remembering stories of the grand city. It was supposed to be beautiful and there was a great library in the Castle. She wondered if she could be a scribe there. She could lose herself in a library that big for years.

When they arrived, it was not as golden and beautiful as she had hoped. Just as dirty, just as busy, filled with the same sorts of people, good and bad, as home. The castle guards turned her away before she could even ask about the library. She looked at herself then, bedraggled from her escape and travel, and disappeared into the city. Scrounging for a few weeks until finally finding work as a scribe at a dingy messenger service. 

Sometimes though, when work is slow or too tiring, she likes to go drinking at a pub near her room. She loves sweet wine and beer nuts, and writing down whatever snatches of conversation she hears. Occasionally, the other patrons aren’t so happy with her copying. Once in a while, they show their displeasure rather violently. 

It was on one of these occasions that she met The Big Man. She was rather drunk at the time, or she wouldn’t have ended up in that alley in the first place. So, she thought she had imagined the elephant of a man healing her wounds and walking her home. But then she saw him again, and he even hired her a couple times, for scribing. She always accepts his contract, and he keeps an eye out for her in alleys late at night. So far, he’s sent a pair of Grungs, a rather skittish Mouseman, and a job at an herbalist who employs a big green man who knows about Candlekeep.

Spy Master found her there, too. He had heard of her from her clients in Baldur’s Gate, been sent to her by Svetel, the Big Man. He promised to protect her, and get her work, and make sure she was well paid for her talents. He even helped her get a tiny basement room, and gave her a book to start her collection. A collection which covers one wall of that tiny room already, after just a few years. Her room is full of books, her pockets full of quills and gems. It’s a good life. She loves going to Homeward Bookshop at the end of each week to get a new book, visit the kittens, and see her friend Abena. The Mouseman didn’t seem too keen on the kittens, but Candlekeep man liked them well enough.

Southern Libraries

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, TristiaLeave a comment

That night, Locke dreamed to me while I was ruminating on the door. I asked him if we should open it. He said from everything that Hank has said, that no, we should leave it closed. Then he showed me Buenos Aires. It is a beautiful city, and you can see the Royalist architecture taking over everywhere. Locke handed me a coin from the fountain in the square in the Dream. When I woke up, I still had it. That’s some magic Natty needs to learn.

I head down to have an early breakfast, making sure there’s still a bit of food for folks in the house. Then head up to my brother’s room. I knock politely, and Crystal answers. I ask if my brother is within, and he sleepily pulls into view, almost dressed. The incense in the room is intense, and I stay just outside the doorway. I ask if he’s still going to school, and he says yes, but he’s almost done so he doesn’t have lot of classes left. I remind him of his responsibility to graduate and become an adult and take care of the house. He sort of blows me off, but not unkindly. I turn on Crystal and tell her to keep him safe or I’ll hunt her down. She is amused by my threat, but it doesn’t matter. I turn back and tell Gerald that we’re going to South America and to be careful of Professor Wiest. He thinks we should tell her everything, but I remind him that she’s not Prime, yet. He’s not so sure, but I tell him to be careful, and I’ll be back in a couple of days.

Everyone gathers up that morning. Remy says he didn’t accept help from the Utopians afterall, so Klyce is breathing a little easier. Nat has warned her family, and commissioned a caravan. Once everyone has their mana and supplies sorted out, we gather up to teleport down to Buenos Aires. The trip goes smoothly, thanks to the Dream and the coin, and Locke quickly hurries over to us and takes us to meet up with Hank and friends.

We exchane a few pleasantries, including admiring a new metal arm of Frank’s before getting down to business of the Black Mirror. Hank says it has been haunting his dreams for the past year. It is an artifact from before the war ended. If it was whole, it would allow absolute vision and knowledge of any target you choose. The gods found it and broke it into six pieces, hiding it away down here in what is now South America. They’ve been searching, but have only found one piece so far. It was in an anciet sun temple.

The boys take a look at it. It is highly enchanted, but, being broken, the enchantment is incomplete. Remy says it is heavy fae divination magic, which only makes sense. He asks if they can see where the other pieces are with it, but they say it only shows flashes of color. Blue, white, red, light blue, and then back to black. I take a look, channelling a bit of my magic into it, but only the same flashes. Dalish catches a non-reflective black at the end, before it goes back to being shiny. So, blue, white, red, light blue, black. Nat says I’m not using the right kind of magic, so she takes it, it starts to smoke a bit and coldly tingle. I try to get her to put it down, but she uses a bit of divination magic.

She kinda goes catatonic a moment, before snapping out of it. She said it was a good tingle and that it gave her visions of places. A beautiful jungle lagoon with waterfalls, a stark white salty desert plain with a conical mountain in the distance, a complex tangle of valleys and crevices leading up to a red clay plateau, the top of a mountain above a glacier, and then darkness.

Gerhard manages to get similiar, if much more hazy visions. Klyce asks if they’ve heard of places like that, but only the falls sound familiar. They give a name, but I didn’t catch it. If Nat saw it, she can just take us there, right? But then someone says we ought to research the places. Since we don’t have objects from the locations, it’s better to have all the information we can get, and travel there more carefully. Ugh! Research!

So, those of us with teleport, and the bookish folk head off to the a great library in the city, while Klyce and Philomena head off to enjoy the local cuisine. Locke tells us that the sun temple they went to was guarded by monsters, and his magic had not worked to fight them. Over the course of the afternoon, we manage to locate all the discernable places. The darkness will just have to wait. I wonder if it’s behind the door. But that’s probably just my obsession talking.

Just a Conversation… Or Seven

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, TristiaLeave a comment

I spent the entire day worrying about everyone. Everyone going off to meet with the various political factions. New Primes, Old Primes, Wanna Be Primes, and Random Politicos alike. No political parties had contacted me. No, sirree. I’m just an object to study. Only Hardin contacted me, with some new research. I will not go back. I am not going back there. He’ll have to figure it out without me. But I do want to help, I want to know what he thinks he knows. I want to fix this mana problem for all my friends. Oh man, my friends. What if Wiest kills Natty outright? You know she’s not going to give the Professor what she wants. Oh, Natty!

Eventually, it’s time for me to head down to Xingtown for dinner with Hardin. I know the place, we’ve passed it a few times, but never stopped in. I head down and he’s there waiting. Smile on his face like everything is just fine. Like there aren’t three more world-ending events on the horizon. I’m already mad at him. Not a direct transcription, but it went something like this:

Good to see you! How’ve you been?

Died at least once since you last saw me.

This puts him off his game for a moment, and I sit down. He stumbles around for a bit, and then orders us a whole bunch of random food.

It’s been too long.

You still there?

Until recently. Until I got word about the deliberative. I wanted to discusss a new possible avenue of research. You’ve been to this Fae World?

Yeah, I had to die to get there though.

Well, I was thinking. If we use you and your connection to the fae as a conduit to bleed off the magical properties.

No! It’s not like that! I won’t be a fuel source! All my friends have been there, too.

Just a conduit. You’re connected to that place, maybe more than we know. Your magic is different than theirs. We can use that.

You sound like Garion!

Even just a ten foot square where mana isn’t required.

It would be catastrophic!

We would take precautions. We just need to create the spell, and then we wouldn’t need to use you as the link anymore.

How? How would this even work? I don’t know anything about magic like that.

That’s why I need your help, I’m not sure yet, but I have ideas.

You want to talk to my friends who know more about magic, not me. I can’t help you create spells.

I’d be happy to meet with your friends!

We’re going to South America, there are clues for our search for the Black Knight there.

That’s odd, isn’t he here? Anyway. Will you talk to your friends about my research?

Yes. We’ll get back to you.

We thanked each other for dinner then and went our seperate ways.

Back at home, all of us gathered up to discuss what happened in our various conversations and it immediately went downhill. Nat said that Wiest was already threatening her family and their mine. Klyce asks if everyone stuck to the plan of not committing to anything and telling them all we were busy right now. Remy said he signed up with the Utopians to get us mana, supplies, and sanction for our mission. Klyce went OFF on him. Then Dalish admitted that he left the Utopians and signed up with the Conservatives who were looking for a replacement for Rictus. Klyce went off again. And so did a few otheres. This is ridiculous, guys!!! Dalish insists that he wants to lead them to a more liberal stance. We try to convince him they just want a figurehead. Klyce is still pissed that Remy basically put the whole group in the Utopian’s debt. Remy said he hasn’t actually accepted their assistance/supplies, yet. But Klyce says it’s too late.

I pop in to tell them about Hardin’s research and his desire to collaborate with us all. No one pays me much mind. Maribeth says we were supposed to stay unknown until we had a plan, so we don’t become useless. Remy wants to enact change by being part of the processs. Klyce is annoyed that he gave them power over us. Gerhard Says Hadreas hates all the politics, and wants to go back to magic for magic’s sake. He could be an ally. Klyce said he had a productive conversation about the mana shortage, and demons and devils. They talked not just about the other realms, but about other countries and types of magic, as well. They also discussed short term plans to protect the miners, to buy time for such external research.

Returning to the topic of Professor, soon to be Prime, Wiest, Nat says there was just no talking her down. She showed up all bluster and fury, and Nat wasn’t going to point her in a direction. She has since warned her family and Stephen about the threat. Klyce asks if there are procedures for removing a Prime, but Dalish says the only way to do it is Certimum. Klyce wants to use our political capital to introduce an impeachment process. But that’s all for later. South America is calling.

I send to Hank to ask about where they are and if the wizard can Dream to me, because Nat doesn’t want him in her head. I hear him asking Locke if he can do that before the spell cuts out. So, I send to Locke, who asks when we are planning to arrive. I send again to say tomorrow afternoon. He replies that they’re in Argentina and he’ll dream me tonight to show me where. So, a few more drinks and it is time for bed.

Fallout and Conversations

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, TristiaLeave a comment

We head out of there after a few quick conversations, and back to Johnny’s to have a drink and discussion about what just happened. Nat tosses up another telepathic bond so we don’t freak out the locals and we dig in. That was so strange!

Clearly it had been planned. Without consulting Rictus, of course. What do they want with us? Are we just bigger pawns now? Our freedom puts us in their debt, and strips us away from Rictus and his protection. For whatever that was still worth. Remy tells us that he looked at the magics, and Rictus is truly entwined with the geas. Woven into his very being, he says, and it’s going to drive him mad. Klyce is worried about all the machinations of the various Primes. Alleria, too, she used to be tight with Rictus, but now… Did she see his fall and step away? She sees even more than Nat does.

What are we going to do now? Start up our own independent investigatory squad? It’s about all we know. Go to South America? Open the door? Oh man, I really want to open the door. And what about Klyce and Philomena’s wedding, they’ve been engaged for years now. Personally, I’m not interested in South America and getting re-arrested for Treason by going there and consorting with Royalists.

Klyce wants to work on his committee to reinvest in the city. What about the Black Knight? Klyce wants to drop it. What about the door? Klyce thinks we should leave well enough alone. Marybeth wants to research safe mining. Remy says he has projects to do with golems. Klyce is concerned about worse results. What if Remy creates a way to make cheap golem armies and the wars get worse? I sugest the door again, as a way to get mana back into the world. But again with the worry about the chaos it will bring. Someone suggests a mana pipeline to the fae world, but that’s not really how mana works there. I want to talk to the Prince. Maybe I can send to him if I try hard enough. Maribeth asks about the Beast from Italy. So, we explain the monster who was set after us while we were there. A couple of the guys want to capture it for study if it shows up again.

The conversation shifts into demons and devils for a few minutes, but I’m preoccupied with the Prince and don’t catch most of it. Then someone asks who intends to return to school next year, and just about all of us are interested. So much yet to learn. What about working for political change? Yes, we have the right to do so as mages, and we have a responsibility as humans. Then it somehow devolves into family names and wedding decorations again. Maribeth is feeling nearly festive with her devil contract gone. We head out home for the night, still discussing wedding things. Klyce takes Philomena home, Dalish heads to meet with Rictus, and Nat heads off to meet with Alleria.

Once everyone gets back for the evening, Dalish and Nat report in. Dalish hands us dossiers that Rictus had of each one of us. He says that the Primes have all this information. They are going to start approaching us, and if we don’t do what they want, they are going to start using this information to force us to cooperate. Rictus thinks we should get out of town. Nat says she got the same impression from Alleria. Klyce, in his usual fashion, thinks Wiest won’t be a problem, she’s a hammer and too forthright to cause much trouble. I’m not so sure. Remy then suggests that we all have the right to say no if she declares Certimum, but someone else points out that this just means we have to give into her demands.

I look over my folder, and it has my brother and my parents, but isn’t up to date on his new girlfriend. Maribeth says her brother is listed as AWOL Most of the dossiers are pretty accurate about our families and their current whereabouts, except my parents. So, it’s just as bad as we thought when we took Remy’s Dad and Maribeth’s mom to stay with the Rathbones, but not really any worse.

Dalish also mentions that there was a bum found in the sewers of the Bronx, rambling about goden light and the one god. He had Garion-goo inside him, and kept regenerating. When Dalish told Rictus about Nat’s vision, Rictus disintegrated the remaining Garion-goo, but it’s probably already too late. Well, that’s a thing we’re going to have to deal with at some point. Did Garion actually become a god of some sort???

Nat brings us back around to our immediate future. Are we going to skip town? And take our families with us? Others argue that we can’t just go, we’re part of this city now, we have to stay and take care of it. If we leave, they’ll just hunt us down. Remy notes that Dalish, as a lich, is now an eternal threat to the rest of them. Klyce gets tired of our bickering, says he’s not leaving, and goes to bed. We continue on for a while. Remy says we have to stay, the city won’t be safe without us. I wonder if it’s us that is the threat, really. Dalish says we have to take care of South America. Nat says we’re targets because we’re politically inexperienced. It goes round and round for awhile until we all go, exhausted, to bed.

I need answers, so I do some sendings before bed. I send to Hank, asking how things are going and if they can come North instead of us coming South. He says they need our help down there. I send again, asking why. He says they are looking for a black mirror to help find people, including Remy’s Uncle, and they can’t get away to come to us. In the morning, I fill everyone in on what Hank said.

This brings even Klyce on board with going down to South America. We have enough people with teleport that we can get there and back without too much trouble. Though getting down there the first time will be the hard part. Nat can get us to the Carribean, but then we’ll have to make our way down to wherever Hank and the others are. Klyce says that we tell anyone who asks the truth. We need to make mana and gather supplies, so we can’t leave for a few days. We’re going to get offers and orders, but we tell them, we have to do this thing first. We are finishing our task for Rictus, and it’s taking us to South America.

Then the invitations start rolling in. Remy is invited to lunch with Pyrus. Dalish is invited to dinner with some of his party members. Maribeth is invited to dinner by three different Utopians. Gerhart receives an invite from Prime Hadreas to dinner in his tower. Klyce and Philomena are invited to dinner with Othar Pendleton. Nat is invited to lunch at a cafe with Weist. And I… I am invited to dinner by the mage from my “research assignment.” I don’t want to go, but he says they’ve got a new idea. I’m curious and also very afraid of what that new idea might be. I just want to open the door and unleash chaos we can deal with instead of all this politicking.

Deliberative

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, TristiaLeave a comment

Nat tries to help Remy Dream to his uncle, but finds no target. The next morning, she heads off to school to talk to Professor Wiest. I ask her to take someone with her, but she went alone. Remy heads off at the same time, to talk to Prime Pyrus. Maribeth heads into her Library for another research session, too. When Nat gets back, she reports that Wiest is off her rocker. She thinks we’ll be under her control soon, and pressed Nat for details on our investigation. Remy returned around the same time, and he said Pyrus wants us out from Rictus’ control and free to be full members of mage society. Rictus’ power is gone with his clones. Nat, Klyce, and I spend the rest of our time before the big meeting working with the soup kitchen down in Brooklyn.

Day of, we arrive early to check out the building. Nat convinces Dalish to not share the demon summoning spell, but to demonstrate it instead. She heads off to get blood of a dead man, while the rest of us check out security. We find nothing dangerous, nor any recording orbs. The top levels of the tower are guarded with all kinds of spells to keep non-mages out and to reinforce the building itself. We get ready and plan out who is going to talk at the meeting.

When Nat returns, she tells us about some punk kid mag who murdered a non-mage. She was told there’s not much recourse to punish mages for hurting non-mages. Dalish and Nat suggest finding and having a conversation, or more, with him, but we have no way to do that. Klyce wants to work politically to fix this mess.

So, we move on to the Deliberative and the demon summoning. I ask Nat if she’ll have control of the demon she plans to summong, and she’s not entirely sure. She and Dalish consult about lesser and greater demons and circles and things. It’s all very confusing, but apparently a big one is easier than bunch of smaller ones. They decide to only keep it around a quick moment of shock factor.

As mages begin to arrive, Nat tosses up a telepathic bond, and we spread out. The room is full up by quarter til, except for the Primes. They arrive one by one. Rictus first, then Prime Enchanter Trask, then Prime Transmuter, then Alleria. Primes Pyrus and Hadreas appear on their thrones in projected forms. Rictus calls the meeting to order. Then they go over general orders of business: delegating funding, authorizations, supplies, and writes of survey. Then there are three addenda to the penal code.

The first is: Grand Theft Mana/Mana Smuggling/Non-Mage Possession with a penalty of four years in the mines. Klyce weighs in about making it a large amount of mana, but I lost the thread, and I’m not sure if they actually listened. It passed, though.

The second is: Felonious assault of a mage by a non-mage. Remy steps forward to discuss the civil unrest and how this could make it worse if it is not fair punishment. He suggests to do otherwise would make us slavers as bad as we claim they were. There is pushback, so Remy suggests they specify assault types so that a simple shove doesn’t equate to murder. This all causes them to decide that lesser assault would get 6 months, medium gets five years, and high levels of assault get ten. We object, but it passes handily.

The third was on seditious speech and rioting earning six months in the mines. This leads to a very heated debate on free speech, slavery, and making matters worse. Remy and Dalish try to make them see reason. That this kind of stringent control will cause open revolt, and makes us no better than the people over in Europe enslaving mages. We should be better than those we overthrew. Nat even steps in to remind them that non-mages are useful members of our society with ideas and worth, and that we need to foster mutual respect. Dalish reminds them that even the shortest sentence in th mines can be a death sentence. They try to say that 10% of the miners become immune and live indefinitely once they absorb enough mana. That isn’t a human, Remy retorts, but a husk. Then it turns into a debate on mana needs and resources and how to safely mine it. Undead being seen as not any better, and technology so far, not viable. It’s the same arguments as we have. The vote comes to a near tie, and the Primes table this addendum until the next Deliberative.

Next, Rictus calls Dalish forward to give his report on the other worlds. Nat and Klyce step forward with him, so Nat can summon a Balgura. She has it introduce it self. I think it said it’s name was Chup? I don’t know, because then she made it go away again without any trouble. Dalish then goes on about the Abyss and the Hells, and all the boring stuff he learned while he was down there with Maribeth. Then he talks about the fae a little bit, empasizing that they are sentient magical beings. The mages have a lot of questions, mostly about how to get there, and how to make deals or summon the devils. But Dalish manages to settle them to ask more afterwards.

Then the Machines are brought up. They’d been mentioned a few times already, but now the discussion is to be had. The Utopians spead of the human cost to the mines, when we have the solution of unending mana with the machines. They need to be kept away from population centers and made safer, but they think it’s high time to make them and make them bigger. Remy steps forward to speak, and tells them the truth about the machines, sort of. He lets them know how they work, by summoning those magical, sentient creatures from the fae world, and mass murdering them for their magic. It is genocide, he tells them (not that the mages shy from that, just look out west). He then side steps a little, and says that the fae themselves caused the explosions out of anger at what we were doing with the machines, and that using them again will bring war. There are a few more questions about the difference between demons and fae, and a committee is formed to research the viability of making a demon version of The Machine. Dalish also points out that even if they use the Machines, it is not an infinite supply, like the Utopian speaker said. Before thought goes too far down that road, the Primes table this discussion, too.

Klyce then asks if he can speak and is granted leave. He brins up the One God Church, and the possible revolt against mages being fermented there. He says that punishing them will only create martyrs to their cause. He calls out that all wealth has been flowing to the petals and the city is is being drained. He warns of an open revolt, and the cost of victory. Instead, he recommends a committee to invest in and beautify the city. To offer entreprenuial loans and create businesses. Prevention, not punishment. He even offers to lead the committee, and after a little pushback, it passes on a provisional basis.

Then come the elections. Prime Evoker is first, and Hadreas gives a speech on the late Prime Wiest. Then Profesor Diedre Wiest steps forward: You all know who I am, I put forward my name and if anyone cares to challenge, I will Certimum you and burn you to ash! So, she’s going to win, as no one dared step forward after that. Hadreas then moves on to speak of the late Etherion. We still need to talk to Rictus about the voice. Two people step forward for the Prime Conjuration seat: Othar Pendleton and Satiel, Rictus’ old apprentice. They give short speeches. He is a long standing supporter of the mageocracy, believes his abilities are without peer and could bring stability. She says that her new voice is needed to move forward instead of stagnating with the old ways. Voting will occur in one month, at a more simple meeting, instead of a full deliberative.

Prime Pyrus then stands to bring forward another topic of discussion. He asks our entire group to come forward. He tells the assemblage that we are all serving a harsh punishment for a secret crime, for a term of no less than two years. He finds this highly unusual, and in light of our service to the mageocracy, he finds our continued forced service to be unacceptable. He tells the crowd that we were so sentenced for our rescue of Philomena and her family, while ruffling a few Italian feathers. He suggests that our distinguished military service should be taken into account, and that we should be resolved of our crime. And he would like it seen done tonight. Discussion erupts at this pronouncement, and goes on for twenty minutes.

Three options come out of this discussion. One – Rictus suggest we stay in the military in perpetuity. Two – see us all released as full adults with full rights and responsibilities. Three – release us from punishment and return us to school and childhood status. Nat tells us that this is the decision that causes the effects she has seen. We are allowed to give our opinion, so we have a quick discussion. We decide that we’d like to be adults, but we’ll go back to school if necessary, but we’re tired of the military service. Klyce tries to volunteer to continue the punishment all on himself, but we’re not going to let him take it all by himself.

Klyce and Remy step forward to speak for us. Klyce starts: We have tried to serve this nation, and have avoided apocolypses on several occassions. We will continue to serve the nation. My actions were my responsibility, my friends were merely helping. The one I love was in danger. We have these power and I could not stand idly by. Think on your own loved ones. Remy picks up the ball: We have formed tight bonds akin to family. We would live with any of these options. The idea of school is a fantasy after the life we have lived. We have gotten used to being adults and citizens. But we would appreciate not being in forced service. Some may choose to continue it, but others have dreams and goals. Allow us to pursue these goals, free of this punishment.

As the vote proceeds, Nat closes her eyes and concentrates. Rictus becomes increasingly upset, and tries to call a veto when option two wins. He calls the Primes together in private conference, for a low, heated discussion. Pyrus announces that the motion passes, but we are to be allowed to also return to finish our education the following year, should we choose to. Then the Deliberative is called to a close.