Seoni Arcane Background:

Sometimes you just have to ask..

The cathedral around her was quiet. Alone with her thoughts, Seoni sighed as she tried to
focus on her prayers. She kept getting distracted by the rainbow ray of light cascading down
from the highly geometrically-correct stained window behind the altar. It was shaped to
resemble the holy symbol of Arcanus, constructed of several colors of multifaceted stained
glass supported by magically warped stone. The words of the cantrip she was trying to learn
kept eluding her, as the words of instructor Gerhardt kept ringing in her mind..

"You don't have any natural arcane talent, and your mind is as slow as a snail! You can't
remember even the simplest incantation! The gold your father gave the Silverbrand
Academy is a complete waste! If this were the Purple Spire, they would flog you and throw
you into some pocket dimension until you either learned or died of starvation! You are a
disgrace!"

She tried to stifle the strict chastising in her mind, but she felt the shame just kept swelling
up.. As an angry tear started inching its way down her cheek, her misery was interrupted by
an unfamiliar voice.

"Are you alright milady?" The "milady" part actually made her chuckle a bit.. she didn't feel
like a lady at all.. Wiping her tears, she looked around to see the person addressing her. It
was a tall, lean, well cut man, dressed in a black and silver robe. His hood was down,
revealing a stern but friendly face with a goatee, piercing blue eyes, and a clean-shaved
head covered in a tattoo that seemed to be made of quicksilver, flowing and shifting within
it's shape like mercury in a cup. A long metal staff tipped with a large cut ruby on it's head
and a long sharp blade running down the opposite end was hanging on his back. It was a
rare bladed staff - the hallmark of a Magus.

M…Master Silverbrand! She stammered. I apologize, I did not see you there.

"Nothing to apologize for milady.. You seem distressed. May I offer aid?"

She felt embarrassed, sighing.. Not unless you can turn a talentless slug into a wizard
overnight..

"Let me guess.. Gerhardt? He always was a bit..errr..direct.. But allow me to let you in on a
little secret.. There are many ways to achieve magic. Study is not the only path out there.."

Well I'm no sorcerer.. sadly.. She scoffed..

"There are yet more ways. Many more.."

Care to share some of them? She asked, slightly annoyed..

He gazed about the magnificent cathedral, and stated with a smile "Oh I think I'll let you
figure that out on your own.. shame to spoil the fun.. "

She looked around, thinking he saw something she didn't, maybe a secret spellbook, or an
arcane device, or a vial of magical essence, or something, anything, that would make her
feel like less of a failure.. but there was nothing. Just the sheer magnificence of the intricate
design, magically fused and twisted stonework and the colored windows. And books. Row
after row of books. This was, after all, the Grand Library of Azganmanter.

By the time she finished gazing, he had already spun around, but his words did still catch her
ear.

"Trust in thyself, and others will trust in you as well. More than you know."

He then left her sight, his unique Bladed Staff swaying gently on his back.

Seoni felt calmer now.. not so much for his words, but for the idea planted in her mind..
Maybe the way of Wizardry was not the path meant for her? Maybe indeed she could prove
to herself that she had what it took to make something of herself in other ways..

She dwelt on those thoughts for a long while, and suddenly her mind was clearer.. she could
focus better, and then decided to softly, under her breath, offer a prayer to Arcanus, who’s
temple she was in. She asked him, with all her heart, to grant her the power of magic. To
grant her the power she needed to defend the weak and protect the innocent, and to show
that bastard Gerhardt she was all that he thought she wasn’t. To grant her the power to rise
and achieve glory. To grant her the power to learn all that she could of the world and it’s
ancient mysteries. For that is what she always yearned to know. The truth of history. Of
events past, and secrets lost to time. And she believed magic was the best path to
uncovering history.
She vowed to Arcanus that if he granted her Magic, she would serve him. And in that
moment.. she was granted exactly what she asked for.

The weight of Magic:

“Then put some muscle into it!” Seoni shouted in reply to one of the expedition guards
screaming that the zombie he was trying to fend off was too much for him. She grunted in
frustration and let loose a bolt of fire at the zombie, hitting it square in the chest, making it
tumble into a burning heap on the worked stone floor. The guard looked a bit shocked, but
thankful. He began to retreat as another zombie came out from the gloom of the hallway,
shuffling towards him. “Seoni quickly stepped in between them, and asked “hey, what do you
call a zombie with no teeth?” As the zombie approached her and raised it’s stinking rotting
arms to strike, a quick jab of Seoni’s Quarterstaff smashed into it’s lower jaw, sending it’s
disgustingly yellowed teeth spilling on the floor - “A Wombie!” she chuckled.
The zombie looked ridiculous, trying to bite her using only it’s upper teeth, and failing
miserably as Seoni dodged the attack. She then sweeped it’s legs with her staff and as it fell
lower, placed her hand on top of it’s head, speaking a divine word, and then melting it with
lighting. The resulting mush toppled to the ground with a meaty squelch. That’s the last of
them I think - said the guard. “I hope so, cose’ boy do these things smell bad… ugh..” was
Seoni’s reply.

They proceed deeper down the corridor, followed by more expedition guards and diggers.
The Rivenlathian Royal Department of History had marked this crypt as one of several
possible resting places of King Radagan the Great, a very famous, and famously lost, ruler
of the 5th Rivenlath Dynasty. As they moved through the gloom of the corridor, Seoni noted
the frescos on the walls were very well preserved, but they did not depict anything relating to
Radagan. Instead, they showed a female ruler, one she was not familiar with, and possibly of
elven origin. This expedition was going to be yet another bust, but since she was still getting
paid, Seoni didn’t mind. The crypt was still full of possibilities. Who knows what mysteries
they may find in here? If only she could find a written account of who was buried here, a
name, or station, or some inkling of information about who built this place? It was very
strange that a crypt built in the traditional Rivenlathian style of construction was used to bury
an elven noble..

As she was walking, one of the diggers must have stepped on the wrong tile, as a clearly
distinguishable “click” was heard. Seoni quickly shouted “Trap!” but it was too late. A flurry of
darts already swept across the hallway, launching from maybe a dozen barely noticeable
holes on the ceiling. Seoni deflected some of them with her shield, but a few did still hit the
triggering digger.

“I told you to be careful with your footsteps” Seoni sighed. Walking over to the man that had
a dart through his knee, she spoke a divine word, and placed her palm on him. It then
started glowing a pale blue light, as she gently pulled the dart out, and the wound magically
closed behind it. “That could have been alot worse”, she added.

“Aye milady” the digger said. Me cousin’s a guard in Hornswatch, and he took an arrow to
the knee once. Ended his adventuring days real proper!”

Seoni raised an annoyed eyebrow and flatly stated - “Be careful with your footsteps..”

As they progressed deeper into the bowels of the crypt, their caution led them to avoid a few
more dart traps, and then they finally reached what seemed like the door to a burial
chamber. It was circular and emblazoned with the sigil of an elven house, but which Seoni
could not decipher. To the chagrin of the guards and diggers, she took 15 minutes to detect if
there was any magic in the area, and indeed detected a mild aura of necromancy.

“We should rest here before we press on. We’ve had enough adventure for one day” she
declared. The diggers and guards began to unpack and prepare a makeshift camp. Rolling
out bedrolls, lighting a fire, breaking out the dried meats and cheeses they had with them
and rationing them amongst all present.
Later that evening, as she was saying her evening thanks to Arcadis for continuing to let her
use magic, she was thinking about how amazingly crazy it all is. If she hadn’t been there
today, that man could have been eaten by a Zombie. That other man could have lost a leg,
or worse. And if Arcanus didn’t grant her magic, she would not have been there. Thinking
about it made her toss and turn in her bedroll. The complexity of chance. The meaning of
power. The weight and responsibility of magic..

And tomorrow, they still had that door to open..