Return of the Mage

[ixis]

The stone tower has remained in its distant reaches of the Nexus, a constant looming landmark at the border of the Wilds. But its owner and inhabitant has been silent and missing for so long now, hasn't he? The only reassurance that he's not dead is the family that has made their home on the outskirts of the tower, tending to the chao and rebuilding their own life after fleeing Azeroth's Westfall. Only they have been graced with rare glimpses of the Mobian mage, who otherwise has locked himself inside, working obsessively on...something.

So the sudden pillar of smoke that rises from the landmark might be cause for notice, if not alarm. It swirls and grows, soon gathering itself into a singular column of dense smog and streaking towards the central plaza. And there in the middle does it descend, pulling its billowing shape into something more solid. The gruesome form it ends up taking is none other than the long-absent Ixis Naugus, jeweled staff in hand, cape pulled around his shoulders with his claw.

He casts a surveying look around, taking in the usual views and the present people. After doing so, his face splits into a toothy grin and he poses his question:

"Well? What have I missed?"

Comments

[conjuredskies]

"Much the same as that. The dwarves, in fact, seem to have done exactly that. Then there are people like the Sea Elves, the Sload..." the Aldmeri Dominion... "who can be violently opposed to collaboration with other races at all. And unfortunately, diplomatic relations are at a particularly low ebb these days." He sighs, giving Naugus an exasperated shrug. "There's a grievous lack of pragmatism in my realm these last few decades, alas."

He does smirk at how intrigued the elder sorcerer seems, however. "Why, Mora's realm is said to be home to types of daedra unknown in other regions of Oblivion. Daedra I certainly wouldn't learn about in the stuffy colleges back home. Where better to obtain knowledge of their summoning than in their native plane?"

[ixis]

"A shame that the divides are so severe in your lands. Unification of MOST of the Mobian races happened before my time, or at least the time I can remember. And those that refused to collaborate, well. Like you said with your dwarves. And my echidnas. You'd think isolated civilizations would have learned by now."

Naugus really loves these moments and regards them as sparkles of true promise with Felix. Willingness to push the boundaries and flirt with arcane taboo. He's grinning again, of course. "And to gain audience with one of these daedra from Mora's zone? Are there supplies to be gathered or wards to construct?"

[conjuredskies]

"I expect it takes crippling isolation to sustain that kind of willful stupidity." His tone is laced with contempt. Felix must really despise those dwarves. "Fortunate that neither of us is so afflicted.

But his attention is on much more important matters then. "It depends upon the order in which we do this... but yes, if you could supply additional wards, lest the creature get out of hand- it's hard to say what we should expect, after all... and we will certainly need some potent offerings. At least one. Something to truly impress the Prince of Forbidden Knowledge..."

[ixis]

"One would think any shred of knowledge from a world now dead and erased, which is to say Mobius, would pique his interest. Were I to come up with something, even if it is just historical documentation or a collection of Ixian tenets, do you think that would suffice?"

[conjuredskies]

It might, but it's not quite what Felix is looking for here. And this time he's less bent on proving how accommodating he can be to the elder sorcerer. Hmm.

"You assume he hasn't been in contact with your realm before," he points out gently. "Consider what we learned about Nocturnal- I doubt Mora's capabilities will be so much less extensive. You are the last mage of that realm - an Ixian mage, no less, so I have no doubt you'll catch his interest. But to earn the sort of favor we're asking - to obtain a token of his very realm - I fear you may need to offer something of substantial value."

He shrugs. "But you would judge that better than I. I'll leave you to consider that, and concern myself with learning the proper arrangements to make."