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Alveus

Legends of the adventures

Alveus: A Letter from the West (The Keep)

<t is far too nice a day to be stuck indoors; the sun is bright, only a few small clouds drift in the sky, and a pleasant breeze keeps the day from being too hot. All of which has made classes pure agony! The moment the last lecture of the day ends, you grab your things and dart for the door - and almost trip over a pugeon coming into the classroom. You barely manage to keep on your feet, and trade baleful glares with the little dog while the instructor reads the message it brought.
     
      "Sorry everyone, day's not over quite yet. Archmage Thane's called an assembly in the Great Hall. Please head directly there."
     
      You were so close! Grumbling the entire way, you join the mass of students, staff, and Keep residents heading for the Great Hall. The Archmage is already on the raised dias, as is Master Belmos and a blonde woman you vaguely recognize as one of the resident mages. The incoming crowd finally slows to a trickle, and Thane holds up a parchment.
     
      "This letter was received today from one of our recent graduates, Talyn. I believe its contents are important to us all." He straightens out the parchment, and begins to read.
     
      "Hello from the far side of the Silva Forest! You would not believe some of the stuff I've seen; my contact didn't tell me the half of it! Seriously, you guys are missing out stuck in the Keep all the time.
     
      There is one little problem, though. That guy who helped me get here, Alethin? He kinda forgot to mention that people here hate mages. Can you believe it? I was doing okay until my rekel ate some smith's hammer. Oh man, did he freak out! I offered to pay for it, but he just kept screaming about evil beasts trying to destroy the city. Next thing I know I'm hauled in front of the city council, and they're accusing me of being a spy and trying to start a war or something. Apparently a long time ago there was some kind of magic battle here, and it caused a lot of damage, and it's been illegal to practice magic ever since. You can't even have a magical creature!
     
      So I try to explain about wanting to see the world and how a merchant was helping me out, but that just makes it worse! It turns out Alethin's got kind of a sketchy reputation around here, and as soon as his name came up the council got even madder. More mad? Whichever. Anyway, I argue with them that mages don't fight like that, and just because some other mages lost it doesn't mean all mages are crazy, and if mages really did screw things up like that maybe mages can fix it. Then the council started arguing with each other over what to do with me, and finally told me to put up or shut up. Seems a lot of land was ruined in that big fight, and a bunch of the lakes in the area have foul water, and some places have so much old magic residue it's not safe to go there. And if I can fix this stuff, they'll reconsider letting mages in the area.
     
      So... I'm sorta stuck in jail until everything's fixed. But they did say I could ask for help, so I'm writing this, and I hope everyone at the Keep will pitch in, because I know we've got the power and the creatures to do all this! So what d'ya say, you wanna set things right?
     
      Talyn"
     
      Thane puts the letter aside and looks at everyone gathered. "Talyn seems to have forgotten his History of Magic lessons. The devastating Mage Wars long ago caused much damage like Talyn describes, and we were not completely ignorant of how far that damage spread. What magi destroyed here, magi repaired, but all such efforts beyond Silva were repulsed. So our forebearers left them to themselves, and we have not ventured into those lands since. If the people of Alveus are willing to negotiate with us again, we have a responsibility to heal those harms."
     
      "Those of you who wish to assist with revitalizing the lands, we shall need xand bears and vasant beetles. To purify the waters, kaetus will be most useful. And to cleanse the corrupted magic remnants, we shall need able volunteers. You should head first over to Lake Lakira. Lady Alua here will be collecting kaetus eggs there; she is a specialist with water-borne creatures, and a former resident of Theia in Alveus. Master Belmos shall be by the Keep stables to take vasant beetle and xand bear eggs. If you wish to assist in the magical cleansing, please seek me out in the courtyard. Thank you all for your time and your assistance, and I hope to see each of you soon. Time is of the essence. We need to gather the resources fast and cannot linger for too long."

Alveus: Water Revitalization (Lake Lakira)

You've never seen the lake waters as pure and clear as they are now. But then, you've also never seen so many kaetuses in one place. The usually reclusive fish swarm near the shore, swimming around and through a floating mass of eggs. On shore, Alua and several assistants are filling travel tanks with water and placing eggs carefully into the prepared tanks.
     
      Alua smiles when she spots you. "Hello! Come to assist with the water purification, have you? We could use more kaetuses so if you could bring back four kaetus eggs that would be wonderful."
Alua glances up as you approach. She sees you haven't yet got the four kaetus eggs she requested and after reminding you she gets back to the preparations.
Alua takes the eggs and carefully inspects them before adding them to one of the prepared tanks. "These will do nicely, thank you. You know, my family left when I was young because my gift with water creatures was making people suspicious. If we succeed, maybe other children won't have their lives uprooted because of their talents. Thank you again. You should check the stables at the Keep; Master Belmos is watching over the preparations over there and could probably use some help as well."

Alveus: Tend the Land (The Keep)

It wasn't that long ago Talyn's wagons left; now the stables are busy again with a caravan preparing to travel. But this time Master Belmos is getting everything sorted, and the cargo is very different. A few adult xand bears keep checking the black-and-white eggs in one wagon, while small red and green beetles crawl among the tiny orange eggs in another. It all looks very busy, but Belmos is the essence of calm control as he approaches you.
     
      "It's good to see you. We can use all the help we can. If you want to help with the land revitalization why don't you bring back two xand bear eggs and two vasant beetle eggs?"
You wander back to the stables but haven't collected two xand bear eggs and two vasant beetle eggs yet so there is little for you to do.
The eggs are placed gently in the wagon, and an adult immediately comes over to make sure they are settled safely. "This will be a great help," Master Belmos tells you. "It's sad to know the effects of the Mage Wars still linger, but now we can do something about it. We'll be a while longer gathering contributions, but you should seek out Archmage Thane over at the Keep's courtyard to volunteer for help."

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