I will, but...

You look long and hard at Ailis, thoughts whirling through your mind. You do not know the scope of what she is asking of you; clearly it is something much bigger than just a mystical battery. You consider asking questions, but really, the answers aren't relevant to what is actually at stake. Ailis is not asking you to take a specific action, not really. She is asking you to dedicate yourself and your power to protecting and serving the Starchaser tribe. That is what causes you to think so hard about her request; you have done far more for the Starchasers than the Starchasers have done for you, individually or as a whole. Even after essentially single-handedly wiping out an entire army for them, less than half of the village is Friendly or better towards you. Beyond that, certain individuals -- Ailis herself not least among them -- have used and abused you just because you are different from them.

Then you remember what Cai and Llwyd said to you, about how they believe you have the potential to make the world better. Would turning your back on the Starchasers be living up to that potential? Is it even your responsibility to live up to that potential? That is the question you need to answer for yourself, the Vorlon question: Who are you? So far, you have mostly been reacting to what happened or used by others for their own designs. It is time to decide whether you are going to continue being a tool or whether you are going to seize a modicum of control for yourself.

You reach out and take Brighid's hand in your own and tell Ailis, "I will. I do not desire power for myself, but if it must be done to protect our people, then so be it. But know that I will require more than just a thank you and a promise of help if I am to become your shield against the world." Brighid squeezes your hand and nods firmly in agreement.

She closes her eyes briefly, then opens them and bows to you. Her next words are for Sarpedon, however. "Do you know how Aidan can claim the Place of Power? I know of them in general terms, the history and legends, but I am afraid my knowledge in this regard is entirely theoretical."

The gargoyle nods solemnly. "I do, and I will be happy to guide him. It is to our benefit for the task he has accepted if he has the tools which a Place of Power will give him, after all." He turns his head to speak to you. "Do you wish to depart now? It appears that the Councillor believes the matter to be of significant urgency."

"Does anyone have anything which can't wait a day?" You ask the assembled company. The centaurs all shake their heads and your familiar continues washing her face from her accustomed perch on Brighid's back. "I guess there's no time like the present then. Love, do you happen to have one of those thick riding blankets with you?"

You end up taking the time to go back down into the Starchaser village for supplies, including a riding blanket and food for six, as well as for you, Brighid, Llwyd, and Cai to arm and armor yourselves. Then you find yourself riding towards Bannagh Macht for the second day in a row. You can't help but feel trepidation; neither of your previous visits to the city have turned out well. You know, intellectually, that the Taig is dead and there should be nothing which this party can't easily handle, but deep in the pit of your stomach you still associate the city -- and especially the chamber under the hill -- with unbearable agony and death.

The sun is just setting as your party reaches the city. The mists still stop at the city's edge, a result of your divine Patron acting through you. For the first time, you can clearly see the time-worn ruins around you. There are far fewer relatively intact buildings than you first thought; mostly there are just vast fields of rubble. Again you proceed down the main avenue and make your way into the tunnel under the hill. The altar chamber is still coated in a thin layer of white ash, disturbed only by the hoofprints and other marks left by the members of your strike team. The largest patch clear of the ashes is right in front of the altar, likely where Cai fell to once the Deathbramble Heart was incinerated.

Sarpedon enters the chamber and beckons you over to the altar. He instructs you, "Place your hand upon the altar. Now, you must allow your magical essence to mingle with the magic of the Place of Power."

You give him a blank look. "How do I do that?"

He grimaces. "It is difficult to describe, I confess. Do you know the sensation of power building within you as you cast a spell or ritual?" You nod. "That is your magical essence being gathered and shaped by the words and gestures of the magic. It is possible to access your essence without the framework of a spell or ritual; try to reach inside yourself and summon forth that same feeling, but instead of channeling it into a spell, push it into the altar."

You are dubious at the vague instructions, but give it your best shot. You close your eyes and try to wall off every sense except for the feel of your hand on the altar, then try to emulate casting a spell without actually doing so. Nothing happens. Several minutes pass as nothing continues to happen from your continued mental efforts. Frustration builds in you as you fail repeatedly in front of an audience, and a dark corner of your mind tells you to lash out at the altar to release your frustration, to cast a Flame Jet or Soulfire Blast. You squash that voice down but suddenly inspiration hits you. You aren't having any success trying to draw forth your magical essence without casting a spell, but what if you start to cast a spell and then stop?

You twist your fingers into the initial gestures for Kindle the Hearth-Flame and start the chant for the spell, just the first couple of non-words. You feel the power begin to fill you and immediately you stop and grab at the power mentally, but it vanishes as soon as your concentration shifts from the spell. You grit your teeth and try again, and again, and again, but the power slips away every time. Still, at least you are making a tiny bit of progress. You force yourself to calm down and concentrate on the task at hand; you're trying to mingle your magic with that of the Place of Power, and that doesn't necessarily require you to actually take a mental grip on your power. You take a deep breath and let it out, releasing the tension which had built up inside you, then begin the cast again. This time, you focus on the power inside you and, rather than simply dropping your concentration on the spell, you give the power a mental push out and down.

You hear gasps from all around you and open your eyes, only to be overwhelmed by unexpected sights. You can sort of make out the actual physical room you are standing in, but only dimly. Overlayed on top of your sight is a field of glowing energy stretching out to the horizon. Tiny trickles merge into streams and then four vast rivers of energy, all of them rushing towards you and collecting in the chamber around you. If this is the magical landscape of the nearby area, then Sarpedon is right; calling it hills and valleys is not at all accurate. The 'terrain' doesn't really have a third dimension, but there is definitely a pattern of directionality to the flows. It actually more closely resembles a circuit board than a three-dimensional map.

The 'terrain' isn't all there is to see, either. Each of your companions has a visual representation here as well. Cai and Llwyd are very faint nodes of self-contained energy, which makes sense as they are not mages. Brighid, standing close beside you, is a glowing, pulsing bundle of warm red-orange energy. The brilliant golden glow with the brownish aura behind you is Ailis, and the floor-to-ceiling pillar of crackling sapphire static must be Sarpedon. At your feet is a tangled bramble of different colors of energy surrounded by a shimmering, twinkling aura of lights; Riama. Each of them is connected to the streams of energy flowing into the Place of Power by fine wisps of magic.

You focus your attention on the altar beneath your hand and push your awareness and energy at it. It resists at first, but after a moment the resistance ends and you feel a connection form between you and it. Four octahedral crystals the size of your fist, shaped like two pyramids glued together at their bases, rise and begin to spin around the periphery of the room. One of them is the red-brown of rich soil, one is a light sky blue streaked with white, and the other two are a opalescent white. Clearly, these are representations of the four main flows feeding this Place of Power, but you aren't sure what to do with them. Fortunately, it turns out that you don't really have to do anything. The Earth crystal pulses and you hear a single note of indescribable sound, answered after a short pause by an echo of that same sound inside you. Then the Air crystal does the same thing, with a slightly different but still indescribable sound, followed by the two unaspected crystals. Each time, an answering pulse echoes from your own magical essence. The crystals begin to spiral in closer and closer to you, pulsing in a complex pattern which blend together into a strange and wondrous symphony. They continue to close in on you, the music growing more and more rapid and frantic, and a prompt blooms in your mind.

Your affinities with Earth Magic, Air Magic, and two additional schools of magic are sufficient to claim this Place of Power as your own. Know this: although a Place of Power greatly enhances the strength and potential of its master, it also brings with it great responsibilities. Neglecting your Place of Power can stunt, negate, or even, in severe cases, reverse the flow of energy. Are you prepared for the consequences of this action? Do you wish to claim ownership of the Place of Power, Caer Macht?

You steel yourself, then send your acceptance. The crystals each flare into brilliant light and their tones blast through you and consume you. You stagger back to from the altar and your connection to the strange mystical landscape vanishes, but notifications begin to blossom in your mind like fireworks.

By claiming Mastery of a Place of Power linked to Earth and Air, your own power in those schools is increased, based on your affinity to each school.
Congratulations! You have reached levels 1 through 10 in Earth Magic. You are now a Novice in Earth Magic; your resistance to earth magic increases by 10%. You are now an Initiate in Earth Magic; in addition to benefits from previous ranks, your resistance to slashing and piercing damage increases by 10%.
Congratulations! You have reached levels 1 through 10 in Air Magic. You are now a Novice in Air Magic; your resistance to air magic increases by 10%. You are now an Initiate in Air Magic; in addition to benefits from previous ranks, your senses of hearing and scent are slightly improved.

By claiming Mastery of a Place of Power with two Unaspected links, your own power will be reflected in your Place of Power. One of the links will take on the aspect of your highest level magical Skill, while the second will take on the aspect of your highest affinity magical Skill (randomly determined in case of a tie).
Caer Macht is now linked to Earth, Air, Fire, and Dream magic.

Congratulations! You have reached level 1 in Oneiromancy. You are now Unskilled in Oneiromancy.

You have learned the spells Enrich Soil, Prospector's Blessing, Magma Blast, Alarm, Electric Arc, and Wind Barrier, and the ritual Shared Dream.
Enrich Soil: Earth Magic, level 1. This spell causes soil in a 10 meter by 10 meter wide by 2 meter deep area to become very slightly richer in nutrients. Plants grown in an area affected by this spell grow more quickly, are more resistant to disease and pests, and have increased yields. The effects of this spell stack. Cost: 25 Concentration. Duration: Concentration up to 1 month, at which point the effect becomes Permanent. Cast Time: 10 minutes.
Prospector's Blessing: Earth Magic, level 5. When cast, this spell allows you to know the direction to and richness of the nearest mineral vein. Increased skill with Earth Magic may allow you to search for specific minerals or otherwise manipulate the results. Cost: 100 Concentration. Duration: Concentration. Cast Time: 5 seconds. Cooldown: 1 hour.
Magma Blast: Earth Magic and Fire Magic, level 1. Conjures a superheated ball of stone and propels it towards an enemy. If the attack hits, it deals 10 impact/fire damage and causes the target to be afflicted with Burning for 5 seconds as the stone cools and hardens. After 5 seconds, Burning ends (unless also inflicted by another source) and the target is afflicted with Partial Petrification. Cost: 50 Concentration. Duration: Instantaneous. Cast Time: 1 second. Cooldown: 5 seconds.
Alarm: Air Magic, level 1. Wards an area 2 meters in radius such that a shrill alarm will sound, audible only to you and those you designate while casting this spell, if any hostile creature passes through it. Cost: 100 Concentration. Duration: Concentration. Cast Time: 10 seconds.
Electric Arc: Air Magic, level 5. Sends tendrils of electricity from an outstretched hand into one or more creatures within 5 meters of you and 1 meter of each other. Each target takes 15 electricity damage per second and has living creatures with a central nervous system have a very small chance to be afflicted with Stun. Cost: 75 Concentration. Duration: Concentration, up to 15 seconds. Cast Time: 1 second. Cooldown: 30 seconds.
Wind Barrier:Air Magic, level 10. Protects the caster and those nearby with a barrier of intense winds which will attempt to deflect any attack with physical substance which passes across its boundary. Attacks are deflected based on their speed and mass, with especially fast or massive attacks being deflected less than slower and lighter attacks. Cost: 150 Concentration. Duration: Concentration, up to 2 minutes. Cast Time: 0.25 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes.
Shared Dream: Oneiromancy, level 1. Allows the caster to create a dream and draw another person into that dream with them. The caster does not have control of the dream once it is created, and this ritual will fail if the target is not asleep and in a state near to dreaming. This ritual does not force either the caster or the target to remain asleep, and if either awakens, the effects end. Nothing which happens in the dream is reflected in the real world. Cost: 200 Concentration, can only be cast while asleep. Duration: Until one party awakens or the dream ends. Cast Time: Special.

All hail Lord Aidan, Master of Caer Macht!

As the Master of the Place of Power Caer Macht, your very essence is tied to the land around it. This tie gives you control, to a degree, over how the land is developed and used. Your decisions here will affect every facet of the land and, by extension, the way in which your Place of Power itself grows. With great power comes great responsibility, young Master.