The direct approach is not always wisest

You start your morning early, before the sun has crested over the horizon. It's the closest you can get to bearable weather, closer to the forests of home. The market stalls are opening up, with a wide assortment of foods available. Nearly all of the fruits and grains are imported, bringing the prices up. You still have the pocket money from your bout in the arena, but you might need that, so you opt for a more localized choice. You choose a large pitaya from one of the fruit vendors, and begin to pull your coinpurse, only to be interrupted by Siobhan, who had quietly swooped in behind you, buying her own. Handing over the coins for two, without bothering to haggle, she quickly motions you away "I've got this one Verigas."

Feeling uneasy at the rapid events, you are cautious to respond "Thank you Siobhan, I didn't think you would be awake so early"

"You're not the only one who detests these desert climates. Most of your kind will wake up early or stay late for at least a taste of more temperate weather."

"Your kind?" You ask oddly "You mean our kind"

"Well, obviously" she said with a confident smile as she started peeling away the outer layers "I think you're focusing on the wrong details here. I tend to stay inside through most of the day, but today is the exception."

"Because you wanted to get your gifted student a gift for breakfast?"

"Clever wordplay, but not quite. Follow me, we have work to do, and it's best we do it early"

"Of course" you say dreadfully. You do want to learn, and Siobhan, despite her eccentric and dismissive habits, does seem to know her craft, knowing far more than her appearance as the disaffected professor would suggest. "What are we doing today?"

"Today, we're going to take care of that raider problem so that you can be initiated into the Academy."

"But, I already am, with you." You counter slowly, sensing something else is at work

"True, but this helps provide insurance, and options. There are other professors here you know, and it would be remiss of me to not have you learn everything you can."

"Yes, of course. That makes sense. So, what's the plan?" You ask.

"That's up to you, my dear protégé. I am here only as an advisor and a fallback should you completely cock this up."

"Thank you Siobhan," You respond plainly "As an advisor, would you at least direct me as to where we need to go?"

"Oh, I can do more than that" With a series of precise gestures and an unfamiliar incantation, two ghostly figures begin to appear. They have most of the shape of a horse, but the whispy, ethereal nature of them makes it so that it's never a complete form. Evidently, it's still at least enough to work, as Siobhan gets on one as if it were the real thing.

"We're burning daylight Verigas, hurry now" She jokes ironically as she sees you hesitating. You nod quietly and hoist yourself on. The sensation is highly unusual; you feel nothing under you, as if you were holding a stretch, but yet you are kept perfectly still, at least until your teacher motions forward, at which point the two phantom steeds gallop off at high speed, quickly leaving the gates of the city and into the scorching, rocky desert. You can almost immediately begin to feel sweat beading around your brow and under your layers of clothing. You hope this can be resolved quickly before you and Siobhan dehydrate and pass out. As if having a window into your mind, the elder elf breaks the silence.

"So, how do you plan on dealing with these bandits and highwaymen? Remember, one of them is supposed to have a magical artifact, and seems to know how to use it."

"Overwhelm them with power. Lightning spells will jump from one enemy to the other, which can outdo their supremacy in numbers." Siobhan looked at you with a face of disappointment, hoping there would be more to your plan. She kept silent.

"What?" You ask "That's a perfectly decent plan"

"It's an incredibly risky plan. The moment any of them start to overwhelm you, you will be, effectively, fucked. You've spent too long in the arenas and hearing stories of adventuring wizards, my dear student."

"What do you mean by that?"

"There are more schools of magic than evocation." She chided "And if applied correctly, they can make fighting altogether unnecessary."

"What did you have in mind Siobhan?" You ask, sensing she already had a plan.

"Enchantment and Illusion schools should be able to accomplish everything we need. Would you care for a demonstration?"

"Sure," You respond with a slightly defeated tone "I almost have the feeling like you were going to come and get this anyway, and I'm just here for company."

"Verigas, you wound me" She replies with mock shock and surprise "If I wanted company, I would have brought my pet" as she quickly turned it around. "Your learning is supposed to be more than just handing you a spellbook and having you read until you go blind. This is a matter of application, of critical thinking, to see the greater picture." The phantom horses came to an abrupt stop as Siobhan held her arm out "Shhhh, we're here, or at least near enough to it." The phantoms disappear under you, and you softly land on your feet.

"Okay, so what's next?"

"Next, we ensure they don't attack us on sight" Siobhan thrusted her arms into the sky, wrists bent flat. Paired with the proper incantation, a bright white light came forth, and when the spell was done, both you and her looked quite a bit different. Most terribly off-putting was that you both appeared human. That was the worst of it, but not all. You both appeared dirty and scraggly, with your robes taking the appearance of rough linen and padded leather.

"This is vile" you let out as you look over your own appearance, disgusted.

"Oh hush" She responded "It keeps you alive, and you're still the same miserable elf you were before. Let's go, we have another step to this."

You follow her along the rough path that could only be in the loosest concept be called a road, going up a hill into a hard mountain face. Along the path was a solitary man serving as a guard or lookout. Slightly more prepared than the average petty thief, this one was wearing a pieced together set of armor, heavily battered, rusted, and worn, holding a long blade and wooden buckler.

"Hey there!" he called out as he put his sights on you "What are the likes of you doing outside so early? Nobody was supposed to be outside until the next raid."

"Relax" Siobhan said as she waved her hand in a circular motion "It's just us, we told you we were just coming outside for some fresh air..." A discrete spell of the mind, the oaf was easily fooled into thinking you were friends.

"Oh yah, heat must be getting to me. Seems a bit daft to be having a guard out, but I'm not going to argue with the boss, not since we got lucky on that raid. Powers gone to his head it has."

"I'll bet." Siobhan nods in agreement "Magic items like that have been known to corrupt and distort the mind. Those wizardy types are just one bad day away from wreaking havoc on us all."

"Ain't that the truth" the guard replied with a hearty laugh "Gotta wonder what them college eggheads would be needing with something like what the boss got his grubby mits on. Ain't natural, that thing"

"I'll tell you what they're doing." Siobhan was all too quick to lead him on "They sell their secrets and their powers to the highest bidder, taking our hard earned gold and silver just for a taste of real power, but never giving us what we need to take control. They're always the ones pulling the strings, and it's time we pulled back I say." Siobhan's act of paranoid ramblings got you worried. Where would this stop? Would the city now have a new problem to deal with? How does this help get what you need?

"Oy, now there's the spirit. It's like you're reading my brain, you are. It isn't right how they're always the ones calling the shots. We gotta take our rightful place."

"Indeed, and I think you're just the one to do it. If you were to take the item from the boss, you could take his place, and before you know it, we're burning the college down." She waved her hand again, and a manic look took his eyes

"Ya! Why shouldn't I be the one in charge!? I can do a better job than he can. We'll do better than just picking off trading caravans for scraps! Let's go take what's ours!" The guard turned around and ran inside. Siobhan followed right behind, and in your panick, you followed behind, until she stopped just at the mouth of the cave.

"Are you insane!?" You asked defiantly "I know you said you wanted to topple the college, but this is hardly the way to do it. What's gotten into you?"

"Be still your little heart Verigas" She dismissed you with a wave as she looked through the dark cave, listening to the events inside "I know what I'm doing"

"Well that makes one of us. What is this all about?"

"Rule one about thieves, they all have a persecution complex. Every one of them think that they deserve a better lot in life, and most tend to think they should be in charge of something. Groups like this hardly ever last long."

"And?" You ask, hoping for a next step

"And by putting the idea in his head, there's going to be a fight in there for supremacy. Heads will roll until there's a new person in charge. After they've beaten and killed each other, we go in and finish the job, collect what's ours and be on our way."

"I can't believe this" You let out, astonished by your teachers methods. "This is absolutely heartless."

"You were going to come in here and kill them all yourself, or at least try to, before you were cut down. Don't make me out to be the monster here...." She paused for the sounds of the ensuing **** to carry through the hall "They did that all on their own, I just gave one of them a nudge in the direction he was already leading." Through the clashing of metal on shields and flesh, you hear more than a few shriefs of fear and outright terror inside. You can only imagine what was taking place that hardened criminals and thugs would react in such a way. The noise ends quickly, though you wait a few additional moments before either of you walk inside.

"Well fuck" Siobhan states with an odd glee "I think that worked better than I had hoped. It doesn't look like anyone is left..." True to her word, everyone you see is on the ground, bleeding out and deceased, or well on their way. The smell is almost overpowering in your nose, taking most of your mental energy just to resist going back outside for some fresh air. Amazingly, in your revulsion of the scene before you, you think you find something odd. A group of bodies are laying over one another oddly. Holding your breath and closing your eyes in disgust, you try to pull them off one another to reveal what's beneath. You stop the moment you have a clear view, and are immediately thankful you bothered, still sitting on the ground as you look down at it. It's a massive war hammer, meant to be wielded in two hands. Maybe it was the blood and gore covering it, or the odd runes etched into it, but just seeing it made you uncomfortable inside

"Siobhan, I think I found it." You shout, causing her to slowly move forward, standing over you. She gently pats your shoulder "I believe you have Verigas, although this causes further concern."

"Why?" You ask "What's so special about it?"

"This" She said as she heaved it out from under the bodies "Is a Mace of Terror. You have to be exceptionally skilled both in your blacksmithing and your spellcrafting to make such a weapon. There's no cause for the university to be having such a weapon brought in, not that I can think of."

You reply with an odd bit of humor "Maybe there's something to your conspiracy theory after all. Maybe someone in that school is plotting something after all"

"Oh please" She replied "They're greedy sloths, not tyrants. No, I'm afraid something else is at work here, but we'll find out soon enough."

"So what now?"

"Now, we get back to town, and you claim your reward. They will be quite surprised that you of all people succeeded. Don't tell anyone that I had anything to do with it, do you understand?"

"Of course Siobhan" Your sarcasm starts to match hers "After all, you just gave them a push"

"Exactly" She responds with a wry smile. With a twirl of her arms, the illusions came off, returning back to your elven states as you depart the cave, artifact in tow