<div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"As one who owns a cat herself, I know this all too well," Rizzid replied.  "Well, the greater the risk, the greater the reward!  What's the price on delving more into your background, Mistress?"</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/><br/>"Patience, little kitty," Zelara smirked. She wanted Rizzid to be the impatient one, coming for, asking for it. "I will let you know when the time is right."<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"Inconceivable!" she exclaimed.  "Who dared to launch a spell at Nefri Drezz'Lynur?!"<br/><br/>Drezz'Lynur<br/>This was a rhetorical question, for her eyes were already on Zelara.  "Ah, I think I recognize you.  That Dreth girl, right?"</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>"You should practice saying 'Mistress Dreth' instead, you'll be using that soon enough," Zelara replied with a smile.<br/><br/>"Must be the mushrooms," she shrugged after Nefri had stormed off. She returned to her bowl of L-and-O-shaped cereal. It was surprisingly good.<br/><br/>Just before breakfast ended and they went their separate ways to class, Zelara held Rizzid back briefly to whisper a message. "Come by my chambers tonight. Bring a gift if you're truly curious." She didn't explain more, nor did she elaborate on the nature of the gift. It was a test of sorts for the commoner, after all.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">Manipulation of Pain and Pleasure</span></div><br/>Crack! Caught by surprise, Zelara flinched involuntarily out of instinct before realizing that nothing more than a strand of hair had been hurt. Now after the fact, she reasoned that the professor wouldn't have hit her... probably. "Impressive trick, professor," she said sincerely. It was indeed an impressive display of skill, and she wanted to reach that level some day.<br/><br/>She had a long way to go, she soon realized, after actually getting her hands on a whip. Rapiers tended not to bend back and bite their wielder in the ass, which apparently could not be said for whips. By the end of the lesson, though, she was a little more likely to hit the dummy and a little less likely to hit her neighbors or herself than she had been at the beginning.<br/><br/>Then there was Alfarna... she raised an eyebrow at the bondage-lover's antics, and made a mental note of her fetish for future reference. This class wouldn't be boring, at the very least.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">The Ideal World</span></div><br/>A riot of color, glorious chaos - Zelara's first impression of the northeast tower, contrasting so much with the rest of the academy. She double-checked, but she was at the right place, and the guidebook's description itself matched the gaudiness of the place. She slowed down to better observe the murals and noticed that they were all illusions, albeit artfully placed, as befitting a center of the illusive school.<br/><br/>In a pleasant turn of events she was early to the class for once. She was about to announce her presence when she overheard something obviously not meant for her ears. Peeking in, she saw the painted woman in the throes of arcane ectasy, shouting about... Mystra, of all the goddesses in the multiverse? Why her? Zelara could almost physically feel the sheer amount of magical energy being channeled through the painted drow's body, and the almost sexual thrill she was obviously getting out of it... the priestess recognized the symptoms of a Spell Addict, caught feeding her habit.<br/><br/><em>(Knowledge religion: 23)</em>(https://elliquiy.com/forums/dicebot.php?r=84360)<br/><em>(Knowledge arcana: 21)</em>(https://elliquiy.com/forums/dicebot.php?r=84361)<br/><br/>It was definitely a sight that Zelara wasn't supposed to have seen, and the spell addict might react dangerously if she found out. So the young cleric backed away as quietly as she could and then reentered the classroom with heavy steps, announcing her presence ahead of her physical arrival. This time the magical conflagration stopped, and she pretended she hadn't noticed what was going on earlier.<br/><br/>"My pleasure to meet you, Professor Loyila. I am Zelara Dreth," she introduced herself with a respectful curtsy. She spent the time before the rest of the class arrived in small talk with the professor, about how she had been gifted the powers of enchantment by... she was about to say Lolth, but remembering the invocation to Mystra earlier she decided to hold her tongue. About how her natural talents lay in the school of enchantment, and how ironic it was that drow were naturally resistant to it.<br/><br/>The class itself was... different. Was this what it was like to take a hallucinogen? Not that she was any more likely to try drugs; what she saw earlier only strengthened her resolve against becoming an addict to anything, for the sake of her own self-dignity if nothing else.<br/><br/>And Nefri was challenging her - well, she hadn't expected any less. "I believe that's my line," Zelara shot back with her most patronizing smile.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Zelara: 800 XP<br/>SLA dispel magic used<br/>0th level spells: Detect Poison, Guidance, Mending, Read Magic<br/>1st level spells: Cure Light Wounds, Sanctuary, Charm Person (domain), (empty slot)<br/>2nd level spells: Cure Moderate Wounds, Invisibility (domain), (empty slot)