Marcus' thoughts were breezy and unfocused, lingering on Kleris' questions before jumping around briefly to other subjects. But her leading questions of his home managed to make him focused for a bit.<br/><br/>"Why I came? Well, I suppose it's due to my upbringing. I wanted to ensure that I would not be limited solely by my body, And to make sense of the world. It's easier to know what career to take in life when you can divine the future, heh."<br/><br/><em>Thoughts of a city at night, a white-washed two-story building. A first-person view of a younger, smaller Marcus buying eggs from an elven woman he meets at eye-level. One of her arms is missing but she uses a mage hand spell for fine manipulation.</em><br/><br/>Marcus let out a sigh as Kleris' hand massaged his flaccid penis. "As for going back home...well,  I've seen so many wonderful places already thanks to Redhurst. Manifest is wonderful, but I know what it's like. I want to savor this while it lasts."<br/><br/><em>Thoughts of darkened catacombs, Kleris by his side wearing magical goggles to see without light. It is like the city from the previous thought, but underground with a high cavernous ceiling. Marcus casually summons a set of steps ascending to a second-story balcony, leading into a shop of rare mage-produced goods. Marcus' mother, a raven-haired human woman, hugs Kleris and tells him that she expects grandchildren.</em><br/><br/>Marcus briefly cringed at this statement, both in his thoughts and in the waking world. Even so, Kleris' ministrations couldn't help but briefly drift his thoughts to how little minotaurs are made.<br/><br/><em>Two images. One winning Kleris over with words and deeds, her accepting his hand and slipping on an appropriately-sized wedding ring. Another, his baser, instinctual side, carrying off Kleris into some dark cavern, ripping her wedding dress off, and pinning her to the floor. Either way she could be his: part of him desires to try things the human way, but that other part will always linger in his thoughts.</em><br/><br/>"Necromancy is...a bit of a sore subject in Manifest. It is both a blessing and a scourge for its people; ectomancy is a subset dedicated specifically to ghosts, whereas spells which destroy the free will of the undead are hated. As is the use of animating dead flesh. Still, Manifest's powers are a tempting treasure, so they still come. Night Alley was a favorite gathering spot, although they know do so in the Catacombs after the City Watch rooted out their old hiding places."<br/><br/><em>The face of Marcus' father appears: Lubanac. Images of traditional necromancy, bones worked into unnatural constructs. Sneaking downstairs to catch a glimpse of his father talking with black-hooded figures through a scrying pool. A fear carried not of him, but of discovery. Fear not so much of the man himself, but the secret of the forbidden art, and what should happen if his father's discovered. An image of Marcus crossing into Redhurst that day, having come to an understanding not to follow in his footsteps. Marcus is happy that his father understands his decision.</em><br/><br/>"There's also the country of Xaphan, which is a dictatorship ruled over by vampire priests of Orcus. Few people willingly visit, and some of their private armies have attacked Manifest. Last war was thirty years ago, well before my time."<br/><br/>Gradually Marcus found himself getting hard again, a more gradual half-mast than the vigorous throbber it was hours ago. "Although I did see some paintings of one of its rulers. This pale vampire lady in a red dress. Nice tits, curves in all the right places. Mmmm, what I'd do to make her my woman..."<br/><br/><div align="center">(https://i.imgur.com/gy32UaZ.jpg?1)</div><br/>A loud series of knocks rapped the dorm door before Marcus could go into absent-minded detail on the kinds of things he'd inflict on such a vampiress.<br/><br/>"Kleris, are you in there?!" It was Zull's voice. "Hurry up, you'll be late for the House Cannith meeting!"<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">Marcus Will Save 17, Failure (https://elliquiy.com/forums/dicebot.php?r=144483)</div></div><br/><hr/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;">Sharn, Headquarters of Cannith South<span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span><br/>(https://i.imgur.com/wWCZt0D.png)</div><br/>Kleris numbered among the half-dozen Redhurst students both skilled and lucky enough to be invited a tour of House Cannith's Sharn headquarters. He was more than permitted to bring his iron defender Ari, it being a copyrighted invention of theirs. The five other students were a mixture of familiar and not so familiar, arriving on a landing platform by aircabs. One of them was the white-haired elf (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=205751.msg12222461#msg12222461) from...2 months ago, and who was with Andrei during Rachel's party, engaged in conversation with The tiefling prefect Filomena (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=205751.msg10163114#msg10163114).<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Perception DC 15</div><div class="spoiler_body">"I'm just saying, I think it's kind of weird that we've stayed in Eberron for 2 months now," Filomena said.<br/><br/>"Well, it is more pleasant than Bemmea, and the city's filled with magic," the elf replied. "The Headmaster likely wants us to experience all that we can here."</div></div><br/>The other two were Suthrak and Adeline, (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=205751.msg14797808#msg14797808) the lizardfolk and squole (respectively) students who were also doing compensated dating on the side, nonchalantly sipping milkshakes purchased from a fly-thru restaurant on the aircab ride there.<br/><br/>The only truly familiar face was Elmira, who cheerily waved over at Kleris. "Oh, you're here too? Great!" she exclaimed. "I heard about your brass and iron falcon fight way back for Merrix d'Cannith's first test. I was inspired to try something similar with folded paper, and I guess it got me noticed!"<br/><br/>She produced a cage with numerous tiny birds. But they seemed odd, not making any bird-like chirps or fluttering sounds, but rather something more akin to paper flying in the wind. (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/m-p/origami-swarm/)<br/><br/>Suthrak's attention turned immediately to the paper birds. "Oh wow, that's like so cool! Can you sic them on someone and give 'em a million paper cuts? That'd be awesome!"<br/><br/>"What, no!" Elmira exclaimed, jerking the cage away from the lizardfolk's grasping hands.<br/><br/>Filomena and the elf's conversation wrapped up, and they headed over to join the others. They had time to contrast and compare their inventions (Sella made a<em>Formula Alembic,</em>Filomena a<em>Key of Lock Jamming,</em>Adeline<em>Soul Soup</em>"made from my own slimy essence!" and Suthrak an image projector (https://sites.google.com/site/eberronpathfinder/conversion-info/magical-items/wondrous-items/image-projector)), but soon the welcoming committee came: a middle-aged gnome in a wheeled chair moving of its own volition.<br/><br/>"Hello, apprentices of Redhurst," the gnome said as he rummaged through a purse on his lap. "Welcome to Cannith South Division. Now if you'll please follow me..."<br/><br/>The girls (and the iron defender) were lead through a tour of the facility. It was everything one would imagine of an arcane workshop, and more: mobile crane machines transported bits and pieces onto conveyor belts, golems manually assembling the parts in rapid succession as they came down the line. Reinforced glass walls housing experimental devices ranging from pocket-sized elemental portals flooding the room with planar essence to self-casting spellbooks subjected to a variety of poking and prodding stimuli to coax out the desired spell result. Adalene was enraptured with the last one in particular.<br/><br/>"Wow, this could make my homework so much easier!" she squealed. "Are they for sale?"<br/><br/>"It's still in the R&D stage," the gnome answered. "Please do not tarry."<br/><br/><em>The gnome's hiding something,</em>Horishkad communicated to Kleris.<em>The tour is but made for distraction.</em><br/><br/>Filomena crept up right behind Kleris to whisper in his ear. "Doesn't this tour seem like a distraction?"<br/><br/>She backed off a bit to give him some space. "He hasn't explained what opportunity's awaiting us."<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">It's been a while, but Kleris crafted a Ring of the Diamond Mind for the assignment. (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=205751.msg11662769#msg11662769)</div></div>