Fantasy The Difference Between a Wand and a Staff

[Ulyee]

The Difference Between a Wand and a Staff​

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It all began, thanks to the right soul departing.
Death by poison, a common sight to those in frontier villages around the 'Vine Mountains'. The mountains, so the locals say, had only recently sprouted strange flora and fauna. Word got to the king that entire peasant towns were disappearing around the mountains, but he cared little enough to none. 'Rumors' he would claim, and any case, who could care for a peasant on the other side of the kingdom who likely just ate the wrong plant? So it happened, a knighted nobleman cared. He had found out that his darling lover- a woman half his age and even less so interested in him- had passed so desperately tragically while he was away to war. And overnight in the capital, this evil thing- 'The Devil Woods' had taken every parlor by storm. Suddenly the plight of those poor souls became fashionable, and there in the king's hands were tired. So it goes.

That night, as so many nights in the royal palace, a ball was planned and hatched. Food, music, and swaths of rich'lings tittered over the floors. Each breaking into gossiping pools between song, then back out onto the floor. All had to attend- night after night, sometimes weeks or months at a time. Those men who played with swords, or women with spies, all had a high obligation- partying. To most that was simply life, to the court wizard? It was death.
Edwin Bri'anne, the acting wizard to the king, and somewhat of an oddity to the court at large. Short kept, jet black hair set above near translucent green eyes. Modernly fashioned, with jeweled robes at work, and smart, caped, tunics. All things one would expect of a noble. A well studied and connected noble from some far end of the kingdom, that was factual. But what wasn't proven, though often said, are rumors of his prior military service. He had been an advisor and, so say rumor and myth, un-studied in magic before he left. Two years could certainly not account for his displayed talents and applications of magic in the court, surely. Only recently back among the nobles, he has simply been too hard at work in his new position to address or care for the rumors. He rather liked how they kept the timid and stupid away. Especially during these farcical balls.

Standing far to the corner, along with a handful of other objectors he stood. Each with a servant aside holding trays of food, each raising their nose at the merriment. Acting as snobs, amongst snobs. They tarried back and forth, judging those around them, sharing harsher bits of gossip than any other, and standing as bastions of truly posh accentuation and form. Until, absentmindedly, one brought up the poisoning. The wizard, distracted by a glass of wine, caught a glimpse of hope from the other's words. An unknown, strange- perhaps magical occurrence. The fact that a knight had caused the stink, and the king was now pressured out of his comfort, was simply the pudding atop the cake.
He cared so little for the death, but so much for the issues at hand- the answer to his prayers, release from the court and its daft dancing soldiers and blabbering spies.

The next morning, after a night's preparation, he ambushed his king with a full force of solutions. Using words that sored over the king's understanding, he pretended to already have an idea of the magic at work, and a start on a solution. But hooking there at the end of hope, an affirmation that he must go there, and study the forest itself. With plenty of worry bolted at the very end. 'I might be gone for an age. Oh deary me-'

The king, needing only to pretend a solution found this his own dream come true. And the two, knowing full well for the other's true intentions, smiled dumbly and agreed on the spot.

A week's time was divided up between lady'night and sir'day, and he was off to the lands beyond, with a small retinue of soldier and servant at his back. In a large horse drawn carriage he tucked away half a wizard's spire of equipment away, along with a host of books and tomes rivaling a queen's library.
He sent ahead three servants and a single soldier to gather all the information they could of the poison and the land in which it came. And before a month had come and gone, he was there in the cold mountain valley, just a few miles from the affected mountains. There he relinked with the unlucky errand boys, and found they had near nothing, save for information on a druid not some distance away. Grand, he would be starting near enough from scratch that he might as well get a bandage.

Figuring he would start with the druid, assuming she would, if nothing else, provide a source of knowledge on the area. So he set out to the town nearest her supposed hamlet, and began the task of finding where she was in specific. Leaving his possessions along with three of the soldier's to guard it, he set into the town on horse back. Dawning, before he left his carriage, a dazzlingly bright green tunic, matched by a pristine black wizard cap, fitted with a dozen or so green feathers along it. Flanked by his four servants and a single knight, he began his hunt for the hermit. All while the sun began to set behind the very mountains that drew him here.

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[Trixie_Bright]

Humming a slow melody to match that of the birds a tall slender woman ducked between the branches and spiderwebs on a leaf drawn path towards the town. An expedition such as this was made once a month to once every three months. A book filled leather satchel was draped across her deep brown dress which was snatched at the waist by a bone corset of an emerald green hue. The black cape covering her attire dragged behind her, the bottom of it littered with holes from previous snags and tears. It was inevitable to avoid such issues when residing in a cottage where protruding nail littered floor boards. If she had the money she would have had a carpenter out aeons ago to rid herself of the hazards. However, living there long enough and her tendency to never leave had enabled her to navigate her house blind. Her clothes on the other hand did not have this same talent.

“You should offer a delivery service” despite appearance, the words that left her cracked pale lips were like honey. “Then you would never leave your house Annabella, plus I’m far too old to walk all the way to your house my dear” spoke the bookkeeper; who pushed a strand of grey hair back into place before reaching out to grab the woman’s hand. Annabelle let her. If it were anyone else she would have retracted immediately. She was not fond of anyone and preferred to live a solitary lifestyle. There were only two people in this town that she really knew. The doctor and the bookkeeper. “They say people have been passing Annabelle, getting sick, there is something not right with the other towns around the mountains, have you… Do you know what might be causing this?” Annabelle’s icy blue eyes softened as the woman spoke and she shook her head.

Ducking and weaving between branches what Ms Ocra had said kept rotating through her thoughts. So much so she dropped her pile of books tripping on a branch. One would have thought it would make life much more convenient for her to clear this path. That would also make it convenient for others to take this path. Which in turn would be inconvenient. Due to the length of the trip the sky was filled with a tango of reds and oranges as the sun dipped into the horizon. She slowly picked her books up one by one. Most people would have cursed at the fallen books, made a scene. What was the point in a scene with no audience. Annabelle picked up the books without wasting another thought on her fall and continued home.

A month after the mention of these incidents, James, the town’s doctor, was at her door to pick up potions she had brewed for his clinic. She invited him in for tea, as she always does and he started telling her all about his patients, which he always does, However, those things Ms Ocra mentioned came up in conversation. Apparently people had travelled from towns closer to vine mountain and the affected villages. Whole villages were being wiped out. “Everything was apparently normal apart from strange issues with the animals and these new plants have started growing”. Annabelle’s brows furrowed. Being an expert in fauna, she knew a new plant growing in these regions was likely an invasive species. If the animals were eating it, who knows what could be going wrong. None of the food from these villages were imported either, they were too poor. She looked James dead in the eyes, “Get me a plant”. “I’m sorry?”. “I want to study the plant”. “My clinic is so busy at the moment.. I don’t know if I can”. Annabelle grit her teeth. “Send me a villager or someone, I don’t care”. James' eyes opened wide in shock. Anna had never openly asked to have anyone be sent to her home let alone be given a map to know the way.

“Hello?” A slender blonde man timidly knocked on the door in front of him once more. Anna swung the door open “Inside” she mumbled. The man kept his head down walking through the door of the cottage and taking a seat to where Anna had pointed. A little nook of two seats separated by a table were carved into the wall. They were backed by a large window looking out into the garden. “Dr James sent me here, I’m Leon, a uh travelling merchant, I uh” the man paused to swallow his spit. His palms were sweating and his voice quivered slightly as he spoke. Anna was used to being told she had a cold and somewhat threatening demeanour. Plus, being known as a witch didn’t help as it was a known fact that magic users could harm those without it in strange and cruel ways. “Tea, uh, Leon?” Anna turned and gave him an awkward smile to bring him some peace of mind. “Uh yes, please, I, Dr James said you wanted the plant, so I bought it, I also do illustrations. I have always loved drawings so I did some of the animals around the area. That’s why it’s taken me so long to visit you”. Leon had finally seemed to calm down. Anna slid the tea over to him and took a seat across from him. She put out her palm gesturing for the plant and the drawings.

Once Leon had left Anna had a notebook half full of details she had deemed crucial. Putting on gloves she carefully removed the plant from the glass jar it was given to her in. It was an outstanding purple hue. She put it on a dish and cut off a small bit to observe the stem but as soon as it was disconnected from the main part it withered away. Interesting. She put it back in the glass jar, it was too dangerous to have it out in the open. There were so many unknowns since it was something she hadn’t seen in literature before. She spent days flicking through books containing flora from distant and near lands. Nothing seemed to have any semblance to this thing sitting in a jar on the corner of her desk.

 

[Ulyee]

A light fog accompanied the troop on their way into town, aiding in the sun's dimming as it went. It was less than optimum for those followers along side Edwin's horse, already having spent the day traveling. But they did their tasks as ordered, and the hunt for the witch began in earnest. In little to no time they gathered rumors, mostly old, of the hermit woman at the edge of the woods. To the magic'less peasants, and in extension the magic'novice servants of the wizard, the rumors touched on odd practices and habits. A light fear permeated through their words, without a place of origin or explanation for it. A common trope set on all magic crafters, so the wizard thought anyhow. In time though, fresh rumors of her recent endeavors, namely those of her studying the poisoned plants, found him eventually. In time he had the name of the boy sent to her cottage. And so the horse and its four trailblazers set for the farm his family owned.

Along the way the sun had lost its daily bout with the moon, and sunk bellow the mountains there in. Torches were lit, and the troop carried on. Just up the road from the small, leaning, farmhouse the noble wizard spoke to the knight alongside him, "Fetch the map, and have the boy stay outside for the night. If we should lose are way we will simply carry him along." In a disinterested tone. Unbothered by the plight of either the sleeping farmers, or weary men alongside him. He had work to do, and sleep would wait, for all of them.
In truth, the five torches called the farmer and his wife from his home before they got halfway up the dirt road. Expecting trouble or worse from the torches, they were relieved to find it was only a demand on a map. Though a noble, this farm from the capital, had surely raised some worry. When they asked, in the process of handing over the map, on the reason for his visit the knight barked out a rebuke. 'Such knowledge was not meant for such people', so he would say; and the noble either didn't care to correct him, or agreed.

On their way from the farmhouse and to the edge of the forest, the moon had lifted from tera, finding its old spot in the sky. Though those bellow could hardly see it through the growing clouds. Wind followed along with the moon, and distant clashes of lightning could be seen even further afield. All an unwelcome backdrop to those four holding their torches. But the fifth could care less, as his dispositioned often seemed.

Into the forest around, with a long walk ahead of them. The noble, eager for his work to begin properly, road ahead. The single knight lagged behind, watching for followers so he would say. But he carried the same sentiment of those three servants there between he and the wizard. The woods, 'controlled' by a witch as they would say, were no place to be- night or day. Even less so before a coming storm. And so, in hushed tone between hoof falls of their nobles horse, they would talk and fret amongst themselves over ever detail of the witch. Each of them unbothered by the task of their expedition or the dangers there in. As the did not stay long enough in the palace for the worries of their nobles to reach them. Instead they fell back on tradition, and spoke on the strange witches of rumor and fantasy.
The wizard however, had other things on his mind. Where would he winter? Surly the poisoned forest would be a danger- and where should he begin? Nullifying the poison? Finding its source? How wide spread was this forest? He thought briefly on all such things before coming to the clearing mentioned by the young man. The path, hardly enough for a horse to trod in the day, was a displeasure, but his years in the military on such horses made quicker work of it than most. Thunder roared its distant threats, as rain began to mist the air, trumpeting its own arrival.

Finally the clearing mentioned by the young lad was found, but when he turned to search for the others, he had found he had outpaced them by some ways. But soon enough, the over eager torch was met by the rest, and the five shone against the rounding trees. Not that those under the torches all shared the same undaunted stride of the wizard. The knight bolstered their confidence with his light armor and heavy sword. The wizard gave a nod to the knight, and he bellowed out a standard 'greeting' that so often flew from courtier to citizen of the realm.

"By decree of king Sten the fourth, ruler of the realm, Make way and receive his servant, Lord Edwin Bri'anne, Acting Warlock of his majesty's court. Open up and stand aside!"

 

[Trixie_Bright]

Anna laid in her bed peacefully sleeping until she heard footsteps wonder onto crackling twigs and leaves. Any slightness of unnatural noise could wake her as she was used to sleeping in such silence. She slowly pulled back her curtain to peek at who had wandered across her cottage. It was a man who was holding a map. Was that the map James had given Leo? Oh she was going to give that boy a right smack on the head for crossing her. Whatever, it would be improper for her to come out in just her white nightgown. Not that she really cared. She slipped her back cloak over herself tying it at the front. That’s when more footsteps could be heard followed by a sudden booming voice that echoed through the quiet woods demanding entry and announcing a wizard. Once more she peeled back the curtain to see the five of them holding torches to light their way. She had no idea why they were here exactly but they were unwanted. The wizard would not be fooled by her magic but perhaps some of the nights would be.

As the wind started whipping through the trees faster the door slammed open to reveal no one in sight. The witch pointed her wand at her throat to amplify her voice from an unseen corner of her cottage. “You shouldn’t be here, what silly boys putting yourself in harm's way, are you prepared to die for your king?” The trees seemed to shake violently as the heart of the storm was approaching faster. One of the knights would find their torch had been ripped out of their hand and started to float. An eerily message of begone inscribed itself on the handle on the handle. A glowing green hue would surround the swords of those who had them which would be shot up and then released to plant them back down in front of their feet. Nothing to harm anyone of course but enough to get them to leave. She hoped this would be enough. This much magic use after just waking up was giving her a headache.

The last time she’d used this much magic was when she had to scare off those kids who found her property and decided to enter thinking it was abandoned. Honestly this situation was no different except these thorns were looking for her specifically. Additionally they were sent from the king with a court wizard no less. So they were bound to be stuck up pricks. She knew they were probably lying about the king sending them to find her though. The King would never, unless he wanted her to expose him. Even if the Kingdom was dying he wouldn’t even resort to getting her for help.

To put the cherry on the top of the cake Annabelle stepped into the doorway with a flash of lighting, her cloak flapping in the wind as her bare feet stepped onto the wooden twig path leading up to her doorstep. Her cloak flew off to reveal a tangled mess of black hair and her icy blue eyes pierced through the night. If looks could kill. Between her pale brittle fingers she grasped her dark oak wand which was emanating a green light at the tip. She slowly lifted her wand pointing it at the men. “GO” she shouted over the roaring wind as the rain battered down harder.

 

[Ulyee]

The response, first the words, sent the servants into a ferver, and too the knight. The first booming voice was met by shivering from the lesser men, and grim worry by the knight. The wizard however understood play when he saw it. If the woman wanted them dead or gone she wouldnt be putting on a play. He had known battle between witch and mage, this was not its beginning, middle nor end. He remained stone faced, unamused, while the others shrunk in terror or prepared for a fight.

Subtly as the rain turned to pour, and the figure emerged at the door, the wizard readied himself for a counter display. He would set a hand on a hidden focus, a crystal ball mounted on his hip, keeping it from sight. But as her cloak revealed her person, a different set of thought emerged.

An unkept, mad sight. One familiar to him from years past- if not a little bit. Indignation was overtaken by distain, as he too finally fell prey to assumption and rumor. An untrained, mad hermit with less sense than skill.
As his constitutes began to take their steps back, he himself took one forward, only for the lot of them to be hit with another booming voice and demanding tone. He was calm throughout it, his stern eyes undaunted by all the display, and then in a moment, just as her words began to echo on the trees around them, latin drew from his tongue- and a strike of lightning sparked through and then down from the clouds, a foot away from him, using the storm she had spurred to stifle all word and display.

"Enough!" His voice raised for the first time in an age, certain first to the ears of those around. "Your games have ended." He affirmed, pushing the left of his cap aside, showing now his hand on the focus, threatening another strike or worse, "You will answer our questions, or I will personally take that wand from you." He let the threat and the promise sink in, before offering up an explanation that he wouldn't give to a peasent, "Citizens of the realm are dying, and I am tasked with finding their cure." His voice calming from demanding anger to steadfast conviction, "You will aid me in this endeavor. Be it by choice or force."

 

[Trixie_Bright]

Annabelle put her hand on her hip as he decided to strike lightning on her property, if he hit any of her plants she would actually kill him. Well, it was fun watching the non-magic folk quiver and get ready to abandon their wizard while it lasted. Also the audacity of this man. He fit the stuck up prick definition of a noble ten-fold. The fact that he even assumed he could take her wand from her. She could tell he thought she was lesser, it was that look, she knew it all too well. This wizard was yet to learn that in the face of time that appearances, ego and prestige really meant nothing.

“My humblest apologies, is that what you think I’m going to say to you. Do you nobles get off on scaring the living daylights out of a poor woman living alone in the middle of the woods? Five men come bounding to my doorstep in the middle of the night, claim they are with the king and need me for something” the agitation reverberated through her voice. Her rant continued “How do I know you’re not here to assault and derobe me, you haven’t shown me any proof of your status and anyone can say anything. Moreover it is not my fault that you’re such a bumbling idiot that you can’t do this yourself”. Annabelle paused to laugh. “God if you are who you say you are then your incompetence must be ten fold, coming to a witch with nothing to offer and demanding I help you, whatever happened to please and thank you, do you not have manners where you come from fool”. She flicked her wrist picking up a twig and attempted to smack each of them on the back of their heads. “What would your mothers think!”

Throwing her hands up in the air as if to show her absolute frustration and tiredness she headed towards her door. “Come back in the morning when I am not in a nightgown, ask me nicely, do not threaten to take my wand, don’t you dare use lightning near my plants and remember you are asking me for help which means you need my help which implies you cannot do it yourself. If you want my help then we’ll try again tomorrow and you’ll come alone wizard boy without your little entourage” she gestured at the four others as she spoke. For as wildly as she looked she spoke with the eloquence of a noble herself. She then slammed her door behind herself using a spell puzzle to stop anyone from entering the entirety of her house. If they wanted to stand hours in the rain figuring it out they were welcome too. It was not impossible, just time consuming. Maybe this way she could get some rest.

 

[Ulyee]

The words were a different sort of shock to the bodies around, that type that's far more effective against nobles and their kin- Cultural. She was talking so far out of her station that it sparked the knight into indignation, fear totally wiped from his face. While the servants, seeing the challenge to the crown's authority as reason enough to make that much more distance and hold that much more fear. While the noble wizard, seemed utterly unfazed, as he had been. Though even he would turn his nose just a bit higher, a sign of his own thinning patience.

A rebuke like this, in either the capital city or the palace, would land a person- woman or man, in the stockades. And the same, so thought the knight, had to have been applied here. But the wizard, if he could look past his own anger at the situation, knew full well that the further the kingdom spanned, the less control was held. And the less the king and his men could or would do for such peoples. Of course, he couldn't look past his own frustration, she was impeding his investigation, on the grounds of form? That he could be out of fashion, socially or otherwise, was enough of a stain on his coat to spark a fire.
The knight was the first to speak, just as she slammed the door, "Sir." he would approach the wizard, murmuring out, "I could retrieve the men. We could easily storm the cottage with your assistance-" he was cut off by the wizard, "No. If it was something she owned that we needed, surly such a plan would be useful." He turned away, making for his horse as he refastened his cloak, "But she might be the only other mage in the entire area. We need her for now. Though I don't trust her temper. Send a runner to the keep just a mile south of here. There is another wizard under the baron's employ, have her sent to me."
It was clear the knight didn't understand, but then again it wasn't his place. Surly though the woman had to be chastised? She was no noble, no friend to the crown, nothing. But he followed the rules of the land, if for no other reason than to prove himself worthy of his sword. He set the servants ahead, and they began down the path once more under the building storm. Torches re-lit, hoods adorned, and on they went.

Though the wizard, thinking in-kind to his days back in the service of his lord's army, wouldn't let her indignation go. And so as the lot of them exited the clearing, he set his hand under his robe and set another strike down near the far side of her house, striking a berry bush there in. And to shock himself- he smiled. This sort of magical back and forth was nonexistent in the capital, and he found he rather missed it. But these thoughts would only usher on memories of those days. The cold winter winds and rain likewise sending him back. The smile faded, as he went along, slowly over taking his servants, and leading the procession.
He shook his mind free sometime later, halfway through their wood laden march. His task coming to mind there after. Citizens were dying thanks to some magical happening, and he would see fit to fix them.
"Sir knight." he barked back, breaking the weary silence of the traveling men, "Add another runner, this one on horse back. I want him to visit the forest in question and gather all information from the locals that he can. Both of them shall depart tonight. A fig for the cold."

 

[Trixie_Bright]

As soon as the strike was set down on the berry bush a pair of eyes glared through the curtains burning a hole into the back of the wizard’s head as he left. He could bring as many runners and knights as he so desired. With a light green glisten the berry bush was back to it’s original healh.
Annabelle laid back in her bed and started to fret. The royals and nobles really just thought they could do anything they pleased. The further away you were from the King the less he had reach. Plus, everyone knew the King hardly cared about peasant issues; for him to send his own court mage out on business to unravell the issues facing the poor. Something suspicious was going on here, perhaps the upper classes were being effected by this endemic but that seemed most unlilkely. Annabelle continued to worry until she had worried and wondered herself to sleep.

Her eyes peered open as rays of sunlight fluttered into her bedroom through the holes filled curtains. Letting out a grand yawn she started to run a bath and turned the kettle on. She needed the strength of the gods to deal with this prick and a calming morning routine was definetly on the cards. As she always did when expecting a guest, she baked. Annabelle had also taken the liberty to dust the place a little. She knew that the wizard would just turn his nose up no matter her efforts but they were more for her than him. Thanks to his shitty actions last night she already knew she was a better person, much less entitled and perhaps even more empathic. Considering he hadn’t demonstrated any compassion she assumed this to be true for now. As easy as it would be to run away this matter was important to the people.

When he would arrived a cup of hot tea, ginger snap biscuits and herself would be waiting for him in her window nook. Despite the her desire to put salt in his tea she restrained for the good of magical progression to achieve an ultimate health and saftey for all; which thanks to this nasty little plant was being halted.

 

[Ulyee]

It was in magnitudes of social disgrace that Edwin made for the witch's hut alone. He dressed in simpler attire, his first of many veiled insults. The first bit of the walk found him mulling over to details of the poisoning issue, with consideration to reasons why and places where. But after each footfall he couldn't help but drift from buisness to displeasure. How rude was fate, he thought, to give him a reprieve from the horridly constraining social rungs of the court, and thrust him into the country's barbarity. Of course not once thinking on how it was his plan to depart on this task in the first place.

But there was some doubt about his convictions. Perhaps he had acted hastily? Rudely? That this common witch was owed some respect? It was only then that he realized, she was the first in an age to stand up to him in any way. Not even the king held so much conviction with curse or accusations. It was oddly refreshing- no innuendo or veiled insult. Just a raving commoner speaking and leaving thought or tact behind. It was almost novel, if not for being entirely contemptuous. He pressed on, leaving those feelings and thoughts on the bits of path when and where they arose.

With his servants and knight waiting worriedily at the forest's edge, he found himself waiting at the edge of the cottage's clearing. Awash in loathing and contempt, he tried to steady himself. Tried to put all else from his mind, and focus entirely on the task at hand. In a loud and clear voice, he called on her.

"I've come to parlay." He gave her a moment to notice, should she be asleep as he assumed, "And unlike last night, I bring no friends nor torches for you to fear." He couldnt help the mocking tone, "and despite your assumptions or worries, I have no need of your robe or to see you pulled from it. I bear the kings mark, and require." He paused for effect, "your assistance in the matter of poisonings in one of the towns nearby. The king has appointed me his hand in this matter, and thus has instructed me to investigate all options and aids. May I advance and discuss this further? Or would that too be a questionably, devious act?"

 

[Trixie_Bright]

She had already heard his footsteps before he opened his mouth. It was hard to hide unnatural noise within the silent walls of the forest. His words were true, there was only the footsteps of one. So she swung the door open and leaned against the frame looking him up and down. At least he wasn’t dressed as pompous as he was last night. Maybe he was more down to earth than she had originally anticipated. She rolled her eyes and corrected herself, even dressed down; he was still a pompous fool who’s silver spoon was ripped from his mouth to solve an issue. An issue that he didn’t care about unless it revolved around the repercussions from failure or the lavish appraisals of success.

Upon further inspection he was indeed holding the King's markings, maybe the old fool had forgotten or he hadn’t gotten explicit permission. Either way it did not matter, finding a cure mattered. “You are a smartass, and no one likes a smart ass, now come inside I made tea and cookies, don’t worry I’m not so devious as to poison them” Annabelle replied in a mocking tone.

She made her way inside and went over to her desk picking up the quarantined plant and placing it on the table. She went back for a second trip and then laid out the illustrations of animals and the plant. “I am an expert on plant matter and I have never seen this before in my life, I’ve searched all the books I own but nothing like this has ever been documented”. Anna took a sip of her tea before continuing, her throat already felt dry from talking so much. “The luminescence, even of this hue I have seen before but combined with the shape and what occurs when I separate pieces… each attribute matches a different plant but combined they don’t match any”. “For both of our safety I recommend we do not touch it without gloves and tools, I’m unaware if it affects people upon consumption or touch”.

Annabelle expected him to be a little taken aback, of course no up tight mage would expect a witch in her locale to be so educated with such eloquent speech. If he were to react to it then it would amuse her greatly. She watched his face for any change of expression, she did feel smug knowing he had underestimated her. Additionally she already knew that she had more knowledge than him, otherwise why would he go through the effort of trying to find her. Forest witch 1, Court Mage 0.