Author Games: Path of the Guildpact

Sponsorships

"...and that concludes my report, Guildmaster. Do you require any further information?"

Isperia the Inscrutable, guildmaster of the Azorius Senate, shifted her enormous feline bulk into a more comfortable position. As always, her enormous, lovely face was pensive and unreadable. Allard realized he was staring and politely lowered his eyes.

"I applaud your commitment to procedure and detail, Lawmage Sharikov," she boomed in tones that rang with calm authority. "Are you quite certain that the Selesnyans have not left lingering enchantments on the candidates?"

Sharikov shook his head emphatically. "Quite certain. Or if they have, the enchantments are of such power and subtlety that we haven't a prayer of undoing them. I ran them by our strongest abjurers and found absolutely nothing. It would seem Trostani was telling the truth."

"So it would seem," Isperia mused. Allard's eye twitched. He'd quite literally talked to trees that displayed more emotion than his guildmaster, and it was making him extremely uncomfortable. Not for nothing did was she termed "inscrutable."

"Fortunately," he said after an appropriate pause. "I was able to get a decent look at our competitors. Some of them are quite potent magi. Not quite up to Beleren's level, but a fair number of them aren't getting any older. Practice makes perfect, after all."

"Continue."

He swallowed, then composed his thoughts. "Both candidates from Golgari are quite powerful necromancers, although they seem to have distinct MOs when it comes to using their power. Gruul sent an ogre who seems to be...different from their usual smash-and-burn type. Maybe you remember the protest several months ago, the one in Fourth Precinct that nearly destroyed the market? Apparently she was there to raise awareness of Gruul ideals, and things...devolved. Boros sent a wingless angel with little formal training in magic, but she was practically vibrating with power when I saw her. And Izzet..."

He paused, unsure of how to phrase his words. "They sent a couple of goblins, but one seems far saner than the other. Heavens know I'd never accuse the Izzet of stability, but this one seems to be more composed than I would expect. He actually returned the form we needed for the Izzet trial, filled and somewhat singed."

The enormous sphinx hummed. "An intriguing lot, then?"

"I suppose you could put it that way, Guildmaster."

"I do. Thank you for keeping me appraised, Lawmage. Your success so far has convinced me that you ought to be the one to go to Gruul and examine the trial there. As they have declined to submit to the analysis of the committee, I believe you may be the best option for ensuring some sort of procedure is followed."

Allard swallowed. Compelling obedience from the anarchist guild was not the most dangerous thing he could imagine. However, it came very, very close.

"I live to serve." However short that service might suddenly become.

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Congratulations to our sponsored tributes! In keeping with the theme of these Games, each of you will receive benefits according to one of the colors of magic. The benefits are as listed below

All sponsored tributes:

-Notes on any one task of their choice

Red (Calais Agate)

-On one task of your choice, you may have your ballot kills function as negative points

-On one task of your choice, you may ignore the task requirements and write whatever you choose.

Green (Heccan Kirkeus)

-On one task of your choice, you may add 2 points to your final score, whatever it may be. You must do this before seeing your score.

-On one task of your choice, you may receive an automatic score of 13, regardless of the quality of the actual entry.

White (Mikaela Gavreel)

-You are immune to one ballot challenge of your choice. You may use this ability after seeing who was assigned the challenge.

-On one voting round before Quarterfinals, your vote will count three times, instead of just once.

Blue (Iracun Rumpig)

-You have an extra 24-hour extension, no questions asked.

-On one task of your choice, you may have ballots that would be assigned to you be instead assigned to one other competitor. You must do this before seeing your score or ballots.

Black (Vellatovarin Tempus)

-On one task of your choice, you may remove two points from another writer's score. You must do this before seeing the scores.

-On every task that has ballots, you may submit an extra ballot.