Author Games: Path of the Guildpact

Task Three: Above and Beyond

Emrys of the Willow

Enid of the Rainforest

Tzun Greatbrain

Grunt-Man

Four candidates were dead. Allard Sharikov was sickened by the violence he had just witnessed, exhausted from his long days travel, and if he had to spend one more second talking with snide Izzet mages, he was very likely to have an aneurism.

"What do you mean the guildmaster won't see me? I made an appointment, for Azor's sake! Does no one in this facility understand basic time management?"

Tibor, premier aeromancer of the Izzet League, rolled his eyes. He and his wife, the flame magus Lumia exchanged a meaningful glance, and Allard didn't need telepathy to figure out exactly what they were thinking about him.

"Guildmaster Niv-Mizzet is very sorry to have to cancel your...appointment, Mister Albert," Tibor lied cheerfully. "I'm sure he's just devastated to miss out on a conversation with you."

"My name," Allard ground out. "Is Guildmage Sharikov."

Lumia smiled, showing all her teeth. "At times, the Firemind is unpredictable, and his experiments will demand his full attention to elicit the most accurate, enlightening results. Or just to make sure our experiments don't cause an enormous explosion or another soul-absorbing void. After all, that would be against regulations. And heaven forbid we step on the toes of The Law."

Allard remembered a time when the Izzet would at least pretend to respect Azorius's basic safety guidelines. He was swiftly realizing that this was entirely due to Guildpact Beleren's influence, and had nothing to do with courtesy or sanity on the part of the old dragon.

If this was what his foreseeable future held, he might even be able to muster up a tear at that cagey bastard's funeral.

"If your guildmaster is too busy to fulfill his obligations, then I suppose I'm within my rights to conscript you." The pair of archmages stiffened at the word obligations. Allard permitted himself a thin smile. "I received your report on the trial you planned to conduct. Putting it entirely in a code of your own devising was not appreciated, by the way."

"How long did it take you to crack it?" Lumia asked excitedly. "We have a bet going, you see."

"Our cryptomages ferreted out the message in approximately thirty seconds."

Tibor sighed, forked out a twenty-Zib coin, and flipped it over to his wife. She pocketed it with a smirk. "Told you they'd cheat."

Allard cleared his throat. "In any case, you made a reference to a 'puzzle to draw out the quicksilver wit of the true Guildpact.' However, the specifics were left somewhat vague as to precisely what must be done to obtain the Izzet signet."

"Well, in lawmage terms," Tibor drawled. "That means to get the signet from our guildmaster-"

"-they'll have to climb the stairs to reach Nivix, the Firemind's Aerie, at the tallest tower in Izzet-"

"- headquarters. Of course, this won't be easy because the-"

"-door will be locked by a puzzle. Or a riddle. The Firemind wasn't clear on that point. If they take too long to solve it..."

"Boom!" Tibor finished. "Or possibly bang! There might even be a sucking or crackling sound, depending on whether or not we can have the mizzium capacitors running by sunup. I swear, after Marik tried to use them for that Jovian maelstrom generator, they've been as finicky as..."

The conversation between husband and wife rapidly deteriorated from there into a distracted mixture of jargon and telepathy. Allard decided that enough was enough, and there was nothing more of use that he could get from the two scientist-sorcerers. He turned away and left quietly, ignoring the shouted "A SUPPRESSOR COIL? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?" that came from behind him.

After all, he was almost certain the answer was "yes."

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Requirements

-To get the Izzet signet, you must get to the top of Nivix, one of the tallest towers in Ravnica and the personal residence of Niv-Mizzet, to collect it from the guildmaster himself.

-However, there is only one door into the tower (at least at ground level.) This door is locked and booby-trapped. To open it, you must answer a riddle or solve a puzzle of the guild master's own design. Answer incorrectly or take too long in doing so... well. The Izzet are no stranger to explosions.

Requirements for Ray

-As Mikaela Gavreel was our lucky winner last round, she must complete the following requirement in addition to the ones above.

-Your signet was destroyed in the battle with Gruul (you suspect foul play. You are totally correct.) Now, you must kill one of your fellow competitors and take their Gruul signet from them in order to continue.

Deaths: Three ballot kills. Five tributes will be going up for votes this week. Three will be leaving us.

Due Date: Saturday, February 25 at 10 PM EST