The Yeti Rebellion

Part #1 - The Academy of Brujopo

Ivanilson cringed as the acid arrow zipped past his head and into the chest of a fellow mage standing not far down the corridor behind him. He took a deep breath, steadying himself for a moment, before peering out from behind the pillar. One more down, he thought to himself, although he immediately hated himself for considering it. He did not wait to watch the fallen mage twitch and spasm in his dying breaths, Ivanilson was more than familiar with the rules of the Conquest. This mage, whose name was of no significance now, fell with the first group of defeated participants. He would not be helped nor revived, only forgotten. He was unworthy.

Feeling slightly more steadied, Ivanilson slipped out from behind the pillar he was hiding behind. He clung to the shadows cast by the nearby wall torches as he made his way down the corridor. The mage needed to make it out of the tower's ground floor before the High Mages watching the conquest grew bored and dropped the base of the tower into the black void of the cavern below. This obelisk, the Tower of Ma'Jukal, was constructed by magic once every year for the purpose of the Brujopo Conquest, and almost entirely destroyed throughout the event's proceedings. The Tower had no foundation, instead it floated above the cavern by the combined magic of the Academy's Six High Mages.

Picturing the floor falling out from under his feet caused Ivanilson to increase his pace, though he still clung to the cover of the dimly lit corridor's shadows as often as possible. Eventually, Ivanilson made his way to the foot of a long spiral staircase, which appeared to ascend all the way up to the pinnacle of the tower, though he knew that it did not. He stopped, turning his ear up the staircase, listening for even the faintest sound of a footstep or the chanting of a spell. Once he stepped onto the staircase, Ivanilson knew he would have no cover and he would become an easy target. He heard nothing coming from up the stairs, so Ivanilson quickly and quietly started his ascent of the tower.

No sooner had he scrambled up the first few steps, than the ground floor of the tower dropped into the cavern below, plummeting several of Ivanilson's classmates into the black abyss. Ivanilson took a big gulp, trying to quickly clear his head before continuing upward. At least this meant that no one would be coming up behind him, he somewhat assured himself. A little more cautiously, Ivanilson continued his way up the tower. The good news, he now knew, was that he would not be ending his day at the bottom of the cavern. Only those mages eliminated in the first round of the Conquest were dropped into the abyss. The wizards who failed in the second round could look forward to being burned by the impossibly hot magical flames that would soon engulf the entire next level of the tower. Ivanilson found himself once more encouraged to walk a bit more quickly.

Unfortunately, Ivanilson realized the error of his haste a moment too late, when he found another mage awaiting him at the top of the staircase. The adversary was waiting to pick off anyone who ascended the stairs. Ivanilson raised his hands out in front of his face, desperately preparing himself to counter whatever spell this young magician might throw his way. To Ivanilson's amazement, the spell never came. It became increasingly clear in the seconds that followed, that his adversary could not see Ivanilson at all. Since Ivanilson no longer relied on the shadows of the corridor for cover, the only possible explanation for this phenomenon was that the foolish mage had not cast a basic Detectionspell, which would have allowed him to see any invisible threats. Ivanilson had completely forgotten casting the Invisibilityand Detectionspells at the Conquest's initiation, as he had hardly expected the illusion to do him much good against such capable rivals. Of course it would be Brian, Ivanilson thought to himself. He had known this mage for a long time; Brian had been a classmate of Ivanilson's since their youth.

Several years ago, Ivanilson watched Brian attempt to turn a textbook invisible in their Illusions class. Brian accidentally set the book on fire and burned his hands in the process. It was safe to say, illusions had never been Brian's forte. Since that day, Ivanilson had always somewhat pitied the hapless mage. Brian was perhaps the only wizard who received more hateful jeers than Ivanilson.