Registration Scroll, Day 20 of the Month XXX, Year 1XXX, Stormhammer, Chambers of the Venerable Whitecap, Archmage Robert Guillier
It was quite difficult to be interrupted during such a beautiful experiment—a harmony of colors that would give sunsets a mixture of natural beauty with a kaleidoscopic image that would promote the city's good values. Only a few small adjustments were needed. The runes projected solemnly in the air when something struck me. At that moment, everything began to turn depressingly blue. The sensors of my shield immediately tried to identify the problem. But no one had entered Stormhammer. There was no reason to. In this city, we sorcerers were people committed to helping those around us, to returning a little of the comfort lost after the great battles of the elves. I was still sure today that if they had given us a little time to talk, this would not have gone so far. But I understood them—they were one of the oldest and most powerful races. So what was it? And importantly, where did it come from?
Just as I began to call my students, a communication arrived through the emergency viewer. Since we mages could no longer leave our homes, we used constructions similar to the portals the elves used, on a smaller scale. We had a receiver/emitter for each of ours. Every city had one, so in case of an emergency, we could support each other. It seemed this was an emergency. The highest-ranking member of the Redcaps—since we never spoke face to face, only our apprentices used this means of communication to pass secrets, I supposed—was calling. It did not matter; none of my research was closed to the public. His face was strange—angular and olive-skinned. His city was a couple of months away, so he must be using a repeater, perhaps the Bloody Coin receiver. A warlike child who had maintained everything under an arms race. A sigh to calm myself and see what the "great" Redcap wanted.
The image was a little blurry—to be expected. His branch of magic, the Redcaps, only lived to elaborate complex battle runes, which were useless since they could not be used outside their range. But they prepared them, according to them, for when needed. Yet I must admit they were the first to rediscover the complex branch of scrolls that stored magic. We had some scrolls containing minor protection runes, but their magic lasted less than three days outside the magical field. They were not very useful but were used for traveling between cities, so I considered them a success. Theirs only handled fireballs and some lightning—limited to a day or two. Still, I did not trust them, as they only sought destruction. Proof was such a poor image from not researching the base technology I could provide.
After shouting at me a little—or speaking loudly; with him, one never knew—I managed to understand some of his arguments. Apparently, there was a very powerful mage within a radius of fifteen cities. Eight of them had first-level mages and three archmages (myself included). The signal had activated several magical alarms in the towns, but nothing more, except for those who had attack runes prepared at their city limits. There, all the runes activated and launched their contained magic at a single point, which placed this mage as a threat. Triangulating, we could locate him near the ancient temple to the dwarf king, dead only three hundred years ago, for whom they had built a city within the mountain located on my borders and Bloody Coin's.
This was important, but not for the reasons the Redcap leader expressed. We had to speak with this person—convince him to work for humanity and the magical species who needed more than ever the support of those of us with ability. Even as I heard him say words like "risky," "deadly," "preventive actions," I ignored him. People like the Redcaps only saw enemies where I saw allies. The dwarves living here knew it. Even some elusive magical creatures had stayed living in the Dark Forests near the city, unconcerned about the city's inhabitants. My dream was to work toward all this. I called my secretary and gave instructions to send mages of levels five through seven to investigate. They went with orders to speak with him despite what the Redcap said. I knew he was listening because I had not ended the conversation. Even if he howled whatever he wanted, I would not go to war because someone was more powerful than me.
Registration Scroll, Day 20 of the Month XXX, Year 1XXX, Stormhammer, Meeting Hall
Mages of level seven and above. As secretary and confidant of the Whitecap leader, I give the following instruction: all of you must go heavily armed to the location marked on the map. An entity of great evil has appeared, with power unseen in the past, threatening the existence of the peaceful city of Stormhammer. As our leader is merciful, he needs this entity to be subdued and brought to his presence so he can interrogate it and determine whether it will be killed or merely imprisoned. Remember! We are an institution of peace! Let us prevent war from brewing—destroy this threat! That is all. You may withdraw. I ask the three level-nine mages to ensure defense.
Gentlemen, you and only you know that we are four people with power close to that stupid Bobby's, but even so, we must not be overconfident. One of you will go with the committee. When they are killed—because they will be—the seals of a couple of especially destructive spells I have prepared with help from the Redcaps will be released. Use them. It is necessary that no one be more powerful than the Redcap. Our "leader" is no one. He has no authority here. If we eliminate the threat, we will receive many useful runes with which we can finally eliminate this senile old man and lead the Whitecaps into an era of brilliant future, which will include the adhesion of the Redcaps and any imbecile who opposes us.