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[Veneficus Beleren]

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"Corp por!" Veneficus grinned as the Energy Bolt crashed into the Giant Black Widow. Although he still had far to go, he was pleased at the pace his Magery skills were progressing. Over the last week he had been taking daily trips to Ilshenar to put himself to the test. It was one thing to practice his spell casting in the relative safety of the valley at Stongegate - it was another thing altogether to learn how to effectively cast these spells in the face of an oncoming opponent. Even though the opponent in this case was relatively weak, Ven was still pleased that he got the spell to work. More often than not his Energy Bolts were fizzling out. Perhaps this was a sign of significant progress.

Deciding he had practiced enough for the day, he pulled open the bag of runes he kept with him and found the one for Stonegate. Ah, the Recall spell. Perhaps the nicest surprise he had come across magic-wise since he had ended up on this plane. "Kal Ort Por"

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Reappearing in front of the Stonegate Meadhall, Ven placed the rune back in his bag and looked about. The valley was quiet this afternoon, and Ven briefly paused to take in the serene beauty of it all. He had always enjoyed snow. The fact that snow could fall at such a high rate so as to blind you but still not make a sound was somehow enjoyable to him. It was oddly awe-inspiring. So much power... but not a sound. Ven smiled as he looked from ground to sky. It was a clear day, so another snowfall was unlikely. What to do with his free time? Looking about at the buildings surrounding him, he remembered stumbling across the Library on one of his early trips to the valley. There had been some interesting texts there…

Ven turned on his heel and began his slow walk to the other side of the valley, smiling faintly as he listened to the snow crunch under foot.

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The library was, in Ven’s opinion, very impressive. Multi-storied with case after case of books, and a number of tables and chairs set up in strategic areas to allow the reader to grab a book off the shelf and find a nice place to sit and read rather quickly. Ven browsed through the case closest to the door. Some interesting books here and there… Titles such as “Quest of the Virtues”, “A Treatise on Alchemy” ("hmm, that one might be interesting") and “Deceit: A Dungeon of Horrors”. It was just as Ven was about to re-discover a book he had forgotten about (and one that he would have found most interesting) when the door to the library opened. Ven turned and saw a young woman standing the in the doorway.

“Oh, I didn’t realize anyone was in here… I was just trying to get out of the cold…” She seemed somewhat embarrassed that she had come in, although Ven certainly did not feel she had any reason to be.

“No no, come in! Please!” Ven smiled and waved her in. “I was just going through the books here. It’s a wonderful library.”

“Yes, sir” she said, stepping into the Library and closing the door behind her.

Veneficus laughed a bit. “Sir? No reason to call me Sir. My name is Veneficus. Ven for short” He smiled at her, hoping to draw her out a bit and make her feel more comfortable.

“Hello Veneficus… er… Ven” she returned his smile “My name is Eclyse”.

He and Eclyse chatted for a bit and Ven invited her to sit down. She was an interesting woman; very sweet but clearly with a dangerous side. Ven guessed that she had been through some tough times. Things like that tend to make a person harder – but if you can get through those times and retain your good nature, well that was just all the better wasn’t it? It seemed to Ven that this was the case with Eclyse. She spoke harshly at times, talking of her sword and of battle, but he could see the goodness in her. He laughed when she told him that she had been playing with magic and had inadvertently conjured a fireball that burned part of the Lyceaum, and she left the library soon after that. He thought about her for a little while, thinking of their conversation and wondering if she would enjoy the valley. His daydreaming left him sitting in silence in the library for a good ten minutes before he snapped out of it and left to find something else to occupy his time, forgetting to continue to peruse the bookcase and discover the book that he might very well have spent the rest of the night reading.
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Veneficus, The Blue Mage