Fiction | Game | Medium Adventurers League ⚔️
The Renegade Wizard
A magic tutorial for Medium Adventurers League
This is part of a story that works as an interactive game. You’ll need to have a notepad and dice at the ready! Click here for the beginning of the Medium Adventurers League, and find a reminder of the rules here. You can also return to the Guild Hall or go back to the inn for a rest.
One cool morning you find yourself breakfasting at the bar in the League Headquarters. It’s quiet. Yorrick is busy preparing food for an unfamiliar group of mercenaries. The only other patron is magic user; an old and mysterious woman who you know is called Cressika.
You decide to talk to her.
“Can I ask you something,” you say, pulling your chair up to hers, and thumping your plate of half-eaten breakfast down on her table.
The maneuver causes half of her coffee to spill, and she curses under her breath.
“The thing is,” you add, as you sit, “I need magic to fight and stuff, but my skills are… pretty basic.”
“You do surprise me,” Cressika mutters, pulling her chair a few inches further away from yours and glaring. She pauses to mutter an enchantment, and the spilled coffee disappears.
You stare at the now clean table. “Wow! That was awesome. Tell me — do you do tutoring, at all?”
She gives you a cold, hard look. “Magic requires control, not just enthusiasm.”
“Okay, lesson number one learned!” you cry cheerfully, causing everyone else in the bar to look round. “See — I’m progressing fast.”
Cressika clears her throat, then sits back in her chair, hands clasped behind her head. She looks you up and down as you sit there like an expectant puppy. “Okay. Show me what you got.”
“You want me to try attacking you?”
“No.” She points to a sausage on your plate. “Control, kid. I want you to destroy that sausage without ruining the rest of your breakfast.”
You focus on the plate for a minute, pointing both of your fingers like a pair of pistols. A spark forms between them, and you mentally will it to shoot out a narrow flame. It works… until it doesn’t! Your narrow jet of flame turns into a small blast, charring all of your food until it is entirely blackened. The rest of her coffee disappears in a puff of steam.
The woman sighs. “You ever see the tower west of here, up in the Trollkiller Mountains?”
“Away from the path? Near the basalt cliffs?”
Cressika nods.
“Yeah, I’ve seen it. Some kind of watchtower, I suppose?”
She shakes her head. “My former mentor lives there. Unlike me and the other wizards you will meet on the island, he isn’t a member of the adventurers league. He’s not a member of any society, actually, and speaks to few wizards besides myself. They call him a renegade. But he’s the best teacher.”
“So…”
“So, what are you waiting for?”
After noisily munching down the rest of your charred food and apologising to Yorrick about the scorched table, you set off.
The path into the mountains is well-marked and easy to walk — as long as you stay on it. The tower, however, has no clear path or trail, nor even a signpost. After walking uphill for around an hour, you have no choice but to set off across the rough stony mountainside.
The going is rough, and as you come to the top of the cliffs, the wind is buffeting you hard. Aware of the risks, you move further inland, but this brings you to a steep scree slope, and it is challenging to keep your footing…
Encounter: difficult footing.Challenge rating: Easy (roll 10+).
Roll using brawn or wits.If you fail, you slip ten yards down the slope. Subtract 1 from health, and keep going.If you succeed, you make progress. You need to succeed three times in a row to cross the slope.If you die (slipping down to the edge of the cliffs and tumbling over!), click here. Otherwise, read on.
At last, you reach an area of flatter ground, dotted with heather and the occasional twisted blackthorn tree. Now, the tower is very clear up ahead. In the past, it has often been partially cloaked in mist or cloud. Today, though, the mid-morning sun is shining strongly. Birds sing in the bushes, and somewhere, a frog is croaking. It all feels benign.
Before you have reached the tower itself, its door swings open, and you see a man with a flowing white beard, wearing dark robes. He stomps towards you holding a staff, the end of which glows with a mysterious light.
At first he looks very fearsome, and you ready yourself for an attack. But then he smiles. “Good morning, stranger. Have you lost your way?”
“I’ve come to see guidance in the ways of magic,” you say. “Your former pupil, Cressika, recommended you.”
His eyes narrow suspiciously. “You’re a member of that league of adventurers?”
You decide that it might be best to butter him up. “Yes, but… Cressika says you’re the best teacher out there! And although I am a member, I’m more of a free spirit at heart. A bit like you! And I want to make a difference in the world.”
Encounter: a charming approach.Challenge rating: Easy (roll 10+).
Roll using charm.If you fail, read the next paragraph.If you succeed, skip down to the section below.You fail to charm the wizard:
“I don’t think you’re quite ready for this,” growls the wizard. “But I can see that you are trying. You came all this way. I’ll be fair — come back after you’ve done one more quest, and I promise to consider it again.”
You can begin this encounter again from the "difficult footing" challenge onwards. Do so any time after your next quest. Click here to return to headquarters.You succeed in charming the wizard:
The wizard raises one bushy eyebrow, and you notice that the staff has stopped glowing. “Well, adventurer, I’m a little surprised, but something tells me you are the real deal. I hope it wasn’t just those flattering words.”
You chuckle nervously, noticing that a light rain has started to fall.
“Let me tell you this before we start — magic mainly comes from within. I can’t gift you great power. But I may be able to show you how to focus your own magic a little better. I provide guidance in the making of potions, too.”
Your eyes light up. “That all sounds great fun!”
He snorts. “Fun? This is serious work, kid. But you’ll soon see that. Come.”
He leads you into the ground level of the tower. You had expected it to be a chaotic mess of mysterious objects, scrolls, magical ingredients. But in fact, it is very tidy and orderly. The wooden floor is almost empty; the only furnishing is a single comfortable chair. A stairway leads upwards at the back of the area. There is a slight smell of fresh paint.
“The weather up here in the mountains,” grumbles the wizard as he seats himself. Well, now that we are out of the rain, let me introduce myself. My name is Txa’Pano. So, what are we to work on first— focusing your magical attacks, or potions work?”
“I…”
He holds up his hand to interrupt. “I should add — I don’t work for nothing. I’m a freelancer, and there are only so many ways to earn money at my age. So it will cost you 20 silver per lesson. I hope that sounds reasonable…?”
