Path of Wizardry

It was a bright and sunny morning when Amy decided to visit the Clarke estate. Right in the middle of the work-week, the streets were quite empty, most nobles in the district working in the council or away for parliament. And stragglers from the poorer parts of the city wouldn't dare enter somewhere like this, scared that the guards patrolling the quarter might deem them suspicious and carry them away. Keeping that in mind, she decided to visit and scope out the place beforehand, with no Magicks cast upon her person. Her reasoning for that was simple: with so many likely Mages about, something like her Witch's Cloak might be noticed and a Spell like that would definitely warrant investigation. Nobody stalked around the rich in hiding with honest intentions.

Amy took almost an hour to find the estate, all the decadent manors blurring together in her mind and surprising her that there were even this many nobles in a city like Harth. As a city in the throes of industrialisation, I suppose many nobles want to place a stake in the city before land becomes too expensive. Then they can expand their business enterprises early while mocking all the opportunists who lack foresight that come after. If what the Pigeon said was correct, then it's natural to conclude that the Clarkes were one of the few nobles native to the city to stick around after the Monarch showed and abandoned his interest. Finding it after realising that was simple, albeit time-consuming.

Deep in the heart of the city, away from the Mage quarter, the factories, the commercial districts and the slums, sat a grand mansion gated on all sides with iron fences twice Amy's height. On a small sign at the front gate read the words 'The Clarke Manor', emblazoned in gold. As far as manors went - not that Amy claimed to have seen many - it was on the more impressive side of things, constructed of grey brick with tall dark ashen stone peaks for roofing. Grey clouds rose ominously from several chimneys dotted around the house, setting it apart from the surrounding buildings, devoid of anything similar. It was nearing the middle of autumn now, still warm enough that Amy sometimes found it too hot to sleep at nights, and not at all cold enough to warrant lit fires to keep warm. Why then did this single mansion among all others have smoke coming from it?

Something to file away for later, Amy shook her head. It's not like it's relevant to the investigation anyway. I doubt I can find out where the smoke is coming from either. A place like this is going to have magical defences to protect against Spells like Scry. I can't even get the plans from the city either like Beatrice did with the museum; it's all private property. When I get into this I'll be completely and utterly blind. Well, when I'm inside I can probably cast Scry and other Spells to scope the place out, but that sounds like a quick way to get caught. I need to be extremely careful when I'm in. Saying that, I still have no idea how I'm going to get in there. I have no clue what an invitation to the ball looks like, or what the guards will be, or if it's monitored or not, or anything. I can try and pretend to be someone's plus-one or something similar, but do they even allow that sort of thing?

A lot of this can be solved with more Spells, but the more magic I use the higher the chance is of me being caught. On top of that, none of these sort of illegal Spells that would facilitate this would be on the FPG - I'd have to make each one myself and I simply wouldn't have the time to flesh them all out. Amy grumbled to herself, staring aimlessly into the manor, hopelessly trying to get at least a glimpse inside. However, she knew she couldn't linger for long. Already some people walking past were giving her odd looks, so it wouldn't be long before a guard would come scuttling along for the girl who didn't seem to belong. Without a sound, Amy moved on.

* * *

"The sofa is small, so I am big."

Another Decree working slipped out of the Witch as the world contorted to her wishes. In Beatrice's old apartment, the sofa before her appeared to shrink before her very eyes, growing tinier and tinier, until it barely reached her knees. Or... did it? For Amy also felt her body grow larger and larger in turn, the walls closing in on her expanding body, Amy forced to crane her head to not hit the ceiling. Before she knew it, she was pressing against all sides of the apartment, the sofa so comparatively smaller that it could barely be seen.

That was when the Magick broke, and Reality returned in true. Internally, Amy noted down the assortment of imparted runes into her Record whilst she examined the rest of the room for changes, investigating closely the effects her Decree had on the world around her.

For a couple hours now - since she had returned from her trip - she had been practising Decrees, optimising the working and testing its limits. Of course, due to its high expenditure, she had only cast a few so far, needing to take long breaks in between, but she could fill that time with trying to piece together the Spellform out of those runes. Another limit she had been testing was one she only noticed in the one prior to this, where she Decreed that 'The purse is mine, and mine to control'. Although similar in premise to a Command she practised before, its execution could not be more dissimilar, allowing her to move the purse through the air and control it from afar. After a while, though, the Decree broke, yet it lasted considerably longer than Decrees prior. Which led Amy to her current theory.

The more rooted a Decree is in apparent reality, whether that be physical or magical, the easier a Decree is to instantiate. On the other hand, the wilder and more distant a Decree is from reality, the harder it is to manipulate and sustain. Hence why her most recent Decree broke so quickly, but not so fast as her first working. Here, she focused her reality bending on two objects, herself and the sofa, making the difference in size between them greater in both directions. Whereas initially in 'The world twists, and so it does' Decree, the entire world that she could see was her target; thus, the working only lasted for a fraction of a second.

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When she figured that out, it was simple enough to get a gist of the entire working's basis. From there all that was left was a bit of both working-methods - casting the working again and again for more runes, and filling the gaps in the Spellform with her own work. Amy estimated that it would take maybe a couple days more of testing before Decree was entirely done, and she imagined that Theft of Distance would be even easier with its lessened versatility.

Still, that'll leave about four days where I can make a couple new Spells. Amy considered as she lay across the sofa, resting her and her mana pool. While I don't know the problems I'll face in trying to infiltrate the ball, I can try and anticipate them the best I can. First, is entering the estate in the first place. No doubt there will be some sort of invitation-based system in place, as I doubt all invited to it will have their faces known off by heart by the staff. Unless... they do. Well, let's not hope for that worst case scenario. What I need then is some sort of Handy Attire-esque Spell to conjure an illusory invitation. It won't be along the Conjure Item line, that's for sure, as I don't know what the invitation looks like in the first place. What I need is something that suits the environment, an invitation that looks like what the staff expect to see. For that, I'll need Fae, not just Illusion. Basing the Spell off of Handy Attire isn't a bad idea, but it may be useful looking for a similar Spell rather than try and shift the Attire-based Spell into something drastically different.

Scrolling through the FPG, Amy did end up finding a Tier 2 Spell called Handy Item, a Spell about creating the right item for the circumstance which was based on Pure and Advanced Illusion just like Handy Attire. And based on the writing quirks of the descriptions of both Spells, it seemed the author was the same as well. Injecting Fae into a Spell like that would be easy and Esoteric Illusion would be needed too to give the invitation actual weight... or would it?

Do I actually need to use Illusion here? Amy sat back as a small realisation cascaded into something far larger in her mind. Do... I actually ever need to use Illusion again? Lesser Illusion is useful, yes, and I'd be interested in getting the upgraded version of it from Felin some time but its usage is limited. I can simply use Fae to.... create what I need to make. It wouldn't be an Illusion that someone could disbelieve, it would be a new reality that can only be broken if my will isn't strong enough. Hell, Advanced Illusion might not be needed, but just to be safe it should be included somewhat. Fae might be able to fool someone into thinking the invitation is the correct one, but Advanced Illusion will make sure it actually looks like it, not just some weird facsimile that 'appears' like it is. I don't want a Mind trick to make someone think a blank piece of paper is an invitation, I want an actual invitation so it needs to look the part too.

This Spell shouldn't be too high Tier, as I want the mana expenditure to be less noticeable than let's say a Tier 4 or 5 Spell. Tier 3 needs to be the maximum if I want discretion. Amy decided, beginning to focus mana around her towards her pool. If she was in between attempts at Decree, she might as well make use of the time. Since its a low Tier as well, it won't affect her Decrees too much either. What Concepts should this be based upon then? A forgery perhaps? That could well work. Fits together with my interpretation of the Element well enough. The Spell will be an Anticipated Forgery, making a fake document appear as what is expected of it. Wow; if the association caught wind of me having a Spell like that, and actually planning on using it, I'd be locked up for sure.

Subtly smiling while she worked her magic, Fae snaked out of her as easily as she breathed, appearing at the mere imagining of her universal stage. Following that, using an old out-of-use visualisation of tricksters and carnival magicians, the translucent grey of Advanced Illusion crept alongside it too. Intertwining, they swam out in front of her, forming a floating shape over her outstretched hand. As Amy honed her will into what she desired, working the magic as she wished, the shape twisted itself into that of an invitation.

Given life by magic, the invitation - once fully formed - dropped into her grasp, held now by the chains of gravity and reality. It was a small stark-white card, a strange engraving on the back marked in black. On the front were words she could barely make out, yet their meanings infiltrated her mind nonetheless. Reading it, she understood the vague impression that this was an invitation, except to what was uncertain, and addressed to whom very unclear. Amy barely noticed the runes imparted into her head, too distracted by the failure of the working.

Or is it a failure? I might just need to be a bit more exact. I wasn't clear in my visualisation of what the invitation was of, just that it, well, was one. Time to try it again one more time, and I can go back to the drawing board if needed.

Letting the working dissolve into fractal mana, Amy attempted it all once more over this time, with more attention to the details. It's an invitation to Harrison Clarke's ball, marked with all of the flourishes and embellishments you'd expect from nobility.

Finally, after much the same twists of the mana as before, another shape materialised in thin air. This time however, it felt different somehow to the one before. As if this version had more weight, more substance to it. And, as Amy read it all over, she realised she could actually understand the words on it. It was typical noble spiel, yet this time it was actually addressed to herself and mentioned the Archmage's ball by name. Also, on the back of the card, was a familiar sign which Amy recognised from scouting the Clarke estate, the family crest.

"I need more than this, but it's a good start," Amy muttered to herself. "I need some more Spells, practice as always and... Well, I should probably tell Tod about his Aspiration, but... that can be for later. For now..."

Amy trailed off as she stared at the runes in her Record, attempting to piece them together in her mind. All of this, and enhancing my mind, and planning the ball... It's tough but I have to make it work. This is the only way I can even start trying to plan something for the Archmage. I need more information. And this is it. Information.

Feebly trying to reinforce her resolve once more, Amy shivered slightly as a wave of unease passed over her. Then, ignoring it, she continued as she was; enhancing, and practising.

* * *

The week passed slowly. And by the end of the deadline, Amy still wasn't ready.