Defensive Magic

FALL TERM - November 26th (Continued)

Noodle and I met with the mask maker just as the sun sank down below the horizon. We weren't late exactly, but it was hard to shake the feeling we should have come earlier. He was working out of a room above a little junk shop at the edge of town. The oil lamps that lit most of town didn't reach this far.

We climbed up a rickety set of wooden stairs that wound along the side of the junk shop and had to use Aries's light spell to make out the sign hanging above the door - Vahln Kolgrimm, Disguise Artist.

I went to try the door, when Noodle asked, "Do you think maybe we should knock?"

I pulled it open anyway. Inside was poorly lit. Instead of lamps, there was one bright lantern somewhere between a few rows of shelves somewhere much deeper inside the space.

"Hello?" I called out. "Mr. Kolgrimm?"

"Ah... it's about time," a dry voice croaked out. The light of the lantern slowly drifted through the maze of shelves until a dwarven man rounded the last corner. He wore a pair of wire-frame glasses, unexpectedly delicate for the bold features of his face. I had a hard time guessing his age in the low light and know he could have either been incredibly old or fairly young. He wore his hair short and his beard even shorter, both bristled. "You do know that your little party is two days from now, don't you?"

"Yes, sorry. I didn't think it would be difficult to purchase a mask last minute-"

"Purchase a mask? Boy, you don't just buy one off the shelf here! The masks here are always made-to-order. No exceptions." Vahln was already leading us further into his little shop. Cluttering the space between the shelves were boxes, stacks of books, and the odd glass bottle, and who knows what else in the dark room. Noodle and I stepped carefully behind him to avoid knocking anything over. "It's a good thing Elandria plans ahead for all of you. Better than old Thistle Fen I'll tell ya. They never get me their list of new mages to be expected. I just have to wait an' see who shows up!"

Vahln set the lantern down at a desk and adjusted the flame so that the space brightened up a little around us. Two masks hung on pedestals where it seemed he'd already been at work on them. The first was bone-white, silk that gleamed in the low light. It was a relatively simple mask compared to the ones I'd seen from the rest of my coven in the Sanctum, but perhaps it wasn't finished. The one most striking feature of it was a set of antlers arcing up from the top of it. A cold stone rolled over in my chest.

The other mask beside it was soft leather and shaped like a leaf.