[Choose Your Own Adventure] Part 29

Hey guys!

My wedding is the 29th. I'm super excited. Hopefully your holiday season is going well!

Part 29

While Twain is a salamander, you decide you’re going to try using your magic.

[Academic Knowledge] Evocation is the easiest, and fastest, ability that most arcanists learn. Since Twain has shapeshifted into a salamander, you should be able to evoke fire.

With one hand, you hold onto the salamander. With the other, you point your palm to the sky. You don’t have anyone around to teach you, so you just… try things. At first you try flexing your arm muscles, and then you try waving your hand. No fire.

Twain glances back as he runs through the city, panting and huffing the whole way. Then he finally growls, “Imagine the fire within you. Escaping.”

You take a deep breath and focus on what Twain said. Allowing the fire to escape you. That’s when you feel the pulse of magic through your body. It erupts outward and creates a small ember that wafts off your palm and floats into the night sky.

Then Twain turns, breaking your concentration.

You’ve arrived at the Haylin Library! It’s… not very large. As a matter of fact, it’s two buildings built together. One is a local schoolhouse, and the other is the library. They’re merged together to give the students easier access to the books, scrolls, and tomes.

It’s over a hundred years old, and it shows. Dirty, thick windows. Worn doors. Wood of varying colors.

Twain is huffing and puffing, and when you dismount, he immediately transforms back into an orange kitten. He collapses to the ground. If he could sweat, he’d be swimming in a pool of his own fluids.

“Carry me,” he whines, his voice half a meow.

You scoop him up and head into the library. It’s easy—you know how to get in, even when it’s locked. You’ve been an apprentice here for years. You crawl through a window you know can’t lock.

Once inside, you light a lantern and head into the back. Obviously, the librarian isn’t here yet, so you place Twain on a desk and allow him to catch his breath.

With a purr, Twain says, “Thank you… But I could’ve done it myself, if I needed.”

[Empathic Insight]You’re fairly certain Twain has been alone a long time. He doesn’t want to be “weak” because he has to be tough at all times.

Before you can deal with Twain, the front door opens, and Sorric the Librarian enters. He takes off his large wizard hat and hangs it on a hook. Several other hats are on display, and he immediately takes his “indoor cap”—a fluffy brown thing that keeps Sorric warm at night.

“Oh, my,” he says as he hurried over to you. His old relickeeper mark on his forehead is faded and cracked, but it’s easy to see once he’s so close. “It seems odd things are happening tonight!”

Sorric glances at Twain, and then to you. “A mimic?” His intelligent eyes seem to put everything together in an instant. “Ah. I know now why the mystic seekers are here… They want your mimic! The pelt of the mimic can make powerful trinkets and artifacts, after all.”

What do you do?

A) “Uh, can you send the seekers away?”

B) “How do you know about mimic pelts?”

C) “What kind of items?”

D) “His name is Twain. He’s a little grumpy, but I already love him.”

E) “What do you think I should do?”

F) “How much do you think the seekers will pay for him?”

G) Say nothing.