Stage 1 Minimum Level: 1913 Location:Twisted Castle (West Tower) (9, 8) Required Item: None Required Kills: None

The West Tower is uncomfortably cold, as if a malice had permeated the very air. As you were looking for a veiled threat you didn't notice the quiet Student looking at a scroll until you were almost ran into him. The thin bespectacled Student looks up from his scroll with a mixture of hope and panic, 'I don't recognize you, are you here to adjudicate my test?' He asks you with a nervous reedy voice. Cavanda laughs, the pleasant sound jars against the miserable surroundings, 'No no, we are just passing through. What is it you're doing?' The young boy points at the large scroll, 'I've to collect the ingredients and construct the Puka Essence. I'm not sure what the Professor is trying to teach me in this, but I don't think I'm going to survive it.' Cavanda frowns at the scroll, 'This is an evil Fay he wants you to dissect? I'm sorry, but these will do you great harm. I know what, let's give this to the Warrior here and we can get you that Puka Essence without you being murdered by malicious magical creatures.' The Nerdy Student looks at you with a look of fragile hope. You give a heavy sigh, 'You're lucky Cavanda came along my friend. Come on, give me the scroll.' The nerdy Student gratefully hand you the scroll. You receive 1 x Puka Fay Essence Recipe. Return to the Nerdy Student when you have constructed the Puka Essence.

Stage 2 Minimum Level: 1913 Location:Twisted Castle (West Tower) (9, 8) Required Item: Puka Fay Essence Required Kills: None

You return to find Cavanda chatting to the Nerdy Student. He look up at you expectantly, 'Did you manage to get the Puka Fey Essence?' The Student looks at the evil Essence in interest, 'This is not what I was expecting, I should cast my Magical Detection on it to see what it's properties are I suppose.' Cavanda smiles and nods. The Student holds the Puka Essence in both hands and murmurs an incantation under his breath. The Puka Essence gives off a low grating hum and after a time the Student stops. Cavanda looks at him, 'So, what do you make of that?' The Student shakes his head, 'I don't know. The Puka are a powerful creature, it's Essence should have given a constant tone with my Detect Magic. The pitch tells me how I can use it in my spells. But that weird growl doesn’t tell me anything...' Cavanda smiles down at the young man, 'Did you cast the Detect Magic correctly?' The Student looks up at her in irritation, 'Of course I did, I cast it perfectly!' Cavanda tilts her head, 'Very well. So the harmonics the Essence gave off were unclear, what would that tell you?' The Student stares at the vile object in his hands, 'It gave off a tone quickly, so it has power. But the tone was distorted, so... It's not useful to my spells. I suppose I would say that with all this power the essence has, it's just noise. Maybe.. just because something is powerful, does not mean it's useful.' Cavanda smiles, 'Excellent, yes. Power is only useful if you can direct it. This is powerful, but it will disrupt any spell that tries to harness it. It is the same for a powers alignment as well, but that's best kept between me and you. You should write up the rest though.' The Nerdy Student smiles gratefully and quickly starts scribbling notes on the back of the scroll as he walks away. You then ask Cavanda, 'Why did you help that young man with his Necromantic assignment?' The Paladin gives you a sideways look, 'He will surprise the Professor with his insight and will receive a high mark. He will also remember the success and the secret I asked him not to share. When the Professor tells him that 'Power is just that, Power. It is a force and therefore has no attribute of "Good" or "Evil". He will remember my words and it will haunt him. He's a clever logical boy. He'll conclude that as Creation is a product of the Gods, their work will also be a product of themselves. Therefore by definition, the power that runs through Creation has to have an alignment of the Gods who made it. It's only logical after all. He is delving into Necromancy, he will eventually see this for the Evil it is and then remember that some power is more useful to you than others.' You listen to her words and see both truth and hope within, 'That's a lot of wishful thinking in there.' Cavanda grins widely back at you, 'Oh Warrior, some types of luck are impossible to shake. Anyway, enough of these theological discussions we should move on in our search for Professor Morbidstein. Meet me in the West Wing, he can't be far now.' You receive 16,459,454 Xp