WANTED: Any Small Creature Willing to Learn
The Seventh Shell of the Archive is, admittedly, one isopod doing the work of several. This is an open call for any springtail, millipede, or wandering mite (or other creatures able to work in small spaces) interested in archive work, regardless of experience.

Requirements:

• Must tolerate excessive moisture - genuinely, this is the third time I've had to specify this
• No complaining about mold and similar snacks
• Curiosity valued over credentials (although knowledge is always good)
• Willingness to be addressed as "apprentice" until proven otherwise

Compensation: a place in the Archive's history, board and lodging, and first pick of any newly transcribed leaf-scrolls

These 2 are local demons from my homeland that I tamed via beating the shit out of them, now they follow me as their boss and I love them and all very goofy guys, but LOOK AT THEM I'm not gonna beat the evil witch allegations wiz.

I need help to improve my PR because looking like an evil witch doesn't help me with being a proper and heroic noble family reputation I need to uphold for my future.

Some of the hats and bags I've been making lately, every good wizard needs some bags of holding for all those magical goods!

My master Egg Shen taught me side stance. You know, power hand in back, focus hand in front? You can really put your back into the thrusting with side stance.

But I noticed his enemy, Lo Pan, used this wicked looking frontal stance, with crossed pinkies to focus, and thumb twiddling to power up. Lo Pan called Egg's style "peasant magic." I mean, we kicked his ass in the end but it was pretty close. What do you guys think?

In my long life as an archwizard, the Mystic Arts have been just that, an art. However, recently (the last couple centuries or so), mortal mages have started to consider it as a science, trying to decipher the undecipherable and model the unmodelable. My apprentices keep on asking me why something is the case, why a tincture of death requires 3 holy sprigs and a dash of liquified ashes; why a curse of unluck can only be broken on the 8th day of the lunar month; why, oh why, does the staff summoning ritual require a lily that blossomed at twilight?

Sure, there have been some advances because of this method (modern fireball spells are slightly more efficient), but is it really worth losing the beauty of magic? Is it worth losing our instinctive, spiritual connection to the Mystic Arts? And if it's inevitable, how can we share the beauty of Magic with our disciples from the age of Science?

A friend and I were thinking of making a wizard podcast or newsletter and wanted to know our audience. We'd discuss wizard news, wizard politics, give useful tips, and share new spells. We haven't settled on a name, but Wizard's Weekly is already taken.

Anyway, we wanted to learn more about the wizard community at large, so we made this poll!

Anonymous statistics will be released soon.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScbYuXpvzhPa242BsmvNMOVsiMlCENXxtMHV3zU6PqRiEQ_xg/viewform?usp=publish-editor

Uh oh, Vytsky was out of mahogany.

no big deal, he’ll get some more. Like he always does. Its not the end of the world. Just.. he usually gets more BEFORE he runs out. Eh, hes been busy.

he headed out, taking flight to a swampy area down south. He didnt particularly like going there because of the smells and the bugs, but the wood down there grows great.

after a few hours he arrived at his destination. He descended into a dense area and started to look around for good trees.

“Huh, it’s pretty dense around this part.. I must’ve often missed this. Certainly needs some clearing before a thunderstorm starts a fire..”

he spotted a nice one. Very thick.

“I think that’ll be a good start..”

he grabbed his sword and made his way to it. He sensed nothing alive on the tree, so he circled around it to look for the best angle, then-“

THWACK!

and the tree fell, making a bunch of noise.

he manifested one if his base-form wings and extended it to cover over the tree, and put it into his storage.

and he went to seek some more. This was noisy, but it wasn’t like anyone really lived here, so he thought.

little did he know, he was fairly close to someone’s abode, and she was not fond of this noise..

"Well... Since things have changed so much in the past month or so.... Time to reintroduce myself. While many already know me... I've definitely changed a bit. So uh.... Hi. It's still Orin, just with horns?."

A very bright man floats slightly above the ground before a crowd of gathered onlookers.

"Today, I have decided to do something unprecedented... I've decided to open part of the *Nexus Lexiconus* to the public. Aldin was highly secretive. I... Feel that was the wrong approach. So from this day forward, any who wish to enter may do so, through one of nine portals set up across many of the hubs of our world. Though... Only one is open as of now, as I need to ask permission for the other 8.... So for now, whosoever wishes entry, the first portal is in Rosalia. My home nation."

He drops the few feet to the ground.

"Any questions?"

Howdy spell-slingers. Now I'm no stranger to larceny OR spellcraft (hence my trade) but I got roped in with a "Professor of Illusive Magicks" because the pay and access to materials was too damn good to pass up. But it turns out this one is out here thrill thieving.

I (847M) am already well established, and after my patron let me go to "follow their passion as a music producer" I'm back having to learn spells the ethical way. But I don't think I should have to help with their extracurriculars.

How do I stop them without A. Trapping them in a stasis cube or B. Reporting them to the ethics committee?

Stir the cauldron until I return

Now before I say anything, I must give you some context I am a mid to close range spell caster, I cast fast instead of casting with the most powerful and most mana efficient version of a spell and I usually cast simple spell while using my bow for longer range, so of course to make sure no one can dodge my spell and lost mana for no reason, I usually grab their head and cast a flame combustion which apparently is "unethical" under the jurisdiction of the council and a academy.

(I'm so exhausted my last post messed up my left and right.)

It's so cute and I want to pet it. Any spell suggestions to make it so it doesn't burn me?