Getting Familiar (with Your Familiar)
Treilor could still remember when she cast find familiar; she guessed every magic-user did. Even as an apprentice, the half-elf looked forward to the moment when, in her mind, someone became a magic-user. This was one of the defining rites of passage; if there was one thing that most inhabitants of any territory, keep, county, or barony know, it is that magic-users has minions: black cats, frogs, owls. If that magic-user was powerful enough, that minion might be from the outer planes. To Treilor, it is one thing to be able to cast burning hands or magic missile but having a permanent reminder of one’s spellcasting power was something else
She argued and debated and bargained and offered and counter-offered with Xandryl, her mentor, about allowing her to copy the spell into her spell book. Xandryl did not think she was ready for a familiar; he saw her as too unwise and immature. But finally, she wore him down. After one long and convoluted discussion, the wizard offered Treilor one hourglass’ worth of time to copy the spell, if for no other reason than to quiet her. The half-elf wrote quickly and accurately and finished with sand still in the upper chamber.
She spent most of her earnings from her first two adventures buying the material to cast the spell. It was not cheap getting a brass brazier shipped to the Dim Forest or finding the right combination of herbs and fats to burn, but Treilor was persistent. It was early Sunsebb by the time she found everything, almost a half a year since she had tricked her mentor into giving her the spell. She prepared the mixture, and the next day, the half-elf began the ceremony.
It was not long into the spell that the toad appeared. Treilor was slightly underwhelmed by the ease of the incantation and the result of the spell. Although she knew that most magic-users got animals, she always thought that she would do better. She walked over to the toad, and this was the thing that she most remembered out of all of the vibrant memories of the moment, it sprang directly from the ground into her robe’s pocket, arcing into the fabric with gentle ease.
That had been two years and several levels ago, and Stanwick was still with her. The toad’s wide-angle vision had gotten them both out of more dangerous situations than the magician cared to count. In retrospect, she was glad she had not gotten some hoity-toity brownie or ill-tempered imp. Stanwick was loyal, and ever since she got a copy of speak with animals from a former classmate, she had learned he was also interested in fine dining, history, and language. He had a toad wife who living slightly outside of the Dim Forest, and two of their children also worked as familiars.
It was from Stanwick that Treilor learned of how being a familiar was passed from generation to generation. The toad’s father worked as a familiar for a mage who lived in the Wild Coast. When that wizard decided to retire to the Dim Forest, Stanwick’s father followed and when Stanwick was old enough, he answered the spell. In the time that he had been working with Treilor, his two sons had gotten great positions: one working in Veluna and another in Greyhawk City. Stanwick couldn’t wait until the adventure was over; he was going to ask for a couple weeks off to go visit them.
The half-elf trusted the toad more than any other companion she had ever travelled with; Stanwick thought that the half-elf was insightful and pleasantly daring. He was surprised he had not caught onto the invisible stalker that the assassin had killed recently. Stanwick prided himself on seeing what others could not and now that pride was hurt. He knew that Treilor respected his work, but he also wanted to make sure that respect was earned. He swore himself to focus his efforts.
It was not long after the battle with the ogres and the invisible stalker that Stanwick’s efforts paid off. In the rubble ahead, hidden by some dying grass and a broken flagon, the toad noticed a shadow. He jumped up and down in the magic-user’s pocket, drawing her attention. He looked up at her and jumped out of the robe, landing on the ground before Treilor. The toad croaked out, “Come on,” and commenced hopping towards the newly-discovered cave.
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You follow Stanwick down the path towards the cave and find a door.
You follow Stanwick down the path and avoid the cave.