"Ah, welcome back" Sekiri says, as you enter his study. This time, he waves you over to his desk, where he unrolls some maps inscribed on high quality vellum.
"This first map is, as you will hopefully already recognise, a map of the public areas of the Unseen University itself. It doesn't show the Order Complex in detail, but we can get to that when you're ready to join."
"Of course, you already know most of this I trust, but I'll put some notes under the map as we speak for you in case you are asked directions by one of our foreign students."
"Obviously, the first thing that you will run into is the huge black gates of the Unseen University. Hopefully not literally. If they do happen to be closed however, there has long been a way to climb the wall just north of the gates. It's rather a high traffic area just after last call at the nearby pubs, and of course in the other direction just before happy hour."
"As you then move further west, you will come to an intersection of the entrance to the Library north of you, to the Tower of Art to the south, the Great Hall to the west, and the Cloisters to the northwest. The
Library we will deal with once I've introduced you to the campuses."
"The next part of our virtual tour is the Tower of Art. Not necessarily of great interest on the way up, there are spectacular views once you get to the top. Once you are there, the more adventurous may like to bungee jump from the top. I do suggest you attach the rope before you jump of course, or perhaps, you may like to trust in the results of a certain spell to save you from certain death. Ah, to be young and foolish again."
"The cloisters comprise a number of classrooms where for reasons unknown some of the UU wizards are actually teaching students. It's best to have a few levels of magic before coming here, but you can enter one of the rooms, and by 'concentrating' on the apparatus in each room you may learn a few things. Note that it is very basic stuff, and you're unlikely to pick up much unless your skills are very limited."
"Continuing on, we come to the Great Hall. Here you will often find the Lecturer in Recent Runes going about his business, and amiably greetings those passing through. You will also find statues of four of the old Senior Wizards of the early days of the UU, Blackheart, Crispian, Eron and Ranma. The Residence Hall or Dorms are just north of the hall, but nothing particularly interesting there, only students."
"If we pass west through the Great Hall however, we will come to a pair of staircases, and the official university noticeboard. Just to the north of there is our Admissions Office, which is an unofficial intelligence test for admission to the guild, since as you of course know, it's only by heading up to the top of stairs that you get to 'join'. From there, if you head directly south, you will be in the Student Lounge, which you no doubt know well, as it is there you advance your skills. One of our bulletin boards is also there, to keep you up to date on various topics."
"Now, going back north of where you joined, we have the
order complex. We won't go into a lot of detail right now, but each of the orders have their own common room, voting room, Senior's office and quarters here. The offices of the Archchancellor, Bursar and Dean can also be found here."
"Finally, if we head back down the stairs and again, we have the Gymnasium. The Gym is a place where students can find both the Begynners' Magick book, but also a captive demon named Dwmmigh to practice spells on. In addition, the room holds a chest in which you may find items that are useful to you in your studies. Note that once you are no longer a student, you will be restricted from accessing that chest. You should also be reminded that while the Gym is designed to funnel away any background magic caused by casting spells, and thereby keeping you safe from the Thynges that might otherwise be attracted, it by no means makes your spells safe from either failures or painful backfires."
Sekiri lets the map roll up. "Any questions before we move on?" You shake your head.
"Next on the list is the Illusionary Institute of Learning, located just off the Avenue of the Pharaohs in the city of Djelibeybi. As you can see, it is significantly smaller than the University we are currently in."
"As you enter the courtyard, you will see a library to the north of you, which we will get to shortly. If you continue heading east, you will enter Toad Hall and attached offices, and can go down to the Kitchens from there, or head upstairs to the Diplomat's Lounge, and the local guild rooms of the Klatchian orders."
"Heading back out to the courtyard, off the southwest of the southern courtyard, you will find Mit-sin-bibh-khot's world of rare reagents, a handy store to purchase some of the tools of the trade. Off to the east of that courtyard, you will find an outdoor practice area with its captive demon Ghrigghi to serve as a handy target."
"Finally, south of the courtyard there are more practice rooms similar to the Cloisters at the UU, and in the middle of those is an indoor practice room, with another copy of Begynners' Magick, and the captive, er, thing, called Sakeerhi - no relation, to practice on."
"If you do visit the IIL, you should remember that while in the city of Djelibeybi you should observe the sacred laws of the city. While I'm sure that some of them are no doubt silly, there is not necessarily anything silly about the consequences, which will see you thrown to the crocodiles if your harm a priest or cat in the city."
Sekiri claps his hands and adds "Right, thats enough of those Djelian.. er, never mind. Next we have what I suppose we could now call our Agatean brethren, located in the city of Bes Pelargic. Technically speaking, they got lost in the UU Library some time ago, and were caught in an L-space bubble which only opens to Bes Pelargic, or so they say. To be precise, it opens to Wun Cuddly Panda's Bookshop found on the west corner of Diamond Place, and you can enter the bubble there by simply having a wander down the alleys of books. In actual fact, there is also a route through their library, through L-space proper, back to our Library, but I suppose they're happy enough where they are now. It may be that they do not have sufficient divining to find their way."
"We'll just deal with the guild itself here, and compare its library to our own in a minute."
"On entering the bubble, you will be greeted by The Grand High Exalted Enlightened Master himself, though technically, 'himself' is barely through puberty and not quite up to the title. Here you can, as in the student lounge in the Unseen University, get lessons and advance your skills. Off to the east from here is the entrance to to their library, while if you move to the north, you will find a small room. This room is their equivalent of a gym, and again contains a copy of Begynners' Magick, a chest with useful items, a captive demon Ezhkrr, and a strange spiral staircase leading up and down that also serves to drain away any magic from spell casting."
"Heading down from there will lead you to a small, fairly ordinary cellar, with strangely coloured moss growing. However, appearances can be slightly misleading and there is a very strange looking crate there that may allow you access to some very specialised magical supplies."
"Up the staircase you will find yourself in a courtyard which is surrounded by a number of alcoves, as you can see marked on the map. Again one has the opportunity to pick up some supplies, from clothing and tailor made robes and hats, to writing supplies and some very peculiar candy."
"The room to the southwest is of particular interest, as it has been set up as a magical dueling room. Here, those proficient in the magic arts can duel to the death... of each participant's demon. The duel uses many different skills, from offensive and defensive to the elemental skills, as well as animating, healing, summoning and magic.items skills. Not only may winning magical duels be an achievement in and of itself, but you may also have the opportunity to improve your magical skills!"
"In a similar theme, off to the north of the courtyard you will find an extensive Billiards for the Proper Wizard complex, with some of the lounges being quite Exclusive indeed. Here, games of billiards likewise test the playing Wizards' magical skills. All in all, quite an interesting guild to visit!"
As he rolls up the last map, Sekiri says "And finally, we do have a few other smaller related campuses around the Disc, such as those in Sto Lat and Creel Springs. There isn't necessarily anything crucial to your studies there at present, so while I do encourage you to visit, I'll leave you to explore those in your own time."
