In downtown Khaboom, a lowly dwarven wizard narrowly avoids bumping into an irascible fellow dwarf. He cannot help but utter a word of displeasure - and promptly find shimslef suspended upside down, 2 feet above a very dirty puddle. His fingers flicker, as do his lips, as he reacts savagely with the thought of a Take That You Fiend! but he gets a bad feeling and the spell dies before it sparks. This other dwarf is Souza Fortescue, once trapped under the Goblin Crag Mountain and recently enrolled as a member of the High Council of the Wizards' Guild in Khaboom.
Before Souza can decide what punishment is most fitted to the offence, a bird descends from the clouds and bursts into flame some 10 feet above the pair. It is a Flame Bird and it drops a small scroll into Souza's hands which he unrolls and rapidly scans, snorting with derision as he does so.
Once the junior wizard, Pywhch by name, has aplogised and they both think better of losing their tempers so early in the morning on such a public thoroughfare, Souza bids Pywhch accompany him to the Guild building on Pentagram Square where he has a business proposition to make, one which he prefers not to be overheard by street gossips.
After a brief detour to Mrs. Miggins' Pastry Parlour - a sin for a dwarf who is meant to be watching his weight - they arrive at the Guild headquarters, today shaped utterly preposterously as an enormous bulbous nose.
A so begins what is most likely a tale of epic proportions....
In the meantime, here is the Wizards' Guild doorman, somewhat surprised and what is coming his way after he makes the mistake of asking Souza for some ID:
