The duty wizards on internal communication are Ulsele Blerynthar and Almun Sarren. Ulsele is a high ranking wizard of noble birth, and Marlith is rather surprised to find her doing something this routine. Almun, the human, is only an apprentice, presumably being taught the sort of mental grunt work wizards spend their time doing. Or perhaps, with the city in crisis, these two are the only available minds.

"We'll try mindspeaking to him in his chambers", she says, "I imagine he's resting".

She concentrates for a moment, then shakes her head

"Not there. I didn't feel a mind". She turns to her junior human colleague. "All directions shout, Almum. You've got the strength to reach him if we don't know his location".

It's Almun's turn to concentrate; he shuts his eyes and screws up his face. After a few seconds he bows his head, looking exhausted.

"Can't make contact", he says, "felt his mind, near river, but he's not listening".

[Bump]

<Marlith>

"Well, thank you for trying", he said slowly as he considered his next step. "I guess I will do it the old fashioned way. "If Gurnyla asks, tell her I went to find Dhermyrdh. I will start down by the river."

He headed for the river.

The western wall Academy of the Mind fronts the river, and the academy has it's own landing stage. That was the approximate location Almun could give, so Marlith makes for that.

The only people Marlith finds at the landing stage are two Mageguards on sentry duty.

<Marlith>

Well it was clear that Dhermyrdh was not out here, but perhaps one of the sentries had some idea. He approached them and bowed. "Mistress Gurnyla has sent me in search of Dhermyrdh. Would either of your worthies have an idea where I might look?"

"He took a boat", says one of the sentries, "Went downstream, didn't say where. But he had no cloak or provisions, so he wasn't going far".

<Marlith>

He bowed and thanked the sentries for their assistance. He moved down to the river bank and began walking down stream. Perhaps he would run into the boat or something that might be a destination for someone like Dhermyrdh.

There are many boats of differing sizes on the river, ranging from small one-man rowing boats to big river barges ocean-going ships.

He spots one small boat heading downstream keeping close to the bank. It's a small rowing boat, but it's moving without the aid of an oar, and doesn't seem to have engines either. It dawns on him that it's probably a psychokinetic using his mind powers to propel the craft through the water.

It's quite some way off, and is moving as fast as man can run.

<Marlith>

He considers briefly. It seemed that his quarry must be in the midn powered craft. Nothing else made sense.

The time it would take to hire a boat ... and then the boat would likely not be as quick as the mind powered boat, mean that option was not viable. That meant that his best option was on foot ... at least for the short term. Hopefully he was not going far and he would not get so far ahead that Marlith would lose sight of him.

He hitched up his robe and took off at a reasonable trot. While he could go faster, he would not be able to keep up a faster pace for long. He should be able to trot along for a goodly while.

The boat keeps on Marlith's side of the river, until it's psionic pilot steers it towards the dockside. A man who certainly resembles Dhermyrdh leaps out, without even stopping to tie the boat up. He makes purposeful strides towards some destination in the south-east of the city.

<Marlith>

This was more exertion than was customary for the librarian. But he was boyed a bit by the fact that his quarry ... at least it looked like him ... was now on foot as well. Hopefully he would be able to close the distance some. He did not imagine that Dhermyrdh would take to running. He smiled a bit as that image played through his mind for a moment. But his breathing was becoming more like gasping, so the smile did not last long.

Marlith is almost completely out of breath by the time he reaches the place where Dhermyrdh made landfall. The boat is now safely tied up at the quayside. Unfortunately he's lost sight of his quarry.

<Marlith>

**Damn**, he thought when he realized he could no longer see his quarry. Hands on his thighs, doubled over a bit, he tried to catch his breath. He took a moment to look around hoping that there would be something that might look like an obvious destination for someone like Dhermyrdh.

Since he seemed to be heading away from the river rather than parallel to it, he may have been heading either for the Legion barracks, or the Temple of Kardak.

<Marlith>

He considered the possibilities. Dhermyrdh could be headed to the temple, but in that case, why wouldn't he just use the docks there? That meant that the Legion barracks was the more likely. He spent another couple of seconds catching his breath before he started moving quickly ... but not quite running ... to the barracks.

Close to the barracks, Marlith catches sight of Dhermyrdh again. It looks as though he's attempting, although not very successfully, to make himself inconspicuous.

<Marlith>

He moves in the direction of his target, but in case Dhermydh was worried about him, he did his best to look non-threatening.

Marlith gets a prickly sensation in his head, as if someone's trying to read his mind.

<Marlith>

He buries most of his mind behind his mental barriers, letting out only the image of his 'mission' and who sent him on it. At the same time, he tries to get a sense of who is behind the probes.

Marlith has this sense that it's his duty to report back to the Academy that Dhermyrdh could not be found. This sensation has Dhermyrdh's personality all over it.

<Marlith>

He was reluctant to return without news of a successful completion of his task. He just was not used to that sort of thing. But this was just the latest unique situation for him in list of unique situations that seem to have been occurring around him all too often of late. He did a quick look around to make sure that ... woman was not around.

But it seemed pretty clear that Dhermyrdh was not interested in being found and if he pushed, he might very well find himself in a situation that could be dangerous and he was not interested in that.

He pulled back from the probing entity ... it certainly felt like Dhermyrdh behind the probes ... and buried his mind his shields in case Dhermyrdh was not willing to 'let go'. It was clearly time to report back with what he had observed and see what new directive he might be given. He decided to at least =try= to be inconspicuous onm the trip back to the Academy.

Marlith makes it back to the Academy without incident; and manages to catch Gurlyla. She's out in the main courtyard, surveying the damage in the company of Rethuis d'n Amatheyr, the chief Mageguard. The top stories of one of the Academy's towers has collapsed across the grass, leaving the stump of the base of the tower standing like a broken tooth.

"Did you find Dhermyrdh?", asks Gurnyla.

<Marlith>

"Not ... exactly, Mistress", he said hesitantly, head bowed. "He seemed to be attempting to avoid being found."

He looked up as he gave his 'report'. "I followed him down along the river and lost him when ... I think ... he entered a building. I felt a mind scan just after that that 'felt' like Dhermyrdh, but I cannot be sure. As I was unprepared for any sort of confrontation, I felt it prudent to report back and see how you would like to proceed."

"I really don't like the sound of this at all", Gurnyla says, "Mental assault of Academy staff rather crosses the line. When we catch up with him, he's going to have some explaining to do. Guardians know what he's up to now. Exactly where did this mental confrontation take place?".

<Marlith>

He reviewed the path he had taken. It was not a part of town he was familiar with. "I am not very familiar with that part of town, but we were near the 5th Legion barracks and I am sure that I can find the place again, however. He had been acting as if he was trying to avoid attention, taking a small boat and powering it himself, then 'skulking about'. That seems a bit out of character, if you will please excuse my saying so", he added with head bowed. "When I felt someone trying to probe my mind, I decided it was time to report back."

"You did the right thing", Gurnyla says, "What to do with him next is our problem". She turns to the head Mageguard. "What's your plan of action?"

"Apart from Marlith claims of mental probing, what evidence of wrongdoing do we have?", he asks, "Sufficient evidence, and I'll have him dragged back to the Academy and slung into a null-room until we decide what to do with him. But just 'skulking about'? Perhaps he has a lady friend he doesn't want us to know about. That's hardly illegal, is it?".

<Marlith>

"If I might be so bold", he asked, head bowed respectfully, "What sort of evidence would be helpful?"