Sentries and Spirals

Round and round and round, I spun the threads of mana. Seven spirals around two rods each of six times adding a new one when the first rod was finally empty. Once done, grab another type from the main pool, and spin that one clean. All the leftover crud?

I may not have invented the technique, but I discovered it there in that basement, under careful watch of four shifts of two guards each.

"You even look like you're tapping mana..." Lawrence said.

"Or starting to sing bardic music..." Tiana added.

"Or casting a spell or activating an ability..." Lawrence continued.

"We have clubs, and you have a head." Tiana said. "You speak a word, you get hit in the head."

"Basically," Lawrence said, "you do anything that looks suspicious, and we hit you in the head."

"Don't try anything on our shift." Tiana droned. "So far as we've been told, everyone guarding you holds at least two levels in the Sentry class."