Just a particularly subdued wizard chess set, then. He supposed he could appreciate that. He had never played on anything that didn't move itself.
He hadn't played at all in quite a while, really. It was an appropriate ending to summer, though, an opportunity to engage in something a little more challenging than making reports to the board or overseeing curriculum changes or coping with unhappy professors. September usually came with a marked downturn in intellectual stimulation - much like what had come from grading the first wave of first-years' papers every year. He considered this less a game than an exercise now, which was at least better than when he had considered it a competition. But that had more to do with whom he was playing than with anything else.
"C five," he said after a brief hesitation, and his pawn slid abruptly forward. "I will admit that the first crisis I expected hasn't come to pass. We're well and fully staffed, at least." He expected not everyone thought so, however. He was curious as to how they all regarded one another.