Snow quietly follows Strewn down the corridor and watches as he makes idle conversation with Udad, expertly distracting the groundsman. He doesn't miss a beat as he circles around the pair and reaches an invisible hand out for the ring of keys at his belt, trying to surreptitiously snag it.
Varielky must restrain her uproar about getting wet like this. Children's pranks, and yet she fell for it. What if it were something worse than water? With her free hand, she moves her now-wet hair backwards and away from her eyes, and pressing it between her fingers and her palm she tries to yank the water from it. "That wasn't very nice, girls." She exclaims, irritation clear in her voice, but then she takes a deep breath to calm down. Just children.
"My name is Varielky, but that doesn't matter much right now. We're here",the truth seems the best course of action now. They're girls, maybe they'll understand. "Because her baby", she indicates Tamazaert while stressing the word baby, "was kidnapped, and we believe he's being held in the castle. Some people don't want the mother to reunite with her son, so they won't let us in. We're here to get him back, and we must pass through here to get to the castle."
If anything, Varielky appreciates that the girls stand ready to defend the school - as futile as she thinks the effort may be - and not only out of sheer respect for their bravery. She wouldn't want to chase down the girls and find a way to keep them quiet if they tried to run away. It would leave a very bad taste in her mouth. "So we're not going to cause you any trouble, and I hope you won't cause us any either. You'll forget you saw us, and I'll forget being soaked in water." To emphasize, Varielky indicates her wet clothes.
Briefly taken aback by the surprising bucket of water, Auger pauses behind the entryway as Varielky stops and speaks with the... the children. Ah, so they do wander then. And tricks. Auger cannot help but smile. Still they were in a hurry.
Auger steps in behind Varielky as she finishes speaking, making reference to the water. Auger reaches through his mind and into the water Varielky is covered in, draws as much as he can away from her and collects it into a ball. Auger then looks around for the -- the bucket perhaps -- whatever held the water and attempts to place the water there. As the others make their way in, Auger speaks for the children as well, "Well now you know as much of our business as we can share. Go on to bed. You do not want to get caught up in these matters. Off to bed.
"You there."Auger motions towards the slightly older girl who had addressed them. He examines her fey corona attempting to decipher its meaning. Is she capable of forming bonds with the Sea of Stars? Had she found her own patron to help her activate some capabilities? (Arcana check: 5 +4 = 9 <sigh>). "If you lead this young band of tricksters then see to their safety and see them to bed. And forget we were here."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM of RotFM | AUGER the Warlock (Archfey & the Chain) / Shadow Sorcerer in Age of Resurgence | Rahui & Javier in Sea of Memory
(OOC: invisibility does not give advantage to stealth rolls, so we’ll use 19 as your roll. It and sleight of hand are both successful.)
The tie holding the key ring to Udad’s belt seems to unravel of its own accord, and Granophyre winks in the general direction of the keys as they float away from the groundsman, secure in the ethereal grip of Snow’s spell. As Udad seems to subconsciously register the missing weight and his hand drifts to check on the keys, Granophyre takes that same arm in his hand, turning Udad and leading him down the corridor away from the office. “I’ve noticed the grounds are particularly well-kept on campus -- not a scuff mark to be seen! And I wager no person knows better than you the history of these halls!”
These remarks have the same loosening effect on Udad’s tongue as the bard’s spell had on the keyring tie, and the groundsman puffs up and waxes nostalgic and verbose.
As his narrative retelling of recent history echoes down the hall, Snow finds, upon the ring, a key marked “Headmaster” which would seem to match one of the office doors, eponymously marked. It lets him into an office with a desk, lamps, small coffee table with comfortable chairs, and walls lined with bookshelves and cabinets. There is an adjoining chamber whose door reads, “Archives.”
Snow takes a quick look around the room, but not knowing how long Strewn will be able to distract Udad, he decides it is best to do what he came for. He wanders over to the door marked Archives, and inspects it to see if it is locked and if there is any further security around it.
If it is locked he will look through the keys for one marked Archives.
The girls listen with rapt attention to Varielky’s rundown of the situation, eyes bulging with disbelief and indignation.
“But… that’s terrible to take a baby– your baby, ma’am!,” utters the small girl with the book, curtseying to Tamazaert, who stands aghast, never having been the object of such social grace before.
“Who would do that? Everyone here is above that kind of thing!,” says the middle girl, lips pursed and glaring.
“Mr. Sorakoshi, that’s who,” answers the tall one.
“Sorakayoshi,” the middle one corrects her. “YES. He’s so creepy! I prefer to forget about him!”
To Auger, the girls respond with awe and deference, not only to the ease with which his arcane display is tossed off, but also to his tone, which conveys that he’s a father himself, and not one to be trifled with. The three, bristling with excitement, exchange glances and a look, then the oldest responds. “I’m Ulyana. From Jen Patryzeh, in the Empire. This is Yasmine and Rkia. We’re gonna help you, then we’ll go to bed, we promise. Come on, it’s this way to the castle!”
“Yeah, this way,” repeats the middle one – Yasmine.
“Upstairs and across, Mister,” says the one with glasses. The three head in that direction, and motion for you to be quiet.
Varielky thanks Auger, sounding more relieved than one would expect. Though, perhaps at this point Auger would know Varielky well enough to know that she can't stand her hair being wet or dirty, even if she often doesn't show it, or especially, if she doesn't pay attention that while she's fighting. Or, maybe it was much easier to see than she assumed.
Either way, she is happy to see the girls sympathsizing with Tamazaert, but worried about their willingness to help. "Hold on, we appreciate your concern, but I don't want you to get into trouble because of us. Directing us is helpful enough."
The door is unlocked. It is musty inside and quite dark so that even with his night vision, Snow will be unable to read anything unless some light brings things into focus. The archives hold a wall full of ancient-smelling leather-over-wood-bound albums upon heavy shelves. Markings on the shelves are numerical accession numbers. Snow needs to find the catalog, but does so easily enough, a large scroll with very tiny entries starting almost one hundred years in the past, entries added from that point in chronological order. It sits upon a reading podium just inside the door, and there are a dozen similar scrolls ensconced within the podium, some of which look to be centuries old. A lamp hangs directly overhead, unlit and very low on oil.
Provided he brings light to bear, the bard starts his research looking for… what, exactly?
Snow separates one key from the others on the ring and whispers a few words of power. The key lights up as his charm takes effect.
He looks carefully at all the entries, trying to find a good starting point and figure out the exact detail this particular scroll holds against each year. He remembers Strewn once mentioning that Safiyah had been at the Abziri Dacha 50 years or so ago, and so tries to find that period. Possibly going a little further back. If he can find the right year then he can get the right album, but this could take a seriously long time.
Just in case, he whispers a message to Strewn, and points in the direction he saw him leading Udad.
"It would be helpful to know the years she was here?"
Auger looks to Varielky in agreement and is about to say so before a thought occurs to him, and he finds he wants to ask questions as they proceed.
"Lead on then. And quietly. And if there is anything risky, you will let us handle it." To Varielky, Auger acknowledges this is not quite what she was stating but nods at her while raising a finger to seek some forbearance.
As they begin moving, Auger starts whispering questions at the children. "This Sorakayoshi you said. What sort of things make you think he would be involved in our matter? Has he been... spending time here?" Auger limits the information he shares or already knows about the Empire Warlock, preferring to allow the children to fill in any information they decide to add as they will. Children are always highly perceptive of things, if prone to exaggeration, Auger reminds himself.
If time and the situation allows, Auger attempts to quietly learn a little more of life at the school. He listens to all but pays most attention to the young fey-touched girl. Ulyana he thinks was her name. Had the Captain taken some special interest in this young child?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM of RotFM | AUGER the Warlock (Archfey & the Chain) / Shadow Sorcerer in Age of Resurgence | Rahui & Javier in Sea of Memory
Granophyre’s basso whispers in response to Snow’s arcane query, audible only to the bard, “I do not know exactly when she was here. It would have been… just before the rebellion, fifty to sixty years ago.”
With enough light now to read, thanks to his Kingdoms-earned light charm, Snow advances the scroll he found atop the lectern all the way to the end, and there, discerns entries only 55 years in the past. Therefore, the information he seeks is either at the end of this scroll or the beginning of the next one. Among other entries, the scroll shows annual annotations indicating where lists of enrolled students are stored in the heavy shelved volumes. Glancing through these entries in the scroll, it appears that the last 5 years of student lists (55 to 60 years in the past) have all been stored in the same volume. Snow also notices entries showing the receipt and filing of documents pertaining to alumni, in a different volume.
Snow estimates that it has been several minutes since Auger cast his spell.
Feeling the time pressure, Snow quickly grabs the volume pertaining to the years in question, and places it in his bag. He checks to see if the volume is visible or not, and then moves to acquire the tome related to the alumni. Also stowing that away.
He will then make sure everything else is as it was, and then return to the office door and listen.
The girls seem at first crestfallen at Varielky’s response, but then rally when Auger speaks up. But the oldest, Ulyana, with the glowing feathered arrowhead – which Auger now recognizes as a token to the goddess Ritha Demsha – shushes the warlock and rolls her eyes. “Do you want us to get caught??,” she hisses, then wordlessly leads the way in stockinged feet, the other two so close by that the three together seem to move as a single tiptoeing girl-blob. Auger might reflect that as a stranger, the oldest person there, and the only male, the girls may be purposely avoiding further interactions. The middle one, Yazmine, breaks rank though, and answers Auger, “He’s just creepy. We see him in the castle. Sometimes, we sneak there and one time saw him casting a spell or something on one of the servants. When he walked past, the servant’s eyes were completely blank. It was weird.” Her voice lowers to the barest whisper. “We think he’s an Azhvuv – a desert witch!” That is all any of them will say on the subject.
On the stairs it is very dark. The little girl with the little spellbook – Rkia, according to Ulyana – has cast a cantrip on her book so that when it is cracked open to a certain page, dim light falls on the floor in front of the trio, enabling their passage. At the top of the stairs, you cross over an enclosed bridge to the dormitory building. Through windows in the walls of the bridge, you can see, one level higher up, a second bridge leading from the far side of the dormitory to the castle.
You continue on through the dormitory, smelling in turn, of dirty socks, candy, sweet perfumes, and perspiration, until you traverse a corridor bordering a library, which turns left at its end into another lounge, dimly lit, when Ulyana whispers, “Wait! Oh no!, Feyza – the dormitory-mother,” (she clarifies for the adults) “ – is there! We can’t get past!”
Peeking around the corner, you see a hefty middle-aged woman sitting alone in the lounge, in a comfortable chair under a lantern casting a warm amber glow, knitting and looking up from time to time directly at the place where the corridor turns. The faintest scent of herbal tea reaches you, and the walls are decorated by art made by young hands.
The wood-and-leather-bound volumes are large – two feet by three feet nearly; thick – hundreds of pages; and heavy: each one weighs some 20 pounds. Snow does not have anything large enough to put them into. Quickly peeking into the volume containing enrollments, he sees that rather than information having been written into the pages of the ledger, smaller individual sheets are stuck lightly to the larger pages (as in a modern craft book or old-style photo album). Each sheet so enclosed bears a carefully handwritten annotation matching the catalog entry. There! The word Safiyah jumps out at him from 363 J.I.C. (Jenghen Imperial Calendar). She was enrolled that year, but was it her last year?
At the office door, Snow hears the conversation continuing between Granophyre and Udad, some distance down the corridor.
"No, he is nothing like the Azhvuv," Varielky remarks, though she doesn't add anything unless asked.
When they stop before encountering the dormitory-mother, Varielky whispers to the girls: "Here's where we part ways. If you're seen with us, there's bound to be more trouble waiting for you later." Varielky waits for the girls to leave, and if they seem to be hesitating or about to protest, she adds: "Don't worry, we won't hurt her."
Hearing the instructions from Varielky, Auger has an idea. "Hold on," he whispers to the children. Auger takes Varielky to the side and whispers. "Perhaps these young ones would be willing to create a distraction to get the dormitory-mother here... to walk past us. We just need to find a spot..."
Auger looks around for a spot where if the dormitory-mother is drawn past, the adults can remain unseen. (Perception check: 1 +0 = 1 <oh no>).
"There," Auger says, pointing to an alcove that would not remotely do the job, "Maybe that spot could work. What do you think?"
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DM of RotFM | AUGER the Warlock (Archfey & the Chain) / Shadow Sorcerer in Age of Resurgence | Rahui & Javier in Sea of Memory
Snow rushes back into the archive room to carry on his search, happy that Strewn is still distracting Udad.
Realising time is precious, he channels his magic through his violin, and without making noise empowers his own intellect (Fox's Cunning). He also summons his invisible spectral hand to allow him to work faster.
He looks to skip forward to the next year to see if Safiyah appears again, and if so he jumps forward one more year. He keeps doing this until he cannot find her name, at which point he returns to the last year that she was enrolled, and looks for any references that there might be to other volumes. Or for anything directly relevant, that he can remove.
If he does find references to other volumes, he will flick through those as well, looking for anything that relates to Safiyah. Collecting everything together that he finds.
He then checks in with Strewn, whispering to him, "Can you allow me more time?". If so he moves to the volume regarding Alumni in the hope of finding more in there.
He keeps going, periodically checking in with Strewn until the old dwarf tells him his time is up, or he finds what he needs.
Investigation (with Advantage for Enhance Ability): (2,3)+7=10
(OOC: Dice are not my friends today, and not just here :-( )
Benita rolls her eyes at Auger’s idea. She whispers “Worst hiding place. Ever,” to Varielky, and is about to make a counteroffer when the girls pull back.
“You can’t, Ulyana!,” whispers Yasmine harshly, “you’ll get suspended if she catches you again.”
“Let them try,” growls Ulyana softly, but you can tell it’s bluster. “C’mon,” she whispers to the other girls, who follow her, backtracking.
Yasmine looks back and waves a quick goodbye, her little hand close to her chest, then turns again, and in a moment they’re around a corner and gone.
Benita, who had been carefully spying on the woman whom the girls had called Feyza, whips her head back flat against the wall and out of the dormitory-mother’s view. “She heard that,” she whispers, incredibly softly.
“I know you girls are there,” comes the woman’s firm voice from her seat. “Do not require me to call upon Mr Udad again to round you up.”
Granophyre’s voice sounds quietly in Snow’s ear, “He is one who speaks enthusiastically about himself yet knows nothing of any other topic, and he is tiring of recounting even his own treasured tropes. We are returning to the door and he has noticed that you are no longer playing your violin.”
Meanwhile, the old volumes, whose pages threaten to rip with too-rough handling, work at cross-purposes to Snow’s desire for haste. Slowly loosening and turning the huge leaves and searching for the name, experience, focus, and adrenaline contribute nonetheless to Snow’s discovering, in a few more minutes, Safiyah’s graduation year, and cross-referencing, a page holding notes about Safiyah in one of the alumni albums. But he hasn’t had time to read it before the bard hears from the hallway, Udad’s harsh tenor shouting, “My keys! Where are they?”
With time having run out, Snow has no choice but to take the whole page. He tears it out as carefully as he can and slips it into his bag, protected by the pages of his copy of the book Strewn himself wrote.
He makes sure the room looks like it did when he arrived and then sweeps his cloak around himself and pushes through the portal to the fey wild, disappearing in a flurry of tree pollen.
He heads for the door to the cafeteria, re-appearing by it in another flurry of tree pollen, and quickly places the key in the lock.
He then whispers to Strewn, "It is time I became visible again", and moves over to sit on the edge of the stage, looking to all the world like he is tuning his violin.
(OOC: Let me know if any of this requires explanation, re-working or checks)
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Snow quietly follows Strewn down the corridor and watches as he makes idle conversation with Udad, expertly distracting the groundsman. He doesn't miss a beat as he circles around the pair and reaches an invisible hand out for the ring of keys at his belt, trying to surreptitiously snag it.
As he does he whispers to Strewn, "You sly old fox".
Stealth (with Advantage for Invisibility): (20,
14)+5=25Sleight of Hand: (7, 1)+5=12 (rolled advantage for the distraction, but either way it is 12)
Varielky must restrain her uproar about getting wet like this. Children's pranks, and yet she fell for it. What if it were something worse than water? With her free hand, she moves her now-wet hair backwards and away from her eyes, and pressing it between her fingers and her palm she tries to yank the water from it. "That wasn't very nice, girls." She exclaims, irritation clear in her voice, but then she takes a deep breath to calm down. Just children.
"My name is Varielky, but that doesn't matter much right now. We're here", the truth seems the best course of action now. They're girls, maybe they'll understand. "Because her baby", she indicates Tamazaert while stressing the word baby, "was kidnapped, and we believe he's being held in the castle. Some people don't want the mother to reunite with her son, so they won't let us in. We're here to get him back, and we must pass through here to get to the castle."
If anything, Varielky appreciates that the girls stand ready to defend the school - as futile as she thinks the effort may be - and not only out of sheer respect for their bravery. She wouldn't want to chase down the girls and find a way to keep them quiet if they tried to run away. It would leave a very bad taste in her mouth. "So we're not going to cause you any trouble, and I hope you won't cause us any either. You'll forget you saw us, and I'll forget being soaked in water." To emphasize, Varielky indicates her wet clothes.
Persuasion: 17+3=20.
Varielky
Briefly taken aback by the surprising bucket of water, Auger pauses behind the entryway as Varielky stops and speaks with the... the children. Ah, so they do wander then. And tricks. Auger cannot help but smile. Still they were in a hurry.
Auger steps in behind Varielky as she finishes speaking, making reference to the water. Auger reaches through his mind and into the water Varielky is covered in, draws as much as he can away from her and collects it into a ball. Auger then looks around for the -- the bucket perhaps -- whatever held the water and attempts to place the water there. As the others make their way in, Auger speaks for the children as well, "Well now you know as much of our business as we can share. Go on to bed. You do not want to get caught up in these matters. Off to bed.
"You there." Auger motions towards the slightly older girl who had addressed them. He examines her fey corona attempting to decipher its meaning. Is she capable of forming bonds with the Sea of Stars? Had she found her own patron to help her activate some capabilities? (Arcana check: 5 +4 = 9 <sigh>). "If you lead this young band of tricksters then see to their safety and see them to bed. And forget we were here."
DM of RotFM | AUGER the Warlock (Archfey & the Chain) / Shadow Sorcerer in Age of Resurgence | Rahui & Javier in Sea of Memory
SNOW
(OOC: invisibility does not give advantage to stealth rolls, so we’ll use 19 as your roll. It and sleight of hand are both successful.)
The tie holding the key ring to Udad’s belt seems to unravel of its own accord, and Granophyre winks in the general direction of the keys as they float away from the groundsman, secure in the ethereal grip of Snow’s spell. As Udad seems to subconsciously register the missing weight and his hand drifts to check on the keys, Granophyre takes that same arm in his hand, turning Udad and leading him down the corridor away from the office. “I’ve noticed the grounds are particularly well-kept on campus -- not a scuff mark to be seen! And I wager no person knows better than you the history of these halls!”
These remarks have the same loosening effect on Udad’s tongue as the bard’s spell had on the keyring tie, and the groundsman puffs up and waxes nostalgic and verbose.
As his narrative retelling of recent history echoes down the hall, Snow finds, upon the ring, a key marked “Headmaster” which would seem to match one of the office doors, eponymously marked. It lets him into an office with a desk, lamps, small coffee table with comfortable chairs, and walls lined with bookshelves and cabinets. There is an adjoining chamber whose door reads, “Archives.”
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
(OOC: Right you are, my bad)
Snow takes a quick look around the room, but not knowing how long Strewn will be able to distract Udad, he decides it is best to do what he came for. He wanders over to the door marked Archives, and inspects it to see if it is locked and if there is any further security around it.
If it is locked he will look through the keys for one marked Archives.
Investigation: 4+7=11
AUGER & VARIELKY
The girls listen with rapt attention to Varielky’s rundown of the situation, eyes bulging with disbelief and indignation.
“But… that’s terrible to take a baby– your baby, ma’am!,” utters the small girl with the book, curtseying to Tamazaert, who stands aghast, never having been the object of such social grace before.
“Who would do that? Everyone here is above that kind of thing!,” says the middle girl, lips pursed and glaring.
“Mr. Sorakoshi, that’s who,” answers the tall one.
“Sorakayoshi,” the middle one corrects her. “YES. He’s so creepy! I prefer to forget about him!”
To Auger, the girls respond with awe and deference, not only to the ease with which his arcane display is tossed off, but also to his tone, which conveys that he’s a father himself, and not one to be trifled with. The three, bristling with excitement, exchange glances and a look, then the oldest responds. “I’m Ulyana. From Jen Patryzeh, in the Empire. This is Yasmine and Rkia. We’re gonna help you, then we’ll go to bed, we promise. Come on, it’s this way to the castle!”
“Yeah, this way,” repeats the middle one – Yasmine.
“Upstairs and across, Mister,” says the one with glasses. The three head in that direction, and motion for you to be quiet.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Varielky thanks Auger, sounding more relieved than one would expect. Though, perhaps at this point Auger would know Varielky well enough to know that she can't stand her hair being wet or dirty, even if she often doesn't show it, or especially, if she doesn't pay attention that while she's fighting. Or, maybe it was much easier to see than she assumed.
Either way, she is happy to see the girls sympathsizing with Tamazaert, but worried about their willingness to help. "Hold on, we appreciate your concern, but I don't want you to get into trouble because of us. Directing us is helpful enough."
Varielky
SNOW
The door is unlocked. It is musty inside and quite dark so that even with his night vision, Snow will be unable to read anything unless some light brings things into focus. The archives hold a wall full of ancient-smelling leather-over-wood-bound albums upon heavy shelves. Markings on the shelves are numerical accession numbers. Snow needs to find the catalog, but does so easily enough, a large scroll with very tiny entries starting almost one hundred years in the past, entries added from that point in chronological order. It sits upon a reading podium just inside the door, and there are a dozen similar scrolls ensconced within the podium, some of which look to be centuries old. A lamp hangs directly overhead, unlit and very low on oil.
Provided he brings light to bear, the bard starts his research looking for… what, exactly?
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Snow separates one key from the others on the ring and whispers a few words of power. The key lights up as his charm takes effect.
He looks carefully at all the entries, trying to find a good starting point and figure out the exact detail this particular scroll holds against each year. He remembers Strewn once mentioning that Safiyah had been at the Abziri Dacha 50 years or so ago, and so tries to find that period. Possibly going a little further back. If he can find the right year then he can get the right album, but this could take a seriously long time.
Just in case, he whispers a message to Strewn, and points in the direction he saw him leading Udad.
"It would be helpful to know the years she was here?"
Investigation: 11+7=18
Auger looks to Varielky in agreement and is about to say so before a thought occurs to him, and he finds he wants to ask questions as they proceed.
"Lead on then. And quietly. And if there is anything risky, you will let us handle it." To Varielky, Auger acknowledges this is not quite what she was stating but nods at her while raising a finger to seek some forbearance.
As they begin moving, Auger starts whispering questions at the children. "This Sorakayoshi you said. What sort of things make you think he would be involved in our matter? Has he been... spending time here?" Auger limits the information he shares or already knows about the Empire Warlock, preferring to allow the children to fill in any information they decide to add as they will. Children are always highly perceptive of things, if prone to exaggeration, Auger reminds himself.
If time and the situation allows, Auger attempts to quietly learn a little more of life at the school. He listens to all but pays most attention to the young fey-touched girl. Ulyana he thinks was her name. Had the Captain taken some special interest in this young child?
DM of RotFM | AUGER the Warlock (Archfey & the Chain) / Shadow Sorcerer in Age of Resurgence | Rahui & Javier in Sea of Memory
SNOW
Granophyre’s basso whispers in response to Snow’s arcane query, audible only to the bard, “I do not know exactly when she was here. It would have been… just before the rebellion, fifty to sixty years ago.”
With enough light now to read, thanks to his Kingdoms-earned light charm, Snow advances the scroll he found atop the lectern all the way to the end, and there, discerns entries only 55 years in the past. Therefore, the information he seeks is either at the end of this scroll or the beginning of the next one. Among other entries, the scroll shows annual annotations indicating where lists of enrolled students are stored in the heavy shelved volumes. Glancing through these entries in the scroll, it appears that the last 5 years of student lists (55 to 60 years in the past) have all been stored in the same volume. Snow also notices entries showing the receipt and filing of documents pertaining to alumni, in a different volume.
Snow estimates that it has been several minutes since Auger cast his spell.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Feeling the time pressure, Snow quickly grabs the volume pertaining to the years in question, and places it in his bag. He checks to see if the volume is visible or not, and then moves to acquire the tome related to the alumni. Also stowing that away.
He will then make sure everything else is as it was, and then return to the office door and listen.
Perception: 17+7=24
VARIELKY & AUGER
The girls seem at first crestfallen at Varielky’s response, but then rally when Auger speaks up. But the oldest, Ulyana, with the glowing feathered arrowhead – which Auger now recognizes as a token to the goddess Ritha Demsha – shushes the warlock and rolls her eyes. “Do you want us to get caught??,” she hisses, then wordlessly leads the way in stockinged feet, the other two so close by that the three together seem to move as a single tiptoeing girl-blob. Auger might reflect that as a stranger, the oldest person there, and the only male, the girls may be purposely avoiding further interactions. The middle one, Yazmine, breaks rank though, and answers Auger, “He’s just creepy. We see him in the castle. Sometimes, we sneak there and one time saw him casting a spell or something on one of the servants. When he walked past, the servant’s eyes were completely blank. It was weird.” Her voice lowers to the barest whisper. “We think he’s an Azhvuv – a desert witch!” That is all any of them will say on the subject.
On the stairs it is very dark. The little girl with the little spellbook – Rkia, according to Ulyana – has cast a cantrip on her book so that when it is cracked open to a certain page, dim light falls on the floor in front of the trio, enabling their passage. At the top of the stairs, you cross over an enclosed bridge to the dormitory building. Through windows in the walls of the bridge, you can see, one level higher up, a second bridge leading from the far side of the dormitory to the castle.
You continue on through the dormitory, smelling in turn, of dirty socks, candy, sweet perfumes, and perspiration, until you traverse a corridor bordering a library, which turns left at its end into another lounge, dimly lit, when Ulyana whispers, “Wait! Oh no!, Feyza – the dormitory-mother,” (she clarifies for the adults) “ – is there! We can’t get past!”
Peeking around the corner, you see a hefty middle-aged woman sitting alone in the lounge, in a comfortable chair under a lantern casting a warm amber glow, knitting and looking up from time to time directly at the place where the corridor turns. The faintest scent of herbal tea reaches you, and the walls are decorated by art made by young hands.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
SNOW
The wood-and-leather-bound volumes are large – two feet by three feet nearly; thick – hundreds of pages; and heavy: each one weighs some 20 pounds. Snow does not have anything large enough to put them into. Quickly peeking into the volume containing enrollments, he sees that rather than information having been written into the pages of the ledger, smaller individual sheets are stuck lightly to the larger pages (as in a modern craft book or old-style photo album). Each sheet so enclosed bears a carefully handwritten annotation matching the catalog entry. There! The word Safiyah jumps out at him from 363 J.I.C. (Jenghen Imperial Calendar). She was enrolled that year, but was it her last year?
At the office door, Snow hears the conversation continuing between Granophyre and Udad, some distance down the corridor.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
"No, he is nothing like the Azhvuv," Varielky remarks, though she doesn't add anything unless asked.
When they stop before encountering the dormitory-mother, Varielky whispers to the girls: "Here's where we part ways. If you're seen with us, there's bound to be more trouble waiting for you later." Varielky waits for the girls to leave, and if they seem to be hesitating or about to protest, she adds: "Don't worry, we won't hurt her."
Varielky
Hearing the instructions from Varielky, Auger has an idea. "Hold on," he whispers to the children. Auger takes Varielky to the side and whispers. "Perhaps these young ones would be willing to create a distraction to get the dormitory-mother here... to walk past us. We just need to find a spot..."
Auger looks around for a spot where if the dormitory-mother is drawn past, the adults can remain unseen. (Perception check: 1 +0 = 1 <oh no>).
"There," Auger says, pointing to an alcove that would not remotely do the job, "Maybe that spot could work. What do you think?"
DM of RotFM | AUGER the Warlock (Archfey & the Chain) / Shadow Sorcerer in Age of Resurgence | Rahui & Javier in Sea of Memory
Snow rushes back into the archive room to carry on his search, happy that Strewn is still distracting Udad.
Realising time is precious, he channels his magic through his violin, and without making noise empowers his own intellect (Fox's Cunning). He also summons his invisible spectral hand to allow him to work faster.
He looks to skip forward to the next year to see if Safiyah appears again, and if so he jumps forward one more year. He keeps doing this until he cannot find her name, at which point he returns to the last year that she was enrolled, and looks for any references that there might be to other volumes. Or for anything directly relevant, that he can remove.
If he does find references to other volumes, he will flick through those as well, looking for anything that relates to Safiyah. Collecting everything together that he finds.
He then checks in with Strewn, whispering to him, "Can you allow me more time?". If so he moves to the volume regarding Alumni in the hope of finding more in there.
He keeps going, periodically checking in with Strewn until the old dwarf tells him his time is up, or he finds what he needs.
Investigation (with Advantage for Enhance Ability): (
2,3)+7=10(OOC: Dice are not my friends today, and not just here :-( )
VARIELKY & AUGER
Benita rolls her eyes at Auger’s idea. She whispers “Worst hiding place. Ever,” to Varielky, and is about to make a counteroffer when the girls pull back.
“You can’t, Ulyana!,” whispers Yasmine harshly, “you’ll get suspended if she catches you again.”
“Let them try,” growls Ulyana softly, but you can tell it’s bluster. “C’mon,” she whispers to the other girls, who follow her, backtracking.
Yasmine looks back and waves a quick goodbye, her little hand close to her chest, then turns again, and in a moment they’re around a corner and gone.
Benita, who had been carefully spying on the woman whom the girls had called Feyza, whips her head back flat against the wall and out of the dormitory-mother’s view. “She heard that,” she whispers, incredibly softly.
“I know you girls are there,” comes the woman’s firm voice from her seat. “Do not require me to call upon Mr Udad again to round you up.”
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
SNOW
Granophyre’s voice sounds quietly in Snow’s ear, “He is one who speaks enthusiastically about himself yet knows nothing of any other topic, and he is tiring of recounting even his own treasured tropes. We are returning to the door and he has noticed that you are no longer playing your violin.”
Meanwhile, the old volumes, whose pages threaten to rip with too-rough handling, work at cross-purposes to Snow’s desire for haste. Slowly loosening and turning the huge leaves and searching for the name, experience, focus, and adrenaline contribute nonetheless to Snow’s discovering, in a few more minutes, Safiyah’s graduation year, and cross-referencing, a page holding notes about Safiyah in one of the alumni albums. But he hasn’t had time to read it before the bard hears from the hallway, Udad’s harsh tenor shouting, “My keys! Where are they?”
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
With time having run out, Snow has no choice but to take the whole page. He tears it out as carefully as he can and slips it into his bag, protected by the pages of his copy of the book Strewn himself wrote.
He makes sure the room looks like it did when he arrived and then sweeps his cloak around himself and pushes through the portal to the fey wild, disappearing in a flurry of tree pollen.
He heads for the door to the cafeteria, re-appearing by it in another flurry of tree pollen, and quickly places the key in the lock.
He then whispers to Strewn, "It is time I became visible again", and moves over to sit on the edge of the stage, looking to all the world like he is tuning his violin.
(OOC: Let me know if any of this requires explanation, re-working or checks)