The purple-skinned tiefling smiles and nods to himself as Mei's message reaches him. "I think our thoughtful oracle has something for your poor stomach my friend." He says softly to the satyr, then collecting the tray of honey and ginger tea for him, placing it carefully by his side. 

After making sure Knap and his stomach is hopefully better, Malvyn too would get out of his uniform and go to bed, laying awake for quite some time, thinking about all the incidents and how they could be connected, about the people around him and who could be trusted, and finally Aurora, he hoped he hadn't disappointed her too much tonight, he would have to think of a way to make it up to her, maybe Mei would have more advice for him concerning that.

Cadoras nods, accepting the hug, and giving Mei a gentle squeeze in return. "I'll see you in class tomorrow," he says as he departs.  

The chaos of activity quickly fades, and the fourth floor succumbs to the quiet of the night. 

The next morning comes with a regular day of classes in store.  And of course, everyone has their jobs and activities.  There are also many lingering questions over the various events that seem to continue to occur.  

(OOC - Do any of the roommates have any proposals for follow ups the next day or two?  You had previously arranged to meet Professor Lang on Friday. Also feel free to fill in any last details from the previous evening if you wish!) 

Apart from sticking to his firm routines with classes, studying, working at the Biblioplex and for the Star, Malvyn has a few things he would want to take care of.
- Together with any who would join him have some follow up interviews with the cooking staff about who could have had access to the cauldrons.
- Write a piece on the tavern kitchen incident for the Star.
- Seek out Aurora for a treat to make up for leaving her last night, likely a picnic in the commons or anything else she would fancy.
Nothing of this needs to be played out, a short narrating would suffice to progress the story :-)

Mae doesn't have anything in particular she needs or especially wants to do, other than go back to her job and bump into Larine when she can. She might be willing to assist with interviewing the kitchen staff since she works there regularly though.

The next day, Mei would sleep through her first class--the line she toed the day before taking its toll--then would attend classes as usual. With her, she'd bring a small jar of pickled plums to Cadoras during lunch and would check on Knap to see if he's feeling any better.

She too would go along with Malvyn and Mae (Team M!?) to talk with the student cooks.

Malvyn runs into Aurora in one of his earlier classes and the pair make arrangements to meet as usual at the Bow's End Tavern before she performs.  At lunch, Mei is able to find Cadoras and delivers the pickled plums to him. He immediately opens them up and eats a few, offering them to Mei as well.  He seems to greatly enjoy them. 

After Magical Physiologies ends the next day, Malvyn, Mae, and Mei make their way over to the Bow's End Tavern.  At this hour it is closed, but once Javenesh spots you all he lets you in. Once you come in, you see Tulk sitting at a table with Curtie and the student cooks who had been injured yesterday.  As he sees you, the large orc waves you over. "Glad you could make it. We've just been starting to chat. Everyone's been pretty consistent that those steam creatures just seemed to appear out of nowhere all of a sudden.  But feel free to ask your questions."  

(OOC - Knap and Guardok are welcome to join in as well if they wish.) 

Taking a seat at the table, the purple-skinned tiefling looks between the student cooks with a calm reassuring smile. "While it is probably just some student prank gone horribly wrong we would like to get to the bottom of this..." He starts in a fairly firm and authoritative tone. "...you were all seriously injured and we should see too it that this sort of thing won't happen again. To that end we would like to ask you some questions. Most importantly I think, did any of you notice anyone not working in the kitchen being there earlier in the evening, particularly by those cauldrons?" He asks, calmly and confidently.

Persuasion if needed: 19
Insight: 7

Knap has barely left the covers of his bed, not for a single class, some kind of flu he supposes. Occasionally Mal would see wisps of faint blackish smoke come from underneath the blanket. "I'm fine!" Knap would say to his roomie.  "I'll try and meet you there this afternoon but in case I don't..." Knap hands Malvyn a piece of paper with some notes on it, including a question: "had any of those in the kitchen been or done anything in the last few days outside of their usual routine."

[ooc me too actually been sick this week, just started feeling better today will be back on deck in the morning]

Mae goes with the couple others, taking a seat nearby but not up close, as to not interfere with Malvyn's interrogations. She does, however, make eye contact with her fellow workers now and then, offering them a reassuring smile.

Elated as she is that her floormate came along, Mei sits close enough to Mae that she can nary move an elbow without brushing the little oracle. With a little wave to Safira, she then listens closely to the discussion.


((If any kind of roll is required during the interviews, Mei will use a portent to give Malvyn an automatic 18 + his modifier.))

The students all seem to watch Malvyn closely as he asks them about last night. "I didn't really see anything. All of a sudden these blasts of steam came from over by the cauldrons."  Another says. "Anyone not working in the kitchen? It's always hectic in there - waiters and waitresses coming in and out. I'd hardly know someone that's supposed to be there from someone who's not."  If anyone asked Mae, she could certainly vouch for the chaotic nature of the kitchen. Safira finally addresses the tiefling.  "Umm, you know, there was one point when I bumped into someone over by the cauldrons. It wasn't any of you guys..."  She looks around the table at the other student cooks as though assessing that her statement is right. "I wasn't paying too much attention, it was busy, but they had long silvery hair. I think a Silverquill uniform too."  

Tulk raises a brow. "Huh. Perhaps a clue." 

The purple-skinned tiefling seems dismayed as he hears about the typical chaos in the kitchen. He was glad he didn't have to work there, the Biblioplex was much more what he was comfortable with. He perks up slightly with his tail swaying behind him as Safira mentions the silver-haired Silverquill student. He realized that someone who had access to the mysterious black oily substance might full well also be able to magically change their appearance when needed. Still, it was something to follow up. "A clue indeed..." Malvyn says with a nod and a grateful smile. "...any of you others saw this silver-haired student, or might have any idea about who it could have been? It may be nothing but we would at least want to track down and speak to this person."

Mei has much the same thought. She herself was capable of changing appearance--the spell quite a simple one comparatively speaking. No powerful dark entity needed.

She looks to Mae, however, to see if she'd seen a student by that description during any of her shifts. 

Mae feels the same, knowing all too well how easy it is to change one's appearance, magical or otherwise, but she admits she isn't sure she has seen such a person before, but again, also admits that the kitchen can get very hectic at times so someone could quite possibly slip in and out without much notice during those moments.

The other student cooks look to one another. One says, "I might have seen someone by the pots. But I didn't get a good look."  Another recalls a woman being in there, but not any details. "It was pretty busy for a weeknight.  I saw a couple of folks come in through the back door.  But that happens all the time - workers that are off shift might wander through.  Or friends of employees come by looking for someone."  

There isn't really much more description beyond the silver hair and Silverquill uniform.  

Tulk listens to all of it, then looks to the group. "Did you have any other questions? I think these students probably want to get out of here. I've given them a break for a couple days after their harrowing ordeal." 

"Just one more I think. Would you be able to recognize the silver-haired student do you think?" The purple-skinned tiefling asks Safira. Regardless of the answer Malvyn would be finished for now and ready to head on with his day.

Mae sided with the others, standing up and giving each of the student workers a hug if they accepted and then waited for the last question to be answered before heading back out to other things.

Safira pauses when asked the question. "I... might be able to?"  Her tone suggests quite a bit of uncertainty. "More likely I could rule people out, but I don't know if I could definitively pick out the person."

"Okay, thank you for your time everyone." Malvyn says as he gets up from his chair, ready to leave now.

Tulk stands as you all get ready to leave. "I think you very much for coming to look into this. You have any ideas about what happened?"