Culuril's Strixhaven Adventure

Larine looks very nervous as Mae starts to speak. Although there is a certain relief she shows that her friend is speaking on her behalf. 

As Malvyn asks her a question and seeks information she seems to shrink back a bit. "Who..." she repeats, glancing over at Mae. "I... can't really tell you. I only really know of a handful. Those I deal with are here at Strixhaven. And I just talk to them. Or now and then I might get sent a note."

Larine looks a little more relieved as she gets the words out. She stops and looks from person to person. "I really do think that there are some issues with the administration of Strixhaven. But maybe some of the things that we did were... well... too dangerous."

"Well yes, those pranks could have been fatal, but I understand you weren't aware. Who are these contacts though, students? Or is it that professor? And what kind of issues are there with the administration?" Malvyn says, with and understanding although quite curious tone.

"I know you want to interrogate her as much as possible and get all your questions answered to your satisfaction, but please take it easy. We want to help her and us. I have questions too, about the group and everything. I just, want to take it slow. She may not have all the answers, and probably doesn't. But I believe she will share with us what she can." Mae felt her eyes watering up. "And yes, some of them were dangerous, though they certainly could have been a lot worse."

"I will of course settle for the answers she has Mae, now please let Larine speak and this will be over in a moment." The purple-skinned tiefling says, giving the aasimar a firm look. 

"Malvyn, I can't just tell you who these people are!" Larine says in response to the Tiefling's request. However, at the mention of 'that professor' her reaction suggests you are likely right. "I suppose the biggest issue with Strixhaven is that they control so much arcane knowledge and only allow those with money to have access to even basic knowledge!"

She pauses a moment, looking over to Mae. "Yea, that's the biggest. But really, they aren't protecting the students too.  And they're a bit inept at actually doing anything about problems."

Guardok has been listening to the interaction, not getting directly involved. This needs to be driven by Mae if it is going to work, and he refuses to be swayed by a couple of tears.

He is fairly insightful though, and notices Larine's reaction to the mention of the Professor, and is unable to stop himself from interjecting something.

"Did you mention Mae to the Professor? Is that why he tried to recruit her?", he asks Larine matter-of-factly.

"And now Mae has mentioned our names to him as well", he says motioning to Mal and himself.

He lets the implications hang. It could be bad, or it could be an opportunity. It all depends if he wants to get involved.

"I'm merely trying to understand the situation Larine. While I agree it would seem unfair that only those with money can study magic, how would this clandestine society handle things? Would they have the means to allow everyone to study here for free? And I'm not sure what you mean by the administration not protecting the students? And what are these problems they are inept at dealing with? You would need to give me some more details about that in order to convince me that this isn't a nefarious group trying to hurt and kill students and disrupt magical learning, whose members therefore should be brought to justice." Malvyn goes on.

Larine looks at Guardok as he suggests she mentioned Mae to Professor Hopplefepple. She seems a little worried as she then shifts her gaze to Mae. Her words are slow and measured. "I really hoped Mae would join. And I was aware the Professor planned to give her a task to do. But Mae was clearly too good of a person to accept such a thing."

She then adds, "As for telling anyone of you Guardok, or Malvyn, I don't know that anyone has. Certainly not Mae! I mean, sure, everybody knows about the heroes at Orientation! There's a pause. "Did you want to join this group?"

She then responds to Malvyn, looking a bit more worried when he mentions bringing people to justice. Sounding a bit defensive she says, "For one, look at all the silly stuff they made Mae do just because she didn't do well on one exam! She didn't get to be in the band or even work her job. She's a good student! And even with these things we've done, does it really seem like the Administration is doing anything? Do they even care? Plus, I heard a year or two ago they had mage hunters get onto campus and nearly killed three students!" 

Larine, for her part, looks very convinced there is an issue. 

"So. lets say you're right about all this, what did you hope to accomplish with these pranks?" Malvyn goes on to ask. "I haven't heard of any complaints at all so far at Strixhaven, from anyone, until now. Also I'm trying to understand what your current stand in all this is. Was Mae a good person for doing what exactly?" He adds, seeming sincerely not grasping what Larine thinks about what she's saying, if she fully believes this group is right or not.

"Mae did tell the Professor that Mal and I were keen to do his missions. I didn't want Mae to tell the Professor I was involved at all, let alone keen to do more, and I certainly don't want to join his group now I know what it is all about", is all Guardok will reply, looking now at Mae.

"That's not what I said," Mae responded with mild frustration building up again, "I said that if he wanted someone to do more jobs like that, you two were more likely to be interested than I was. He already knew you two were helping me, and at that point I had no idea he might be part of some nefarious organization, so don't blame me for things I couldn't possibly have known. I wouldn't want you to join the group now either, for the record, as I certainly don't." Mae crossed her arms over her chest, now feeling very defensive. "Well Larine, I'm sorry, I thought they'd have a little more sympathy about your situation, but apparently I misjudged. I guess I should just have kept my mouth shut and hoped for the best. Maybe that's what I'll do from now on. Do whatever you want, Guardok. Turn her in. Turn me in. May as well turn us in together as coconspirators or something. At least then we can leave school together and be rid of all of this."

Larine looks at Mae, clearly worried that she now seems upset. She subtly steps closer to her, bumping her shoulder against hers, though not really saying anything to her. 

She tries to reply to Malvyn. "What we wanted was to just force people to see things aren't right here! Based on your response, it must not be working." She seemed to be getting agitated, though as she continues she appears to calm a bit.  "I realize it might not have been the best choice. When I say Mae is good, I mean she always sticks to what she knows is right. She got pushed into going into the manor. But ultimately she refused to continue with the group. She refused to take anything. Because she wouldn't compromise what she felt was right."

Larine shakes her head. "If you don't get what I mean by saying she's good, maybe you don't know Maeleve at all."

At this point, she pulls out a mask. It looks identical to the one you found near Silkmeadow when you had gone to try to meet Disyn. Well, with the exception that this one is not damaged. "Mae said you found one of these near Silkmeadow. I didn't realize until a little while ago that there even were parts of our group so far from Strixhaven. I... don't know why they'd even be there.  So... maybe I don't know everything." She looks a bit embarrassed at saying this. "Mae thought maybe you'd want to help figure it out. But I guess you just want to turn me in."

Larine looks a little frightened. But, with her hair uncharacteristically down and looking a bit disheveled, there's also a desperate look to her. As though she is cornered, even though standing in the hallway it isn't like she's prevented from going anywhere. 

"Okay, so as I understand it you do realize the group should at least stop with the pranks and turn to other ways of addressing what they believe is wrong with Strixhaven, that's all good and helpful I think. Question is what are you hoping should happen now? Should we not reveal this group? If we don't, what's to stop them from continuing their pranks until someone dies?" Malvyn calmly continues, ignoring Mae's outburst, his focus on understanding where Larine stands in this.

Larine slowly nods her head. "Yea... I mean, I suppose you're right..." she starts tentatively. "It is dangerous. But..."  She again glances to Mae, which seems to give her a bit more resolve. It's still clear she's standing very close to her. "It isn't like I can just tell them not to though. The plans always come from someone else." She runs a hand through her long green hair as she thinks, pulling on a few strands. "I... guess I don't have to help them anymore. Not sure what they'd say if I just quit. Umm... maybe I could let them know you guys are like really close to catching us and they should stop?"  She gives Malvyn a hopeful look, even turning towards Guardok to get a sense of his reaction. "Not sure what else to do." 

"Well, it isn't for me to judge anyone." The purple-skinned tiefling says, content with having some calm reasoning. "Now, Larine, to the best of your knowledge, is this group planning any more pranks in the immediate future? Because if not I would personally suggest we try to understand more about what this group really has against the Strixhaven administration before we act on the information we have. Admittedly the administration hasn't seemed to view these pranks as much more than that so it's hard to imagine they would expect us to do much about them. To be clear, I'm not saying I condone these pranks, until I'm convinced otherwise I would consider them too drastic to achieve change, but I do prefer to make informed decisions. It's in no way my call though, what do you say Guardok?"

Guardok just listens, not reacting to Mae's defensiveness or her dramatics.

"I am not considering turning anyone in", he says and shrugs. "Mae asked for help and I helped, because that is what you do for the people around you. At least that is the way it works where I am from. I have not experienced the people I helped turning on me quite like what happened here though. Everyone makes mistakes, but being defensiveness and pushing away any blame whilst coming back asking for more help doesn't feel good though, especially in light of what we have learned here", he explains.

"Fine, whatever, I'll take all the blame. I was only trying to offer some answers about all this. Don't bother telling them anything else Larine. Let's just go. Just blame me for it all, it's fine. I don't care anymore. I thought you'd might like to know. But it seems that's not good enough. So go ahead, blame me for everything. I'm out." Mae begins walking back to her room. 

"You're being quite unreasonable now Mae, I'm not sure what you mean anyone would blame you for, as far as I understand you didn't know more about this than we did. I believe we're about to find a good way forward but you keep telling Larine not to say anything more, it doesn't make any sense." Malvyn says with abint of frustration now as Mae turns to leave. "You should perhaps go with her Larine, thank you for sharing this with us, I just need to know if there are any more pranks being planned in the near future or if we have time to make inquieries about the Strixhaven administration." He then asks Larine with a friendly smile.

Guardok says no more on the issue, he has made his point, and it has made no difference.

"Hold on, Larine", he says and rushes to his room. He is back in a jiffy, holding Sally Sassy Jane out to Larine.

"It was your idea for us to take this, and I don't really want to hold onto it myself. You and Mae can decide what to do with it", he says.

"Malvyn, I've told you that I don't always know everything being planned," Larine starts. "I'm pretty sure nothing before exams."  That of course, is pretty likely since exams are coming up very soon! "I... umm, think I heard... maybe, they might try something at the Rose Stage Festival. But I don't know what it would be! Or even if anything really is going to happen." She quickly adds, "But like I said, maybe if I just tell them, you guys really seem close to catching them, maybe that will get them to stop." 

She also turns to Mae when she suggests taking the blame herself. "No. No, Mae. It wasn't you that did any of this. It was me. I'm the stupid one that got herself involved in all of this." She looks back to Malvyn. "You're right. Mae didn't know any of this until tonight! About my involvement. Please, don't blame her. She only got you guys involved because she needed help and you were her friends! It's me that got everything into this mess."  She then looks at Mae again, "She's only saying this to try to protect me. Because she cares about me." 

When Mae starts to go, she moves to go along with her, only pausing when Guardok asks her to wait. As he hands her the doll, she takes it. "Umm, ok?"  

The doll almost seems to be staring up at Larine when it loudly blurts out, "G-R-O-S-S. Gross.”