There is a hint of relief from the purple-skinned tiefling at Guardok's response, giving him a bright smile and wave before quickly setting off to find Aurora, hoping to figure out where she would be at this hour. Under the excitement he felt quite tired after the journey and he should probably make it an early night, but he wanted to see her first, if only to tell her that he was back at campus.

Guardok heads back to Dresar Hall, finding the floor rather quiet. Mei goes back to her room, looking to get some rest. There's no sign of Mae. 

Malyn decides it's still probably too early for Aurora to be at the Bow's End Tavern yet. So most likely she's in her room, so he heads there. 

Guardok will head for his room, and spend some time cleaning his belongings after the dust of the trail, before heading off to take a shower himself. He cleans the clothes he was wearing at the same time.

If there is still no-one around when he returns, he will head down to the dining area, hoping it is open.

By the time Guardok finishes his cleaning and shower, Piero is back to the room. "Back already? Was Mei's journey fruitful at all?" He steps over to his desk, sitting down in the chair. "I've not seen any of the others? I presume you all made it back?" 

"Yes, I'm afraid our outing was cut short. The way to Disyn's cave or grotto or whatever her place is called was blocked by a rock slide", Guardok answers. "So the visit is at best postponed. I think Mei is resting. I think she is really disappointed, and you can guess where Mal is", he adds with a chuckle.

"Everything ok here? I saw the results of the exam", he asks a bit more sombrely, not feeling the need to say more. Piero had passed rather than aced it, but that was not the big news.

Piero simply nods when Guardok mentions Malvyn's whereabouts. "Things have been quiet here," he shrugs. "I haven't seen Chara nor Mae though. Professor Lang held them back after class. I'm sure though they've had more than enough time to be back after that. Weird that the two roommates both failed." 

As you are speaking, you hear footsteps out in the hallway.  

"We saw the professor a little while ago, and Mae and Chara were not there then", Guardok confirms. "I am not sure there is anything weird about it, I don't think they studied together, although I could be wrong. I would imagine she studied with Larine, and she did really well".

When he hears the footsteps, he opens the door to his and Piero's room so whoever it is knows they are in.

Piero smiles at Guardok's remarks. "Yea, just a strange coincidence. I'm sure it's not some curse of Room 405!"  He too is quiet when he hears footsteps. Opening the door, you just catch the door to Mae and Chara's room shut. Whoever it was, they quickly slipped into the room, which now seems quiet. 

Guardok chuckles, "Perhaps Mei's cards can reveal more on that". He sees the door to room 405 shut and thinks about going over to knock, but decides against it. 

"Anyway, I expect the dining hall will be open by now. You coming dow to eat?", he asks Piero, deciding that heading down and waiting for the others there whilst grabbing a bite is the best plan.

He will walk by the common areas to check if anyone is about on the way.

"Um, sure, I can join you. Intetesting to hear more about your trip," Piero says. "Despite it not going as expected."

"I don't know, I expect Mal will want to write an article about it and I wouldn't want the story getting out before it is published", Guardok says as he leaves the room, hurrying across to the elevator.

As mentioned, he checks the communal rooms on the way.

Mae had already gone to bed in a sleepy but hurried fashion and likely wouldn't reappear until the next day.

Piero gives Guardok a side-long glance. "I'm not exactly the sort to spread someone else's story," he says. "But it's fine if you'd rather not say." There is nobody in the common room. and Piero follows after to the elevator. The two soon are able to grab some food in the cafeteria and find a table. 

"Oh, I was just teasing", Guardok replies as they make their way down in the lift.

"It was largely uneventful, other than the rockslide that blocked Disyn's cave being highly suspicious, the giant statue of a person with six arms that could move and wander off and was perhaps the cause of the rockslide, and the dead bodies on the path as we made our way home. I did not expect to end up speaking to the watch, I can tell you. The rest was just the usual trekking and camping", he says.

"Anything else happened here over the weekend?".

Peiro's eyes widen. "You simply say the trip was cut short. But now you tell me about some giant statue and dead bodies on your path?"  He gives Guardok the slightest of smiles. "You certainly have a way of delivering unexpected news."  He shakes his head as he takes a small bite of food. "What makes you think the statue caused the rock slide? You said it could move? Did the watch identify the bodies?" 

"Well it was cut short, but I guess it was eventful all the same", Guardok replies.

"Ok, so when  first saw the statue in the evening I thought it turned its head to look at me. But I couldn't be sure. But when I went back to look for it in the morning it was gone. And where the rockfall was, I saw what could have been a large footprint. Might be nothing, but what are the odds!?", he says, making a miniature statue appear on the table.

"And, oh yes. The bodies. We reported them to the watch, and they sent some of their people to find them, but we had to come back to Strixhaven so we don't know what happened about it. Kira recognised something though. A mark of a hawk on the dead people's armour. They were part of a band that called themselves the Mountain Hawk's. Not a musical band though, a band of bandits. But, oh of course, there is more. We saw signs that someone had been carried off. And they dropped a strange mask!", he adds excitedly, changing the image first to a hawk symbol and then to a mask.

"Malvyn said he had read about the mask, and it had to do with Strixhaven somehow!".

 He spent the whole time retelling the tale holding a chicken leg and waving it about, and as he finishes for a breath, he takes a big bite.

Piero looks at the statue, the hawk symbol, and then the image of the mask. "Very interesting. All definitely clues we might even be able to follow up with here." 

"I expect Malvyn will be over that, although we do have a mystery from right here we haven't got to the bottom of yet", Guardok replies thoughtfully.

"Anyway, did anything interesting happen here whilst we were gone? I know it has only been a few days, and I obviously know about the exam results", he says happy to let Piero talk whilst he gets to eat.

"Yes, I suppose Malvyn does spend a lot of time in the library," Piero says. "Nothing much interesting happened here this weekend. Lots of folks at the Bow's End Friday after folks got their exam results. But it was pretty normal." 

"People got their exam results on Friday? We didn't leave until Saturday morning. I guess I did have an early night", Guardok replies a little confused.

(OOC: We were only gone a couple of nights, right?)