"Was I that obvious?" Mei laughs as Cadoras follows, untucking a bit of hair from behind her ear to hide her blush. As she peers down into the glass, she takes out her coin purse to retrieve a silver then leans into Cadoras to whisper, "I just... I'm curious. They never let me order what she has. It seems like.. a secret."

Picking up the glass, she rolls the small amount of liquid around the bottom. "Should I... taste it? Or would that be an... invasion of privacy?" Her lips twist to one side, now having a moral crisis about it. 

"I've always been a supporter of trying strange scraps I find lying about! So..."  Cadoras gives Mei a slight chuckle. "Are they really mysterious about the drink? Why would they have a secret drink?" 

"You were supposed to be my conscience," she giggles, grinning up at the elf. "'Why' is exactly it, though. That's the question I'd like answered!"

Giving a quick glance around, she tucks in closer to Cadoras to better shield herself from the waitstaff. "Curiosity killed the cat, but... satisfaction brought him back?" she laughs, then takes a deep breath before tipping the glass bottoms-up to drink the remaining liquid.

"I was supposed to your conscience?" Cadoras says in a surprised voice. "I'm probably a poor choice for that!"  There's not much of the drink left, but it definitely seems like wine.  A very very dry red wine. Not as strong as your Unholy Thrill you'd been drinking earlier, it certainly has no sweetness to it.  

Cadoras looks at Mei expectantly, "Well?"  After another moment he says, "I could try and be your conscience now if you want." 

Mei sighs but smiles at Cadoras over the rim of the glass. "Just wine," she says, the words echoed within before she sets it down gently on the table. Perhaps not everything at this school is a mystery.

Washing that bitter dryness away with the remainder of her Unholy Thrill still on the table, she shivers at memory of the bad taste. Giving Cadoras' pinky a little tug, she leads the way back towards the exit, walking backwards as she asks with a grin, "What would you tell me now, then, Conscience?" 

"Hmm... perhaps that you shouldn't have mixed that wine with the other drink," Cadoras replies with a chuckle. "I see collisions in your future."  He laughs, then suddenly looks serious. "No! Really! Watch out!"  One of the waitresses with several drinks brushes up against Mei and you realize you were headed directly for her.  The girl though side-stepped past you and managed to preserve almost all of the drinks she was carrying.  "Whew! That was close!" the elf says. 

After the momentary excitement, you do realize your stomach does not seem happy with the bad tasting wine and sudden shot of alcohol.  

"A-Ah, sorry, sorry!" Mei apologizes to the waitress, giving Cadoras a sheepish look as disaster is narrowly avoided. "And here I thought I was the oracle," she says, tucking that bit of hair back behind her ear.

The confidence she's come to find in the tavern falters the moment they exit, disappearing in a swirl of butterflies and... nausea? "Oh. Oh no. I think you're right. N-not supposed to..." she swallows and presses a hand to her abdomen, "...m-mix those. Is this normal, then? I guess I don't have your iron stomach for strange scraps yet." 

As they approach the group, Mei slows and looks up at Cadoras, "Sorry. I'm kind of ruining the night, aren't I? First I fell asleep and now..." She gives hime a rueful smile, wincing as her stomach churns.

"Aw... don't worry about the gurgling Mei. It'll pass. I'm sure of it!" Cardoas says, a bit jokingly. "And I'm no oracle - just got lucky there."  He offers Mei a hand as they catch back up to the group and everyone makes their way back to Dresar Hall. With the exception of Malvyn and Aurora, who head off on their own. 

Once there, Cadoras tells Mei. "Well, I think you can get up to your room from here. Thanks for inviting me, it was fun!" 

Piero wastes little time heading for the lift and within moments he has headed up to the fourth floor, then disappears into his room. 

(Feel free to fill in any RP if there was anything anyone wanted to do on the way back. But I'll move things along shortly - I hope!) 

Guardok says goodnight to the others, and follows Piero up to the fourth floor to get some rest.

Mei bids everyone sweet dreams as well, though does not join the others on the lift. Stomach as queasy as it is, she opts for the stairs instead, huffing and puffing by the time she reaches the fourth floor.

Knap bids everyone sweet dreams and returns to the 4th floor to nestle up in his bedroll. Having a bit of a boogie on the dance floor was what he needed. And the last thing he thinks before he drifts elsewhere ‘hmm, can’t figure out that Piero. “

As Guardok and Knap reach the fourth floor, Piero is already out of sight.  But you do notice Mae is there near the entrance to the lounge.  A green-haired girl with big round glasses is standing alongside her. (You all likely recognize her as Larine from your Magical Physiologies class.) 

It's a couple of minutes later when Mei enters into the lounge from the door to the stairs.  She's looking a tiny bit out of breath. 

(I know some already posted they headed to bed, which is fine if you want to stick to that. Otherwise, it is fine to adjust that a bit if you wish.) 

Larine gives Mae a glance as the others start to appear. "I should probably be going," she says and nervously makes her way towards the lift.  

The next morning brings a quiet day without classes to worry about.  Everyone heads off to do their various things and soon the weekend is complete.  Classes and activities run fairly normally over the course of the week, but you all know that your exam in Magical Physiologies is looming.  On the following Friday, Professor Lang is reviewing the subject matter. 

"I am sure you all remember that Slaadi are Aberrations.  They may look a little like amphibians, frogs perhaps, but they are not related at all.  These creatures can regenerate and are resistant to magic."  She starts to glance around the class. "Now who can tell me the two most basic types of slaadi?"  

A dryad, Melwythorne, quickly raises a hand and the professor nods in his direction. "Red slaadi and blue slaadi are the two most basic forms. They are not able to cast spells like the green slaadi.  Now those..."  

"Thank you Melwythorne."  Professor Lang cuts off the dryad. "You have hit on the two most basic, as well as the third initial type. Now, who can explain how they reproduce?"  

Cadoras raises his hand as he blurts out. "The red and blue ones inject eggs into a victim and then it becomes a slaad tadpole which claws its way out!"  The professor nods, "That's part of it, but not quite right." The elf shrugs, happy to have gotten it partly right.  "Only the red slaadi inject eggs into their victims.  For blue slaadi, they can pass on a phage that infects the victim. When this kills the victim, they are tranformed into a slaad.  Remember, red slaadi create blue slaadi, while blue slaadi create red slaadi.  Although both can produce green slaadi.  How does that happen?"  

Rubina is first among several students to raise their hands. Professor Lang says, "Go ahead Rubina."  She replies, "Green slaadi are produced when the victim is a spell caster, capable of casting 3rd level spells."  

"That's correct," Professor Lang says. "Green slaadi are capable of casting spells. Notably they can produce flames and cast Fireball. Now, these green slaadi can transform into the final two types. What are those called?"  

Amongst a group of hands, the professor points to Shuvadri Glintmantle, an owlin. "They are gray slaadi and death slaadi," she says in a quiet voice.  

"Yes, they are very dangerous creatures," Professor Lang explains. "Like green slaadi, they can shape shift into humanoids and so can disguise themselves. Death slaadi are rumored to have a stench so bad it can be deadly. But the reality is that they can cast Cloudkill." She takes a deep breath. "Hopefully this review will help you as you study.  If there are no questions, then I will see you right here on Monday for the exam!"  

"Oh! One last thing.  Amongst the naive and uninformed sometimes the word 'slaad' is confused for the word 'salad'.  Please do NOT make that mistake on your exam."  Her voice is stern as she says this. "But I'm sure none of you would ever do such a thing." 

With class over, the students all spill out of the room. You can hear many conversations going on about plans for studying.  A few scoff at the idea, saying the exam will be a breeze.  With the weekend ahead there is ample time for final study sessions.  

(OOC - With no response, I moved things along.  Feel free to fill in if there were things you wanted to say back the previous Friday night.  We will also need to fill back in things like Aurora and Mae's rehearsal and the two possibly playing at the Bow's End.  If anyone else wishes to do anything in the week leading up to this, feel free - either here or in PMs.   I will be posting some information about Studying mechanics, but feel free to pick up RP here after class gets out and plans are made for the studying!) 

While others might feel nauseated by the strange Slaadi and their gruesome reproduction cycle, the purple-skinned tiefling is just fascinated by such an intriguing species. He would certainly study for the exam, not only because he wanted to perform well, in general at Strixhaven but particularly at his first ever exam, but also because he sincerely wanted to know all there was to know about this breed and if it could have anything to do with what had transpired recently at the univesity. He would offer to study with any in the study group hoping to get a study partner who was at least half as curious as he was.

During the week that passed, Malvyn would have kept studying diligently, working at the Biblioplex and for the Strixhaven Star, spending time with Aurora, but also, if time allowed, doing some digging at the Strixhaven archives for any news or reports on incidents that could be linked to the recent ones, offering the others, Mei in particular to join him in this.

For once, Mei did not need help staying awake during class--the topic (and impending exam) riveting enough to keep her at full attention. She presses two hands against her stomach as though keeping a baby slaadi from bursting through, her eyes wide at she stares down at her sketch of the gory scene amongst her numerous notes.

Over the weekend, she'll happily propose another group study session in which they could do a practice quiz. She wonders how to make it fun--some sort of quiz stage-show type thing? Maybe they could even borrow the stage in the Biblioplex for it! Drayd knows they're all stressed enough about these exams. It would be nice to relieve some of that pressure--however momentarily--with studying that feels like a game.

During the week, Mei would've gladly joined Malvyn as his Archival Assistant (though sometimes falling asleep with her head in a drawer or on a stack of papers). Between her extracurriculars, studying, preparing for the art auction, and worrying about the tavern kitchen, she's worn thin by the weekend. Not to mention how the stress has her Dreams overactive, the sleep walking and night terrors becoming even more frequent as a side effect. But nothing five cups of coffee can't fix! 

Knap’s class notes end with the word SALAD crossed out. Who knew colour theory could be so gory? 

The simple Satyr joins the study sessions. though motivated, Knap is less then methodological and appreciates learning from others. Without noticing himself, Knap begins to mimic the way Mal takes notes, underlines, highlights etc.  

When not studying Knap would be getting that sweet air and going for strolls. He’d also like to return to the frog pond to look for any nice reeds cane or grasses to make a pan flute.

Nature: 14  

Mae nods at Larine after a brief hug and a quiet word to her, then quickly runs off to her room and closes the door.

Mae will participate in the review games if invited, but she doesn't go out of her way to sit down with anyone, keeping mostly to herself, in her room, practicing various rhythms and melodies to help her remember the crucial information about slaadi, which she thought, while amusing someone might call them "salad", did not pursue that line of humor for the time being. She turns her nose a little at the reproduction cycles and such, but it doesn't seem to really bother her too deeply. 

Guardok spent the lesson on the Slaadi gawping at all the students who already seemed to know so much, compared to his negligible current understanding of the topic. He determines to take every opportunity available to get a leg up, so will spend time in the study room when Malvyn and Mei are in there, as well as studying by himself.

He also tries creating a little script, like a play, that he can use to memorise like running lines. If Quentillius or Rubina are interested, he will engage with them using this method, although they likely don't need such methods.

He fully engages with Mei's stage show as well.

He keeps to his mantra of healthy body, healthy mind, as he promised Zanther.

One of the afternoons during the week, Malvyn has a few moments and is able to get Mei to join him on a trip to the Biblioplex. You learn that the archives, called the Scriptoria Collection, is located beneath the library itself. The stair down is located in the far northeast corner of the building. Professor Flintwind, one of the librarians, leads you down to the place.  The room is about 65 ft x 40 ft. There are numerous rows of bookshelves as well as a handful of table scatter here and there.  In the far northwest corner of the room is a small hearth and lounge with a couch and a few comfrotable chairs.

"I'm afraid you will have to look about a bit for whatever old editions of the Star you might be looking for," the aasimar says. "Assuming they aren't so old that they've been moved to the greater archives." (Malvyn and/or Mei can make an Investigation check to try to find what you're looking for. Or provide HELP of course.) 

Knap manages to make his trip by the pond, wandering around a bit and enjoying the natural setting.  He even hears the croaking of a couple of frogs while he's there. It's no trouble to find a few reeds.  But it does take a bit of work to find ones that are the right size for your pan pipe. (Make a Nature check with Advantage due to your herbalism kit proficiency.) 

Guardok is able to get together with Rubina, although Quentillius is not interested in the idea of a play to study.  

Mei participates with the others in some of their study activities but is in her room most of the week.  

 Piero joins the group a couple of times for study sessions in the study room.  He avoids the plays and such, although he makes no derogatory remarks about any of them.  Rather, he simply says, "I may try to join you if I can."  But then is absent from the floor during those times.  

(OOC - The time has come for the Studying Phase!  Let me know what ability check you are making for studying and describe a bit of how you are using that particular ability. I think everyone has indicated they are studying with other floormates in some way, so you all get Advantage.)