Venrys has aced the exam! He gains inspiration!

Weaver has passed the exam (using the first results)

Theo has passed the exam. 

Ooboron has failed the exam. He must attend tutoring until he passes another exam. A student who must attend tutoring can’t take part in any Extracurriculars or Jobs until they achieve at least a passed Exam during one of that academic year’s Exam encounters.

Everyone advances to level two! Once that is done, we shall continue with the next scene:

A bit after your exam, you are hanging around central campus again, when you see Aurora walking towards Bows Ends Tavern. As students mill around the central campus, whoops of excitement fill the air. It’s 6:00 p.m., and Bow’s End Tavern is open! On the tavern’s patio, three student mages with brightly colored hair begin to sing a jaunty tune and pluck at dulcimers as a crowd heads in that direction. Aurora spots you and waves you over “I heard they’ve finally got some wizard gizzard machines in there!” she says. “You have to come play with us!”

Ooboron is crushed! How disappointed his family will be when they hear how poorly he did on his exam. The others have had to work hard to get the loxodon out of the dorm tonight. He hasn't had much interest in doing anything but studying since the exam. He is especially depressed since he hasn't been able to participate in either of his extracurricular activities, which are a highlight of his week. He lags behind the others, his head, shoulders, ears and trunk hanging low. When Weaver, Venrys and Theo head toward the music and Aurora, he takes a deep breath and plods along.

Elsenia spends her time studying and hanging out with her new friends. The druid notices that Aurora tends to be gone for long stretches of the day, and she finds her curiosity piqued. What is the vampire getting up to? Would she know anything about the blood magic they've discovered? One night when Aurora returns to their dorm, Elsenia works up the courage to tell her about what happened with the frogs and the discovery that they made.

"You've been here longer," she says. "You probably know so much about the school. Do you know who could be behind something like this?" she asks.

* * *

Elsenia is nervous for the first big exam. She spends a lot of time in the library, poring over books on Slaadi. She's always loved books, and there were far too few of them in the Shadowfell. Here in the library she is in heaven with so many books that it would take several lifetimes to read. For the most part, she studies alone, but she will occasionally study with a new friend.

Study Arcana - 18

During the exam, Elsenia decides to test her writing skills and chooses to write the short essays about the best ways to keep Slaadi calm. Her penmanship is small and neat but also slightly frilly with lots of loops and curls.

Exam Insight - 6

When Elsenia receives her exam results, her face flushes. She failed her first exam! How could she do so poorly? But she thinks of how all the information she crammed during studying seemed to fly right out of her head during the actual test. Utterly dejected, tears form behind her eyes, and she angrily swipes them away. She feels like doing nothing more than returning to the dorm room and lying in bed for the rest of the day, but then she hears Aurora's voice. She can't help but look up, slightly intrigued.

"What in the planes is wizard gizzard?" she can't help but ask.

Theodore sighs in relief. Whew! Made it. So far so good. 'Come on Ooby, everybody has a bad day, today was that day for you. You're smart and talented! It's ok, just get back up on your feet and try again. Nobody could ask for more!'

"I don't know what wizard gizzard is either, but let's go best friends!"

Weaver is sad for Ooby and Elsenia, but happy Venrys and Theo did so well!  "Wizard gizzard?  Do we need to rhyme all the time?  That's the weirdest thing about Common, isn't it?  Read and lead rhyme, and read and lead rhyme, but read doesn't rhyme with lead and lead doesn't rhyme with read.  I'm still trying to wrap my head around it!  Anyway, what were we doing?" 

She follows along, stuffing notebooks and study guides for her friends into her newly infused Bag of Holding.

(OOC: Weaver has gained two Artificer infusions, and has used one to make a Repeating Shot enchantment for her light crossbow, and one to turn her satchel into a Bag of Holding)

Elsenia, to be clear, you made a study check if you wanted, then both and then both an insight & arcana check. I'll roll your arcana check real quick just to speed things along. In addition, Aurora looks worried when Elsenia tells her about the Frogs, but brushes her off, saying she is tired and needs to sleep.

arcana check: 22

The Party follows Aurora into the tavern. Along one side of the tavern’s main dining room, the tables and chairs have been shifted to create a large, rectangular open space. On the south side of this space, a single table stands flush against the wall. On it are a few strange-looking boxes with funnels protruding from them at an angle. Twenty feet opposite the table, a small bucket rests on the floor. Aurora looks at you excitedly, and explains the rules: 

The devices on the table are called wizard gizzards. Instructors use them to help student-mages practice their aim with magical rays. When a character strikes the top of a wizard gizzard, it shoots a sphere made of magic out of its attached funnel. The sphere dissipates whenever it touches anything—a ray, a creature, or a hard surface, for example.

These minor magic items have a short life span, and as they age, they begin to emit loud clucking noises when they shoot their spheres. Students joke that the spheres begin to look like gizzards, hence their name. Every term, students collect cast-off wizard gizzards that have grown too unpredictable for classroom use and then use the wizard gizzards in the game of the same name. This night at Bow’s End Tavern is the first such event of the term, and enthusiasm is running high.

Playing the Game

In this scene, the you have the opportunity to play a game of Wizard Gizzard for a prize. You can participate in the fun in one of the following ways:

• Play the Game. The rules are simple: lob a sphere from the wizard gizzard and have the sphere land inside the bucket on the floor. The game takes 1 minute to play, and player who lands the most spheres in the bucket during that minute wins the game. To determine how many spheres you land in the bucket, make a Dexterity (Arcana) check and divide the total by 3 (round down). If two or more players land the same number of spheres in the bucket, have those characters repeat the check during a tiebreaker round. Continue to run tiebreaker rounds until one player wins.
• Encourage a Participant. If you shouts encouragement to a player, that player has advantage on their Dexterity (Arcana) check.
• Heckle a Participant. If you jeers at a player, that player has disadvantage on their Dexterity (Arcana) check.

Aurora will play, and Grayson is back with a vengeance, determined to win

Aurora's check: 8

Grayson's check: 9 (rolling this one with disadvantage prematurely, considering how much you guys dislike him)

Who wants to play?

((So she got 5 total, right?))

Elsenia steps up, eager to prove herself after a disappointing exam. For a moment she thinks back to the last time they played a game and how that turned out. At least there are no frogs this time, nothing to become larger and more dangerous. She picks up a sphere and begins to throw them toward the bucket.

Arcana - 17

Weaver knows what she has to do.  She's dexterous,  but Skunkbutt is here, so she'll lightly heckle him.  He's been quiet the last few days, so she won't go too far with it, but she will stand in his line of sight and mimic holding her nose and crossing her eyes, like there's something (or someone) smelly around.  

Theodore feels confident in his throwing skills but wants to encourage his friends to succeed. 

"Go Go Elsenia!"

"Whoop whoop!!

Elsenia gets advantage (I hope)

Ooboron stands by silently, not participating and wishing he could go back to the dorm.

Yup, Elsenia gets advantage, so I'll roll her second roll: 22

Elsenia has won! She gets the prize: a [Tooltip Not Found], which belongs to Javenesh Stoutclaw, an imposing Owlin 2nd year Lorehold student.

As you all celebrate, and Grayson pouts, panicked shouting erupts from the tavern’s kitchen. Chef Curtie, her braided hair flapping wildly, emerges at a run, shouting and waving her arms.

“The steam! It’s too spicy!” she cries. “It’s trying to kill us! Someone, please help!”

The tavern is so busy that most of its patrons don’t immediately notice Curtie’s panic. Tulk Tusktooth does, but he’s momentarily overwhelmed by those students in the overflow seating who have noticed—and who are trying to get away from the kitchen as fast as they can. You have a clear path to the kitchen door—and Curtie needs help!

You rush towards the kitchen, and find two student cooks unconscious on the floor, as four steam mephits rampage around the kitchen.

Initiative: 

Weaver > Elsenia > Ooboron > Steam Mephits > Theo

Weaver, then Elsenia

Weaver, GO!

"Spicy steam! Who knew? Maybe I can bottle some of that energy for my alchemy projects... Lemme just find a bottle-- oops, that was the leftover study juice!" 

Weaver rummages through her satchel as she says this, moving to a position where she can get as many of the mephits in a straight line as possible (at least one, but only if there aren't any civilians in that same line). She pulls out a brass cylinder with pressure gauges and coolant lines wrapped around it, and it flips open by mistake, sending a stream of bright green bubbly liquid shooting out to about 30 feet.

(casting Tasha's Caustic Brew at the mephits, any who fail a DC14 Dex save get covered in acid and take 2d4 acid damage at the start of their turn.) 

#1's DEX save: 18

#2's DEX save: 4

#3's DEX save: 8

#4's DEX save: 18

Three of the four Mephits are covered in bubbling acid. They howl in pain, then turn their malevolent glares towards Weaver and the rest of the group.

Elsenia, then Ooboron

Elsenia, GO!

Going ahead and posting so I don't hold things up tomorrow ...

Ooboron can't believe it. More monsters! What is up with this school? Is it because of all the magic? Does magic breed monsters? Are monsters attracted to magical places? The loxodon isn't sure what a steam mephit is, what it's composed of, what might hurt it, or how it might hurt someone else, but he does the first thing that comes to mind. He grabs the necklace his grandmother gave him in one hand and says to the nearest monster, "You're supposed to be a scary monster, but it looks like someone left the kettle on with nothing to show for it but hot air!"

Vicious mockery: must succeed on a DC14 wisdom saving throw or take 4 psychic damage and have disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes before the end of its next turn

Wisdom save: 6

Ooboron summons up his courage, comforted by his beloved pendant, 

Elsenia, GO!

((Sorry for the delay. Also, my prize is saying tooltip not found, haha))

Elsenia cannot believe that there is yet another crisis happening. So much for thinking the school would be a safe place. Part of her is beginning to feel a little excited though. As she has gotten the chance to use her spells in battle, she has grown to feel more confident in herself and her abilities. There is a certain rush in defeating a foe and protecting those that cannot protect themselves. The druid rushes through the kitchen doors and gasps at the sight of the mephits. She has only ever seen pictures of them in books.

She points her staff toward one of the mephits and a ghostly hand emerges from it to encircle and harass the mephit.

Spell Attack: 18 Damage: 2