Diego takes Shenua's and kisses it lightly, you know me too well my dear. He turns to Grathna, after you my dear lady. 

He follows her out the door. Using prestidigitation to project his voice a little, well madame guildmaster, that wasn't too bad now was it. Probably a minor enchantment, maybe someone trying to clean the room and didn't mean to damage the machine. You sure you wouldn't want to come celebrate with us, a good ale and song of how we saved the day? We'll be back after our meeting at the academy, shouldn't be more than a few hours or so, you know how long winded some of the professors can be. as he talks he looks around to note who might be listening with unusual interest.

He drops the spell and lends into Grathna and whispers, would it be possible for me to have a look at you sign in logs? Call it a hunch.

“Well that went swimmingly!  I knew that it was going to be easy, just a little flick of the wrist, Shenua, just like that!  Hah!  Like child’s play.  Shouldn’t we go get a pint to celebrate?  Grathna, when are you going to come up with something hard to test us with, eh?  Even though I made a D in that damn class… Anywho, whooo!  That feels good!”  Vorenus walks out gesturing animatedly with his arms and hands.  

Grathna smirks as Diego and Vorenus put on their performance. “You know, you lot have an uncanny knack for making yourselves the center of attention,” she mutters under her breath before raising her voice. “A round of ale? Hah! Maybe if you didn’t have that academy meeting, I’d take you up on that. And I’d find something actually challenging next time. Maybe a puzzle even you couldn’t solve, Vorenus.”

She follows Diego’s lead in observing the workshop, her sharp eyes scanning the area for anyone taking more interest than they should. A few guild members pass by, some pausing at the conversation, but most seem to buy into the casual banter.

When Diego leans in to whisper about the sign-in logs, Grathna nods. “Yeah, we keep records of who comes and goes, especially in a restricted area like this. Give me a sec.”

She ducks behind the counter, rummaging through a thick ledger before sliding it across to him. “This covers the past few days. You won’t find any names you don’t recognize — everyone who works here is supposed to have access. But maybe you’ll notice something I didn’t.”

Diego flips through the sign-in logs but struggles to make sense of them. The handwriting varies, some entries are smudged, and the records don’t seem to be in strict chronological order. He can make out a few names — mostly guild members and artisans who frequent the workshop — but nothing immediately jumps out as suspicious.

Meanwhile, Shenua’s silent alarms are set, and the team takes up their positions nearby, ready to wait and see if their trap works.

Iromae can't help but laughing a little bit as the others put on their act. She kind of keeps back, afraid she might spoil their efforts.  But when Diego asks about a log, she becomes a bit more serious, peering over his shoulder once Grathna brings it. "There must be something we can learn from that," she muses as she looks. Without saying anything about it, she scans the list of names to see if Grathna's is there.  She is curious whether certain guild members might not be included in those that are recorded.  

She is curious about the lack of chronological order. As one who often is writing things down, it seems a bit odd to her.  "Grantha, I'm curious why this entry here," she points to one of the spots where the items are clearly not in order, "is out of order with this one here."  And she points to another entry. 

Shenua joins the rest as the story wraps up, catching part of it and having to contain a smirk at how good of performers Diego, Vorenus, and Grathna turn out to be.

When Iromae examines the log, Shenua peeks over her shoulder, also checking if any of the names seem out of place. She’s also curious about the lack of chronological order in the entries. "Yeah, what’s with the lack of chronological order? Doesn’t seem like something a bunch of otherwise orderly scholars would do."

If they don't find anything interesting, she's more than ready to leave and spend a few hours somewhere else, until any of the alarms hopefully sound in her head. "See you in a few hours, Grathna. Can't wait to test the stabilizer now that it is fully functional."

As Diego and the others look over the log he will cast detect magic to see if he can spot something not meant to be seen within it's pages.

As Diego flips through the log, his brow furrows. The entries are written in neat, precise handwriting, but something about them seems ... off. Iromae and Shenua lean in to take a closer look, their eyes scanning the names and timestamps.

At first glance, the log appears orderly, but Iromae’s finger lands on an entry that seems out of place. She voices a question to Grantha, asking her about it. Immediately, she points to another, asking about it as well. Shenua agrees.

Grathna leans in, scrutinizing the entries. For a moment, she says nothing — then her expression darkens. "Hells …" she mutters. "I didn’t notice before, but these inconsistencies always happen on my shifts." She taps the log with a thick finger. "I work the same hours most days. If someone’s been tampering with the records, they might’ve planned around that — knowing I’d be the one keeping track and hoping I wouldn’t notice." She shakes her head. "That means whoever did this has been paying attention for a while."

Diego’s magical senses sweep over the logbook, and immediately, something faint but off catches his attention. There’s a trace of illusion magic lingering over certain portions of the page, though it’s very subtle — as if something had been magically altered or hidden but not completely erased. The altered sections correspond exactly with the misordered entries that Iromae and Shenua pointed out.

It seems someone tampered with the logs using magic to either forge or obscure details. However, the magic is weak now, likely residual — whoever did this might have tried to cover their tracks, but not perfectly.

"Well, well. Someone here is keen on altering the guild members' perceptions," Shenua mutters, arching a brow. "What can we do about this? If only we could dispel magic," she muses, running a finger over the paper. She suddenly stops, her expression shifting as an idea strikes her. Her tail flicks once, sharply, then curls slightly behind her as she leans in. "Oh? What if...?" She glances around the counter, spots a pencil and a sheet of paper, and quickly grabs them. Laying the paper over the logbook page, she begins rubbing the surface with the pencil, hoping to reveal the original handwriting.

"The illusion is just an illusion," she explains as she works. "The real writing should still be underneath it. If they pressed the pen down strongly enough, we might be able to transfer the impressions onto this sheet..."

Shenua tries to work as inconspicuously as possible, positioning herself so that her companions shield her from any wandering eyes. Once she’s finished, she carefully turns the paper over, her expression expectant. Has she had any luck revealing anything?

Diego quietly says, illusionist magic, someone's altered or hidden sections where they are misordered. It's weak and not perfect but I can't gather anymore from it. He looks to his friends, using prestidigitation again on his voice, what a team uh! First rounds on me. Grathna we should be more than a handful of hours at the academy then we'll run those series of test we talked about. The Weave awaits! he holds his arm out for one of the lady's to take as they head out.

"Great idea," Iromae whispers to Shenua as she tries to glean the original information from the log. Seeing Diego's boisterous voice trying to create a distraction, she decides she best act like she is headed out with the others.  She starts to step towards the door, speaking up loudly. "Yep! Ready to go! He's right Grathna. We shouldn't be long at all."  And then she sees Diego holding his arm out.  She clearly hesitates a moment. 'Does he intend me to take it? Or Shenua?  He's just playing things up in case someone is watching, right?' she wonders. 'Should I?'  

Once the moment passes, she realizes she ought to at least play along. She quickly grabs Diego's arm. "Come on now, let's not waste any more time," she says, hoping she sounds cheerful.  

Quote from Deconblu >>

Diego quietly says, illusionist magic, someone's altered or hidden sections where they are misordered. It's weak and not perfect but I can't gather anymore from it. He looks to his friends, using prestidigitation again on his voice, what a team uh! First rounds on me. Grathna we should be more than a handful of hours at the academy then we'll run those series of test we talked about. The Weave awaits! he holds his arm out for one of the lady's to take as they head out.

 Can I postpone this action? Think I jumped the gun, lol. Was bored at work and excited to respond.

Vorenus' chest puffs out when Grathna mentions finding a puzzle that he couldn't solve, as if there is such a thing.  A big smile comes to his face and a chortling laugh as he hams it up.  He walks over to the sign-in logs and looks over their shoulders out of interest, eyes wide at the findings.  He watches as the quick rubbing is made, smiles and then says, "Right, let's be going.  Somebody has to start those celebrations, and those beers aren't going to drink themselves!  Hah!"  He continues along these same lines and then walks alongside Ironmae, looking to study the rubbings further after they get away and somewhere private.  

The pencil glides across the paper, its soft strokes transferring faint impressions from the logbook beneath. Shenua watches closely, her tail flicking in anticipation. Slowly, faint indentations begin to emerge — marks where a heavier hand pressed down while writing. Some of the names and times remain unchanged, but one section in particular stands out: a few entries, seemingly erased or overwritten, leave behind ghostly impressions of different words.

As she lifts the paper and tilts it toward the light, she can just make out the faint remnants of a name … though it's incomplete. The beginning of the signature is clear, but the rest is smudged, obscured by the overwriting.

Grathna’s brows furrow as she peers over the tiefling’s shoulder. "Clever trick," she mutters. "And that does look like someone tried to cover something up. But I can’t make out the full name." She huffs. "If only we had something to clean up the interference ..."

"Damn it," Shenua mutters in frustration, her shoulders slumping visibly as she sets the paper down, the signature's beginning the only part still legible. She frowns, trying to think of any other way to uncover the name they need, but after a moment, she sighs in defeat. "I'm out of ideas." 

The tiefling glances at her friends, hoping one of them has something else to try.

Diego eyes the writing, you're simply amazing Shenua, let's have a closer look at that, with that he reaches around and strums a couple of notes on his lute, casting Comprehend Languages maybe this will help clear it up some.

Iromae hesitates as Shenua gets the results of her rubbing. She is a bit disappointed that it didn't work. "I'm not really sure what else to do if that didn't work. An illusion shouldn't have messed with the physical part of the paper. So, they must have actually physically obliterated the markings too." As Diego tries a spell she grows quiet, hoping it might help, but not holding out much hope. 

Vorenus looks down at the log again, Diego begins his spell, and Vorenus can’t hold back from trying to help.  He tries an artful combination of one spell, quickly followed by another.  He casts prestidigitation to clean up the smudges, interference, then rapidly mending to see if that will help to make it clear.  His tongue is partly out of the corner of his mouth as he focuses and wrinkles up his forehead, trying to aid in the task.

As Diego’s lute hums with magical energy, the shimmering effect of Comprehend Languages washes over the page. While the spell helps in understanding unfamiliar text, it doesn’t restore lost writing — at least, not in the way they need. The faint impressions remain just that: impressions. Still, the magic may help make sense of any obscured words that aren’t completely lost.

Meanwhile, Vorenus, determined to leave no puzzle unsolved, flicks his fingers and casts Prestidigitation over the rubbing. The smudges lift slightly, the paper appearing cleaner, but the missing parts of the name remain just that — missing.

Not one to give up so easily, he follows up with Mending. A gentle pulse of magic flows into the parchment and logbook alike, attempting to restore any torn or damaged portions of the pages. The spell works wonders on physical damage — restoring old creases and tiny tears — but it does nothing for ink that has been magically erased or physically scraped away.

Grathna, arms crossed, watches the group work their spells with a small smirk of approval. "You lot are certainly persistent," she mutters. "But whoever did this covered their tracks well. My bet? They didn’t just use an illusion — they scrubbed the name out for good."

Though the magic has helped refine the impression, the full name remains just beyond their reach. However, what they do have is something invaluable: the first few letters. The beginning of a name. A starting point: Va—.

The third letter is incomplete, but it appears to curve in a way that suggests it might be an r, l, or possibly even a d. The rest of the name, however, remains lost — either erased or too faint to recover.

And as they prepare to leave, the knowledge lingers: whoever did this had access to the logs, knew to cover their tracks, and had reason to hide their identity. It means one thing for certain.

The saboteur is among them.

Welp, there you have it, Diego turns to Grathna and smiles, always more than happy to sign an autograph for a fan. Hang on to that and it may bring more than a few coins upon my most tragic and untimely death, he face turning sorrowful, then a sly grin crosses his lips, if that should ever happen. 

Turning to the group, well friends, shall we? holding his arm out to escort one of the ladies.

Shenua watches Diego and Vorenus perform their tricks, and when they finish, she says, "Va— ... and that could be an r, l, or a d. Well, that is something. Well done, boys. I suppose that’s it for now. We've certainly done a lot today."

As Diego motions for them to leave, she nods to him before addressing the half-orc. "We'll see you again in a while, Grathna."

With that, she proceeds to exit the building, passing by Diego’s extended arm, which she is certain is meant for Iromae.