Lily's words ring true to him.  He looks deep into her eyes, smiles, and gives her a brief kiss before putting his arm around her and returning to the rest of the group. 

Emanuel nods and greats the professor as well.

The professor looks both pleased and relieved. If you were wondering if he knew about the sort of things you would be dealing with in the foundry, you can only read that he understood it would be a difficult task. 

"Good evening, Miss Berlyn. Miss J'Sahriel," Daela nods his head to the both of you, "and of course, your dear friends. Oh, I see Bloody Spear is with you, is that right?" Bloody Spear waves at the professor. "Tell me, how did it go? Did you manage to find the schema?"

"As a matter of fact, we did," Berlyn replies, "along with some interesting constructs. They were similar to Warforged, but older. Do you know what they could be?"

After he looks at the schema, she plans to ask about the scroll case.

Emanuel places the sack, with the two skulls with identical symbols on them, on the professor's desk.

The professor looks taken completely aback by these skulls. He examines them while Bloody Spear does everything in her power to avert her gaze (not because she is sneaky, but because she is clearly disturbed). "These are... this is quite strange. They were like warforged, you say? What do you mean by that? Did they fall apart when you touched them?" The professor doesn't know you went off and fought them.

As an aside, the professor will examine the blueprints and shows a genuine interest in them, "This is quite intriguing. It could be beneficial to my study of the schema. I can pay you 50 galifars for it, as the 230 we agreed on was just for the return of this schema."

"First they formed together, like magic, before we had to fight them.  They fell apart after defeated; but the second one started to pull parts from the defeated one, so we had to defeat the second one quick before it became stronger.  So... I was a challenge to say the least." Emanuel rambles; trying to explain the encounter.

"Good graces," Daela's face faults, "to think House Cannith had such contraptions in place. Why did they start up? I'm quite curious..." Trigger explains that he picked up the schema which led to their activation, "I see... I trust you. This is troubling, to say the least. I wonder if the schema may reveal the why and how of these curious machines. Just a cursory glance causes me to believe they are less organic than Bloody Spear or Trigger here. They seemed to be if you are recounting your tale correctly, completely made from scrap metal."

The professor shakes his head, "Well, until I study the schema I won't be able to make heads or tails of it, but I believe it will lead us to some interesting results. Now, is there anything else that you'd like to talk to me about or any other contraptions you'd like to show me? I can offer a fair price on any relics you may have acquired during your time in the Cogs."

"I also found this," Berlyn says pulling the scroll case out of the bag gingerly and keeping an eye on the schema and the skulls for any sign of movement. "I detected some protection magic on it and did not want to try and open it until we were in a safe place." 

"Now, let's see if this works...knock knock." 

@ Berlyn (sorry, I pre-empted her question earlier with this line:

As an aside, the professor will examine the blueprints and shows a genuine interest in them, "This is quite intriguing. It could be beneficial to my study of the schema. I can pay you 50 galifars for it, as the 230 we agreed on was just for the return of this schema."

With regards to questions about it - 

"I am not quite sure what these blueprints mean, but I believe with study I can discern their intent."

"With a place so ancient, how did you find it to begin with?" Emanuel asks the professor.  "Also, why didn't you tell us about Bloodyspear?"

"How else, my boy? Research and divination...

"It isn't uncommon to send multiple groups after the same artifact. I see you got along with Bloody Spear fine... Ahh speaking of which," he hands Bloody Spear a rather sizeable pouch that jingles. "There you are, I hope this suffices."

"Ahhh," Bloody Spear immediately sifts through the pouch with a pleasant expression, "A job well done is a job well paid."

"I think that is all we found, right?" Berlyn looks questioningly at the others. She is not sure all is well with the professor.

insight: 9 + Deductive Intuition: 4

The professor just seems sleepy. He is old and this is probably about 10 PM in old people time.

“Well, Sir, I hope I’m correct in assuming this earned J’Sahriel and I top marks in class.” Berlyn comments. “I look forward to learning more about our findings.”

You leave the office with your pockets bursting with gold coins. For the students, you are assured a top score for your practicum of the year. Professor Daela has issued the final piece of your class to both Berlyn and J'Sahriel - an essay to be written about how you have applied your skill. This is mostly a formality, but necessary. For Trigger, this is all in a day's work. For everyone else, this is probably the most gold you've ever earned doing an odd job in Sharn. J'Sahriel and Trigger both split from your group with personal matters to attend to.

As you walk down the street that circles around the tower, thinking about what sophisticated tavern to visit, you hear coming from the direction of the Professor’s office the sound of glass breaking and a man screaming. As you make a swift return to the office you just left, you see, a hundred feet away, a group of five hooded men jumping out of Professor Daela’s office window. One of them is carrying what appears to be a heavy object covered in cloth.

Professor Daela jumps out behind them in his nightgown and throws himself at the man carrying the covered object. Both men fall to the ground and the object is revealed to be the schema. The thief covers it again while one of his allies pulls a rapier and stabs Professor Daela in the stomach. The five hooded men approach the street rail and jump into the abyss of Sharn’s towers. You run to the scene just as Professor Daela’s warforged butler emerges from the office with a first aid kit in their metal hands. As you look down the street rail, you see the five men falling in slow-motion to a street two levels below. They continue running north, towards Oak Towers ward.

Though Professor Daela’s nightgown is scarlet red and he is wincing through pain, the man appears conscious and calm. While the warforged starts first aid procedures, he says, “Sons of Khyber! Those bastards… Listen, my friends, there’s no time. I know who they are … it’s the Order of the Emerald Claw. They’ve been fudging my research for years. But we can’t let that schema remain in their hands … it is incredibly dangerous. They must be escaping to Oak Towers ward, to the switching station, you must catch them there!”

You all have roughly 6 seconds to decide a course of action. Will you stay behind and tend to Daela, or will you pursue the thieves?

Feel free to make any checks!

Seeing the professor being attended to by his butler, Berlyn calls to the others, "Are you with me?" and will pursue the assailants.

Is there a griffon or other flying mount that she can hire or "borrow"?

Lily looks down at the Professor and then to Emanuel with a look that appears to be torn, she absently fiddles with the bulging coin purse. "What do we do, Eman? I'm with you, no matter what."

"I guess the job isn't fully done then." Emanuel turns towards Lily with a look of worry; but determination.  "Plus, how can we learn about this thing if it's gone?" He adds before taking Lily by the hand, rushing off behind Berlin.

The path from the switching station to the professor’s office is not a direct one, as it is normal in Sharn. You have to go up and down levels a few times and circle a few towers to get there. If you could jump down street rails like those thieves, you would save a lot of time. But you cannot do that, so you have to make up for it by running for now.

Berlyn looks around as you hit the open air for any flying-anything, but it would seem the effort is fruitless. Still, she presses on and heads toward the switching station hoping it won't be too late. 

Out of breath, you reach the street where the switching station is. You hear Bloody Spear behind you shouting, "Think the professor might pay us more if we get the schema a second time!?" There is a large skycoach parked nearby. The thieves you are trying to catch are currently boarding the skycoach. Unfortunately, you are too far to reach them in time. When you get to the switching station, the skycoach is sixty feet away from the dock, flying away and slowly increasing in speed.

Seeing your disturbed faces, the clerk at the station informs you that the next skycoach arrives in twenty minutes, but if you’re willing to pay extra, he has two rentable soarsleds and one small skyraft. They cost 1 gold coin per hour each.

What do you do?

Note:
A skyraft fits 2. A soarsled fits only 1. Think of a soarsled as being sort of like a hoverboard!

Lily lets out a slight curse as their foes escape. "We cannot let them escape, if they do it is doubtful we will ever see them again. I'll cover the cost!" She quickly reaches into her pouch and dumps 4galifars into the man's hand. "Eman, you and I can take the skyraft. Whoever else can feel free to take one of the hoverboards. Quickly now!"