“Oh.” Quentin replies clearly unsure about the nickname. “Well thank you very much Mister Elwin. This will certainly help.” Quentin replies with a polite smile seemingly not having seen the grime yet. 

(OOC: You’re passive Stealth and/or Sleight of Hand is higher than Quentin’s Passive Perception.)

(( OOC: Works for me, I was gonna roll with whichever way you wanted to play it. ))

You emerge from the tunnel in faint twilight.  The sun has set, but a flurry of activity surrounds you.  Beezger's radish patch is surrounded by wizards engaged in some sort of purification ritual.  Beezger stands beside a group of wizards who are examining what remains of his potion. A white-robed druid tries to sooth a panicky, mastiff-sized field mouse being held leashed by three students. There is even a guard and some wizards poking around the potato field.

"There, they are the ones." Teydaar points you out to a short, plump elf in red robes, who strides over to you.

"Good evening, good evening," he says cheerfully. "I hear you have handled our little pest problem for us. How very kind of you! Oh, dear, oh dear, you look a little the worse for wear--" He casts a spell, and you are all fully healed.  "And a bit tattered..." He casts another, and the rips in your battle-torn clothing mend instantly. "And a trifle, er, disheveled." Another spell and you are instantly clean...including the hand-shaped dirt stain on Quentin's shoulder. (Sorry, Elwin! XD )

"I am Lonvari Simul, Dean of Students, and I cannot tell you how grateful I am for your generous and timely intervention! Please, please, tell me how may I repay you?"

“Lodging for the night, travel to the free city tomorrow, and perhaps some of your time would do me just fine.” Quentin answer as a reward before adding, “I’m unsure what my companions would want though.”

Elwin smiled. "Coin, my good sir--the universal reward!" Then he paused. "Actually... I'm sure you all have extra spell components hanging about? A pricey pearl would be what we're looking for in particular."

(( Edited back a bit, as Elwin really only knows of the pearl as a needed component. ))

Lonvari smiles and examines his hands.  They are covered with rings of various designs and materials, some glittering with jewels, some intricately forged or cast, some quite plain. He goes through his hands, finger by finger, his smile beginning to fade a bit. Then he raises his hands to his neck and from under his robe, pulls out a weighty mass of necklaces, amulets, lavalieres and strings of assorted beads, and begins to go through them, strand by strand, beat by bead.

"Your left ear, Grandfather," says Teydaar impatiently.

"Oh, yes, of course, of course." The wizard reaches up to unhook one of a collection of earrings, and holds it out.  It consists of a softly shining silver hook and chain, from which is dangling a tiny dried starfish. The arms of the little sea creature clutch a marble-sized sphere that would look like a highly polished steel ball, if not for the pink and peacock-green shimmering iridescence along its edges--a black pearl of great size, beauty and (ostensibly) price.

Having switched from longbow to fiddle, Del makes introductions and thanks the Dean, agreeing with Q in re lodging, food &c. With regard to your time, Dean Lonvari, perhaps an appointment tomorrow, not in the field and after some recovery. Though we can provide some answers now if it isn't too long. This is our second to do since arriving in the Kingdom this morning. Some of us are seeking answers, but we can provide some information as well. Knowledge being, as they say, a Pearl of Great Price itself.

And, before it gets dark, Del will try to recover any arrows he can

((I think he shot 3 at moles, 2 at satyrs; did not look before but I'ma'sume I took one out of poor Thistlebum when I healed him and lost the one that went sailing. The three most recent should be stuck in moles))

"I would just like some information."  Raven speaks up, a bit wide-eyed at the pearl so casually given.  "Do you know what is going on in the Fens?  My father lives there and asked me to not join him this year, as I normally spends the summers with him there."

"Oh, yes, yes," he says. "Quite, quite, quite.  I am sure you are tired. I remember my own adventuring days, we were always looking for a meal and a safe place to rest. I remember one time in Gur Thåg, Otto--she was a Kenku named Onomatopoeia, we called her Otto for short--fell asleep while we were actually being chased by a goblin army. Actually on her feet! Well, we were running, and the Tabaxi twins had grab her and carry her, which would not have been so bad, except that she was snoring, and being a Kenku, of course, she was imitating the loudest, most horrendous snore she knew, that of our Treeant druid, Lowbranch. Well, the goblins could hear exactly where to aim their catapults, and their missiles came at us down through the sky, huge boulders coated with scads of flaming pitch! There was nothing that made Lowbranch angrier than carelessness with fire, and he caught one of the fiery boulders mid-air and hurled it right back! The goblin catapult burst into a thousand flaming splinters! It seemed we were in the clear, but Lowbranch utterly refused to leave until we had extinguished all the fires. Fortunately the goblins were quite busy attempting to extinguish themselves, and we seemed safe enough, until, from the bushes, we heard the sound of a banshee just warming up to give a good wail. We charged into the brush, terrified, ready to sell our lives dearly against the evil creature, and do you know what we found? Otto lying where the twins had dropped her, apparently dreaming of banshees and talking in her sleep.  Of course, knowing how well she could imitate any sound, we had to wake her at once, just in case--"

"Grandfather," says Teydaar.  "Food.  A bed.  For the adventurers.  Remember?"

"Oh, yes! Oh, my! Time enough for tales in the morning. Teydaar, there's a good lad, take our guests to the staff cafeteria and see that something is prepared for them, and then find them some empty rooms in the student dormitory." He beams.  "Tomorrow I shall tell you the rest of the tale of our trek across the desert to face Shakalakashashermach, the evil Sand Dragon of the Dunes of Flallamorith!"

Lonvari strides off to give some directions to the wizards doing the cleansing ritual as Beezger approaches.  "Wow, the student dorms?  No good deed goes unpunished," says Beezgar.

"They're not that bad," says Teydaar defensively. "But...there are some guest rooms in the staff building that might be more comfortable. Can we take your pony cart?"

"No problem," says Beezgar. "They unloaded all the potion jugs to be purifed. It will be a little cozy, but everyone should fit." He leads you to the cart you saw earlier, hitched to a pair of little black ponies. Teydaar leaves briefly and comes back on a flashy paint mare.  You are soon traveling across the vast campus of the Thamasaille Simul.  As you relax in the cart, Beezgar points out various buildings and landmarks.  "That's the Summoning lab.  Sealed rooms for practicing summoning powerful entities. If you mess up your magic circle, you'll still die, but whatever you summoned can't get out and kill all your friends. There's the Illusion Lab.  Still kinda of looks like a big purple frog, but that's fading--you can see some gables on its back now, if you look hard. There's the new Hall of Alchemy, much more resistant to explosions than the last one..."

Each building looks completely unique, no two sharing architectural styles, colors, sizes or shapes.  Eventually, the trees you pass grow larger, with buildings and walkways up in their branches...and larger still, gigantic lords of the forest, with doors set in their sides and knotholes holding glazed windowpanes.

Beezgar stops the cart in front of one of these giants, and leads you inside.  The tree is hollow, walls, rooms and stairs appearing to have been formed by shaping the wood, not cutting it. A hallway lined with office doors curves around the tree in a spiral, and Teydaar leads you up a set of bark-carpeted steps to a dining hall, where invisible servants hover around, cleaning. (You can see them by the location of their dust cloths)

"The invisible servants will prepare anything you would like to eat," Teydaar says.  "Just ask it of them. And there are empty guest rooms up the stairs through that door.  If anyone questions your right to be here, tell them I brought you, and if that doesn't impress them, mention Lonvari. By the way, fair warning--Grandfather WILL carry out his threat to speak to you in the morning.  I hope you like dragon stories."

"And don't worry about the coach tomorrow," Beezger asks.  "You can borrow my cart. If you go to the city, you can leave it with my cousins there."

(Oh, and you can go to third level! Congrats, mighty heroes!  You have defeated Megamole and saved the reputation of the Simul family! Thanks to you, Teydaar and Beezgar will graduate their class, and Lemmet Naica is being hunted down by the forces of law and order...)

"Never say I never gave ya nothin'!" remarked Elwin in a rough, thuggish accent as he grinned and handed the black pearl to Quentin. "I know it was probably quite a bit much to ask, so took the liberty of asking for you. If anyone will look like the cad now, it'll be me--and I can take it! Although..."

He then reached into his backpack and pulled out the ornate flask they'd found earlier. "This is the catch. When you get a chance, we'll probably want to know what the magic words are to activate this, too." He handed the high elf the flask alongside the pearl. "But hey, ten extra minutes for work for the pearl, not a bad deal, yeah?"

(( And another thanks for the level-up! Just FYI: Elwin will go Pact of the Blade, and will drop Eldritch Sight in exchange for Improved Pact Weapon--but he's keeping the Devil's Sight (darkvision.) Can't be the only one on the team running around blind in the dark! ))

Quentin nods at Elwin's words before getting his five gold pieces back out, "These are yours, no need for me to keep them when you worked so hard to get me the pearl I need." Taking the flask he says, "I will return it in the morning with the command words, for now....let's eat and perhaps have an actual moment to talk and get to know each other."  

Elwin smiled graciously as he took back the gold coins. He appraised Quentin as they headed into the dining hall, finding it odd how he'd come to find the company of this quirky noble more tolerable--even amusing--than insufferable. "Sounds good! I'm famished, and I've never actually had invisible servants, so this should be a treat."

He grinned like a young lad as he watched the servants bustle around the hall. Sitting, he turned to the closest one. "You there--servant? Yes, um... I'll have some roast pork, bread, cheese, and a bit of ale. Thank ya'!" He felt a little awkward speaking to what appeared to be a floating cleaning cloth, but just looked toward Quentin and shrugged at the apparent silliness of it all.

(( OOC: I don't think it's visible on his sheet, but in case anyone's wondering, Elwin's probably 19 years old--the "probably" is because growing up as an orphan, he suspects he might be off a year one way or the other. ))

Raven settles into her room, a little frustrated that the high elf had not even responded to her question about the Fens.  She decides she will have to ask him again in the morning.

Del is watching M & Q (and R, if she is eating with us) for hints on manners and such, trying to not embarrass himself, having never eaten someplace so posh before. He orders roast chickens, potatoes, salad and wine. He'll stay talking and listening for a couple hours if others do, but not too late. He's happy to tell a bit about himself:

My mother is a half elf, a bard as well, but she left once I could talk. That tired old trope of the romantic seductive bard - that was her. Probably still is. My pa is a common laborer, completely unsuited to raising a kid alone. I had to hustle some, until I got away to the Abbey of ((don't know the appropriate deities of this world - a Selune type maybe?)) to study. Was not really a bard college but they had a decent library, a cleric who could explain what magic feels like, and a choir director who knew how music could affect the Weave even if they couldn't do it themselves...

Quentin orders himself a nice small piece of salmon with a variety of vegetables and some water, no wine or ale for him tonight. He'll happily talk about his life to the others about Tharival his older brother (266 years old) who is an Eldritch Knight, his sister Caelynn (206 years old) who doesn't have any magical abilities at all. And then there's him, only 116 and the only siblings who can fully control the weave. Though he admits he is still learning about more complicated Arcane Arts. 

Elwin mostly nodded in silence as the others talked about their backgrounds, suddenly feeling out-of-place and irrelevant. It had been a while since he felt this way around others--and it took a significant degree of willpower to not just excuse himself and go straight to bed, secretly embarrassed at his childhood. But, he'd thought about this before, about making his way in a world where other, normal folk did just fine on a regular basis. He'd at the very least condensed his backstory into something relatively short and sweet.

He described having only a few memories of his mother from when he was younger, none of his father, from before she passed away in the slums of Slate City. A kindly neighbor kept him from seeing the aftermath of her illness, but was unfortunately unable to take him in, so he began a life on the streets among the other orphans. There was a church and attached abbey where the nuns did their best at educating him what little they could, but they could only bear his antics for so long, and besides--as a kid, he thought he knew better and decided books weren't for him.

Fortunately, there were a few other important contacts he met in life that eventually led him to his current path. The soldier, just temporarily stationed in the city, who saw a small kid trying to defend himself, and took enough pity on him to teach him a few polearm skills. A colorful bard--really more of a failed academic--who had expanded his manners and vocabulary, just a little, before disappearing after cheating the wrong people while gambling. And a good friend whom he made a pact with, to watch each others backs as they grew up, but who ultimately chose an easier--and harsher--escape from their situation, causing Elwin to break their pact. These people all helped him to eventually have a chance encounter with his patron, who finally gave him power, and the chance to become an adventurer, and to eventually make something of himself.

Feeling a little self-conscious after telling his tale, Elwin finally gave in to his instincts and excused himself. He took a few morsels of cheese and bread with him to his room--he could tell his pet mouse, Pim, was hungry, just from his restlessness. Eventually sweet sleep took him, as he lay with his backpack in his arms and began to snore.

(( OOC: Elwin's patron often speaks to him through dreams, even teaching him new spells and such during them. His patron does come to him tonight (finished) :

 ))

Probably knew some of the same parts of Slate City, just a half dozen years ahead Del nods as he follows Elwin's story

And to Quentin Learning, aren't we all. Of which, I understand you had intended to come here using Minor Illusion to show the Academy as we approached it to study, but now you seem set on reaching the Free City. Not complaining, that's where I was headed, though what I was looking for was basically this motioning the group What is our business there?

“I was sent by the Court to learn here though that was never my intention. I’ll be honest, I’m getting tired of just sitting around and doing as told. Want to live life a little while I’m young. So I was always going to find adventure one way or another. The city seemed like the best choice to find it.” Quentin explains