Part 37: Strange Revelations









Youre getting ready to settle down into another nice nap when you hear that scratching sound again! Not this time! You quietly sneak out of the humans sight and creep towards where you think the scratching was coming from. Sure enough, you find the creature responsible is a mouse!
Your presence has startled the beast and now its streaking down the aisle. Hurry, you cant let it get away!

There seems to be a formula for this adventure: one option solves the problem directly, while the second is hidden behind an investigation. The second option is never really easier than the first, plus Id need to improve two skills instead of one to use it, so picking which ones to train is basically a no-brainer.
You take off after the beast. You have size and strength on your size and manage to close the distance between you. You streak through the shelves, growing closer and closer to your prey. Just as you finally close in enough to take a swipe at it, it wriggles through a small hole in an old door.
You cant believe it. Youre sure you had it in your grasp, but your paw is empty. You scrabble your front leg through the hole in vain, but you realize even as you do it that its not going to work. You were so close, but at least you know where its gone now. As soon as you feel like doing so again, youll just have to get someone to open the door so you can follow it.



Archaeology is where you find it.
Professor Viadas words are running through your mind as you walk the winding road through the mountainous region cited on your map as Viadell Cacciare. You also recall him stating that this wasnt a library assignment, which would explain why youre so far from campus in the first place.

Instead, the assignment is to write a paper about observations you deem historically noteworthy within explorations of the campus and Mineta. You technically had all this week to find something, but youd been putting it off.

Although you were probably right about the grade potential, its cold comfort to your dearly aching feet. Now that is something that youll need to handle right here and now. You curse your choice in boots and consider your options.

So between all the buffing needed for Carmines adventure and all the training needed for the cats, I decided to spice things up a bit with a couple one-off adventures. The one-offs are basically all from one or another DLC, and they work more like the Dance of Fools than a standard adventure: all the stages are done at once, and if you screw up once youre probably not going to get a second chance at it. On the other hand, most of the checks are pretty easy; nothing far above 10 like most normal adventures in the late stages.
Right, taking a look at the options, it would seem that most of them could work. By far that Negation option seems the most awesome, though.
You cast the spell and lift six inches off the unforgiving road instantly, to the great relief of your feet. With that squared away, you take a moment to admire the view. Thats when you notice what appears to be the entrance to a cave down the rocky slope, along with a narrow, zigzagging trail that leads right to it. Considering that youre already floating, the treacherous path down isnt even a concern as you fly down to the mouth of the cave.
Special note: I ran through the adventure a couple more times out of curiosity (couldnt find it in the mod tools), and both this choice and the mountain-goat legs option skips an adventure step which would otherwise deal with navigating the slope. One such option includes using Gates to make a Dimension Door and skip the path entirely. Oh well, well just have to settle for levitation.
Also, its pretty nice how this adventure keeps track of your previous choices like this.

Youre about forty-five feet down from the edge of the road you were on, hovering before the entrance of a cave that appears very dark. From what the sunlight does reveal, you notice what looks to be a crude torch held against an interior wall by a rusty iron bracket. Beyond that, just a bunch of loose rubble of varying size.
Archaeology is where you find it echoes through your mind as you stare into the black abyss of the cave. Provided that youre courageous enough to go hunting for that A-worthy material within, youre first going to have to overcome that darkness.

Glamour feels like the best option, but Im a bit wary of that poorly adjective. Incantation is just as green, so we might as well.
On a target as flammable as a torch head, you conclude that the matter is complete childs play. With an unnecessary flourish of your wand, you become one lit torch richer.
Torch in hand, you begin the gradual descent into the winding cave. While the footing would be an issue, your still-active hovering spell means you have no worries for now. Deeper and deeper you go, seeing on occasion deep scratch marks on the stone floor and walls, a valid justification for taking this expedition slowly.
As you continue, you cant help but feel as if the surrounding darkness is trying to close in and suffocate you; naturally, you dismiss this thought as paranoia, but it becomes a good deal stronger when you notice the cloth on your torch is starting to burn out. Now that is something you cant just dismiss.
However, fortune smiles upon you, and you soon locate another torch on the wall. You quickly float up to it and light it with your current torch just seconds before the latter burns out completely. With your new light source burning brightly, you can clearly see what would be a dead end if not for the hole in the floor with the top of an old ladder sticking through. Concluding that the hovering spell is, in fact, the best spell ever, youre not terribly concerned with the ladder as you lower yourself through the hole and into the lower chamber.
On a nearby wall you notice what looks to be a primitive mural painted on the wall. Upon studying it, you see it depicts three Dragons perched side-by-side, one of which is contentedly chewing on a werewolf. Immediately beneath the first image is a depiction of a major battle between werewolves and spell-slinging wizards and witches. To the right of the battle are a number of werewolves standing in what seems to be uncertainty before an old wizard with one hand held high above him. Further still to the right, the last picture is of werewolves and wizards attacking two of the three Dragons from earlier; the third is inexplicably absent. One of the Dragons is clearly shown to be the most frightening one, roaring at a glowing book directly above its head. The other Dragon, the one shown earlier as snacking on a werewolf, is fleeing the fight.
Your mind is racing with all the different possibilities the drawings might mean as you search the rest of the chamber. You nearly scream as you come across the skeletal remains against the nearby wall. At first you think someone was having a laugh by replacing the human skeletons head with that of a wolf, but as you glance back at the wall paintings, the full implications sink in. Taking a closer look at the bones, you notice a few additional differences between the skeleton and a humans usual anatomy, including a terribly bent spine and abnormally large hands. Your surprise grows when you notice the wolf-head tipped wand lying next to the bones, but it reaches its peak when the wand begins to glow and a voice to speak.



You turn to the drawing and watch in awe as the images start to move and take on dimension, reenacting the ancient scenes as the spirit recalls the events.








The wall returns to normal, and the wand stops its glowing. After a moment of silence in which you digest this new information, you reverently pick up the wand and, as quickly as you can, you make your way back out of the cave and return to the Academagia.

You waste no time in reporting everything youve discovered to Professor Viada, though you conveniently leave out any mention of the wand itself.
Your instructor sits silently for a long time before finally saying:

You wisely agree to the professors terms; you cant even begin to think what would happen if that information became public knowledge. Not that you suppose the Sphinx would mind hearing about it
The Wand of Fenris grants +1 to Moons, Concentration, Incantation Methods, and Revision Methods. Not only does it do far more than Geras old wand (+1 Incantation Methods and Practical Jokes), but the Concentration boost nicely cancels out the penalty given by the Wand of Planar Shift. Gera, your wand has served us well, but it seems its finally time to sell the old thing.


Youd heard of this place, but frankly you didnt think it existed. The Edge of Nowhere: its not so much a place, at least in the literal sense, as it is a border, and its located where you find it, or at least thats what the map says. You found this map tucked inside the cover of an ancient text you came across in the library quite by chance. The book probably should have been locked up with other fragile relics, but it was in such bad shape the librarians probably didnt pay much attention to it.
The spine declared the books name to be Proper Rotation of ye Croppes by Astrological Processionne, and you only opened it because you thought all the inevitable ancient mistakes would make for an entertaining read. However, when you opened the book, you noticed a corner of parchment sticking out of the binding of the back cover where the glue had cracked off. After a little wiggling, out dropped perhaps the most yellowed map youd ever seen.
The map wasnt even a picture so much as an arcane set of directions, written in a dialect centuries old, and it didnt even refer to any physical locations. Instead, the references were to stars, the readers mental state, and certain colored traits in the air that could only be seen with the proper Invocation. The spell itself wasnt that difficult, but it was difficult to find the right frame of mind to cast it in. The map said things like, Imagine the first birthday that you can remember. Think of the color of the wrapping on the first present you opened. Now hold your arms out to the sides and take three deep breaths.
It sounded like a crazy waste of time to you, and as a wizard, youve followed some pretty bizarre directions. Nevertheless, after much trial and error, you found that following the instructions while performing the Incantation, while also properly oriented to the correct constellations and planets, did indeed cause the color trails to become visible. In fact, following the trails was easy, so long as you maintained the correct mental state, and while it was tough at first, you quickly got the hang of it.
Now you find yourself standing at the edge of a cliff, and its one youre sure isnt on any map of the campus, or even any map in the campus, even though it must be well within the school grounds. The cliff drops off at your feet, sheer and steep, and peer as long as you may into the depths, there is no bottom that you can see. In fact, it doesnt even fade into a distant haze the way the horizon does from a high towerit just seems to go on forever.
The only thing you can see besides a never-ending cliff edge is a single purple light, really more of a glow, far and faint and flickering, like a fairy under smoked glass. The longer you stare at the luminance, the closer it seems to move toward you, although the lack of any point of reference makes it impossible to judge distance or size. For all you know it could be a million miles away, or a million miles wide. Soon, though, the effulgence has drawn undeniably nearer, and you can see it is made up of many smaller lights, an abundance of tiny indigo glimmers blending into a single spherical mass. A voice somehow both tiny and deafening rings in your head:

Youd compare the sound to a gigantic choir singing in unison, but each voice in itself is small and soft.







Odd, the voices sound less unified than before.


I have no idea if this becomes a bigger adventure if I find the things its talking about, or if its foreshadowing something to come in a future year, or even if its just another fan-made dead end, but right now this adventure consists entirely of this single question. Fortunately, the checks are all easy enough that everything is green, and all the choices lead to the same reward, so lets just go with personal preference and pick the Light.
You gather your courage and draw in a deep breath. Finally, you say:


Somehow you can tell the separate meanings apart, and though the words are being used in unfamiliar ways, they seem to make sense to you on an instinctual level. The voices continue in this vein for a while, making statements that are half questions and answers that are part riddles.
The things they tell you are as cryptic as the directions on the map, yet you find yourself able to find the meaning and order in the seeming randomness of their revelations. The voices seem less intent on imparting knowledge than on showing you how to think about things. Like riding a horse or tying a knot, it is knowledge of how to do something, but not the knowledge of the thing itself. At the end, you feel as though you have gained some sort of arcane knowledge from the creatures, although it is nothing you could ever relate to another, and as you walk back to the charted regions of the campus, you are certain you are bringing something important along with you.

Its been several days, but youve finally cornered Carmine and given him the token you received from beating his maze. In response, Carmine leads you and the rest of the Tree to his sanctum, a small room in the basement of the Aranaz college.



That Intense Focus earlier was for this Observation check, which you can see is still red. Hence needing the buff.
Considering the numerous times you and your friends have wound up stuck outside the campus past curfew, you roll your eyes at Carmines perceived challenge. Still, you are somewhat curious as to how Carmine himself gets out, so while the rest of the Tree uses their usual methods, you follow him and watch as he and his crew simply walk through one of the schools side gates. You had thought at least some of them might have waited to see how you get out, but it looks like theyre all heading out. Watching carefully, you notice Carmine slipping something to the guard but if you want to follow them out, youll have to be fast.

Ill be honest, even with Ilianas new 7 in Running (5 Run a Course uses, 1 from a Running ability, and 1/2 of the Familiar's skill), Im pretty sure its Vrenelle again whos making this option blue.
Sprinting as fast as you can, you find yourself silently thanking Vrenelles hellish training as you catch up with the rear of Carmines crew and attempt to saunter through the gate, your cover rather weak as you wheeze into the student in front of you.
Still, the guard winks at you, obviously considering you a new member of Carmines crew, and pockets the shiny coin Carmine slipped him. How in the world is he making that kind of money? Youre more certain than ever that you need to join forces with him.
When everyones through the gate, Carmine turns and gives you a wink. Clearly he approves of your methods, and you cant help but smile back at him. As your friends appear from different points further along the wall, Carmine gives a smile of his own.

Gains of the Weekend
Handled Familiar.
--Bond of Iron increased by 1 step.
--Bond of Silver increased by 2 separate steps.
--Bond of Stars increased by 1 step.
----Bond increased by 1.
Successful adventure!
--Bond of Iron increased by 1 step.
--Cpt. Felixs Running increased by 1 step.
Successful adventure!
--Pure Luck increased by 1 step.
----Hostis pheme learned.
--Incantation Spells increased by 1 step.
--Wand of Fenris gained.
--Learned about the above.
--History of Magic increased by 1 step.
----History of Magic skill maxed!
----Root Cause spell learned.
--History Study level cannot be increased.
Cast Intense Focus.
--Plus 5 to Observation.
--Plus 1 to Insight.
--Minus 2 to Painting and Character.
Successful adventure!
--Mimicry increased by 1 step.
Successful adventure!
--Learned about the Edge of Nowhere.
--Student of the Edge of Nowhere ability learned.
Aveline used Defame! Aranaz merit now at 270.
Morvidus wins again!
New Abilities
Root Cause (Spell): Charm/Glamour v targets Insight/Glamour+8; set Relationship between any 2 characters to 0 for 12 days (further alterations impossible during spells duration)
Stand at the Edge of Nowhere: +1 step in Character and Patience, -1 Stress.
Student of the Edge of Nowhere (Permanent): +1 Composure and +1 Stress Maximum.