Part 39: The Greatest Frontier

Nivelos 27-28



Another pair of options to pick from. History sounds more interesting, so why not change the subject?

People like this will never believe you until they respect you, and a duel with Gus seems like a fairly bad move. However, you figure there is something else they must all be passionate about.

Hold on! You don’t want to duel next to this ship, do you? It’s a thing of beauty.
Eh? What do you know about airships?
A bit. I’ve read some books on them. In fact, we all love airships, right? That’s why we came to see yours. This wood is gorgeous. It’s not the traditional kind airships are built out of, is it?

You gesture subtly to your friends, trying to get them to keep things going. Emilia is the first to pick up on your intention.

Oh…yes! I remember reading that pine and firs are used for most airships since they’re lighter, although combat vessels are made from oak to withstand cannon shots. This doesn’t look like pine or oak, though.
It looks really old!
Not quite old, so much as dark…and with that reddish tinge…this wouldn’t be mahogany, would it?
Good eye, kid. Yep, this ship is made from the finest wood around. Now it’s a bit more difficult to work with, being a hardwood and all, but if you do it right, it’s a true beauty that’ll never let you down.

Tobias gives the ship a loving pat as he and Tacito go into greater depth about wood and airship construction. Now that you have time to appreciate it, the ship does look like it’s weathered many trials over the years, and even your untrained eye can recognize fine craftsmanship when you see it.

I like this kid!

Tobias gives Tacito a hearty slap on the back, causing the latter to wince slightly. Gus is still eyeing your group carefully, but at least he doesn’t seem as intent on using his wand anymore. The woman walks over to you and extends her hand, which you take.

Emilia Caruso. This here—

—She points toward the mechanic, still going over the finer points of sail materials with Tacito—

—is Tobias Roth. And that idiot over there is Augustus Acker.
Nice to meet you. My name is Iliana Ot’Matar, and these are my friends, Emilia Strolin, Vrenelle Bonvin, Tacito Viadana, and Rui da Casga.
“Nice to meet you, too,” kid.

You suspect Gus may never stop calling you kid.

Well, this little meet-and-greet is charming and all, but we’ve still got problems on the ship.

Gus nods and climbs up the rope ladder hanging off the side of the ship. Emilia follows easily, and Tobias disappears around the side of the ship, dragging Tacito along with him.

You kids coming?

Heart pounding with excitement, you lead the way up the ladder before they have the chance to change their minds. Now you can finally explore this strange new airship!

The top of the ship is much higher than it appeared from the ground, and from here you can barely make out the perimeter wall of the Academagia between the mountain peaks.

Tobias appears as if from nowhere, startling you from your reflections. He points towards a path that leads back into town.

Look who finally showed up.

Following his finger, you see a tall, lean man walking towards you. As he approaches the rope ladder, Emilia leans over to Tobias.

Be nice.

Tobias merely clenches his teeth in response. The final crewmate starts to speak as he climbs aboard:

That part you wanted for the ship? The shopkeeper in town wants a fortune for it! There has to be something else we can—who’s this?

The man gestures at you, but addresses Emilia, who answers:

Vince, this is Iliana. Iliana, Vincent Lachance. She and her friends apparently heard word about us at the Academy, so they’ve come by to look around.
A pleasure. You really do collect the strangest things while I’m away.

Tobias opens his mouth as though to say something, but Emilia elbows him in the ribs to keep him quiet.

Why don’t you look around the ship again, Roth? Maybe take some of these kids with you. I’m sure there’s something we missed.
Something I missed, you mean.
Well, you could put it that way.
Oh, just say it!

Emilia gives Gus a warning look. You tense at the outburst and try not to get noticed.

You still think of me as the boy from the street who doesn’t know anything about ships! Why doesn’t the mighty Vincent Lachance fix the ship himself?
Toby, he didn’t mean it like that.
Yes he did. Have your little “adventure” and fix the blasted ship yourself!

Tobias stomps away from Vincent, and based on the other crewmembers’ frustrated looks, you can tell this is not the first time they’ve had this argument. If you don’t do something now to mend bridges, you might never get a chance to see the airship in action.



I’d love to go with Leadership here, but it’s a risky move so deep in the adventure (I could pick it up later if I failed, but that would waste precious, precious time). Diplomacy is another good pick, but it’s bugged and halts the adventure early even on a success. Famous Speeches it is.

More on a whim than with any plan in mind, you dash in between the two feuding figures, who stop more out of curiosity than anything else. That’s when the old speech pops into your head.

“A king? Nay, never a king I’ll be, for no kingdom could ever keep me. These tired old planks I’ve made my house, the currents and eddies of the wind be my home, the jet streams my sovereign domain. Hand your crown to one who deserves and desires it; the day may come when she and I are too old to hold through a storm and the adventure must end, but that day is not today.”

You figure the tale of an old adventurer and his airship would resonate with this crew better than any other story, but you’re not sure if Tobias and Vincent are listening to your words or just stunned into silence by your sudden outburst. As the silence lengthens, you become increasingly nervous about their reaction. Will they mock you? Will they admire your oratory skills? Will they be moved to tears? Okay, so probably not the last one, but anything that will keep you from being kicked off the airship is fine by you. Finally, Tobias speaks.

Fine. I’ll look at the ship again, and I’ll make you a list of things we need. But you better get everything on it!

Gus mouths a silent thank you as he follows Tobias to the lower decks of the ship, and you smile to yourself even as you keep yourself diplomatically between Tobias and Vincent as the former putters around below deck.

Twenty minutes later, you and Vincent are on your way into town, armed with a list of needed supplies. You’ve managed to convince them of your usefulness in the market (what with being a merchant’s daughter), but your clear unfamiliarity with airship construction has led Tobias to rather condescendingly draw out pictures of each part. Still, you don’t bother getting offended because, quite honestly, you find the illustrations rather useful.



Feeling emboldened by your adept handling of the argument on board the ship—you really ought to learn the vessel’s name, you think to yourself—you walk confidently into the Admiratio alongside Vincent Lachance. Still, despite your feelings of pride, you cannot hope to match the swagger that Vincent puts into every step. He moves and looks at others with the air of someone who’s certain he knows more than you about every subject—whether or not he’s right is another matter entirely. You find yourself wondering how he ever could have failed to weasel a good price out of anyone, but then you suppose there are some who are utterly unimpressed with such self-confidence.

You reach the small specialty shop run by the haggard-looking merchant Vincent had been bargaining with. You hold up the list and match a spare part on the table with a drawing Tobias made (and, somewhat obnoxiously, starred for emphasis). You point out the item and ask:

How much for that?
Two malins.
Two malins?!

You can hardly believe the price, considering the look of the thing. It looks like part of a broken clock or maybe a misshapen torch bracket.

Listen, as I told your friend here, this is magnificent craftsmanship. No one makes them like this anymore. It is guaranteed to outlast the lifetime of your airship.

Vincent seems unwilling to spend that much money if the merchant demanded that much last time, despite how much Tobias says they need it. You could pay for it yourself, but you’d really rather not when you won’t get to keep the airship. There has to be something else you can do.



Negotiate has been left to stagnate since character creation, so that Intense Focus earlier was needed to get this blue option. Oh, and I looked up the conversion rates, and one malin is equal to one hundred pims. Iliana currently has over five hundred, but the text rules out paying for it personally (for a perfectly valid reason, really). Now, let the Negotiations begin.

Even you have to admit that two malins is ridiculous for a part like that. Look how it’s losing its shape! It’ll last another five years, tops. It can’t be worth more than one malin, and that’s being generous.

For all you know, the gizmo could outlive you (and you intend to live a very long time!), but the merchant doesn’t need to know how heavily you’re bluffing. He gives you an appraising look, and you match it with a steady gaze.

Anything below three gints [150 pims] would be highway robbery.
Fine. We can find a better part for cheaper anyway. Come on, Vince.

You turn on your heel, grab Vincent by the elbow, and head off out of the shop. Vincent leans over to you as you walk:

I’ve already been to the other shops; three gints is a better price.
Just wait for it.

You force Vincent to continue forwards with you until you hear the merchant shout:

Wait! Wait, now, let’s not be hasty.

You stop, wipe the satisfied smirk off your face, and then turn back to the shopkeeper.

Two gints it is, but only because I admire your spunk.
Very well, we’ll take it.

You elbow Vincent to pay the man, and take the gadget as he counts out his money. It really doesn’t look like anything special, and it’s even lighter than you expected. Still, Vincent seems to think it’s worth more than what he paid, and it’s obviously integral to running the airship. Luckily, the rest of your shopping goes much more smoothly as Vincent is able to wheedle a good price out of the other dealers without your assistance. Tobias and the others should be pleased when the two of you return.



You return to the grounded ship triumphant, bearing the spoils of your mercantile conquest high over your head so those on board can see. Tobias wastes no time, leaping down from the deck and hurrying off with the various parts. Climbing aboard yourself, you regroup with your Clique while Vincent tells the others how the trip went. Tacito in particular seems excited to tell you something.

This airship, it’s not like any I’ve ever seen before, and I’ve done some studying. The gearworks are bigger, more complex…it’s like the ship is supposed to do something more than simply fly.
What do you mean? What else could it do? Does it have to do with the island?
You could say that, yes.

Emilia (the older one) comes up from behind, having finished speaking with her crewmates.

What do you say, guys? They’ve certainly helped out enough, why not let them in on our little secret?
That one outfoxed the merchant I was having problems with. I doubt we could’ve kept it from them long in any case.
And Tobias will likely vouch for them; he’s already given Tacito here the grand tour. What say you, Gus?
Bah. Just make sure they don’t touch anything important.
I suppose that’s the best you can expect from him. So, kids, do you want to know what makes our ship so special? It can fly through space.

Space? As in, outer space, above the sky? You each make various sounds of disbelief.

It’s true! With the right enchantments, you can make a ship fly as high as you like and as fast as you like when you’re outside an atmosphere, and we have devices to project a sphere of air and gravity so the vacuum of space won’t kill us. We haul around that big island to help keep the air fresh.
Good place to store extra goods, too, although it needs watering pretty frequently.
Well, that’s why we’ve got you around, Gus. He’s pretty handy with water spells, you know.
You’re…you’re not kidding about this, are you?
Of course not! How about we give you kids a quick little ride, huh? Does that sound like fun?
Just once around the planet, Emilia. Won’t want this lot to be late for school or anything.
So how about it?



How could you possibly say no to an offer like that? Tobias leaps at the chance to test run the new parts, so as the crew makes ready to set sail, Gus bustles you into the sleeping quarters to keep out of the way. Finally, when all the preparations have been finished, you are allowed back on deck and you watch as the ground recedes below you. So much is already familiar to you, but you watch with some trepidation as you burst through a layer of clouds into the upper atmosphere. The blue of the sky recedes with remarkable speed, revealing to you for the first time the side of the star field guarded by the sun.



Taking a look below gives you an intense vertigo as you make out the floating islands and continents that until now marked the limits of your possible explorations. Looking back at the ship, you see Vincent at the helm with a massive grin on his face. Tobias is still busy watching the engines below, but Emilia is on deck, watching your friends with an amused smile, and even Gus has a goofy look as he searches the stars for the familiar constellations.

Unfortunately, Gus’ face turns serious as he spots a glint of light moving separately from the stellar bodies behind it.

Ten o’clock high! We’ve got company!

The other crewmates grow worried as they, too, spot the moving object. Even Tobias comes up to see after Gus pounds on the planks with his foot. Finally, you simply have to ask:

What’s wrong? Is that another ship?
Aye, I’m afraid it is. And unless I miss my guess, it’s the same as the reason we had to land as we did.
Do you suppose they were lying in wait?
What did you think they’d be doing, giving up and leaving? Curse it, I was so wrapped up in repairs I forgot them completely! I knew we should have waited another week at least!
W-what’s wrong? Are those pirates?

Gus turns to you as though remembering for the first time that you are present.

No, those creatures aren’t pirates. Pirates would have the mercy of leaving you alive on a lifeboat or killing you quick. The monsters on that vessel were born under a distant sun, one that twisted them into evil, demonic beasts who attack with the power of their minds and feast on the brains of others. Why they’re set on attacking us, I don’t know, but few have ever survived an encounter with them. It is a fool who underestimates the illithids.
Can’t we outrun them?!
Not a chance. The island back there may give us some extra hauling time, but it means we’re sitting ducks for the likes of them.
Most pirates we could simply blast away if they got too close, but these…things didn’t even give us a chance. They attacked us at range, sending massive headaches and pain, making it hard to concentrate on anything. It was all Vincent could do to steer us down to a fairly safe landing.

Gus grips his wand hard enough to turn his knuckles white.

Well, this time we know what to expect. We didn’t get the right defensive spells up in time before, but now at least we’ve got time to prepare.

He turns to you.

I’d prefer not to get you kids involved, but I doubt those squid-faced monsters will care to spare you. Make sure to cast spells to protect your minds from outside influence and watch for surprises; I think I saw more than just the illithids on that ship.

Your heart pounds against your ribcage as you contemplate what may be your first and last real combat situation. As the enemy ship comes into hailing range, you note with some shock that its appearance matches no ship you have ever before encountered. Instead of using wood and cloth to build a flat deck with a rounded hull with masts to catch the wind, the alien vessel appears to be formed in the shape of a monstrous sea creature. The bulk of it is taken up by a spiral-shaped shell, out of which projects the main deck, followed by several waving tentacles that appear as though they could easily catch a ship of your size and break it into pieces. Adding to your growing nausea, the snail-like ship is currently approaching from “above,” even though its deck is at a right angle from your eyes.

Before long, the ships come within spellcasting range and you have no more time to contemplate appearances. You must have gotten your mental shield up in time, as you feel something invisible deflect away from you, but Emilia Caruso was not so lucky. Just after your defenses were tested, she collapses to the deck screaming in dire pain. You cringe at her thrashings, but you realize there is nothing you can do unless you defeat your enemies.



As the ships near each other, you watch in horrified fascination as the four tentacles of the nautiloid unwrap themselves and open wide to grapple your ship. However, before contact is made, you collect yourself and direct your Clique to attack:

Emilia, blast the crew with everything you’ve got! Tacito, go help Tobias keep the engines running! Rui, break those tentacles! Vrenelle, you’re with me!

The vessels collide with an abrupt crunch and crack that sends you stumbling. Your stomach does flip-flops as two competing gravity fields vie for dominance, a state which does nothing to help you recover your balance. Somehow you make your way to where one of the tentacles has gripped the deck and climb onto it, your sense of balance restored as you climb further up its length. The inhabitants of the other ship are still doing their best to disrupt your mental protections, and you in turn fling random Incantations wildly into their midst.

Finally, you and Vrenelle land on the deck, and you are relieved to see that Gus has managed to climb aboard before you. Your earlier sense of his combat prowess proves true, as he is laying about him with his wand in one hand and a sword in the other. Even as reinforcements appear in the form of giant umber-colored beetle creatures, Gus’ enchanted sword is easily able to cut through their chitin even as his wand races through phemes that explode into a shower of lightning which blasts through three more aberrations.

You’re ready to merely stand back and cheer on Gus from a distance when an illithid comes out of the door leading into the shell of the ship. Though he is no bigger than the rest of his tall race, you can tell by the decorum of his robe and the confidence in his step that he must be the captain. At first, you expect the captain to be struck down as quickly as his minions, but with just a wave of its hand, Gus staggers as though struck in the face. The captain wriggles the tentacles that covered where a mouth should have sat, and Gus’ eyes lose their murderous focus. His sword and wand drop from unfeeling fingers, and Gus kneels down before the illithid master, his face an unchanging blank expression.

The master approaches Gus as its crew backs away. The monster’s tentacles wrap around Gus’ shaved pate, gently, almost lovingly caressing his skull in a prelude to a horror you only wish you couldn’t imagine.

Fortunately for him (though not for you), the illithid finally notices your presence just before it cracks Gus’ cranium open. Pulling its head back, the creature waves its hand once more and you reel as your protective spell is banished in an instant. It is then that you hear the being as it projects thoughts into your head without speaking a word:

Do not resist…calm yourself and submit…feel pain no longer…rest and become one with us…



Even as you feel your will slipping away, your hand dances through the phemes of a self-Mastery spell you had secretly memorized long ago. With this spell, the caster gains enchanted control over her own mind, thus preventing anyone else from taking it from her.

The move obviously catches the captain by surprise, as he pulls away, hissing as his mind control fails. Refusing to waste the element of surprise, you dash off the strongest, most dangerous spells you know, warping illithids, umber beetles, and the ship itself into unfamiliar and painful shapes. Vrenelle assists by whapping the illithids in their soft, squishy, squid-like heads, while Gus has recovered enough to hold the umber beasts at bay.

You hear a loud CRACK, and with a glance back you confirm that one of the four ship tentacles has broken free. As you watch, it falls through the gravity field and floats down toward the surface. Turning back, you see the master illithid moving to attack you once more, but you are prepared this time: moving swiftly through the phemes, you Incant a heavy block of ice over the captain’s head, which then falls directly onto his head and pulps his unprotected brain.

The other crew-monsters reel as their leader’s psionic connection is broken. Taking the initiative, Gus and Vrenelle corral all the survivors onto a corner of the deck. The others move across the remaining tentacles and board the nautiloid, taking over the guard duty and permitting Gus to enter the hold and flush out any remaining stragglers.

The crewmembers and your friends alike congratulate you on your quick thinking and successful duel. Still, while your safety has been secured, the question remains regarding what to do with the prisoners. The umber beasts fought to the death even after their link was broken, but plenty of the illithids remain. Could they even be trusted to peacefully leave? Would any authority back on the surface accept these things as prisoners, and could they safely keep things that can bend a man’s mind more easily than a Mastery expert?



You will never get a better chance than this to find out what these creatures are thinking. You take a deep breath and weave your wand through the forbidden patterns of a Mastery spell. Immediately you become overwhelmed by the pure alienness of the illithid mind, and even in spite of your spell you find yourself in a battle of wills.

The sheer raw power of the illithid’s ego is daunting, and your own willpower begins to drain away as it comes crashing down upon you. However, distant thoughts of your friends appear at the edge of your consciousness as you falter, and with an agonized gasp you reach desperately to grasp them. The light of your mind multiplies at each thought you retrieve, your will strengthening as you contemplate everyone who is relying on you win—the thought of failing and unleashing these monsters again burns acrid in your nose and your mind becomes a rock, able to withstand wave after crushing wave of mental force the alien sends at you. At long last, after an eternity underwater, the illithid collapses on deck, exhausted, and your spell completes its work, giving you complete access to its mind and body.

In fact, the spell provides you with far more than you expected. Though each illithid is an individual, they are all in constant mental communication with each other, and tapping into one has given you access to all of them. In fact, with the spell active, you find you have the ability to command them just as the captain must have before his death! You smile as you contemplate the possibilities.

The first thing you do is order the squid-beings to release the adventurers’ ship. Though it has taken a beating from the crushing tentacles, the ship is still mostly intact, perhaps thanks to its durable construction. Once it pulls up alongside the nautiloid, the ship’s crew boards and, at your insistence, so do your friends. Emilia in particular is unwilling to leave you behind, but your control over your new crew is still tenuous at best and you don’t want to risk any more lives than you must.

As the mahogany vessel spirals down to the surface of the planet still hanging vast above your new prize, you sit down to consider your new future. Oh, you have options now; what options you have!































That’s not what happened at all! We got the parts for the ship, found a creature whose nest was screwing up the gears, and then they took off while we were finding a place for it on the school grounds.
Who’s telling the story here? And besides, how can you explain how I can see electrical fields now?
It was that fruit you ate that made you throw up, right?
It’ll probably wear off in a day or two! …Though, if it doesn’t, Ana, you should probably see the school nurse.
Don’t stop her now, this is getting interesting. I’ll just run a correction in the next issue; this story is too good to pass up. So what happened after you got the squid-things’ ship?
Well, it turns out they were searching for the Spelljammer, a manta-shaped ship as big as a city! They thought Vincent and his crew had a map that would lead them closer, which is why…





So no doubt most of you have a couple questions you want to ask me. Let me start by explaining that this adventure is bugged even further than I mentioned before. While the adventure is supposed to end the way Emilia describes it, picking the Negotiate option in the shop causes the adventure to jump its tracks and finish with the last few segments of The Unfamiliar Familiar, a first day adventure specifically for characters who picked the platypus familiar. Now that will hardly do, I thought to myself, and so I decided to revise the ending to something slightly more sensible. I couldn’t use the normal ending, after all, since Iliana wouldn’t be getting the skill boosts for it, and I didn’t want to sacrifice a clique member just to keep things on track.

Besides, The Unfamiliar Familiar gives +1 Luck to you and your familiar on top of the special ability “Electrical Awareness,” much better than the +1 Intelligence the adventure normally would grant. I think it broke the next action, too, because it looks like Captain Felix got twice as many skill steps as he should have. Anyhow, I made another mod to create those fake choices and decided to have some fun. And in case you’re wondering, all that stuff about illithids and space is from Spelljammer, my personal favorite D&D setting.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled school life sim.





You’re walking on down a random hallway, reflecting on how much more awesome your life is lately. Perhaps it’s from having a group of loyal friends at your back, or else the many crazy adventures you’ve had since starting school here. Then again, perhaps your good mood comes from the many little perks you’ve gained by allying with Carmine; writing reports is so much easier with a Self-Dictating Pen.

As you wonder what your next big adventure will be, daydreaming of leading a fierce band of pirates against any who dare oppose you, you are startled back to reality when you almost collide with Professor Vickery. The teacher is staring at you with his arms crossed, looking rather more foreboding than usual.

We all like an adventure every once in a while, but too much and it may get out of hand.

You stop and stare. Does he know? More to the point, what exactly does he know about?

A student has noticed you haven’t been in your room as much as we’d like at nights. We’re very concerned. Especially since a certain young Carmine and other students are reportedly engaged in some very dangerous activities. We’ve been trying to contact these students to see what they’re up to, but they’ve proven surprisingly inaccessible. Don’t worry, you won’t get in trouble if you help us. You’d be doing a service to the whole school.

You’ll be in big trouble if you don’t tell, but if you do you’ll still be in trouble, not to mention what may happen to Carmine’s crew. Now what?



The difference between “run away” and Ethics is that Ethics will end the adventure, while Run Away lets you come back later. Ethics does grant an attribute bonus, but it’s hardly the way to end up in Carmine’s good books. Instead, Traps away.

You stare at the professor in indecision. You look around you in desperation. You could possibly make a run for it, but that won’t look very good. You begin edging casually down the hallway just in case. However, as you do so, you notice that Professor Vickery seems to shimmer slightly as you change perspective. That’s odd. Illusions will do that, but why would the botany professor be casting a Glamour…unless it’s not the professor at all?



Luckily the follow-up choice is a cinch. And if you were wondering, this is not a situation where the reality of things changes depending on actions taken. The random professor is always an illusion.

You pull out your wand and concentrate on the phemes to dispel an illusion. Your hand shakes a bit at the thought you might be wrong, but you quickly finish the spell. Professor Vickery dissolves in an instant and Carmine stands before you instead. He gives you a big grin.

Well played. I’ve already checked your friends, and while they didn’t think to dispel me, they didn’t snitch, either. You and me, friend, we’re destined for greatness.

You laugh, realizing that this was just one last test. Carmine throws his arm around your shoulders, and the rest of his crew gathers around to congratulate you. As you shake hands with each in turn, you become quite aware of the warmth of Carmine’s arm around you, a warmth that seems to spread up into your face as you consider it. Still, you keep enough presence of mind to respond to each of Carmine’s crew as they come up.

You’d have to agree: this could be the start of something great.

Gains of the Weekend

Successful adventure!
--Storytelling increased by 1 step.
--Leadership increased by 1 step.
----Center pheme learned.
--Passion increased by 1 step.
----Hostis pheme learned.
----Inspire ability learned.
--Character Study increased by 1 step.
----Calculate pheme learned.
--Bluff increased by 1 step.
----Gossip increased by 1.
------Spread Rumor action learned.
--Here’s where things get wonky.
--Familiar Kinship increased by 1 step.
--Luck increased by 1.
--Familiar’s Luck increased by 1.
--Familiar Kinship increased by 1 step.
----Familiar Kinship skill maxed!
----Go Outside the Fences action learned.
--Electrical Awareness ability learned.
Handled Familiar (x2?)
--Bond of Silver increased by 3 (6?) separate steps.
--Bond of Stars increased by 1 (2?) steps.
----Lend Luck ability learned.
----Bond increased by 1.
Successful event!
--Composure increased by 1 step.
----Steady Hand ability learned.

Cast Intense Focus.
--Plus 5 to Traps.
--Plus 1 to Insight.
--Minus 2 to Phemes and Weaponsmith.
Cast Intense Focus.
--Plus 5 to Traps.
--Minus 2 to Journalism and Hunting.
Successful adventure!
--Relationship with Carmine Sturzo increased to 5.
--Luck increased by 1.

New Abilities

Inspire: Charm/Confidence v12; +1 to Stress Maximum and Courage to everyone in Presence and +1 to random instructor Relationship.
Spread Rumor: Charm/Gossip v target’s Charm/Gossip; target falls under Cloud of Suspicion (-1 Stress max and +10% Chance of Failure for all beneficial actions).
Go Outside the Fences: +1 step to random Explore subskill, random Familiar’s Explore subskill, random Familiar’s Ambush subskill, and chosen Bond subskill, and +1 Stress.
Electrical Awareness (Permanent): Bond of Stars must be 3+; +1 Awareness and Danger Sense, and +1 Familiar’s Persuasion and Diplomacy.
Lend Luck: -1 Luck for +3 Familiar’s Luck for 3 days, and +2 steps in Familiar Kinship.
Steady Hand (Permanent): +1 to Sleight-of-Hand and Conceal.

So ends month 6 of 10. I haven’t finished the Familiar adventure yet, but that’ll take some time yet, so let’s get the voting started now. First, the “must do” options:

A. Tacito hasn’t gotten much attention, what with being the straight man of the group. But what if he got a case to solve?
B. Vrenelle likes most everything, but there’s one thing she hates: cafeteria food. Can you help her fix it?

And now some more optional adventures:

C. I’ve been skipping through the classes for the most part, but there must be something interesting going on. How about we watch Scenes from a Dialectic Class?
D. Professor von Rupprecht has been talking up some guest of his, but Professor Sido looks worried every time he brings her up. What’s going on?
E. Cyrus Dawes is Academagia First Year’s most eligible bachelor (if a bit of a cad), and he’s been showing Iliana some remarkable attention. Perhaps she should return the favor?
F. Vernin’s Tower of the Cold Forge has been locked under a Time Stop spell so long that no one remembers what’s inside. But the wards are weakening, and someone curious enough could go exploring…
G. Anything else you might suggest.

As always, please vote for up to 3 options, and the 3 with the most votes will be selected.