Part 45: Tests and Trials

Aruit 22-24





By lunchtime, the new food options have been rolled out, and everyone knows who was responsible for them. You find yourself greeted with a lot of positive looks as you enter the cafeteria. No one cares what you had to do, whom you had to threaten, or what things you had to do—all the other students know is that they like the new food, and, after all, that’s good enough for you. Vrenelle has promised to host the whole Five-Handed Tree sometime during the summer break at her estate, and guarantees that it’ll be the best time ever. At the moment, you have a hard time disagreeing.



You’ve spent plenty of time in the Venalicium Library, enough to become comfortable with exploring its eccentricities. And it pays off: today you managed to shave ten or fifteen minutes off your walk to a research archive by taking a hallway that seems to lead to nowhere, climb out a window at its end, drop down a ledge, and pop back in rather than climb up and down three separate stairwells.

You’ve learned a lot about the various libraries on campus, and you’ve collected more than a few rumors about secret archives and hidden caches of knowledge. Most have proven untrue, or at least inaccurate, as you’ve discovered when exploring for yourself, but the latest rumor has renewed your hope once more. It helps that this one came from Claemon, one of the long-time apprentices under the Venalicium librarians and a trusted source for library information. You wouldn’t consider Claemon a friend, but he has his uses.

On this occasion, you were looking for a particularly troublesome book, and he happened to tell you a story about the remodeling of the section you needed to find as he led you there.

None of the architects stayed around for more than a few months. Every one of ‘em had a good reason for quittin’, but none of ‘em ever left a set o’ plans the next guy could use! Took an order from the Legate ‘erself to get the last one to leave ‘is set, and even then they were ‘ardly good enuf to do the deed. At the last word, job took ten times as long as it should ‘ave and didn’t look ‘alf as good as everyone swore it would!

Claemon’s words echoed in your mind even after he retrieved the text for you and left to sort books. Clearly something had been frightening off the architects, but what had done it, and why? Even better, with all those changes and no plans to show them, someone would have had plenty of opportunities to add a hidden chamber or two. If you had something to hide, how better than to keep scaring off the builders? Well, you might think of a couple of better ways, but Claemon’s story sounds like a decent enough way to do it.

Strolling down to the wing in question, you take a look around at the architecture. You can see right away that Claemon’s story was true; there are blatant changes everywhere, from mismatched ceiling joints to abrupt changes in tile patterns and compositions. There are plenty of other things you could be doing with your time, but isn’t this worth at least a little exploration?



Clearly yes. Let’s start out with an investigation.

The apprentice said that several different architects worked on this area, so perhaps walking around and identifying the exact changes would give you a place to start. Pulling out a small scrap of parchment and a quill, you start by the central pillar and identify at least three different styles of shelves. That done, you walk to the perimeter, focusing on the separate styles you can identify along the walls, floor, and ceiling. By the time you finish your first look around, you’ve noted eleven different styles, thirteen including the ceiling chandelier which clashes with everything and the change in floor tiles for one quarter of the room.

You’re a bit more confident now that you can use the design differences to give you a better shot at finding any hidden spaces.

Sadly, nothing happens to the choices except Puzzles gets reordered to option 2 instead of 3. Well, it is the certain option, so…

Packing your schoolbag each morning is more effort than this! You first note that, if someone built this area with a hidden chamber in mind, there are only so many places it would fit. Looking at it from the perspective of a puzzle maniac, you quickly eliminate several areas you know would be fruitless and spend your time on the central space and the wall panels. You then rule out the center by pulling out a few books and reasoning that the shelves are occupying all the space available. As for the wall panels, any change you might look for to indicate a secret opening or switch is concealed by the constant changes wrought by the different architects.

Returning to the entrance, you scan the area again and decide that the best way to start hiding something would be to place it beyond the central space. With that in mind, you step over to the central pillar, move until you can’t see the entrance, and then begin your search again. Merely seconds later, you find a disguised entrance so narrow and so cleverly painted that it looks like a part of the panel next to it until you’re standing right against it!

You slip into the hidden alcove and move forward for a few steps, following a gentle curve to the right, and then you come to a strange, empty room large enough for three people to fit in comfortably. You back out again to see where you went and notice that you must have gone into what is supposed to be a support pillar. Clearly someone hollowed it out, which means you’ve found something someone else didn’t want anyone to find. Now what could it be hiding?

You’ll need some time to examine it, but you’d like to do so in private. After all, if someone should happen to come by while you’re working and see that you’ve discovered a secret, they’re going to want in on it, and then what happens? You’ll have to share the loot, in spite of doing all the work of discovering the place. Well, not on your watch! The question now is how to seal off the area without causing a scene.



Conversation seems suitably social, but is it worth the risk of tipping someone off? No, not when Incantation can solve the problem no questions asked.

The Academagia doesn’t have any rule against using magic in its buildings per se, but the librarians are quick to pounce upon any type of magic they perceive as a danger to their books and scrolls. You’re pretty sure by now that you can cast a basic barrier spell without setting off the librarians’ alarms, but it’ll be a finicky casting. You decide to find a book on the subject and study for a few minutes before beginning.

Moving back to the hidden entrance, you look around to make sure everything is clear before you pull out your wand. Concentrating firmly, you draw the necessary phemes and link them together into the spell. When you release the energy, you see immediate results in the form of an opaque barrier that shimmers in a dome around your present location. As this is a new spell for you, you let the barrier fall and cast it a few more times just to be certain you can do it consistently.

To anyone on the outside, the barrier resembles the sort used by the librarians themselves to block off areas temporarily, and you’re quite certain no one will attempt to break yours and risk the wrath of the librarian so disturbed. Turning back to the alcove entrance, you ponder your next move.

You return to the secret room and take another look around; sure enough, the thing is just as empty as it looked the first time. You begin with a simple knocking test: moving slowly along the wall, you knock with each step, listening for any change in pitch. You don’t have much hope of discovering anything with such a basic method, but after only four minutes, you discover a stone that rings just a bit louder than the rest. Quickly searching the rest of the room, you confirm that just the one stone is hollow, including those both above and below it. There’s no obvious catch or lever to get the stone out, so you’re going to have to get creative on how to get it out.



The first choice without a green option. It must be pretty hard, too; Revision Spells is Iliana’s weakest Revision skill, but it’s still something like 7. Still, Analyze is an investigation, so why not try it first?

If you know what kind of stone you’re dealing with, perhaps you can think of a novel solution to your problem. Pulling out your wand, you trace a few phemes and cast a simple analysis spell. Within seconds, then answer forms itself in your mind. The stone is fairly porous, but it has been reinforced with magic to hold up against the weight of the building. If you could apply something like concentrated acid to the stone, it should melt away without any issue. A vial of Acidic Aether ought to do the trick.

Sure sounds like a success, but it didn’t unlock any extra options and none of the choices changed color. The Revision option has nothing to do with acid, either, which makes the whole thing kind of weird.

Revision is all about changing one thing into another, right? You run through your repertoire of Revision spells and decide upon one that should weaken the rock without destroying the…whatever it might be behind it. You go over the spell several times in your mind, then pull out your wand, draw out the phemes, and release the spell upon the stone.

The results are instant and gratifying as you watch the stone fizzle and melt like stone under a telescope lens. In seconds, the hollow brick is completely gone, allowing you to examine your prize.

In the now open hollow, you find a large, wide rectangle roughly half the size of the concealing stone. You hesitate for only a second, then reach in and push the button as far in as you can. You hear a “click,” and then the bottom half of the wall you’re facing recedes inward for several feet, then moves up to reveal a small crawlspace. You cast a quick light spell on your wand and crawl through.

After several yards, the tunnel opens up, giving you barely enough room to stand. The light from your wand reveals a thick layer of dust on the floor (as well as on your robe, at least until the self-cleaning enchantment kicks in). Somehow, a persistent fly has managed to follow you into the tunnel, and as you watch, it darts forward, only to be fried by a sudden lightning bolt! The sudden burst of light blinds you for a full minute. Great, there just had to be traps. You’ll have to figure out how to disarm them before you can continue.

You decide to run a few tests to see exactly what kind of traps you’re dealing with. Well, not so much “tests” as “thrown rocks,” but it amounts to the same thing. You quickly learn that anything that goes past a certain point along the hallway will get zapped by lightning. Eventually you run out of rocks, and in a bout of frustration, you throw your quill instead—only to realize it didn’t get zapped! Expanding on your discovery, you pull out an old, blunt quill you nearly forgot about, find another rock to tie the quill to, and then toss them both down the hall. Amazingly, the lightning blasts the rock to bits while leaving the quill itself unharmed.

This is starting to give you an idea. Still, it might be easier to use Negation to disarm the magical trap, or else you might be able to disable it manually. One way or another, though, you’ll have to deal with this problem before you can move on.



Traps is another investigation, so why not?

You’ve learned quite a bit about traps in your time at the Academagia, including those things they have in common, one of which would be a shutoff switch. If you could find it, you may be able to reach it and shut off the lightning. You start by increasing your light spell’s intensity, then using your wand to carefully examine the walls, floor, and ceiling. After several minutes of fruitless searching, you are tempted to give up, but you brush off your frustration and search again. Sure enough, you missed a slight indentation on the ceiling on your first pass; it happens just at the end where the hallway takes a sharp turn, which is probably how you missed it the first time. However, now that you’ve seen it, you can clearly see a bar jutting down from it out of the ceiling. Putting two and two together, you wager a bird of some sort could probably get past the lightning and land on the bar, which is probably the shutoff switch.



And now Birds is blue. Still, Iliana’s Negation could always use some practice, and she doesn’t feel like playing by the trap maker’s rules.

It doesn’t take a genius to know that the lightning here is created by magic and is thus subject to the rules of Negation. In theory, you should be able to take some of the Negation spells you already know and modify them with a pheme or two to nullify the electricity. You pull out a bit of scratch parchment and try to figure out a way to keep the electricity from charging.

Sometime later, you think you’ve figured it out, so you pull out your wand and…wait, that won’t work. You accidentally wrote down a Concede pheme instead of Control. That would have completely negated the Negation. Quickly fixing your mistake, you cast the spell and wait a few moments for it to take effect. Once you feel certain it must have activated, you pick up another rock and toss it down the hall. While a bolt of lightning flashes, it fails to arc through the air, instead moving straight down the stone wall and into floor. Just as you intended.

With the lightning conquered, you reach the end of the tunnel and discover a small alcove on the left side. Bringing your lit wand in for a closer look, you see a semicircular plate of tarnished bronze roughly the size of your upper body. The pure green color of the bronze tells you all you need to know of just how long it’s been since anyone was here to see it.

As you wonder to yourself why the plate is here and why it had to be so well hidden, you notice a pattern of unknown symbols, likely letters, in a set of three rows across the top of the plate. Under the letters are three irregularly shaped impressions with random dimples both sunken in and jutting out. If you could translate the writing, you could probably understand what you are supposed to do, but without it, you’re kind of stuck. You can’t stop now!



Now I said before that bringing someone else in to share the plan would be a bad idea, but out of the three options, the only one Iliana needs points in is Illustration, so…

Professor Sido has been almost everywhere, and you’re willing to bet he’s seen something almost exactly like this. To get his attention, though, you’ll need to do more than describe it to him; you’re going to have to show it to him. But since you’re not really willing to bring him to the plaque, you decide to draw out a quick sketch and show that off. It’ll need to be particularly good to get Professor Sido’s attention, however, so you sketch out every last letter and scratch of the plate, shading it to show the tarnish for good measure.

Once you are satisfied with your drawing, you hurry over to Sido’s office to show him.

Ah, such an excellent representation of a Delvian plate. Those are rare, you know. Totally immovable once placed. Can’t be harmed by anything less than bone-cracking cold. Wonderful conductors of electricity, though. Where did you get this?
Oh, you know, I just found it in a library book. It didn’t explain the letters much, though. What do they say?

The professor lifts an eyebrow.

Are you sure you got it from a book in one of our libraries? Never mind, I’m sure you have your reasons and I’m not one to pry. Let me see, let me see. Ah, yes, the words say, “From top to bottom, from right to left, push in the outs and retrace your steps. Left for the past, center for math, right for the battles they left in their path.” Well, it doesn’t go exactly like that, since it has to rhyme in its own language, but that’s the gist of it. I’m guessing it grants knowledge of one sort or the other depending on which final button you press.
Thank you so much, Professor!

You race out of the professor’s office, thinking about what sort of knowledge you’d like to gain. All the puzzles are solved, all the dangers are dealt with; the only thing left now is to collect your reward.

You stand before the plate once more. You know which buttons to press, but one question remains: do you want knowledge of the past, knowledge of mathematics, or knowledge of battles?



Iliana is already a master of history (at least as far as First Years go) and math is…eh, so war it is.

You press the buttons in the order directed, finishing with the rightmost pin. Behind you, the crackle of electricity starts to fill the hallway, drawing you back over. With a gasp, you discover that the hall has filled with constant bolts of lightning, making it impossible to pass. Your worry changes into surprise, however, as the bolts change into humanoid shapes and figures. One last flash seems to do away with the walls and ceiling, leaving you in an open field. The nearest crackling ghost gestures for you to follow him up a rise, which you do. By the time you reach the top, the figures have gained detail and color, transforming into actual people, the specters of famous kings and generals. Most move down the hill to join their armies, but the one that gestured to you, who now appears to be a famous philosopher and tutor, continues along the ridge above the fields below.

The sounds of screaming men and horses and the smells of sweat and blood and offal complete the illusion as the figure takes you on a journey through time that leaves you breathless. You walk along the edge of a cliff and watch numerous battles unfold, a new one ever dozen paces. Some you knew about before, some you didn’t, and some surprise you with the differences between the history books and the unfolding chaos below. By the time you reach the cliff’s end, the illusion fades and leaves you back at the start of the hallway.

Crawling back out through the secret opening, the stone wall drops back into place, and you know before you look that the hollow stone has been replaced over the hidden switch. You have solved the puzzle that no one even knew existed, and you have gained an unmatched knowledge of past battles.

Overall, it’s been an above-average day.

The reward is actually quite substantial, and that’s not counting all the minor gains Iliana got along the way. Not only is there a point of Intelligence to get, but the boosts to War skills bypass steps entirely and increase the skills themselves. See below for details.



You heard some very interesting rumors over dinner, and they have led you down to the docks of Mineta, where you find a large trunk sitting by the side of the road. On the side, written in very ugly handwriting, the label reads: “Pleese Deliver to Port Revenge, Burning Skul Island. Take as Long as You Like.”

You give the side a good knock.

This has all been very droll, Joana! Now let me out before you get into any more trouble!
Wait. Aveline? Is that you?
Oh, for the gods’ sake. You’ve obviously heard the story, I’m sure! Who else would it be? Just get me out!



Well, she could, but…Aveline’s in Aranaz, I’m sure she’ll understand.

Twenty pims.
What?!
Twenty pims.
That’s an outrage!

You idly examine your fingernails.

…Five.
Twenty.
I’ll get out of this eventually. You could either get five pims now and not get an enemy, or you can walk away with nothing and end up regretting it.
Fifteen.
Seven.
Ten.
Deal.
I’ll go find a prybar.





Generally speaking, calligraphy class is among the most boring. Couple that with one overly judgmental Professor Sixt von Rupprecht and what you get is the academic equivalent to a nightmare. Unbeknownst to everyone, yourself included, things are about to become far worse.

As the enchanted bells in the hall ring the start of class, in strolls the professor with a sizable stack of what you surmise to be work booklets. More worrying would be the cat-caught-the-canary grin on the professor’s face, especially since you and the other students are doubtlessly the canaries. The professor places the stack of booklets onto his desk, then strolls unhurriedly back to shut the door to the classroom. With an uncharacteristically jovial tone, he says:

Everyone! Today I have a special treat for all of you. Pop quiz!

The class groans as one.

What’s wrong? This is a fine opportunity to demonstrate that you’re more than a mere seat warmer, right, Mr. von Zoedorf?

You turn to watch Everwine jump to attention and bashfully reply:

Y-yes, sir.

Everwine was doodling again. He’s always been an awkward kid, and only picked calligraphy to get better at illustration, but Professor von Rupprecht has made it his mission to make him stand out even worse.

I know I’m looking forward to this quiz.

Another set of groans follows Basia’s statement.

Silence, heathens.

Von Rupprecht points threateningly at the groaners, then turns to Basia with a smile.

My star pupil weighs in. However, Miss Rydz, I hope for your sake your confidence is well justified; certain aspects of your quiz in particular shall be less forgiving of sloppiness.

The professor proceeds to hand out each booklet, and he instructs you all to do nothing beyond sign your name on the cover at the designated line. Once everyone has done so, he continues:

Now, this is where things get fun. On each page is the name of a magical pheme, and its symbol has been drawn on the top half. The bottom half is where you come in: for each pheme, you are to faithfully duplicate the representation above.
Now, this is all quite basic, really, but in signing your name to the booklets, you’ve done more than simply claim ownership of today’s efforts; you’ve also activated the enchantment I’ve woven in. Every sloppy line or inappropriate mark shall result in something…unpleasant occurring.

The professor takes a moment to look over at Everwine and say:

Go on, lad, doodle on this one. I dare you. Of course, if you find all of this to be too much pressure, you may place your booklet on my desk and leave, receiving a zero for today’s grade. However, the enchantment is also connected to a barrier I’ve placed on the doorway to the classroom. It will only allow you to pass if the booklet is on my table, so there shall be no taking the booklet with you to have someone more skilled fill it for you. As for myself, I spent a goodly portion of last night preparing this diabolical examination, and I’ve very much earned a nap.

Von Rupprecht moves to his desk chair as he speaks, then sits and kicks his feet up on the desk. With his eyes already closed, he finishes with a yawn:

You may…begin.



Sure are a lot of options. Let’s start with a look around.

You can see you’re not the only one that’s apprehensive about this particular quiz. Even Basia seems reluctant to start. But it’s not long before you hear a “zzzzzap-ow!” from the other side. You glance over to see Everwine nursing his right hand, blowing gently on his fingers.

Apparently you aren’t the only one who saw what happened, because one of the older boys behind Everwine says, “I’m done,” and goes to the front with his booklet. Before he sets it down, however, he takes a moment to consider the professor’s apparently sleeping form, then turns toward the door. Just before reaching the doorway, he carefully extends his right arm to find that von Rupprecht wasn’t bluffing; sure enough, there’s an invisible barrier that won’t even let him reach the doorknob. With a huff of frustration, the boy turns back to the desk, plops down his booklet, and yanks open the door, this time without encountering any resistance.

Informative, but without reward. Let me just say that I like the various ways this one-shot can end. Orthography and Negation end basically the same way (Negation just gives you an easier roll), while Glamour will end in the professor giving the PC a point of extra credit for “creative problem solving.” Off the record, naturally. If you go with Passion, he’ll say, “Ah, you’ve stood up to me. That was the real test.” “Really?” “No, of course not. Zero for you. Get out.”

In any case, Iliana isn’t one to show off as much as Basia (easy to get on the other students’ bad side that way), but she is very good in her own right. So why not do this straight?

I’ve got this, you think to yourself. You just need to rely on your amazing skills.

And they are amazing. Looking through your quiz, you smile to yourself and wonder when the old man’s finally going to take off the kid gloves. Your neighbors are probably wondering if you’ve finally gone off the deep end as you start in, but their concern fades as you whip through each page without a wince of pain or pause of concern. You’re easily one of the first students to complete the quiz and leave, establishing yourself as one of the elite of von Rupprecht’s class.



Hup! You gonna catch it? You gonna catch it?
Meow!
If it’s a fake on a string, then stop jumping for it.
Mrow!
Heh, heh, oh, I know. Tell you what, I’ll Revise it into something tasty if you catch it—but first you’ll need to catch it.
Ffffttt!
Nope! Try again!





On one of the campus billboards you happen to read an interesting note:

Students,

We’re looking for some brave volunteers to help us with a combat simulation program. With enough testing, this product shall one day be used by instructors to assess student strengths and weaknesses and enrich the learning experience. Payment is 50 pims and a guaranteed unique experience. Anyone interested should report to Campus Godina.



Naturally something like that would be tested in Godina; those students always seem to turn up anytime explosions get involved. Still, it sounds far too exciting to pass up.



From the moment you step through the front doors of the Godina college, the simulation creators waste no time in approaching you to verify that you’re there as a tester. They explain that it will start with an enchanted door that will lead into a simulated realm that’s been made as realistic as possible. You will feel pain, fatigue, and other such sensations, but death will merely end the simulation, not your life. After going over the instructions one last time and readying your equipment for a fight, you proceed through the enchanted door.

Without even a swirl of mist or moment of blackness, the door vanishes from behind you and leaves you in a twilit field, the ruddy sunset almost extinguished by the flames and roiling smoke coming from the massive Academagia main building. The other outbuildings are in various states of damage, each one surrounded by a sieging force of goblins. Various other students (simulation testers, or background features?) are being chased by packs of goblins, but you have your own hide to worry about : about eight or so sword-wielding goblins are running straight at you.



What, retreat already?

Your two wands are already out in your hands, and it is quick work to build an offensive spell. You throw a sizable fireball into the goblins’ midst, and it blows them all up, ending the threat.

Satisfied with your victory, you look around for another opponent, only to hear a cry for help. You hurry in the direction it came from and discover a fellow classmate backed into a dead end by two goblins. They have already disarmed her, her wand kicked into a far corner behind the goblins, and they are taking their time closing in on her, savoring her pleas for help. None seem yet aware of your presence a mere fourteen feet away.



Although Revision sounds fun (and it is), Iliana’s Incantation is what could really use the practice. Considering the static, non-magic-skill rewards from this adventure, though, I needn’t have bothered.

A fireball would be no good here; you’d catch your classmate in the blast, as well. Instead, you work up a rock-summoning spell and point into the space just above the goblins’ heads.

The energy fires off, the boulder appears, and it drops right onto the goblins, injuring both significantly and trapping them under its bulk. Your classmate blinks for a moment before spotting you, then gives a meek “thank you” before retrieving her wand and moving off.

Your next enemy is easy enough to find. You spy an ogre walking in your general direction as you move around a building—you imagine he came looking for what was causing the ruckus earlier. The ogre spots you at the same time, and now that he’s seen you, he charges with a ferocious scream, his club held up over his head.



And now it seems we’ve moved into one-liner territory.

A bolt arcs from the tip of your wand into the chest of the ogre, blinding you momentarily. The ogre got the worst of it, though, and through the spots in your eyes you can see the blackened monster collapse with a thunderous crash. Shaking your head in an attempt to clear your eyes, you hear the tiny voices of the goblins cry “retreat!” as they flee from you and the simulated campus grounds.

At this point, the world darkens to nothing, and when it returns, you find yourself alone in a room covered in glowing glyphs—guess those were just fake classmates after all. The two simulation creators are waiting for you when you exit with 50 pims waiting. After asking a few basic questions about what you liked and didn’t like, they give you the coins and their thanks.

Not a bad way to waste an afternoon, all things considered.



You jerk awake from your sleep by a loud noise. You attempt to bury your head in your pillow, but the noise just won’t go away! It seems to be coming from one of the nearby dorm rooms. Who’s making a racket at this hour?



Diplomacy is a go.

You open the door to the offending room and discover several students gathered to make some rather awful music together. When they see you, one shouts merrily (and far too loudly), “We’re starting to draw a crowd already! This band is really taking off!”

They must think you’ve come in because you like the music, so you decide to let them think just that. They aren’t very talented, but they seem nice enough, and you don’t want to discourage them too badly. You continue to listen for a few minutes, smiling and tapping your foot to the rhythm (at least in those moments you can catch it).

After a while, you give a great big yawn and the band finally realizes just what time it is. They break up to get some sleep, allowing you to slip away and sleep in silence yourself.

Day four would take us past the character limit, being another one-shot, so I’ll have to cut the update here. Look forward to a very long week.

Gains of the Week

Illustration increased by 1.
--Understanding pheme learned.
--Calligraphy increased by 1.
----Flow pheme learned.
Handled Familiar.
--Intimidation increased by 2 separate steps.
--Manipulation increased by 2 separate steps.
Successful adventure!
--Observation increased by 1 step.
--Materials Knowledge increased by 1 step.
----Vasik P’shaw, Merchant available.
----Enchant increased by 1.
--Negation Methods increased by 2 steps.
--Phemes increased by 1 step.
----Fitness pheme learned.
----Enspell increased by 1.
------Good Form ability learned.
--Puzzles increased by 1.
----Ignorance pheme learned.
----Malice increased by 1.
------Play for Money action learned.
--Relationship with Tarvixio Sido increased to 4.
--Famous Battles increased by 2. That’s 2 levels, not 2 steps.
----Chaos pheme learned.
----Durand’s Flotilla spell learned.
--Strategy increased by 3.
----Insight pheme learned.
----Attack pheme learned.
----War increased by 2.
------Understand Strategy ability learned.
------Strength pheme learned.
--Leadership increased by 1.
----Mettle pheme learned.
--Intelligence increased by 1.
Aveline used Compete; Aranaz merit now at 331.
Successful event!
--Character Study increased by 1 step.
--Money increased by 10.

Played with Captain Felix.
--Stress decreased by 1.
--Cpt. Felix’s Playfulness increased by 1 step.
Successful adventure!
--Awareness increased by 1 step.
----Coordination pheme learned.
--Forms increased by 1 step.
--Cannot increase Calligraphy Study level.
Low stress! You now feel a Peaceful Heart: +1 to Charm and Patience. (unlocked by Befriend 6+ and Stress 1 or less)

Birds increased by 1.
--Minor Lift spell learned.
Handled Familiar.
--Cpt. Felix’s Manipulation increased by 4 separate steps.
Successful adventure!
--Courage increased by 1 step.
--Tactics increased by 1 step.
--Flawless Timing increased by 1 step.
--Money increased by 50.
Successful event!
--Diplomacy cannot be increased.
Low Stress! You now feel Calm: +1 to Insight, Natural Philosophy, and Religion. (unlocked by Patience 7+ and Stress 2 or less)

New Abilities

Good Form (Permanent): Chance of Success for all Spells is +1%.
Play for Money: Luck/Gambling v target’s Luck/Gambling; transfer 40 pims to the winner.
Durand’s Flotilla (Spell): Intelligence/Glamour v8 and 12; +3 Patrol and +2 Courage but -1 to all Abilities and Actions for 3 days, second roll negates penalty.
Understand Strategy (Permanent): +1 to War and Insight.
Minor Lift (Spell): Intelligence/Artisan v3; target item gains -4 Concealability and -2 Size for 4 and a half days.