Part 61: Of Power and Pies
Anedius 22-The Pellae
I screwed up here and forgot to save between weeks, and so when I used the Perform action again just to make sure it really was random (even I couldnt believe I got +1 Glory on the first try), it was either try for Glory again on Sunday or live with the +1 Theatre on Monday. I decided on the latter. Fortunately, there wasnt a random event, so we arent missing anything.

Your second performance is, in your opinion, even better than the first. One more day of practice always helps, and the first day nerves have worn off, letting the actors enjoy themselves. On the other hand, the audience knows what to expect this time, so they arent quite as enthralled as they were before.
After the play ends, the entire cast and crew get together and strike the set. Pulling everything apart is fun in its own way, plus one of the older actors goes out and gets a bunch of pizzas from the Strozzan restaurant. Cheese, olive oil, and artichokes really hit the spot after a long night of work, especially when served on a handy bread plank.


One of the cooks from the kitchen approaches you with a plate of strange-looking cookies. She explains that she needs you to be part of her research group to develop a new type of tasty cookie.
Looking down on the plate, youd say tasty is the last word youd use to describe them. The cook is very eager, though, and keeps the plate much closer to you than youd like.


Perhaps we could find out why the cookies look so terrible.
You take a cookie and examine it. Getting some granules on your hand, you lick it and discover the sugar has been replaced with salt!

This seems to be a running theme with the kitchen. Iliana should probably point it out now that she knows.
You hold the cookie up and explain the mistake she must have madeaccidentally, of course. The cook squints at it for a moment, then realizes youre absolutely correct.








The Sphinx considers you for a moment, then nods.









You find Raoul Leconte sniffing and teary-eyed in the common room.








No skill checks, I see. Well, Raoul really should grow a backbone. If he did, he might get away without having to pay someone else to have a backbone for him.

Raoul wrings his hands.




Raoul takes a few steps toward the door, then looks back at you. You give him your best encouraging nod. Raoul takes a deep breath, and then heads out the door.
You can see Raoul approaching Aveline outside through the window. You cant hear what theyre saying, but Aveline seems to be moving her mouth a whole lot more than Raoul
Oh, well. Cant change a tigers stripes and all that.























Youre passing between classes when Magalda Quaranta comes out of nowhere to grab your robes and shout in a frenzy:


Well, Philippes hands arent the worst they could fall into, but then I suppose hed turn right around and sell it off to Reitz anyway. So in solidarity with her fellow secret diarists, Iliana will seek (politely) to win back the diary.
Without a moments hesitation, you walk right up to Philippe and ask him kindly to give Magalda back her diary. His response is typical:

You sigh, then turn to Professor Badcrumble, whose attention you happened to get while passing her classroom. The professor most certainly does makes Philippe give the diary back, leaving Magalda quite happy and you quite free of people clinging to your robes.

With the Sphinx busy today, as she sometimes is, you decide to continue your study of Gates Theory on your own back in Longshade. You also happen to find a book you read once, months back, regarding Queen Avila and her uncompromising defiance against the Dragons, so you take the time to read a few more chapters.











Fur melts and turns a dark pine green, then orders itself into the weave of a robe. The sickening crack of a bone fills the air as a dogs leg extends into a human femur. Blonde hair sprouts from the top of a bulldogs head, whose muzzle even now retreats into a button nose and full lips. A few cracks and squishes later, Elianas face emerges. She stands and takes a bow as her audience applauds.

Conducting a Revision class on a holiday is highly unusual, but these are highly unusual circumstances. Professor Aventyrare was out sick for much of the past week, so she has offered an optional class today where students can demonstrate their most advanced Revisions for extra credit. With Kaliri just around the corner, its well attended.
Nodding at Eliana Carosis display, the professor wrinkles her nose and reaches for the special Eallandine tea she likes so much (she tried to explain exactly what makes it so special once, but your mind glazed over as she went on about natural processes and strange worms). Aventyrare brings her floral cup to her lips
But thats when a huge, thick vine erupts from the tea, knocking the instructor over in surprise.

As the vine grows and thickens and thrashes about, attempting to free itself from the cup, you and the rest of the class dive behind desks, chairs, bookshelves, and anything else that might provide cover. You are shivering in spite of yourself, and you are uncomfortably aware of just how full your bladder is.
From behind your cover, you hear a loud plop, and then a scream. Curiosity gets the better of you and you peek over the edge of your desk. The vine has now become brownish-black slug, although still obviously made of plant matter, as two flowers sprout where its eyestalks would be. Its actually a little cute, or would be if it werent rampaging through the room. Its also grabbed one of your peers in its strange, viney feelers, his robes flapping with its every bound.
A golden flash draws your attention to the professors podium, where Aventyrare has Revised a pair of scissors into a mean-looking set of gilded gardening sheers. The professor casts a small fireball at the creature to get its attention, but that causes you to duck back down beneath your desk, heart pounding even harder. You can only hear the next exchange: the creature hissing, your classmate going Oof! as hes dropped, and the sound of chopping shearsone, two, three.
When youre finally able to calm down and look back over the top, the creature is already done for, drying up and disintegrating into a fine powder. With a sigh of relief, Professor Aventyrare drops her shears, wipes her brow, and shakes her hair dry.

Dusting yourself off, you look towards the door and spot a familiar head of glossy black hair: Rui da Casga. He loves his pranks, of course, but would he really have pulled something like this? He did once turn an entire class of First Years into warbling toads for an hour, but the plant-slug seemed honestly dangerous.

This adventure treats the PC as though he or she isnt familiar with Rui personally (let alone put him in their Clique), so Ill be making some modifications as we go along.
You decide to approach Rui and ask him, but he runs away too fast for you to call him. You sprint after, determined to get answers.

Your chase leads you out into the hallway. Rui deftly dodges a pair of upperclassmen whispering to each other; you admire his grace as you wind up knocking them both over. Still, you manage to follow him out of the building and into the courtyard. There, a bustle of students rushing in for lunch confuses you and causes you to lose track of your errant friend. You unfocus your eyes, looking for any hint of movementthere, a cloak in the bushes! You follow.
Just as youre about to dive into the bush, a strong hand grabs your shoulder and pulls you back. Turning around, you see Professor Aventyrare has followed you, her hair still wilder than usual from her duel with the plant monster.



You should have expected that she would be understanding; Professor Aventyrares own mischievous streak is well known.

She shakes her head.


Its exposition time!




Enough of that. Time to move on.
You turn back to face the bushes Rui dashed through.


Prankster society? Youre about to ask her what she meant, but when you look back at the professor, you see shes already moved off into the crowd, which is still too large for you get her attention. Guess Ill find out, you think to yourself, and then you move into the bushes.
Not that you would ever admit to being anything less than dignified, but a casual observer might say you were playing around in the bushes like a deer. Youve been moving deeper and deeper into the foliage, but without a trace of Rui to find; it would seem your conversation with Aventyrare has given him time to escape. It crosses your mind for a second that they might be in cahoots, but then you trip over a large opening and fall unceremoniously into a knee-deep puddle of foul water.
Spitting the brackish taste from your mouth, you climb out of the small pond and into a moldy tunnel. Silently thanking yourself once again for creating a self-cleaning enchantment, you look around at your new surroundings.
The moss-covered walls and crumbling stones indicate that you have found your way into one of the many catacombs or abandoned cellars of the Academagia. It obviously hasnt been used for many centuries, but you can see you arent the first to pass through it today: lit torches fill the rusty sconces, and the cobwebs have been cleared out of the central pathway. In fact, judging from the relative cleanliness, youd say the tunnel has seen frequent use lately.
You trek deeper in, the sound of your plodding footsteps swallowed up by the absorbent moss and frequent mushrooms. The tunnel makes a left and you follow, but the ground ends so suddenly at chasm that you nearly topple in. Theres a strategically placed rope tied off on your right, and it looks like you could use it to swing across. Theres also a narrow ledge you could shimmy across; heck, its not all that far to jump, either.

Sometimes showing off means doing it without magic. Sometimes showing off means using magic instead.
You draw out the phemes to negate gravity, then take a small hop. Its a reassuringly long time before you return to the ground, so you step up to the edge of the pit and then fling yourself across.
You easily cross the distance. You draw a few more phemes to counter the spell, and then continue on your way.

You continue deeper into the catacombs. After passing through more twists and turns than you can count, you start to hear the sounds of hurried discussion. Creeping quietly now, you discover a door left ajar, and you listen in on some remarkably familiar voices




The door swings inward, causing you to lose your balance and fall on your face.

Rui helps you to your feet, but you give him a cross look. Looking further into the room, you see a couple more Vernin students along with Iustus Venture from Hedi, Jere Niemela from Durand, and, yes, Emilia Strolin. Emilia flushes as you look at her.



Your expression changes to puzzlement.


Now its Ruis turn to look cross.







Hardly anything to say here.


As the two of you leave for the exit, you have to ask:



You and Emilia emerge from another hidden hole near Campus Morvidus. The sun is low near the western sky, and the owls are already emerging from sleep.

Emilia patters across the grass into the hall, and you follow after her, both of you keeping quiet since its after visiting hours.
You sneak up several flights of vaulted stairs, amber rays giving the tower an odd, sickly color. Finally, you reach a floor with dorm rooms on it, and Emilia pads up to one door in particular. Crouching next to it, she opens a small pouch on her belt and pulls out an odd slug-like thing. She jams it wriggling into the keyhole, and then, to your horror, pulls an eyestalk to her ear and jams it in. After a few moments, she gasps.

She pulls the other eyestalk towards you. After some hesitation, you place it in your own ear, where you feel it oozing further in until it halts just before your eardrum. However, you can now hear the occupants of the room clearly.


You hear a shrill giggle.

You share a dark look with Emilia.


The two of you pluck the listening tubes from your ears, and Emilia then pulls the slug deftly from the lock before grabbing your arm and running. Before long, you are both back in the catacombs meeting room, where you find Rui writing furiously by the light of a candle.

You tell him. Rui furrows his brow.



Well, we cant just abandon them, can we?


As you enter the feasting hall for dinner, you notice Philippe rushing out to use the bathroom. He has not-so-cleverly left his goblet behind, unsupervised. The options for mischief are unlimited

Wow, this was such a well-timed random event that I almost thought it was part of the adventure when I was playing. Iliana just so happens to have a lowered opinion of Philippe at the moment, so
Better not go too far, or he might try to find out who did it. You walk over and quickly pour in the contents of the various condiments on the table, including some fae-pepper and gnome-chili powder. You go over to get your dinner, then pick a good, inconspicuous spot to await Philippes return.
In due course, Philippe reappears and goes straight for his goblet. He takes a hearty swig, but then spits it all over the table. His eyes water, his chest heaves, and just as quickly as he came in, he runs back out, presumably to find a cure for his burning mouth.

You have volunteered to assist with the Pellae, helping to float the scores of candles and boats down the Pella Ardicus canals prior to the crowning of the King and Queen of the river. The event seems off to a great start, but then the water suddenly starts flowing in the opposite direction.
Pranks are all well and good, but come on

Bah, easy enough to fix.
Magic should be useful in this situation. You decide to cast an old naval spell used by barge workers who need to move upstream in a hurry; quite appropriate, given the circumstances. You cast the spell and within moments the water slows, halts, and begins to flow in the correct direction. Youve saved the day!
Still, was this prank directed at the festivities, or at you, considering it happened just where you were volunteering? And exactly which prankster society was responsible?
Gains of the Week
Competition increased by 1.
--Athletics increased by 1.
Performed at the Dimmae Theater.
--Theatre increased by 1 step.
----Learned about Dimmae Theater: Stage.
Aveline used Compete; Aranaz merit now at 468.
Illustration increased by 1.
Matched Wits with the Emperors Sphinx.
--Stars increased by 1 step.
----Sparkling Fields spell learned.
--Theory of Gates increased by 1 step.
----Dextrous pheme learned.
--Gates Phemes increased by 1 step.
----Strength pheme learned.
----Gates increased by 1.
------Control pheme learned.
--The Middle Empire Research level increased by 1.
Successful event!
--Social Skills cannot be increased.
Matched Wits with the Emperors Sphinx.
--The Captivity of Man increased by 1 step.
--Theory of Gates increased by 1 step.
----Disorientation pheme learned.
--Elumian increased by 1 step.
----Wind pheme learned.
----Language increased by 1.
------Knack for Languages ability learned.
Aveline used Compete; Aranaz merit now at 471.
Successful event!
--Relationship with Aveline Cincebeaux increased to 2.
--Rallying increased by 1 step.
----Jeer action learned.
Orthography increased by 1.
--Engrave action learned.
--Calligraphy increased by 1.
----Calligraphy skill maxed!
----Create Formal Invitation action learned.
Anthropology increased by 1.
--Manning Bushwacker Polingrath Catalog available.
Matched Wits with the Emperors Sphinx.
--Memorization increased by 1 step.
----Remembrance pheme learned.
--Theory of Gates increased by 1 step.
----Rend pheme learned.
----Understanding pheme learned.
--Cartography increased by 1 step.
----Length pheme learned.
Studied at Longshade.
--Theory of Gates increased by 1 step.
----Weaken for Melee spell learned.
--Pride of a Rebel Queen increased by 1 step.
----Defiance pheme learned.
Successful event!
--Relationship with Magalda Quaranta increased to 3.
Matched Wits with the Emperors Sphinx.
--Gambling increased by 1 step.
--Theory of Gates increased by 1 step.
----Weaken for Magic spell learned.
--Acting increased by 1 step.
----Feign Emotion action learned.
----Learned about Spavia Theater.
----Espionage increased by 1.
------Read Lips action learned.
Studied at Manetele.
--Theory of Gates increased by 1 step.
----Indiscriminate pheme learned.
--Jeweler increased by 1 step.
Successful adventure!
--Curiosity increased by 1 step.
----Curiosity skill maxed!
----Flash of Insight action learned.
--Relationship with Lisle Aventyrare increased to 5.
--Courage increased by 1 step.
--Relationship with Lisle Aventyrare increased to 6.
--Courage increased by 1 step.
----Stiff Upper Lip spell learned.
--Dedication increased by 1 step.
----Dedication skill maxed!
----True Friendship spell learned.
----Plot increased by 1.
------Plot skill maxed!
------Klaudians Revenge ability learned.
--Relationship with Rui da Casga increased to 10.
--Recipes increased by 1 step.
----Gained 1 Batch of Sweet Rolls.
----Learned about the above.
Carmine Sturzo used Hang Out inside the College.
--Relationship with Carmine Sturzo cannot be increased.
Malacresta used Compete; Aranaz merit now at 474.
Successful event!
--Practical Jokes cannot be increased.
Successful holiday!
--Incantation Methods cannot be increased.
New Abilities
Practice Speech (Dimmae Stage): +1 to Theatre, Acting, and Charm for 3 days.
Sparkling Fields (Spell): no roll; add Sparkling Fields ability (+2 Perception and Playfulness until Rest).
Knack for Languages (Permanent): +1 to all Linguistic Actions and Abilities.
Jeer: Charm/Insult v5; add Jeered ability to target (-1 Confidence and +2% Chance of Failure until Rest).
Engrave: Finesse/Orthography v8; +50 pims to item worth, but -2 Durability regardless.
Create Formal Invitation: Finesse/Calligraphy v27; Control target student for 2 days (no Relationship penalty).
Weaken for Melee (Spell): Insight/Theory of Gates v6; add Weaken for Melee ability to target (-1 Strength and Finesse and -10% Chance of Success at all Combat, Melee actions/abilities until Rest).
Weaken for Magic (Spell): Insight/Theory of Gates v7; add Weaken for Magic ability to target (-1 to Insight and Charm and +10% Chance of Failure to all spell rolls until Rest).
Feign Emotion: Acting/Charm v targets Insight/Observation+2; add Guiltied ability to target (cannot perform Hostile actions, abilities, or spells until Rest).
Read Lips: Luck/Lip Reading v12 and 15; gain Information on chosen target and then random target.
Spavia Theater Makeup Artist: Cosmetics must be 4+, and Insight/Observation v6; 20 pims payment, then +2 steps in Theatre.
Tour the Spavia: +1 step in Theatre and Awareness, and Information on all Spavia locations.
Flash of Insight: Fitness/Concentration v6; +1 to Insight for 2 days.
Stiff Upper Lip (Spell): Intelligence/Courage v6 and 12; +2 to Courage and Leadership, then +4 to Forge and Enchant and removes Forge Fear affliction (if present), all for 4 days.
True Friendship (Spell): no roll; +2 to target Relationship, and +3 Manipulation for 3 days.
Klaudians Revenge: Insight/Coordination v targets Fitness/Danger Sense; targets Vitality Maximum becomes 2 for 4 days.