High Rollers DnD - Academia Investigations | Altheya: The Dragon Empire #110 (Part 1)

Episode Date: July 14, 2026

The heroes head for the grand imperial Academia in Kelscariss to spill the story of the Professor in the Azarr Steppe! Can't wait for Part 2 of each episode? Join our Patreon to get early access EVERY week (+ a few other bonuses)! www.patreon.com/HighRollers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ _______________ Boost your Charisma with some HR merch! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://highrollersdnd.teemill.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Add official High Rollers Minis to your TTRPG collection here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://only-games.co/collections/high-rollers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bless your table with the Clever Toad Dice Set: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://dispeldice.com/collections/high-rollers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Enhance your bath time experience with the official Altheya themed DiceBombs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://geekyclean.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.highrollersdnd.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for all the latest HR News! Love the podcast? Give us a glittering 5 star review! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/high-rollers-dnd/id1401508198?see-all=reviews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound, TCT Adventures (Solasta: Crown of the Magisters), Monument Studios and Jolene Khor! Check out Jolene Khor and all her wonderful work on High Rollers on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/artist/1WX3ICiTmf4GpHwImnQMs6⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠v Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Visit Wayfair.cair, every style, every home. Welcome back to Althea the Dragon Empire. Our heroes continue to pursue their various goals in the Imperial City of Kalskaris, with the afternoon thus far focused on the training session of the Ascension Alleycats, a junior hatchball team that Gruff has been selected to coach as part of his nightly quest. The heroes each helped learn more about the wayward youths, with their rivalries and personality clashes,

giving Grufford, some interesting insights to potentially help them in the future. And that is where we left off last time and where we resume the adventure today. The training session, Gruff having focused on communication and using these, whistles to communicate different signals to each of the players pairing them up and working together. The training session sort of begins to come to a close, the afternoon weighs on. And I think that it is probably young Guntram who will turn around and say, Coach, what about the game tomorrow? Is there anything we should know or anything we should be doing for the game tomorrow? It's tomorrow. I knew that.

Believe so. The first of three. Wasn't it in two days? I may be getting my days wrong. I thought it was two days because there was a ball. Might be, oh yeah, yeah, we might be. You might be right, but it's still coming up. Stupid fucking child.

This is why they're no good. They just never turn up on my time. Rowan drop kicks the child. I load my calendar now. I pile drive him. I believe. You're going to have to roll for them. So, no, today is the...

Yeah, today is the first of Black Hollow. So, yes, there is a day, then it's the event in the game. So the third. Yes, it is currently the first. I got my dates wrong. Two days remaining. Did I know who the opponent was? You don't, but Guntram could tell you.

It's just embarrassing asking them. I should know. You didn't say in a way that... You don't even really know how, any of this is organized. All go net. Well, but, like, who organizes the matches? Who do you have to speak to?

Like, where is it being held? You don't know any of this stuff. Is this a gunshot in front of everybody? You can know. I think that, like, you know, all the kids have sort of finished practicing for the day. They're taking off their kit and their pads. You know, drinking water.

You've given out your oranges. Has there been a bit of time between these individual conversations? Like, a little bit of time, but not much. Like that was kind of at the end of the training sort of having watched them all do their stuff. So yeah, I'd say that Guntram's probably come up to you semi-private. Okay.

Oh, right, Guntram. Yes, coach. Right. Who's the opponent? You don't know who we're playing? I just got here. Oh. I was more focused on getting... Mr. Fordring didn't tell you much.

No. Information has been very... Okay. Well, I'm... Yes. Apart from calendars, days. I'm quite good at things like that. We're playing the Frosthill Foxes. Frosthill Foxes? Yes. They're sort of, they're a bit better. They've performed a bit better than us in the season,

but they're not especially good. I don't think. They have a couple of very good players, but for the most part, they are average with us. Guntram, you seem to be of a tactical mind. What would you say is their strength? What are they good at? Oh, well, I don't know about the whole team, but they have a very good player, a yacht near called Svarnsfarnson.

And they have a very strong pair of defenders to lie in Wildheart like yourself, Darren and Karen. and they're very good there. I would say they are their three best splits. D-A-R-R-N. Y-N. K-A-R-Y-N.

Why one-R for the other one? I knew that would wind you up. I knew that that would wind you up. I just love the naming of the familial tradition of Svarnson. Svanson. And you still call your kids' farnsfarm. Span-S-F-S-F-S-A.

So in the future you'll have Swarn Swanson. How do you spell his name? S-V-A-R-N. Okay, I got that one, right. I got it wrong. So Svarn is their striker, their main. Yes, Mr. Rowan, yes. He's their big main striker, and he's very strong

and he's very tough. He's Yot-N-N-E-R-N-E-N-E-N-E-N-E-ness then. Oh. Yes, there's a point in the lower back that if you push it, we instantly done. I don't know if that's true. No, it's a joke! But yes, he's very good, but I would say that outside of...

He's funny. He's funny. He's always the dumbest fucking joke. I love it every time. That's what gets he. I would say that outside of those three players, though, everyone else is quite not great. Who's the next team that you're playing against?

The next team after them. It would depend on how the other matches Okay. So, have you played... Try to catch me out, are you? No, I thought... All right, okay. I don't have it written. Oh, okay. I genuinely wasn't trying to catch you out. What's the tournament structure? Are we in the group stages?

Well, we're in the... Something like knockouts. I don't know sports. Fuck off. All right. But yeah, you got the next game. The foxes, have the essential alley cats? Have you played them before? I think once, yes.

Have you played them, country? No, I haven't played them. No. I think they played them last. year and I've only come in this year. I was just wondering what the history was like and what the performance was like. That's okay though. Where is it? Okay, right.

Well, most of these games are being held on the path of ascension. There's a tournament court there. But for the Founders Day, they're going to build a special field in the Central District. Right. I had heard about that. Yes. But there's a pretty good field, a neutral field on the Ascension, and that's where most of these final games would be played. That's good, Griffith, because sometimes they play in their home districts, and it's all different climates and things like that.

So you'd have to contend with the environment, is what I'm saying. God forbid the altitude was different. Yeah. Cynor oxygen. One last question, Gunsron. Mm-hmm. Is there a captain on this team? Well, everyone, I guess it's Hawkins, because everyone just follows what Hawkins says.

Okay, but was that voted in? No. Right. I think the former coach just sort of let Hawkins do what he wants, and everyone just did what Hawkins said. Okay, well, thank you. There's no, there's not an official role of captain. It's not an official thing. I guess you can have an unofficial one.

Right, uh, incidentally, Guntram, you currently play as a striker, right? Yes. I was thinking of swapping you to be a defender. Really? Mm. You're strong, you're tactically minded. Would that suit you? I mean, I would prefer to be quite honest with you, Coach Gruff, but my mother wanted me to be a striker and made the request to the coach and surf ordering.

because she thinks that it's more befitting our sort of family and, you know, it gets more attention for her work. And I think she would not be very happy if I was a defender because it's not seen as a very glamorous role in Hatchball, the defender. Which is a silly thought to have because defenders are just as valuable as a strikers. I agree, Coach Graf. I agree with you.

I think that it is very important. I would say the defense is the backbone of the team. If you have mediocre strikers, but you have a very good defense, you will win most of your games. Exactly. So I think it is very important, but my mother would not be very happy. If I had a word with your ma.

Oh, that would be very brave of you, Coach Gruff. Well, is that the start of a helicopter? I am trying to be a knight, a knight, I'm a knight-errant, and I've slain many a beastie, and I've ventured into many a dangerous situation. Right, but Griffith. And I say this theatrical whisper in character. You said this was your toughest challenge yet, speaking with the youth, talking and all that. Thank you, Rowan. Do you have much experience with very wealthy merchants?

They're very different... Zanthius, just one? I suppose I do. I'm laying on my back in the middle of the pitch, by the way. I'm exhausted. Just lying looking up. Do you have a little orange slice? Sure.

I probably put one in your mouth as I walk past. Thank you. What were you doing? No, I'm not exhausted as such, just sick of kids. He had to deal with running. He's down. Mentally checked out. Non-verbal.

He said a few things to them and then... Rolled him up. And Pruff said everything else. Solved problem. Delegated. Delegate you. I've had some experience with merchants, yes. Oh, okay.

Well, maybe you'd be all right talking to my mother then. She's very much used to getting what she wants. Right. Sounds like my wife. He doesn't say that. He doesn't say that. He does not say that. He thinks it. Well, thank you very much, Kuntram.

You've been really invaluable here today. As you were, could you just have some... from what I said earlier about some... So instead of the whistling, because obviously the whistling today was more just to introduce me to you a bit. That's fine. But if you could think of some cold words,

that would really work. I can come up with something that would work, yes. Thank you very much, Conchram. You've been really valuable. I saw that you were helping poorly and Pippa and you used goblin words, I think. I thought maybe we should just use those because then everybody would know Pauley would understand,

but the other teams, they wouldn't know Goblin. I was thinking about that too, and there's definitely no people who speak goblin on the other teams. There might be one or two, but it's very uncommon. I mean, Paulie's the only... I know that there are some goblins here in the city and in the empire, but Pauli's the only one I've ever met, and none of us have learned to speak it.

So I think that that could be quite good. But yeah, there could be, yeah, there could be maybe in some of the other teams, the odd person who understands it. But even if they hear our commands, it doesn't mean that they can react or whatever. But yes, I think that might work. Really hoping we could set some really funny code names.

Like, like, pickle, cupcake. We can do that as well. I'm not very good at coming up with funny words, though. I'm not very funny. Perhaps. Did that get you as well? It was the disdain of truce of face off. Yeah, I hate myself.

Perhaps pickle but in goblin. So that if there is someone who speaks goblin, they're like, why they're saying pickle? What does that mean? If you can explain that to poorly, then yes. Oh, absolutely, yes, I can. Okay. Well, we'd probably safer just to use the goblin words, to be honest.

We'll figure something out. Okay, I will leave it with you. We'll leave it with you, come. But that's really, that's really considerate, thinking of your team made there. Well, yeah, Gouldrum. I mean, if you, I mean, my mother will be coming to pick me up, but you can save that for tomorrow if you're not feeling particularly brave.

Groff's always brave. Look brave, Graf, you're fine. Santhias can help. Sandhian. Just, I'm just not sure about children. I think they were a mistake. Who invented them? You're a mistake.

Thank you, Pippa. That was Pippa right. You can see her. She's iron you. She's still got a knife. Yeah, she's got a switchblade. I know. You might want to watch.

It's like a proper butterfly switchblade knife. Is she doing that cool thing? Yeah. She's looking at you and she's spinning it. I have magic, Pippa. You can't touch this. Can't guess spells if I slit your throat. I didn't hear what you said.

She's not wrong, Zantheis. I didn't hear what you said, but I assume there's a compliment, Pippa. This is all happening like in the background I'm totally in the background so yeah kids will be kids you know you finish up

the kids included the kids are finished putting away all their kit they're sort of like you know they've split off into their very clear like little cliques and groups the quiet exiles

are just sat on their own or off to the side waiting to be picked up by various parents like before either their parents come and pick them up or they send you know members of staff

for their family, their brothers and sisters, or, you know, various different people to come and collect them. Is Davians? I guess probably not Papa, but... Never the Papa. Well, you've only seen it twice, but you sort of see this again.

It's his brother again. And they don't... He doesn't even, like, ask. Like, he's just like, oh, hello, brother. Could I ask them, like, where's best to meet with their father so I can talk about uniforms? Oh, hello, Cooch.

I'm Davian's brother. Yes, I mean you can come by to any of our stores. Nice to meet you. I'm David Brother. Yes, I suppose if you come by to our flagship store on the park of ascension, that would be, that'd probably be the most, you're most likely to catch him there.

All right, what's the name of your flagship store? It's golden thread. Golden threads, yeah. It's like when a parent's reading a kid's book to their kid and they go, oh yes, this is the voice. of the princess now. What kind of the shop

close, just thinking... It's open fairly late. We get a lot of travellers coming by, people looking for various things. Closes just before, just after sunset, I suppose. Fantastic. I'd like to put an order in for new uniform for the team. New uniforms, oh,

I mean, if you've got the gold, I'm sure Papa would be more than happy to provide. Yes, I'm sure we can accommodate that. No, please carry on. I'm just really Sorry, my mother is calling, but it's fine. She told me that she wouldn't. I just didn't expect it to be now.

But yes, he happily will sort of direct you to it. It's just on the path of ascension. It's quite hard to miss, he assures you. Yeah, is there anything else? Otherwise, you can see the kids are all being picked up by the various parents. I think to know, but before I let them all go,

I'd just thank them for their time, thank him for their effort. Same place tomorrow. Sure. Yeah, there's kind of like, the parents, you know, some of them seem, you know, sort of grateful and sort of thankful. Pippa's very, actually, very friendly parents, both of them seem to just be very sort of like, well, thank you so much, coach, and they're like real kind of, you know,

happy to kind of shake your hands, you know, these little half-lings. Are you aware she's got a knife? What? No way, our Pippa don't have no knife. She's a good girl. Oh, yeah, really good girl. Yeah, of course, yeah. We raise them all to be good. All nine of them.

Oh, that's almost a squad of its own. It sure could, but he couldn't it? That's real funny. You're a funny coach, guy. I don't need to a more. Well, if you both join. Well, I suppose we could. That wouldn't be a junior team now, would it?

It's a pleasure to meet you. And bye. But you can see that, yeah, they are, like, very, very friendly, proper, like, you know, country folk. Who comes to pick up Hawkins and Tristan? Hawkins is picked up by probably his father

very much like him red-headed wild-heart cat man little kind of scruffy little kind of like beard looks very casual very relaxed you know not quite sure what his deal is he comes up like hey son like you know properly

it looks very normal they sort of have a quick chat sort of talk you know little little banter between the two of them, but nothing particularly overly dramatic or like anything stands out, just looks like a regular kind of father and son. Tristan is picked up by the same nun, the same sister of the church of the Sions that came to see him last time. She is, immediately starts quizzing him and you overhear that he says like, no, sister, I did. I actually, I did play today.

The new coach and his team have convinced me to put a bit more effort in. And she's like, oh, that's wonderful, Tristan. It will do so much good for the physical education, your physical education. I know it's not quite the same as the military training, but trust me, this is a good first step. This is a good way to build your stamina, to build your coordination. This is good for you. And she seems to be very pleased with that.

And he sort of nods his head. They say a quick prayer of thanks. or Coach Gruff's wisdom to the Sions. You can see that it's obviously he has this incredibly religious upbringing and the two of them go to head off as well. Can Rowan have for both of their departures be very much in their eye line of the child, Hawkins and Tristan and Lockheyes?

Yeah, like... Then very obviously is pointing at the opposite one. So Hawke, he's pointing at Tristan and for Tristan he's pointing at Hawkins. and then raising his eyebrows. Hawkins, like, just rolls his eyes and says, like, something to his dad. And the dad kind of looks, is like,

what the fuck is this guy? Yeah. Hawkins. He's like, come on, Dad, come on. Just, that guy's weird. Don't forget. He's really weird. I don't really know why the coach is,

hangs around. He's really weird. He kept talking about his pants, and you see the dad's just like, did you mention, like, looking at you with, like, quite a firm glare. It's not quite a pretty firm glare.

It's not quite a pretty, Is it really rolling? I can get that one out now. Yeah. The sister, Tristan just sort of like nods his head politely and a sort of polite sort of acknowledgement and then sort of looks towards Hawkins and sort of has to repress a sort of like shake of his head

and a roll of his eyes. The sister sort of starts whispering to him like, what's that about? And he's just like, it's nothing sister, just a member of my team that I need to work harder at getting along with. And she's like, oh, that's good, yes, humility and it's important for us to.

to get on with everyone. He's like, yes, yes. I think like you catch snippets of it, but not too much. Brother starts weeping. He just starts crying. It's happening. Perfect.

This heated rivalry. But yeah, they all, at that point, I think, you know, make their way. You see some of them in the face, but there will be opportunity to talk to more of them in the future as well. Yeah, leaving you on a quiet, you know, disused, dusty,

A little bit better. Better than it was. There's freshly painted white lines. Yeah. Probably orange peel everywhere now. Oh yeah. They haven't cleaned up off themselves in that regard. No.

Zanthes isn't lying in the middle of the pitch on a patch of paint, is he? Because that would be the next thing. I'm in like mud. It's just dark. It's a bit muddy because we wet the field. Oh, that's true. It doesn't matter. I'm still wearing my cum meet shirt.

Like, it's fine. It's not got orange stains on it. Yeah. The homemade sprinkler just out of existence. Oh, yeah. Yeah, just vanishes. That was fun. That wasn't too bad, was it?

That was great. I think we all did very well there. That was productive. Whoa! Thank you for your help, everybody. I still don't like that Hawkins boy. No. No, he's a bit of a terror, isn't he? Gave him a good fright, though.

I see something there. Oh, really? Yes, I do. Okay, well, that's promising. Yes. I'm just a little bit worried about the quieter ones. I think, you know, we've... It's easy to focus on the loud ones, isn't it?

Yeah, we should give them as much attention. Perhaps by diffusing them, it means we have a little bit more space for the quieter ones now. I think that was a good way to do it. If they were being loud and you were trying to help the quieter ones, they never would have worked.

I think targeting the loud ones first, probably a good plan. We've got two days. Two days. I need to find out everything. You have one more day of practice, then it's the game. I need to find out everything I can

about these frost-till foxes and then destroy them. Oh, okay. What do you mean when I destroy them? My God. Grof's only very competitive. Just sabotage them from within. Make sure they never make it to the pitch.

Graff is very unlikely. He's very unnightly. It's very uncompetitive. What do you have in mind? No, I think Graff's onto something. If Ophelia agrees, that means it's not very gruff. What? I don't know.

What are you supposed to do with kids? I don't know. I do not know. Somehow people choose to make these things. Right? Yeah, crazy. Well, they tried to make you. Yeah, but I was probably a delight.

It was easy for them because they just got rid of me, remember? I was straight. I was trying to... I was hoping... So, anyway... Yeah, I was hoping... That's not...

One of them got rid of you. The other one, we don't know what happened to them. Yeah. Anyway... Anyway. Good day. Good. Good.

Well trained, I think. Are they gonna win? Maybe. Well, I'm open with a little bit more confidence and at least getting poorly and Pippa to stop killing each other. You did really good tucking in goblet. I think that was a huge breakthrough.

Yeah. Yeah, that was big. Yeah, you did very well, Griffith. Communication. That's all it is, that's all it takes. Yeah, the foundation. Communication. Yeah, no secrets.

No secrets. No secrets. No, we're all on the same page. Honestly. You know everything. We know everything about each other. Every little detail. all of it.

Feeney, just playing with that. Open book. Yep. What's that lamp you've got on your belt? Oh yeah! Wait, is it on your belt or Ophelius? Aphelius. It's on Ophelius.

To be fair, it doesn't look us out of place on Ophelias. That's the plan. On that note, I think Ophelia's like, well, I do think that I want to go and supervise the outfit designing. I'm a bit, you know, I want to make sure that it's all perfect. I also think that I might pop by the embassy

just to check in, maybe offer some prayers the Gravefather. Are you all right if I leave you for the rest of the afternoon evening? Oh, I'd love to come to the Ossian embassy, but oh God. You're always welcome, Rowan. I, yeah. I'll hop along, but not today. Not to, we could go, like I read in the newspaper, about that missing guy, the professor. At the academy. Now, I think it wouldn't be the worst idea to head there and update them on what we know, because they don't have the full story, clearly. The newspaper at least doesn't, the clarion. So we could at least fill in some details. I want to burn that man to the ground, basically, is what I'm saying.

You really, really do, don't you? I did not like him. And I'd like to know what they knew about the authorate, if anything at all right. So, yeah, double books. No, no, it's totally all right. We'd love to see all the ghosts and ghouls and whatnot and the smells. Oh, yes, of course, delight. to Father Varis about the article about potential protesters because then they were having

to go and sort of look into a few things like that. They might know something, yeah. I mean, I could always send poxomis to come and speak with you if you really want, Rowan. I'm sure that they could make a house with it. The one that blessed me, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, is that the time? All right, no, I'll let you get

to it. I think Ophelia does shuffle to Xanthias, and she, She's trying to disguise it as like, well, bye, she kind of gives an awkward hug to everyone. And then with Xanthus, she's like, take the lantern. Thank you. Insight check. Very, uh, subtle.

My path of perception in 19. Would I spot it? Um, let's find out. If I like slight this or something. You, well, I mean, Ophelia tries to make it very subtle, but you definitely see Ophelia hand Xanthius this weird looking lantern. I'm an A-team, would I see something as well? Yeah, yeah.

Graf, I just love the fact that we're so bonded now that we do have no secrets at all. That's wonderful, isn't it? And when you compare that. All right, I will see you later, everyone. Goodbye. Hi. Hi, Sistair, Del Arosso of the House of Blood.

Cool, right. And it's, Aphelia, we're head off. What's that? Huh? Huh? Right, yeah, I know with it. Wait, what? Huh?

What's that? Why did Affilii give you a weird looking little thing? What's that? She said it makes me think of... She said it makes her. think of me for some reason. It was a trinket she bought in Ash and Rest. She bought you a trinket?

I know. That's so thoughtful. I don't know why, but... I mean, I would love a deception roll. I would love to roll it, but Katie stole all my fucking dice. I'm gonna roll a bad D20 then. The fate. Here's the thing. We will roll Faye, but I don't think I can allow FATE on this roll because...

I did steal every decent. Who gets it? In theory, all of you could spend the point of four. in theory. Well, yeah, I guess so. So maybe we should do it, and then you could all just burn a fate eat. But it seems pointless.

But you could do? We haven't rolled fate yet. Well, we can roll fate now. All right. I roll a two, like I have done every fucking week. So many dice. Oh, another one for me. I rolled a two.

Well, maybe you're not gonna spend fate then. No, I guess not. Oh, there is one. Quadra. No way, seven. Two. We only have one! You only have the one.

Here it goes. Well, I don't mind not using it. Alright. Don't eat it. Deception, please. Oh, deception, yes, of course. Followed by an insight. Mouth, 19.

I would say, like, the, Daisy can make a direct insight. Gruff can use passive insight, because you're not part of the main conversation. I'm 18, yeah. I was chatting with... You're chatting with Ryan. Rowan about the power of friendship. What did you get total?

Zan? Oh, I got, sorry, I rolled 11, 19. I rolled a 19 plus five. Oh dear. Daisy definitely, that doesn't sound right. You don't remember Ophelia. I don't know where she got it from is a thing, but he's being very defensive with his body.

That might be the first gift that Ophelia's given. I know, and I said thank you a million times. I've been trying to say thank you more. I'm gonna go right up to Xanthias like this and just look at him and be like, stop. I'm not lying, I'm not lying, I'm not lying, it's just a lantern. It's Aphelia's secret, it's not mine. And I was sworn to secret, seepia.

Secrets! But unfortunately she's just left, so you can't... Rihanna's gonna kill her when she goes from? I thought we said we didn't have secrets. We just said. Well, Aphelia, clearly does. It was clearly not here to the face now. But then you have a secret.

She trusted me with it. with it. Oh my God. Well, that takes a lot of trust, I'd say. I think that is the value of friendship right there. Yeah. Why is it purple? You know, I don't know. Oh, okay.

I don't know what it is. I think it's very, I think Daisy, like this insight that Daisy did than your passive insight. The passive insight, like, Graf, like, is Zandke's, why would he lie about this? Like, he seems pretty legit. And the fact that he's, like, said it's a feeling secret. Daisy, you still definitely are like,

he's being funny about this, but again, it's just all you can do is read his body language. You don't know for sure that he's lying. You don't know, like, exact details. I don't know. Yeah, but he's definitely being funny. I still try to tipped away, and it's like the really big tiptoes.

Like, so can we see the lantern? I think that you, yeah, now it's been sort of pointed out. Like, you know, Zand, you have like a little knapsack thing. You've probably stashed it in, so I don't think it's visible on Vantheus, but Daisy definitely. saw it being passed over. Anyway, so I'm gonna go to the academia and... He's gonna try and stir some trouble up.

Oh, I'm gonna stir some trouble, I'm gonna be honest. For the guy. You wish to locate the professor. If he's there, then fantastic, but I don't imagine the newspaper said that he hasn't been seen since. He is deserved. There is justice that needs to be served. Finally. Friggs, how does your security job work

when our party is in two different places? The majority of you are here. Right, that makes sense. Unless you specifically request me to go and accompany Cicerofilia, which I would do. She's very strong. She's going to, she's also going to. Cicerofilia is a mighty warrior.

She's going to the embassy, that's her home. That's like her people. So it'll probably be fine. Yes. But also, on the way, if we're going up to the Ascension for the academia, we could potentially check out the stadium or arena or square a field. You would not be going around far enough because you can go into the Central District from the coil from where you are.

So you don't need to go all the way around to the Ascension. That would be a whole different trip for you to go to do that. You could do it. It's fine to do it. It's just going to take more of your day. You know, if you want to go straight to the academia. around though to... It's not even necessarily going to...

It's just like you're going to go into... The quickest way to you get to the ascension is to go into the Central District and go past the academia anyway. Yeah. So it's probably better to do that fast. Yeah. You could double back, but it's up to you. It will take you more time.

It's better to go there earlier in case the people that you need to speak to leave. Yeah. It's like late afternoon, I would say. So maybe they stop working at a certain time. Possibly. Either way, it's an option. We can, if we're nearby-ish. Do we pass golden threads on the way?

No. That's in the Ascension, so that's the big main street. But we can do that after. Yeah. If it's still. This city's huge. It is massive. I must stress that this city is enormous. What's her website? It's a door with spiders. Yeah.

He just nods his head. Okay. Now, do we want to take a Griffin? Oh, that'd be fun. We, it's right, we can't. We can't, though. You can't do. It certainly make a dramatic entrance, but you're also quite close.

Oh wait, we aren't currently in the Ascension, I've just remembered, yeah. You're in the coil. You're in the coil. So you're currently in the coil. For some reason I thought we were somewhere on time. You thought you're in a district. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I just had a vision of Xantheist doing the double Aragorn door open into the academia being like, let me tell you. I have news! News! News! Well, if you begin making your way, you weave your way through the sort of, you know, out here in the coil and as you begin to make your way to the Central District,

this is a tightly packed city. So there's numerous little side streets and alleyways, and you begin making your way through. And once you have to step through a series of like another inner wall with another inner portcullis. And the guards here, the worm guard, they wear purple. And their armor is a little bit more platinum and iridescent, and you can see that they are no nonsense.

These are not just your hapless city guards. These are the elite central branch of the worm guard. When you arrive, you basically are not interrogated, but you're questioned at the portcolors. Who are you? What are you doing here? What's your business? Where are you going?

And it's fine. It's not like you need a pass or you need anything to enter this area. But it's very, the impression is made that like you are under scrutiny while you're here. Okay. And they make sure they have a record of like, oh, you're going to the academia. All right, very good. Thank you very much. And it seems to be stored in like a big ledger that's kept by the gatehouse.

You know, the time of entry is recorded like, you know, three hours past Zenith. These figures, name, name, name, name, name, enter the Central District, heading to the academia. they probably would ask you, like, do you have someone that you're going specifically to see? Or are you just visiting the academia? Oh, well, if Professor Broxton, whatever his name is, happens to be there, Brassquil happens to be there,

then that person, but apparently not. Okay, all right, they will put down potentially speaking with Professor Broxton Brasquil. You'll let through, and once you step into the Central District, it's almost like stepping, like when you came out of the districts and into the coil,

there was this sense of like a passage of time and then you have this other sense stepping into the central pillar. It becomes immediately apparent that this is the oldest part of the city. The buildings here have been refurbished, they've been modernised, but the foundation stones

are still these ancient old stones and it kind of reminds you a little bit, Xanthius, of that dream you had with Sovereign, where you saw a much older, version of Kalscarus and you're starting to see elements of that place here. Buildings refreshed, built up, more grand, but there is an element there, like the flagstones on the streets. They're ancient.

It's like walking down a place that, you know, it's like walking on those old streets in London where you can really feel the sense of history of these being the first bricks that were laid down by the people who built the city there. As always, the grand, the new imperial palace hovers above everything. casting this immense shadow over everything. Magical lights kind of suspended to make sure that, you know, there's still warmth and, you know, any plants and things aren't being starved of sunlight. But as you make through, I mean, this place is just full of grand, grand buildings.

You would see, you know, the central, the massive kind of beamothos, the central chambers, the security office. And then you come across the academia. It is an expansive series of buildings. It's not just one building. This is like an Oxford or a Cambridge or a Harvard or a Yale. It's multiple buildings connected into its own campus with its own iron fence that surrounds it.

You can see that there are covered walkways with pillared columns between the buildings. The architecture is almost a mixture of that sort of grand, Gothic, Cambridge, Oxford's, you know, buttresses and gargoyles, but they're draconic statues instead of gargoyled creatures. But also there's an element of ancient Greece, kind of like the forum, the amphitheaties here as well. You can see that the classrooms appear to be giant circular, rounded rooms, either with an open roof for dragons to come in and fly in and out of, with enough space for their draconic forms, or they are domed glass kind of domed buildings to keep the rain out and things like that.

Very quickly you realize that most of the campus is off limits to the public, the majority of it is reserved exclusively for students. However, there is the public library, which is called the Empress Chambers, which is open to the public. And also there are the academia, the Academia Public Office, which is connected to the Empress Chambers.

And that's kind of like where students go if they need help or if somebody's interested in, about the academia and things like that. And yeah, the Empress Chambers are, I mean, it's a gorgeous, incredibly old building, you know, big stone steps, draconic statues out front, like the New York Library and Ghostbusters, with the steps leading up, grand columns. And this is open to the public, and it's funded by draconic nobles and the taxations and

the tithes and things like that. And it basically serves as like anybody can come here and learn about most things. There are separate libraries and laboratories which are reserved for students and need special permissions to access and things like that. It's pretty obvious, I think, to most of you guys are all pretty smart, things like spellcasting and things like that. Anything could be on cantrip is kind of limited to those more specialist rooms. But here, the public library is a massive expansive repository of law and knowledge and learning.

What about like the people that are here sort of walking around? Are they all like, not obviously all professors, but like... Well, it's mainly students that you see. I would say that like in the area, sort of in this beautiful, there's these open greens with a pathway that leads to the Empress chambers, like the public area, and that's got like a beautiful garden and there's trees and benches. And you see that there are civilians, there are public,

you know, who are picnicking here or like, you know, going for a walk or like lying in the grass. But you can see sort of then beyond the fences to the campus and behind the walls, and you can see the students in their academic robes, like these long, I would say there'd be like dark purple robes, and then they all have these kind of pointed canonical hats with ribbons tied to them. That seems to be the kind of like official cap, students' cap, basically. A lot of them also seem to carry batons that they're sort of tucked under their arm.

Black rod! And they have satchels with, presumably stuffed with books and workings and things like that. And you, and they're like walking around. And then you would maybe see one or two professors who vary in appearance. So you get one, you see one guy who just looks like the most traditional D&D wizard, like big beard sort of floppy wizard's hat in robes. Morning, good morning, sort of like on his way, like a Gandalf kind of figure. But then you see, you know, a very modern-looking woman.

like a blouse and a corset buttoned up, you know, grim, you know, spectacle glasses, having a chat and talking with some students about some, you know, scholastic topic. Yeah, so that's kind of what you see. I think the public office is the place to head in that case. If we know that's the sort of reception area where we can...

Yeah, that's a reception area for the academia's, like, student half, basically. And then the library is like a place you can go to research and look up things and stuff like that. Yeah, you can make your way there. Do you guys want to have a conversation before you heading or you just sort of make your way in? What's the plan here? The plan is to, I guess, try to find someone relatively high up who might know the professor and just give them the story of what happened.

To fill in the blanks, so to speak. Evidence. Yes, exactly. The knights also that were there will be able to verify it if they wanted to talk to the knights. Yeah, I just, you know, get our name out there. And the mercenaries who were there. The mercenaries who were there. Is that white?

Eh. Getting more. Keep making a name for yourself in different places. Yeah. Also, I was thinking about heading into the library itself as well. Mm-hmm. Because there's just some things, arcane origins, and that sort of stuff that I like to learn about,

and try to get to the root of. Okay. Anything in particular? Do you know about, um, uh, what was this? Mana? Mana? Mana? Mana? Do you know about manna? Mana? Mana? I think I... Can you say it again? I don't know what you're... I didn't catch that. Now either it was pronounced manna or mana, and I don't know which one of the two. And I don't know I'll get that from a book. Probably not. But do you know about that? What sister superior? Malady was teaching you.

Yes, exactly. I'd like to figure that out. Investigate. And there's probably like some areas of safe, to practice magics in this place as well. I'd like to see if I can get access to that. Sound smart? Develop skills. B brain buff. Oh, right.

Triple B. Yeah. Well. It takes a lot of work to be brain buff, though. Okay. Yeah. Well, if anyone can do it, I think it's you, Antheus. That's the nicest thing, that's not true.

That you've said a lot of nice things to me. Also, Rowan, you like books? Yeah. You did some reading in Hes and Rest. I do. So we could probably find some stuff there. I don't know. It seems like there's a lot to learn about here.

So if there's anything we'd like to figure out. What if there's a book about Yeagers? Sure. Could be. Maybe. Do you think they'd have books on Hatchball? Maybe. Hatchball for dummies.

Don't let the kids see you reading that, though. Oh, yeah. That'd be bad. I think Houston's in here somewhere. No. You might be able to guess. No, he'd be at the church. He'd be in the...

The very basics of the Hatchball game itself. The history of Hatchball. The history of Hatchel. Maybe you could look up. It'd be great if I could see him much. Wow. You could read about it. Maybe there'll be a book with pictures.

I can only hope. Yeah. I don't know either way. I don't watch another team's game tomorrow. That's true. So public office. Yes. Yes.

Spy on them. Wow. You've quite no sense. It's the same time as your training session. That's true. Take all the kids, we all spy on them. Carry on. Well, we're here anyway, so we can just go into the public office.

Do you want to go in to ask, yeah, we should ask about who we should speak to first. Yes, okay. All right. Yeah, so you make your way into the academia public office. It's a sort of, it's not as grand as the other buildings. It's a bit squat. I have news.

Kind of burst open. I have news. Everyone sort of like just looks towards you, It's mainly like a big open room, a long desk, and then behind that there are rows and rows of cabinets with ledgers and scrolls. There's a couple of doorways leading off. You do that, you burst in.

Two very hungover-looking students just sort of like groan and turned to look at you. One isn't wearing his cap. The other ones like robes are all dirty. They look really like hungover and like miserable. You see that there is a kind of like a group of You would just see them, I guess, as just sort of well-dressed-looking scholars

sort of behind the desk. And yeah, like one of them is like, shh. And the other one is just like, can I help you? Yes. I'm Zanthius, and we're a bunch of adventurers that have recently traveled to the Azar Step.

Oh, adventures, all right? Azar Step, where we went to go see the Giants Wet Stone and encountered Professor... Broxton Braskwell. Austin Brassquil. As soon as you say that name, this young, she'd probably be like half elven, she's like, oh, oh,

sorry, so that's, I should get my superior, I'm only an apprentice. We just wanted to, consider it perchee, consider it perchee, and you see sort of like, what is it now? Oh, please not another hungover student, that's the last thing that I want to be dealing with. And you see sort of kind of, a little halfling man with a very,

a pencil thin mustache that's been, like, pointed at either end. A monocle wearing a little tailored, like, waistcoat, his, you know, hairy feet's kind of sticking out of his tapered trousers. Very much got a comb over, like balding on top and has tried to desperately comb over it. Broxton was a dwarf, right? Yes. Okay, good.

I'm making sure it's not it. That's you. How are you not right? This guy's meant to it. Broxton spends me your arch nemesis and you don't remember him. That's a prosthetic note. No, it's just for some reason. I was like 90% he was a dwarf,

but there was a 10% of me. He's there. That's him. Did you say the name was? This is considerate pertwee. Pertwee. Pertwee. Pertwee.

Pertwee. You spell, P-E-E-R-T-W-E-E-E. Pert-T-W-T-E. Considerate Pertwi. And he's like, oh, what is it now, so, for please, if it's those hungover students who have lost their keys again, you can deal with it. No, no, no, no, consider it.

These adventurers are asking about Professor Brasquil, and you see he sort of goes pale, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, we can't be talking about Professor Braskill, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, please, there's, and he gets very flustered. We just wanted to, we understood. There is an official statement will be delivered about the professor. There is no more information available at this time. We don't want information.

We have information, yes. We want to fill in our side of the story. What happened up there on the Giant Sweatstone? Giant's wet stone. Let you know just what we encountered up there. So you have a full, un of the tale. Would you accompany me into my office, please? I feel that this is a discussion we should not be having in the open.

Absolutely. Please follow me. Those two over there, by the way, they are very hungover. Oh, there's always hungover students in here. They misplace their keys, they misplace their batons. Got it. They can't access the magical war-barotoyes. No, that's what I was.

It's a nightmare. I feel like most of our time is looking for lost identification, lost keys. It's ridiculous. Okay. Ridicuous. Well, up to you? Up to you?

He leads you sort of, he's a tiny little halfling. You're sort of the part of the desk he's lifted up and you follow through and he leads you into a side room. A very, very comfortable office that was clearly built for somebody a lot bigger than a halfling.

So there are little stepladders everywhere and the desk has been modified this giant big plush leather armchair has had a smaller chair built on top of it. And the desk has had like, you know, there's extra long handles on things for him to excess everything.

Nice. It's not in the kitchen. Forgive me. Please, you say that you have information about Professor Brasquil. Yes. It seems he's caused quite the stir. Yes. It's not really my place to say.

I fear that I may have said enough to that blasted cat girl reporter who came by and was asking too many questions. The Clarion? Yes. We read the article. Oh, I was hoping that that would not be out so quickly, but it's not meant to be a very,

it's not meant to be public Norwich just yet. The investigation is still ongoing. They've only just assigned an authoriter to come and investigate the matter. the dean is... The dean says, it simply said that everything will work itself out and to wet the authoriter

and to let the investigation proceed as normal. Well, that's why we're here. We just wanted to... So you have information about what the professor was doing. Yes, exactly. I thought it might be useful for the academia, for the dean for you. Well, it would not be useful to me specifically,

apart from perhaps preventing me from dealing with any more... were rated to the professor. You should speak with the authoriter, who's currently here, conducting interviews and gathering information about what happened. Absolutely.

He is currently interviewing other students and members of staff. Well, I mean, we could wait here a while. We saw that lovely library you have just next door. Oh, if you're happy to wait in a library, yes, of course. I did want to ask as well. Are there any, I want to say training rooms, I guess, magic experimental rooms. Of course, of course, but those are reserved for students only.

We don't, that's not for the public. Then how do I become a student? My friend, that is a very arduous and wanky prognation. that one cannot simply request. There are very limited number of places. Clearly it takes us tall with the amount of people using drinking as a vice. Well, yeah, I was just hoping to gain access to those rooms

just to try out some magic, some spells, work on some things, you know? You can see that there something is kind of like tugging at his mind. Like, there's something he's not said. Like, he was very quick to be like, oh yeah, go wait in the library. but he's clearly, like, thinking about something, but, you know, seems to be unsure about the group of you currently. Sure.

Well, I'm afraid that they are for students only, and there are limited places. One would need sponsorship from a Dworkonic Noble or... Oh, hey, we might actually have that. Do you know of Duke Ignorius? Yes, I am, of course, aware of Duke Ignorius, of Caldwa. Well, I've been holding back. And I think everyone is really proud of me.

We are the heroes of Ashen's Rest. Protectors of Kaldra. If you are familiar with Duke Ignatius, we are, very. He would need to send forth word of his sponsorship of you and pay the appropriate fees and everything that is required.

Of course. I mean, this is the Imperial Academia. This is the most prestigious place of warning. in all of the empire. One cannot simply come here and will we, nilly. Right, no, of course. No, you wouldn't want that. Okay, well, I might be able to...

But if you are truly friends with the Duke, you can have him send forth a message, you can send a courier. Once he pays the fees, we can... You would have to enroll. There would be class requirements. Oh, right. You would need to pass...

I was just hoping to use just a room, you know? No, no, no, no, no. I mean, perhaps ideal could be stwok, but that would be a, it would not be for me to discuss with you. I mean, maybe I can just go into the library and research the runic magic there. Oh, certainly, you're more than welcome to use the empress chambers for any kind of research that you have.

Okay. Yes. Yeah, Broan, yeah. We are running out of time. Four. We've only got two days. Oh, yeah, no, I'm not gonna spend all two days in a library reading. library reading.

Well, also, you've got two days until, you've got two days until Ophelia's event, but Gruff's going to be here until founding day for the game. So you are going to have a fair amount of time in the city. So, like, coming to the library to do research is a very

good way of spending time while you're here. What's the name of this authoritor? Ah, yes, the authoriter is called Forks Thromlo. Thromwell. Are we spelling that? F-A-W-K-E-S, Fawkes, T-H-R-U-M-L-O. Forks, Thrum-L-L-O.

Or authorita Thrum-Low would be. Lo. Thrum-Low. Every name I write in this book has a spelling mistake. It's become a game for me at this point. I almost got the last name, right, but... Thrum-Low. I was expecting a W-E at the end.

Ah. You know, like, Rob Lowe. Yeah. Yeah, now I get it. Okay, well, he is currently interviewing some of the professor's students and colleagues. I can send word to him that you would white to speak with him. I would say you've got a passive insight of 18, right? And I think Daisy's got a pretty high passive insight as well.

And passive insight is 15. I would say... Take your time with this guy. You know it instantly when you were questioning Xanthius. God damn. What I would say is... Oh, shit, was you. What I would say is that you get the impression

that, like, there's got to be a way to, like, go and speak to this authoritative rather than just sitting around waiting for him. There's no way that, like, there's got to be something he can do, but he just doesn't seem to be incentivized to, like, give you any additional support. I think at this point. What about since the authority holding his interviews at the moment?

Oh, in the student cafeteria, the student accommodations, the classrooms, wherever the students happen to be, commonly. Well, yeah. Not to do but wait. Yes, yes, you are, please, go and wait in the impulse chambers. We may well have been the last people who actually encountered him before he disappeared.

disappeared. And I'm sure the authoritative would be very, will be very excited to hear about what you have to say, miss. Except his assistants. Oh, his assistants did see him before. But they probably lost that memory, right? Please, we are trying to keep, we are trying not to have that be too common knowledge. Right now it is speculation.

Of course, you really know it, so. Well, yes, I understand that, but I'm asking you. I guess we could go to the Clarion, couldn't we? No, no, no, no. There was absolutely no need for you to go. Why would you wish to go and speak with a Chalayan? Well, it's important that there's a professor that's done such a... And the authoritor is investigating the mantor to make sure it is dealt with properly.

There's no reason. If we've got all this time to spare, we could just nip over to the clarion. If they're interviewing so many students for now... Well, well, I mean, it does... It's all right. We can wait. Well, we've got loads of time now, do it? Well, and you see it gets very flustered. Well, perhaps, well, I understand that your time is very valuable.

Oh, thank you. This is not very common, but I do have the power to issue a very, a temporal where we pass to the other aspects of the academia. Really? It would be for 24 hours only. Oh, wait. So I don't have to enroll. Oh, okay, that would have to buy.

where we pass, that would give you access to many of the areas, not all areas of the academic. Oh, no, sure. There are very dangerous, there's dangerous knowledge here, as much as there is, you know, normal knowledge. Dangerous knowledge in here. Ah. I, I, I, I, to, so that you can speak with the Ophorito very quickly,

and with the understanding that this would not, you would not go to the Chauian with any of your influence. Well, I guess if we spoke to the authoritative first, there'd be no need. Yes, that's what I am suggesting is. Just can't wait to tell somebody. Well, and I would very much like your word that you would not go to the Chauawean. I would promise not to, you would promise not to speak to the Choirion of what you know. You would only share it with the authoritar and the academia faculty.

Sure. I wouldn't like to be in the clarion again. It was a lot of trouble last time. Only good news. When you... Kill someone. What? What did you say? I was in the clarion for my fashion.

Oh, that's not really of much into estimate. Yeah, I'll retire. Yes, yeah. When you weave the academia, if you are approached by a very irritating wild heart Catgirl. Oh, it's not sweet whiskers.

What? Oh, sorry? No, no, this is... She works for the Quawean, and she is asking a lot of questions. Please just pretend that you don't know anything about Baskwell. She's very... Pond...

Very... Punicious? Pornicious. I read a book. Afrein. Afrein. Oh, you agree. Okay, well, we're happily accepted.

Just go straight to the authoritor. Yes, I believe that he was, the last I heard, he was in the student lounge, interviewing some of the former assistants who were with profile services. Oh, good. I'd love to catch up with them as well. Perfect.

Well, give me a moment, and sort of shuffles around at some desk, and produces five small, little sort of like leather flip books. On each one, it contains a bunch of written information, sort of almost like printed with magical script. And there is a space for a small portrait

and a signature. And he just holds it up in front of you and you begin to see the parchment sketches, Zanthius's face. But it's like when you shove a webcam in someone's face. It's not the best, like it's definitely, it's hold still poise. and then when it's finished, he writes your name Zanthos or a country.

It's a bit... He writes your name and then he signs it and you see the signature glows. I think like Xanthius, you would know that he's just used arcane magic to mark this as like this is only he, like, this is unforgeable basically. He does one for each of you, all four of you, five of you with bricks as well. I mean, it's basically like, it kind of takes a snapshot of you

when he holds it up. So, yeah, if you were like mid-seys, it's like, and it's like, it's got that face on the little passport. He hands them out to you. He's not the same person. Graf's kind of squinting in his, like, Dizzy looks a bit surprised. But he says, now these will expire after 24 hours.

They will magic wee tewaport back to my office. Ooh, very nice. And they'll record back here to be reset. Are you a professor as well? No, I am a considerate what I've been working here. I am one of the administrative, part of the administrative faculty. Got it. There are many, you know, this is a very big establishment, Mr. Oregon.

We have many people. We have cobalds who work the grounds, who assist with queening and cooking. We have our professors. We have, you know, the professors need administrative needs. we help acquire, you know, components and, you know, all that sort of business. That's an unbelievable place. It is the finest center of warning in all of a fair. Yes.

Well, these, if you come across a walk gate or door that bears this insignia, and he shows you like a kind of runic sigil, these passes will unlock those doors. Okay. If you see any other sigil, these passes will not unlawful. those doors. Okay, got it. You're not permitted to enter those areas. Sure.

So that way. And if you wish, yes, I will have someone take you to the Student Wounge. Right, thank you. If Mr. Oregon, you wish to use one of our magical training facilities. Yes. That pass will allow you to use it for 24 hours. Fantastic, thank you. If you are still present in the building when that pass expires, it will signal an alarm.

Oh. and armed guards and constructs will come to evict you from the act of the year. Okay, all right, yes, okay, so 24 hours from now or from the time you... Yes, got it. From the moment the signature was made. This time tomorrow. Yes. Got it.

Okay. All right. I will have Samantha take you to the lounge. Okay. Very good. Excellent meeting with you all. And you as well. Thank you for your time.

Shimmies to the edge of the chair. He has to kind of like waddle his enemy hops down. All right, well, yes, thank you for your time. and yes, you are most welcome. Samantha, please ignore those hungover students and come. Could you please escort these visitors, these guests to the student lounge to meet with the Orphotter, who is currently here?

No, yes, of course, considerate, yes, not a problem. Follow me. Okay, yes, absolutely. Yeah, she's not a student either. She seems to be like an apprentice considerate, basically, like a kind of clerk, and she leads you. Samantha, do we get the same gowns as well? No, those are for students only, I'm afraid.

You are just visitors. Well, you're guests, you're not students. Let's be very clear. Becoming a student is a rather... It's very prestigious. Only a few spaces are available. Sounds like you need a dragon and some money. Well, that certainly does help,

but it is not the only way that one becomes a student. That is a wonderful idea. Is there a place that we could... Let's go to the place first. I want to get rid of a dragon statue here. Very well, yes. We do buy... You said you were adventurous, did you not?

We do buy antiquities. Really? Are there like investors of people here? Like a den of dragons or like kind of thing? No, no, nothing like that. What about this? I show the drawing of the... Are you interested? Well, I'm not a scholar or professor,

but we do keep curiosities and antiquities here for study and for historical purposes. if you'd like, I could, you know, take a copy of this and share it with some of the faculty and see if anyone is interested in acquiring it. Obviously, you would be doing a great service to the empire to ensure that any historical objects or items that you discover are also kept, you know, for public record

and so that people can come and learn from them and observe them. Right. Does that come with a lower price? Oh, I couldn't possibly. say, sir, it's not really my field. I'm happy to pass on the word to the faculty for you. Okay, yes. No, we're happy to speak to anyone. Yes, of course. We're staying with Lady Emburissa, if you could send word there.

Oh, right. Yes, give me a moment. And she sort of pulls out a... She pulls out this very weird-looking long, slender pen that has an ink well at the top of it, like built into the pen in a crystalline nib. And you can see that there's some ink in the thing. And she just writes on a parchment like, you know, adventurers, Xanthi Osseric, takes your names,

Golden Dragon statue, and very quickly does a rough sort of outline of Davey's sketch. Quill is a bit weird. I said, I don't know why I said that wrong, bit weird, not bit weird. Did you say that in character? No. No.

Okay. She then leads you through the beautiful grounds. And where you saw the outside, it was very open, It was very like public use. These are like rows of beautiful trees, gravel parts. Like this is, everyone here is a student or a professor. Like it is, you do stand out massively, especially bricks, who's like lumbering behind you.

As the five of you are sort of escorted by Samantha. We're a students. You head under one of these sort of covered, columned walkways and are led into a sort of double floor, very, very fancy sort of. smoking room. You know, there are couches, there are tables with chess boards and games. You can see that there is a fireplace, there is a sort of large crystalline ball that seems to be set into the table. The upper floors are filled with like bookshelves and things like that.

And you can see that the, you imagine that this place would normally be very, very popular, but it's completely dead except for two figures who are currently sat on either side of these low tables with a chess, and they're playing dragon chess. They've got stuffy rocks. Excuse me? I used to play this all the time. Well, I found one, and when I was on my travels. Yeah.

So it's that over there. They're playing it wrong. Stuffy rocks. Yes, yes. It's that black and white. Oh, right, okay. You put your favorite rocks on it. One's shaped like a horse,

and one looks like a little tower, and then you throw them as hard as you can at the opposing side. Yeah, they're not throwing as such. No, definitely not. Stuffy rocks. You see that the two figures sat there. Go on.

No, I was gonna say we should play sometime. You can play stuffy rocks. You see that the two figures, there's actually a third figure who is kind of tucked away because it seems to be some sort of, you know, dog or something like that. The first one you see is one of the apprentices, the Cat Wildfolk Sweet Whiskers, who's there playing dragon chess with this gentleman.

The gentleman sat across from them is a huge, probably in like his like 50s. You can see that he is smoking an enormous cigar as he's playing the game. And he wears sort of like a long authoritative coat, that kind of classic like dark grey black trench coat, leather coat. You can see he's kind of got like a loose shirt. He has a tie but it's all been like really loosened,

kind of like one of those neckties. And then besides, and he's got all sorts of like leather straps and you can see like wands and pouches. I mean, he seems to have all sorts of weird arcane accoutrement. And then the creature sort of sat down on the chair beside him is a construct dog. It is made of metal, brass and sort of copper plating. You can see that it has some sort of lightning magic power system

because you can see the faint kind of lightning blue glow echoing through its body. It looks almost like, a German Shepherd, so it's kind of got like the sharp ears and muzzle, but it's completely made of metal and wood and, you know, it's a construct, it's crafted. Cool. Have we seen many constructs before? They, I don't know if you've seen them. They're very, they're rare. Like, they do exist, but they are somewhat rare.

It's a spectacle still. It's for the 1%. Yeah. And also, like, I would imagine that, like, the constructs that you've heard or seen tend to be, like, anima. statues. They're not like this where it's clearly been sort of like made by somebody. Yeah. Like they tend to be like statues that have got magic crystals that animate them and bring them to life or things like that. This seems to be an actual like constructed like not robot but very robotic. It's for all intents and purposes a dog. It's not like just going meh, meh, meh, meh, and then it's kind of doing that dog thing where it's like laying down

and then as you enter it's like it goes up and it turns up and you hear this very, very kind of stilted, very fake recording. Bark. Yeah, it's like, I'm just. It's like a, woof. Okay. But it's very stilted, almost like somebody's recorded a dog at like a low quality, and then it's playing it back.

Yeah, wuff, waf, waf. And you see the man will just turn around and say, easy boy, easy, oh. Oh, so do excuse me, I wasn't expecting more people to come in. I did ask to have this room privately. Oh, apologies, no, we were sent, you look like an authoritor to me. Are you an authoritor? I am authorita Thromlo, yes.

Frumlo, great, fantastic. We were sent your way by considerate... Hurtwee. Sent my way? Yes, specifically. Because we have information on Professor Broxton... Brasquil. All right.

I'm really bad with names. All right, well, listen, he just turns back to the catfoke. Sweet Whiskers, thank you, Miss Sweetwisks. so much. This will be very useful. I'm terribly sorry about what happened to you. The Modify Spell, there is a chance we may be able to undo some of the effects of it, which will be very useful. We'll send a cleric of Malia, who we believe can undo the Modify Memory Spell. When that happens, I would love to meet with you again and get a full accounting of what you remember then, all right? But this is still very useful. It's still very good to know.

takes her paw, sends her off. Nice to see you against sweet whiskers? Hello. Have we met? Oh. The memory thing. Yes. Oh, I'm terribly sorry.

It's okay. It's okay. Do you remember being there? I remember going to the Azar Step. I remember that we were there for something to do with the professor, but everything after that is real. Well, I'm glad that despite all that nastiness you still got back. Yes, yes. We seem to be. Hopefully, as the authority says, there's a way to undo the spell.

Absolutely. Well, thank you, authority. I'm sorry, I couldn't be much more use. No, no, you've been perfectly useful, miss. Thank you so much. Pleasure to meet you. Let me walk you to the door and sort of walks the door, opens the door, lets her out, shuts it again. This little robot dog has sort of come up. sort of come up and is... Hello. Sniffing.

I kneel down and offer the back of my hand to be sniffed. Kind of sniffs around your hand, walks around you a couple of circles. Good doggy. Woof. Moves on. Kind of does it to all of you. Ricks, its ears go back a little bit. Tiny metal beast.

Do not test Ricks. It's okay. It's like, he won't bite, will he? Oh, yeah, he will absolutely bite if he thinks that someone's a danger. Okay, Friggs, you're not a danger, right? I would advise your friend to keep that firearm holstered. Oh, absolutely. Great. So, take a seat, I guess.

Okay. I don't have, this isn't my place. Boy, we got information for you. Yes, so, get ready. The considerate said that you, you were sent here because you have information about Brasquil. Yes, okay, so we are a group of... You say it, I will, okay, we are... A group of adventurers.

Just give me one second, please, sir, just one second, one moment. And he takes out a very large book from his, like, satchel, lays it down. And he pulls out a similar stylus pen to the one that Samantha had. And you see he sort of fills the top of the ink jar to the top. He places it on the parchment and says, listen in draconic.

Gephar. And he lets go, and the pen stays there. And he sort of holds his hand over his lips. Watch this, and you see it writes the words, watch this. Right. No, absolutely. You definitely want that... It's writing everything that you say. Defaring.

Oh. Squiggly. Yes. That's really throwing me up. Rocks. I would say try not to overspeak each other. It does confuse the stylus. Sorry, sorry. It's just the keeping notes on my head.

I'll keep writing my own notes, but this is very useful to have. Amino? Yeah, you go. All right, okay. You go, yeah. We are adventurers, travelers from... This is Gruffuth.

Gruffeth is my best friend. This is Zanthia. Zanth is my best friend. We've got Daisy over here. That's my best friend. Ophiel is not with us right now, but Ophil is also my best friend. And I am Rowan.

Am I your best friend? Vrix is also here as our security detail, and Ricks is our newest best friend. Who we met at the Azar Step, by the way. Yes, we are adventurers who, from Ash and Rest, heroes of Ash and Rest of Duke Ignore. Oh, we stayed at this lovely place as well. What was that meal we had?

What, in the Azar Step? Yeah, Gruffin, do you remember? Lovely. Lovely place. We went to the Azar Step. It was the generational family. Yes, it was. It was, the generational family.

I can't remember the name of the village. Do you remember? Jolt, was it? Yolt, yolt. Yalt. It seems to fill a page, and then it sort of hovers over to the next page and continues. Anyway, we were going through the Azar Step. So the panting with a phoenix.

You remember that? Yes, he lost a... It was a long, long journey traveling across that. Anyway, anyway, we... He just lets this happen, by the way. So, we were trying to head towards the Giants... I'm from the Azar Step, so he knows the place very, very well. Very excited by it.

I haven't been there in a while. No, but we recently just came back. Anyway, we were heading towards the Giants' Wet stuff. for Rowan, who felt... I'm Rowan. He's Rowan. And when we arrived, we discovered a professor. Who's a good little boy?

The professor, Broxton Brasquil. Say woof. Broxton Brasquil at the top of the, what would you call it? Oh, that reminds me, that's when I also yeah. Picked up my first pet. That's true, we did get a pet. Anyway, that's, you tell me if that's relevant or not,

but at the top of the... I wonder how Gibson is right now. How would you describe the wetstone? Like a spire, like a... Like a... A plateau. It was a plateau. Have you been to the giant's wetstone before?

Have you seen it, pictures of it? I have been to the wetstone. Okay. Well, when we get to the top there, the entire place was cordoned off by various... The academia. plus a mercenary group has been hired to protect them.

Yes, and it took us a while to try to get access to it. So we met Samantha as well. Yeah, Samantha. Have you spoken to Samantha? You didn't meet Samantha there. I don't know where you're going to. I don't know where you're going to.

One of the knights there. One of the knights. There was a knight there. Dave Vashire. If I may. Knight of the Golden Purps. Well, it was Dame Vashire from the Golden Purse, but also there was Captain Janick,

Cheewillow from the Daring Rose Company. So where did we meet Samantha? Today. Today. about 10 minutes. That's it, that's right. Sweet whiskers, you'll think about sweet whiskers. Reset the stylus and it continues writing.

Yes, the assistant who was just in here, that's where we met them. That's what Roman was trying to say. Anyway. Dame Vasher. Dame Vashar. Anyway, Professor Broxton Brasquil was experimenting on the giant's wet stone

and he was trying to dig it out entirely, uncover it from the earth, With Earth elementals, yes, as well as his assistance as well, who didn't look too best pleased. Anyway, he was trying to uncover some kind of mineral there and diminished the magic power that was within the wet stone itself. Obviously, at great cost to, I suppose, any political power between the Azarstaff and Kelskaris, of course, a very bad thing to do.

Not to mention, it's a sacred site. No, sacred site, exactly. Lots of people take a long pilgrimage to get to the Azar Step, to the wet stone. ask for certain things like Vricks, for example. And let us tell you about Vricks from the very start. Go for it. Vricks was found in a little cafe that we went to. Yaltz.

In Yolte, was it? Yeah. Lovely little place. Still can't remember what we had there, though. Food-wise. I don't know. Do we have hot chocolate there? Was it?

It will come back to us. It will come back to us. He just happily sits there and he's just letting you guys talk. Bricks was... You see that he had. He occasionally writes notes in his own personal notebook, but he's just letting the quail transcript. 90% of it is just crossing out.

No, no. He lets that pen write everything you're saying. But he's also keeping his own notes, and he only does that. He's done that when you mention the mercenaries, when you mention the knight, when you mentioned the... You literally said alt-orite magical properties.

Like, he wrote all that stuff down. I didn't say Arthur-Rae. No, but you said on a mineral, basically. Magical mineral there. So, like, he's writing all that stuff down, but then he's just letting you get to ramble. And we're going to keep laughing. And he doesn't ever interrupt.

He just lets you talk and talking to. Hey, far as me and Rowan are aware at least. We're doing a great job. Yeah. We're getting it all in. I tell the entire story of Friggs and how Briggs was battled, war-torn and lost their title and dignity, blah, blah, blah.

Came on the journey with us. Rowan found the Giants' calling. You did tell the whole thing, the Song of Storm, the Song of Stone, everything. I heard Althea themselves. That was phenomenal. Yes.

And we were heading towards the wet stone to repair one of Rowan's weapons and to answer the call that he received. But also to re-forge Fricks. Anyway, that's why we were heading there. But like I said, he was trying to... But it wasn't without scarless hermitage that... Oh, yes, but we're not going to...

We don't need to delve into Scala or Yolte or anything like that beyond that. That would be good for your investigation. Let us know what's good and what's bad. Anyway, after we, I suppose, stopped Brasquil from doing his experiments and things like that, as something strange happened, the... Can I just interrupt?

Oh, yes, absolutely. I have one question. Why were you trying to interrupt the professor's experiments? This was an academia business as far as you knew, right? His writ was fake. Yes, we uncovered that he had a false. How did you go about that? Could you tell me about that?

How did we go about that? Well, I... It was definitely concrete... That seems an important detail I'd like to know more about. Yes, it was definitely concrete. Like, it was guaranteed. It was 100% right? How did I do that?

We looked at the evidence and we scrutinized it. What evidence was that? Do you want an out-of-character, reminder of the check that you did? Yes, please. The seal that was on it for the district was not the official seal, because there's details missing in it. I can't remember the exact imagery,

but something was missing within the imagery. Oh, Daisy also would have... I wasn't there. It was you in ruin. Well, you're watching us with Sarah, no, I think. I wasn't that close. No. No, this is literally all... You too. I'm going to know what you told me after. You knew that it wasn't the Kelskaris seal.

That's right, Daisy. What Daisy just said. I didn't say that. I wasn't there. She said it. I just had a... I just remembered. The writ had a seal on it. The seal was not accurate. to any Kelskaris district seal. And you asked to see the writ and he showed you?

Yes. Well, it was after much convincing, he was very adamant, very cocky, very confident, frankly, a bit of a jerk. And what happened when you confronted him about the fake seal? Yes, yes. What happened then?

What happened then? He burned it. He burnt it. He burnt the seal, unfortunately. He burned the writ. Yes. So unfortunately we can't bring that back, but... The knight did also witness the fake seal and agreed.

This was this Dame Basher, yeah. Of the... He got very angry, very quickly. The golden purse. He got... He started at like a ten. Yes. And then... Did want to be interrupted.

It was already very frustrated with whatever thing that they were doing. So just to clarify, yes. You asked to see his writ after some back and forth. Much back and forth. He shows you the writ. Yes. You outright accuse him of it being fake. Alongside Dame Vashire as well, yes.

And then he burns the writ right away. Yes. Okay. Right, yes. And then disappeared. There was no attempt for him to negotiate or bargain with you. Well, we were trying to imply that we were going to be useful for his investigations. Like I said, we originally thought that this was a...

a... Okay, wait. I remember what really angered him. Yeah. Yeah, it was that I had promised that there was another source of arthritis out there, and then I remember it. Oh, right, yes.

I remembered that that was a really protected sight, and we can't tell anyone whether it is. And he was very, very desperate to gain that information from us, and for a second there, we almost promised it to him, because we were hoping to... We promised them that we wouldn't say where it was. Right, we had... So then I said sorry, we can't give...

No, no, please, Mr. Rowan, continue. We said we were so sorry, we can't give that to you. Right. This other location of this altruite? Yeah, yeah, underwater is phenomenal. Well, okay, so... Anyway, anyway, we tried to... I can't talk about it anymore.

No, we can't, no, that's... Unless you're like, no. Well, I mean, it seems like it's very important to why the professor was at this giant's wet stone. Yes, it was the properties of the mineral. Yeah, let's keep it limited. You said this was another source, so was the mineral at the wet stone is ulcerite? Very, very little remained.

Okay. But we fixed that afterwards. Either way, sacred sight, not to be tampered with. You fixed it how? Well, we just repurposed what was already there, made it more accessible. Right. So there was more? It's just deeper down, yes.

I think there's only a few uses maybe left of it, so... Okay. And so you confront the professor, he burns the writ. Yes, he begs for the information and, you know... You anger him, he's angry that you're not making this deal. Yes, he then says, you know, this will ruin me if you... If this information gets back to the academia and, you know, the typical stuff you'd expect, and then he went to teleport away.

I attempted to counter spell it, but was unable to counter spell it. He also took his assistance with him, Sweetworth's being one of them, of course. Yes. This is... This is excellent information. Oh, thank you, I'm glad. We'll keep talking then. Then we got attacked by the wet stone.

Yes, then his... Well, as for my purposes, I don't know. That's the best bit. Because we pushed the thing off. Yes, his tampering... The authoritor doesn't need to know about this. He's only interested in the professor. My investigation is into brass quill.

Yes, well, his tampering into the wetstone caused an elemental construct creature, a giant to stand up. Something did. It was not fucking Roan. Yeah, his sword. Rowan did it. Yeah.

No, I think. So his tempering created some sort of powerful element of I'm like 90% sure, yes. Is that, no. Is that not true? No, no, it was my

corrupted sword. Oh, okay, strike that from the record. I don't want to... I think it's probably worth checking with the mercenaries and the knight who were hired because they, they thought that this writ

was legit. Yes. They were quite upset when it turned out to be false too. The, I mean, from what you've told me, young miss, absolutely, I will be speaking with these thoughts. Do you mind? Yes, yeah, I mean, which you might. Normally, I send DC after them. Rowan looks over to see if, like, the sound of the birds

is being written down. It does not appear that the sounds of the birds. What about that? Oh, good, good job, DC, good job. and you see the dog is moved up with Tantias. They know more than woof. The dog got there first before I did. Yes.

But very loyal. There's a lovely ending to this story, though, with Bricks, and claiming bricks were forged. I'm not a storyteller, Mr. Rowan. I am here for the facts. I'm here for the investigation. Look at Bricks now. And he says stop in Draconic,

and the stylus just falls fighting picks up. The professor did seem very powerful. So whatever has... Yes, as I understand. I understand it, Professor Brasco was of the seventh circle. How many circles are there? Do you know? Is that high?

That's very high. I'm not a student of the academia. As I understand it, a seventh circle is in the upper aculons. Oh, oh, wow, okay. Upper degrees of the academia. We never find out how many there are. Yeah, well, like I said. But also there are different professors of specialities and things like that.

We were under the impression that it was an academia, excavation, so to speak, so we didn't want to interfere. However, we could tell that he was upsetting the balance, so to speak, in the wet stone. This is excellent information. We had received word from this Jerich of this mercenary company, who had sent word to say Professor Braxton had broken contract and was not inclusive of the details. I'm waiting to meet with this Dame Vasha,

who is on other business, but you've given me plenty to confirm with them. And this does patch a lot of holes in what we understood from his students who had their, we know for certain that their memories have been modified. So this adds a lot of extra information. Well, if you have any questions,

and if we remember anything, it's been a long time since then. So if there's anything you'd like to, know, we might be able to remember them. Well, I guess my question is, why did you feel the need to come and tell me about this? Well, yes, I did not like the guy. There's no two ways about it.

I thought he was a bully. I thought he was a jerk. And I think whatever's coming to him, he probably deserves. And Rowan was very, very upset by them disturbing the sacred site of the wet stone. I feel like justice needs to be. carried out and those poor assistance as well. We were going to check in on what happened to them as well.

It's good to see. I mean, they'll be all right. The spell that was used on them doesn't cause any permanent damage, and it can be reversed. Now that I've conducted my interview with them, and I'm almost certain that it was a modified memory spell, the priests of melee have will come and perform the appropriate spells and rituals to undo the damage.

And then they'll also hope they will be able to collaborate some of the story. you said that they were present when much of this was happening. Yes. They were teleported away. So they'll be able to collaborate most of this story as well. Absolutely. We also read about it in the newspaper and we figured... May as well clear up any loose ends just in case you didn't have a full picture.

No, it is good. It is unfortunate that a few of the students have been gossiping and some of the administrative faculty have also been speaking with this... What was her name? Nyantara, a herald of the Clarion, apparently a very dogged, curious little thing. Yes, we were warned. Cat, actually. Yes.

And, yes, it seemed to be something of a pest. Are you in the interests of the academia then? No, I'm an authority. I'm a neutral party in all of this. I was initially brought into this investigation when Professor Braxton seemingly vanished. There was reports that he arrived via teleportation back into the academia. His students were then later found confused days, could not remember the last 24, 72 hours, 24, 36 hours.

And Professor Braxton, it was missing. So I was initially brought in to look into that matter. We then received a communication from the mercenary company, explaining that there had been ill deeds performed. That's led me to... Well, you've given me... You've given me far more to think about now. Great.

The work that he was doing was upsetting the land. There were earthquakes. Yes. You did mention that there seemed to be a disruption and this earth element. Oh, no, you mentioned that was... Oh, they did warn them, but they weren't listening. You're a chatty.

bunch, but you seem rather capable. Thank you, yes. My next step was to go and investigate his quarters to see if there was any clues or information about what was going on. I am never one to turn down extra eyes or those of knowledge. Are any of you in possession of ability, like magical abilities or... Hello, yes, that's me. Zanthius Hogan, magic user. Excellent.

I play the lute. And do you have a good pair of eyes on you, miss? Sure, yeah. Well, then I will never turn down extra help. With the understanding that if you find something, please don't touch it, please let me investigate it. Sure. Are you coming along? Yes.

With your doggy? Well, yes. I'm going to investigate his chambers. Right. I'm inviting you to join me in my investigation. That's how it works. And your doggy. Well, this is DC, DC2.

DC2. This is DC2. Okay. And how do you spell two? As in the number? Yes, the number. In a name? Well, yes.

D-E-C-D-E-C-2. Oh, fuck off. Oh, fuck sake. I'm out. This is DC2. Technically, it would be shortened to the left, just the letters. Dog companion, too.

Well, nice to meet you, DC2. Woof. That's it. My brother's called Rowan, too. Really? I didn't know you had family. With that, we are going to take, that is the last line,

as we take our break, much-needed break. That's where we're going to end part one. We will see you guys in part two. Take care. We'll see you next. Oh, yeah. Bye.

Bye.