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Jianghong laughs as several of the kobolds ask him about why he hates his school so much. The youth shrugs and says, "Who wants to spend a sunny day inside practicing their calligraphy. Not this guy."
"You guys are really interested in food. You're going to be disappointed staying here. There's no cooks here. You'll have to make your food yourself or buy it in town. Most people that come here have servants that do it. Wait, aren't you from the Inner Sea? I've heard everyone from the Inner Sea owns a slave." Jianghong leans down and whispers, "Are one of you a slave for the rest of the group? I've never met a slave before; we don't do that here in Tian. We're so enlightened and all that," he says, rolling his eyes.
"Dogs? No, not usually. There was a blind student a few years back who had a dog but normally they're not around. I know a guy who could get you a dog, though. For the right price of course," he says, winking.
Zheng sighs in disapproval at Jianghong's chattering.
Jianghong introduces the party to several of the teachers, guards and students as he shows them the grounds. No one stands out as being particularly memorable.
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Skyxa is content to go along with the rest of the tour, smiling and nodding and making small talk with the various faculty and staff that they're introduced to along the way. When it seems that the tour might be approaching some sort of conclusion, the kobold coughs.
"They teach many things here. That's good. But do they teach about the lay of the land? Mountains and rivers and plains?"
She thinks for a moment.
"Humans call it...geography, I think. And make maps of the land. Do you have maps here at your school?"
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"Oh, you guys are interested in maps? You sure you don't want me to help you find a dog in the market?" Jianghong sighs and then relents, "Yeah, they keep maps in the main offices there. Sometimes they display stuff like that downstairs too. If you want to go look at them, I could go off and meet with you later."
Zheng clears his throat and Jianghong frowns at the older man and rolls his eyes. "Or I show you the hall myself, I guess.."
The main office is a two-story building with a high hall on the ground floor and teacher’s offices on the upper floor, accessed by a narrow stairway at the rear of the hall. The hall contains several treasures on display, including weapons and examples of exquisite calligraphy.
"Some of these swords are pretty cool. I wish my parents would have sent me to a military academy instead of a stupid calligraphy school. I'd be an awesome warrior." Jianghong takes on fencer's stance and he jabs at the air around him several tips like he is wielding a longsword.
Zheng's face is especially expressionless.
One of these pieces is an ornate map on orange silk, which appears to be the map the kobolds are seeking. Unlike many of the other art objects, the map is not secured behind glass and may be sketched, but not handled, by visitors.
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Demm grabs a nearby chair and drags it to the map. He hops atop it and peers closely at the work.
He tilts his head back and forth for a minute or two. "I guess it's nice, for a copy. I'd rather see the real one though." He jumps back down and puts the chair back. "So, you have your OWN chef then? Or does the big one cook for you in addition to baby-sitting?" HE waits a moment, seemingly unaware of his faux pas. "What. Isn't that his job? To look after you?"
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Krall looks between his companions and bears a sharp-toothed smile before whispering a few things.
"I think this is why I can't go on missions alone. I am still thinking about taking human up on offer to buy a dog...glad you are all here. What is with the map? It isn't even old...it can't be worth anything...like a copy."
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Seeing that the kobolds are interested in the map, Jianghong says, “That’s good, but it’s not as good as the original. The teachers sometimes copy the art on display here as practice, as with this map. I presume the original would be in an office upstairs.”
Zheng lips twitch slightly, almost but not quite forming a subtle quirk when Demm describes his job as baby-sitting, but does not say a word.
"Yeah, yeah, Zheng looks after me. Makes sure I'm safe. Makes sure that the school is safe from me," he says with a smirk.
"If you want to go get food, you should do it quick. Once night falls they lock the gate and everybody goes home. If you're wanting to stay overnight, you'll need to talk to one of the professors. But usually they only let merchants and visiting students stay. I'm not sure what you guys are supposed to be. You're the weirdest group of visitors I've ever seen. No offense intended of course."
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"Map looks like a map. How can you tell it's a copy?" Skyxa whispers to some of the others, looking a bit flummoxed. "And maybe we can buy a dog if map lead doesn't work out."
Putting on what she hopes is her best smile, Skyxa then addresses Jianghong and Zheng at her normal volume. "Yes, map is very pretty. Are visitors allowed to see the originals?"
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"Well...to be honest it doesn't look as dusty as some of the others I have seen...also maybe if we get multiple dogs they can pull the wagon." Krall whispers back to Skyxa.
"Yes, I want to see the differences. Just to make sure I was right about what made this one a copy. For learning!" Krall adds in trying to put on charm.
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Jianghong brings the kobolds to meet one of his teachers.
"These guys want to stay in the guest house, sensai."
The teacher strokes his beard as he looks down at the band of kobolds. "Jianghong, you know we don't just let anyone stay over night here. There are plenty of inns in the city. What business do they have here in our school?"
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"Schools of learning...are open to all, yes?" Skyxa asks, clasping her clawed digits together. "Kobolds have no schools. We traveled far to see your school and its maps and classrooms and to see how a student in a school lives. Staying here would be part of the learning, yes? Even just one night."
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Skyxa manages to convince the teacher that the kobolds are traveling scholars. The teacher nodds and then says, "I will allow you to stay as our guests but only under one condition. You will need to head up a lecture for our students tomorrow. There is much to learn from travelers who have journeyed so far."
There is enough time to bring some food back before the guards shut the gates for the night. As the sun sets, the students and their guards leave the grounds and head to the homes and inns that they are staying at while most of the guards who remain on the property climb up to the top of the walls to guard the perimeter from any thieves who may try to sneak in.
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For her part, Skyxa shifts uncomfortably as talk turns to skulking and skulduggery. "The school was nice and let us stay the night. Repaying that with sneaking...doesn't seem right."
She thinks hard; they do still have a mission to complete and it sure didn't seem like they'd be allowed regular access to the original map.
"Maybe...make our own copy? Yes, we need practice if we want to be good students so we need to make our own copy. I will ask about it tomorrow. Tonight I will keep very busy taking care of my gear and sleeping. Sleeping soundly. Sleeping very soundly."
The kobold glances at her fellows and coughs.
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Skyxa tries to fall asleep but finds herself tossing and turning as she imagines her companions smashing open glass displays and setting the offices of the school on fire. All she can do is turn a blind eye and hope that they practice a little restraint as she waits for the sun to rise.
Skithryx and Demm peak out their door and they can see that the grounds are dark with the exception of a few lanterns and a little bit of light from the moon. Jianghong had pointed out that the hedges are a great place to hide and the kobolds can see that they would provide good cover. There are guards on the wall, but they appear to be concentrating on watching the outside of the walls instead of inside. At any moment one of them could turn around and see someone creeping across the campus, so stealth is still important.
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The bugtalker stays with the paladin. Not because she necessarily cares about Skyxa's faith and not because she wants to preach the wonders of bugtalking.
No, it's something very simple that's beaten into the heads of most hatchlings before they're allowed to leave the Hatchery -- Truebloods win because they stick together.
Leaving Skyxa by herself could put her in danger, and besides, Gynnezz is really tempted to start talking to termites to eat the school because it doesn't seem like a very good place to learn.
"You know, we're supposed to give a class tomorrow. Maybe we can compare notes and see what sorts of things we can teach the noscales?"
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Skithryx, Kaidyn and Demm make it across the dark courtyard, past the fountain and into the main hall. The doors appear to be unlocked and the building is completely dark. There is no bobbing lantern or torchlight that would indicate the presence of a weak eyed human guard. The diminuitive reptilians quietly slide into the building and close the door behind them.
There is a staircase leading up to the second floor where the offices supposedly are.
Gynezz prepares the beginnings of a lecture on etylomology for tomorrow, assuming that the actions of her teammates don't get them thrown out of the school or arrested beforehand. Skyxa sharpens her sword yet again, finding herself unable to sleep.
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"You know, we're supposed to give a class tomorrow. Maybe we can compare notes and see what sorts of things we can teach the noscales?"
Midnight stays with Skyxa. She has confidence that the team is doing the right thing, and so speaks reassuringly if Skyxa seems nervous.
"Oh...right, we did say we would teach them something," Skyxa blinks, having very nearly forgotten that part of the deal. "Yes, we should make notes and things - I think noscales usually do when they teach things."
She thinks about what things might be useful to noscales, especially ones that live so far away from Avistan and the Inner Sea.
"Maybe...teach basic story of homelands? Or is that too much? Maybe just teach them about kobold story? Hmm...could always teach about Pathfinder Society. There's a lodge in Goka, yes?"
And she continues on in much the same way, happy for the company and also happy to have something else to focus on for a bit.
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The top floor consists of a hallway with six doors. The first five are unlocked but a quick scan shows that there isn't much of interest in them. One of them is used for storing supplies and the other four are simply offices for the teachers and school administrators. The final door is locked though.
Skithryx makes quick work of the door and the team sneaks in. The inside of this office is cluttered with calligraphy samples, brushes, and inkstones across every flat surface with the exception of a single low table in the center of the room. The window on the other side of the room is open, and a shadow moves across the sill with a flutter of orange silk.
Across the courtyard Krall, who is enjoying the night air from inside the open doorway of the guesthouse, sees a figure in black drop from the window of the main offices and dart towards the cover of the hedges. Shortly after this, Krall sees a slightly larger figure running across the courtyard towards the fountains.
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Gynnezz is pondering how to explain the intricacies of 'extra' limbs to noscales that typically lack even a *fifth* limb in the form of a tail when the alarm goes out.
She pauses and with a bit of a grumble jogs using cover to somewhere 'closer' to the fleeing thief if they are pointed out and calls upon the power of nature to create a brief and momentary burst of water at that location...
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Demm and Skithryx dive out the window towards the ninja and all three of them land on the ground in a heap. The shadow figure shoves the smaller kobolds off and then leaps to their feet and begins to sprint towards the hedges. As they stand up an ornate looking scroll case falls out of their bag of stolen relics.
Kaidynn runs back down the stairs and finds a nice shadowy spot under some hedges. With any luck, the thief will run by and Kaidynn will be in a good position to jump out and grab them. As he is lurking in the shadows, he hears the jingle of chain mail accompanied by heavy breathing and sees a pair of heavy leather boots run by him.
Krall comes bounding from the guest house, leaping over a fence as he attempts to cut the thief off. Meanwhile Skyxa yells ineffectually as she watches her allies scramble after the running figure.
Midnight attempts to do some close up magic with prestidigitation but the figure runs by without even noticing. Gynezz does manage to slightly annoy the thief by dowsing them with water. A few pieces of damp paper fall out of the thief's bag, sticking to the cobblestones.
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That's a pretty determined noscale. Probably determined not to get caught rather than escape with any loot they found. I wonder why they are trying to steal everything?
Gynnezz muses before smirking draconically and limning the target in a soft sickly green glow to make it easier for everyone else to find the thief AND make it harder for them to hide.