Why don't you try? It's just one silver per question. So I hear. Follow the instructions on the wall. Surely you have a question for Nethys. Ignaci watches with interest.
"Greetings Anchor Root. I'm sorry we frightened you." Alrinkiri follows the rest of the group, moving once again on all fours as they silently observe. "If we are not to attend classes yet, is there anything we should be doing today, aside from meeting the others in the building?"
Alrinkiri moves close to the mask, tilting their head to more closely peer and then listen at the openings. "This is an interesting piece of machinery."
Curling-Wisps-of-Smoke Reliava looks unimpressed. "Cogs and gears? Is that what we are here to learn?"
Chimwemwe approaches the mask. Fishing out a silver piece, he pauses and says to Curling-Wisps-of-Smoke, "My father taught me that you can learn a lot studying cogs and gears."
He returns his attention to the words above the mask. "Pay in light?" Chimwemwe purses his lips and places his silver piece into the eye of the white side of Nethys' mask. He hesitantly asks aloud, "How do you change fire into electricity?"
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A lazy Amurrun and a timid gnoll? Soomdevi is not impressed by the other initiates so far.
Doesn't seem too hard to get ahead in this place.
But when he meets Ignaci and sees the mask on the wall, he begins to feel a glimmer of interest.
Let the Darkness Show Wisdom indeed.
"I'm not sure how this mask thing works, but do you have to stand beside it the entire time? Seems like you'd want it making money for you while you were out doing other things."
He waits, curious, for Chimwemwe to receive a response from the mask.
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Something whirrs and sparks behind the other eye. Out comes a slip of paper.
Chimwemwe,
Your penmanship leaves something to be desired.
— Nethys
Ignaci nods sagely. The ways of Nethys are winding indeed. Sometimes we get the answer we seek, but most often we do not. All we can do, as mere mortals, is try again.
Esi rolls her eyes By 'try again,' you mean 'put more coins into the machine,' o! I think these ‘ways of Nethys’ are designed to maximize profit!
Ignaci shrugs. But once in a blue moon, the All-Seeing-Solutions DOES give the correct answer. Perhaps when they deign to save a student who has failed to study. Who are we to say what the deity's plans are?
Chimwemwe reads the slip of paper and smiles. "You created this?" he asks Ignaci, gesturing to the mask-machine.
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It seems handwritten. Ignaci says How nice it is you believe I am capable of constructing such a device.
"Oh. You didn't?" Chimwemwe says, looking momentarily, genuinely disappointed. He folds the slip of paper and tucks it into one of his pouches.
Akoril chuckles a little bit "I'm sure the particular rooms don't matter, was just a way to show respect to your wisdom. Come maybe something else would be more comfortable for you. I'm sure there's something you could show me."
Akoril chuckles a little bit "I'm sure the particular rooms don't matter, was just a way to show respect to your wisdom. Come maybe something else would be more comfortable for you. I'm sure there's something you could show me."
Ummm… I like music. Sharing music.. She touches one of the bleached bones on her necklace; its inscribed with inteicate runes that almost look like notes. Rhythm Bones.
"Oh. You didn't?" Chimwemwe says, looking momentarily, genuinely disappointed. He folds the slip of paper and tucks it into one of his pouches.
Since Chimwemwe seems to have come to his own conclusion Ignaci says nothing. He just smiles and saunters away. His hand flutters a farewell. Silver coins jangle brightly in his dark jacket pockets.
Oh. Ignaci turns as if he forgot something. Should you need it, I sell alchemical items for a reasonable fee, to recoup my time and expenses.
We also have a weekly game night; you are welcome to attend. Who knows, you may even be able to win something. With that, he makes his way to his own room.
☀☀☀
Esi opens a nearby door. This is one of the rooms you can have, o. Inside is a small and neatly-made room with a mosaic-tiled floor. Upon the bed is a scrap of yellow cloth folded around a sunburst‑shaped glass bead, to add to your string of beads. She shows you five other rooms. The sturdy wooden doors latch from the inside, but do not have locks.
”Oh! Game night?” Chimwemwe asks, brightening noticeably. ”Do you play Old Mage?” He turns his attention to Esi as Ignaci withdraws to his room.
”I could use a room with a window for my plants,” he mentions as they explore the available rooms.
"I would also like a window, so my cousins can visit easily."
Chimwemwe leans his spear against the wall, sets his satchel down on a table, and unshoulders his pack. He lays his colorful but now damp blanket across the floor in a corner to dry. He then removes several other, relatively smaller satchels from within the pack, each jangling or clunking with the sound of tools and sets them on the floor. Finally, he removes several wooden framed wire meshes and hastily constructs three pens across the dresser opposite the window.
Glancing at his open door, keeping an eye out for impatient escorts, he then opens the large, case-like satchel and begins unwrapping several small potted plants, moss covered rocks, geodes, and bags of sand, which he arranges within the vivariums. With another glance at the hall, he removes several jars and releases various beetles, crickets, and other insects into two of the pens. He closes the lid back down on two other sacks still inside the satchel.
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Wisps unpacks her belongings, placing colorful embroidered fabrics up on the wall and warm blankets on the bed. She finds a package of her favorite treats from her mother and smiles.
She collects some more ants from the common area and places them on her windowsill. She speaks out the window in Skitter, hoping the spiders will hear her.
"Hello, cousins. Please, you are welcome in my room at any time."
"I'm unaccustomed to sheltering indoors" Alrinkiri says. They glance between the rooms, then select the one nearest the exit. They briefly lie down on the rug covering the floor, then stand once more and pad back out into the hall.
When with Esi, Chimwemwe asks, "How many senior students are there now? And what tasks are communally shared? Sweeping the commons, I assume. Is there a common kitchen? A bath? Do we have a shared work space? Or a common garden?" He pauses after his deluge of questions and looks askance. "Sorry. That was a lot."
When with Esi, Chimwemwe asks, "How many senior students are there now? And what tasks are communally shared? Sweeping the commons, I assume. Is there a common kitchen? A bath? Do we have a shared work space? Or a common garden?" He pauses after his deluge of questions and looks askance. "Sorry. That was a lot."
Esi laughs. That's why I was chosen to help you, o! I like to help answer all the questions! There are nine senior initiates in Spire Dorm. We can finish the tour after you settle in if you like. There are two bathrooms, but no kitchen. There is a dining hall for all students. No gardens or workspaces… though most of us work on our own projects in our own rooms or around campus… such Ignaci's alchemy, Chizire's stills, and Haibram’s attempts at flight.
You could plant a garden by 'Frog Pond," she points at the pond outside the window, but its denizens may be enchanted, o.
Who're you? asks one.
Are you nice? asks the other.
Are you like us? asks the first.
Do you want to play? asks the second.
They skitter about as they talk, moving along the walls and up into the tree and down again, full of energy. Their little black eyes look up at Wisps, glimmering with curiosity.
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The two children freeze. The woman's voice sounds… tired. Oh, please, please stop bothering people!
She's still 50 paces away. When children try to scatter the woman flings out her hand; two ephemeral strands of webbing shoot forth, attach to each child, and drag them through the air back to the woman.
The children giggle as they land gently at her feet. Wheeeeeeeeeeee!
One crawls up onto her back in spiderling form. The other transforms into a child and grasps her hand.
The one holding onto the woman’s hand tugs on it. She’s LIKE US, mama!
She’s NEW! chitters the one on her back.
Oh… When the woman comes closer, she makes a traditional Anadi greeting, folding her fingers into an intricate web pattern as those from Nurvatcha do. Sorry… I’m sorry. I’m Strands-of-Glowing-Dawn Tzeniwe. Now that she isn’t wrangling her children, she seems rather shy. She begins to move away.
Ask her name, mama! Says the one on her back.
Curling-Wisps-of-Smoke Reliava! says the other, proud to remember.
Yes… sorry… we… we have to go now. The woman blushes and drags her twins through the front door.
Akoril makes play to ask the other gnoll about her music later, but settles into a room for now.
"It was very nice to meet you!" Wisps calls out after her.
Chimwemwe explores the communal areas of the dorm with curiosity in order to fix his bearings while he waits for the others to finish their own unpacking. Unloaded from his heavy pack, he stands even taller as he moves through the halls.
Alrinkiri sits in the hall just outside the door to their room, unsure what to do with themselves.
Chimwemwe raises a hand in shy greeting each time he passes Alrinkiri in the hall during his exploration. He restrains the outward expression of his giddy excitement at starting this new adventure, but it manifests as a buoyant sensation in his chest each time he enters a new space. Catching Soomdevi's comment, his stomach growls.
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Alrinkiri nods to Chimwemwe as he passes the first time couple times. After the third time, they stands and pads silently behind the human, following along in his explorations.
"Alrinkiri," Chimwemwe says as the automaton falls in behind him, "You said to Teacher Ot that you wanted to regain your memories. May I ask where your memories start? The ones you have. Not the lost ones. I wouldn't expect you to know that..." His self-conscious rambling trails away to silence.
Esi comes out of her room and spots Chimwemwe and Alrinkiri, as well as Soomdevi on the couch. Anchor Root has vanished; likely hunting ants.
She gestures at the all-seeing solutions. By the way, we all suspect Ignaci built the All-Seeing Solutions. He just won't admit it to anyone. He enjoys being cryptic, o.
Do you want to explore on your own, or finish the official tour, o? She speaks loud enough that all of you can hear her.
Chimwemwe nods and raises an eyebrow in thought to Esi. "The official tour," he answers when Esi asks. "Best to be systematic."
She takes you to the snd of the hall and opens the door; cool air wafts out. This is the East Bath. We don't use it often. Too cold, o There are two chambers beyond, the first a laundry room with a large washbasin and a pile of old clothes. Beyond this antechamber is a large bath.
Esi, standing in the hallway, says proudly: Magic keeps all the water fresh and warm.
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"Alrinkiri," Chimwemwe says as the automaton falls in behind him, "You said to Teacher Ot that you wanted to regain your memories. May I ask where your memories start? The ones you have. Not the lost ones. I wouldn't expect you to know that..." His self-conscious rambling trails away to silence.
"I can remember the last millennium pretty clearly, though I spent most of it wandering around the jungle alone, visiting old ruins. The millennium before that is hazy and jumbled in my mind, though I can remember bits and pieces. I can't remember much of anything from before that, though every once in a while I come across something that is intensely familiar without any clear memory of it."
"Oh. That sounds lonely." Uncomfortable with such a deep revelation, Chimwemwe allows himself to be distracted by the continuing tour. "Where are you from, Esi?"
Right here, in Nantambu! My mother is one of the most powerful Tempest-Sun Mages. Esi beams as she thinks about her mother, whom she clearly idolizes.
Of course! This is a magic school. Both baths are clean and warm, but the bath on the other side is really warm, o!
Wisps speaks quietly to the others.
"Do you see the laundry...moving?"
"No. Where? What kind of movement?" Chimwemwe steps inside for a closer look at the old clothes.
As Chimwemwe approaches, the old laundry shifts; out hops a scrap of colorful fabric shaped like a frog!
Then, a second one hops out. They stand atop the piles of fabric like kings of little hills, and stand up on their hind legs.
Spellskeins are only rarely aggressive, but can be if they feel threatened by strangers who don't belong to their territory.
Alrinkiri pads closer, staring at the frogs and trying to figure out what they are.
"Be careful, Alrinkiri," Chimwemwe says. "They are territorial and wary of strangers." He squats down to look at the folded cloth frogs from a new angle. "They are clever enchantments, whoever made them. I've seen some mages in Jaha with constructs like these."
He uses a stick of chalk to draw a geometric representation of a bird on the floor. He taps the picture and then points to one of the frogs. "Can you change?"
Hearing Chimwemwe's warning, Alrinkiri backs off a step and sits down, trying not to look threatening. "Does laundry normally need guards?"
The frogs stand up as you approach. before you can interact with them, you may need to find a way to befriend them or prove you live here too.
They ignore Esi, who peers around the corner and says her trademark o!
"We are students, too," Chimwemwe says, jangling the two beads that he has "earned" on the loop at his belt and pointing at Esi. "May we please use the laundry, too?"