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Jiggo and Salonviel both make it across without a sound. Charlies starts to cross but accidentally steps on a loose floorboard. The dragon makes some huffing noises, as if in a dream but fortunately doesn't wake up. Sindraillia crosses as well, but accidentally kicks a loose pebble and also causes the dragon to stir.
Sorrina looks at Grallen. "Good luck, " she says with a hint of a smile, pointing to his armor.
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Ember tiptoes across, humming softly to himself. Unfortunately, while Ember is silent, the rest of the room isn't. Ember accidentally brushes against a table, causing it and a vase on top to topple. Everyone freezes. The dragon mumbles, as if in a dream, "...Shldn nrd...". The dragon snores on, but doesn't wake.
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"Oh no! Great ally of Sheldon the human!" Jiggo falls to one knee, his hands cupped in supplication. "We did not mean to disturb your slumber! We are not worthy to be in your presence! Sheldon must be a worthy friend who brings you great joy!"
Jiggo looks up, a glint in his eye. "But what greater joy exists besides the laughter of children? You must have many incredible stories to tell between you and Sheldon: Exploring long forgotten civilizations! Making peace between warring towns! Redeeming those of evil hearts! Think of the downtrodden people whose lives you could brighten with your tales of adventure."
"If you would forgive us for your transgression, we would be able to arrange visits from a local orphanage I volunteer at frequently. They would impressed with your fine satin visage and enjoy your heroic tales. To be loved; what greater reward is there? Certainly not the flabby and bony meat of six foolish adventurers."
Jiggo fights every urge to pet the dragon's smooth velvet skin. But it's so cute!
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"Ah, thank you, thank you!" Jiggo nods to the dragon. "I'll see if I can get them ready to deal with your plush magnificence!" Jiggo stands up, his head still low, and ushers the other Pathfinders away.
"Thank you, Venture Captain! We did it with the power of teamwork. I'll tell the orphanage about the trip once we're done with these tests."
He turns to his allies. "I bet Salera will love to hear this." The sigil reignites on his hand as Salera emerges from a pool of gray smoke.
"So there's the School of Scrolls and the School of Swords remaining, right?"
Salera looks about, trying to piece the story together. Charlies and Salonviel provide her concern, but Jiggo's childlike glee puts it aside. "I'm guessing Jiggs did something stupid. But brave." She sighs a summer breeze.
"Somebody pick our next test, already."
"I am not sure, but I know you will be doing great." he whispers back with assurance.
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You meet Kreighton Shane, the master of scrolls in his office. He ushers you outside into some carriages. Kreighton Shaine speaks as the carriages get underway. "We’re off to a facility in Absalom that the Society rents out and uses for training purposes. The location was formerly the domicile of a conjurer with some rather unpleasant plans. That got all sorted out, of course, but it’s still conducive to summoning magic!" As Shaine continues his explanation by going into detailed history of the building’s previous owners and their relatives, the carriages come to a halt outside an abandoned locksmith’s shop in the Coins district of Absalom. Shaine exits the carriage and quickly unlocks the front door, gesturing to a dusty glass-fronted cabinet in the main room, which opens to reveal a descending staircase.
The Master of Scrolls steps briskly down the stairwell into a worked stone dungeon. Ambient light comes from two glowing patterns on the floor, but Shaine doesn’t pause for these curiosities. After a short trip northeast and down another flight of stairs, he halts in a long chamber containing more of the glowing circles. Two circles rest at either end, with others in nooks along the northern wall. The circles come in five colors; red, blue, green, yellow, and violet, with each of the five nooks featuring a different color. "This whole dungeon is really an interesting place, and it’s worth exploring in full sometime, but that’s not what this trial is about. No, I’m not interested in seeing you untangle traps and unlock doors. This isn’t about what you can do or your physical skills. I’m grading you on what you know. Each of the northern circles is a two-way teleportation device. Four of them, all but the green one in the center, are currently active. Stepping inside an active circle brings you to a matching circle elsewhere in this dungeon, and waiting in the vicinity of each of these is a summoned creature. Four creatures, of four different types. Each of them has an amulet you have to retrieve for me. But this isn’t just a brute force test of forcing them to hand it over! No, no. This is the Trial of Scrolls, and we do things with more... finesse."
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There are four teleportation circles, Red, Blue, Yellow and Purple. At the other side is a creature holding an amulet. Your job will be to get the amulets in correct without attacking the creature.
"Your first clue -- A being of law and order has one of my amulets. It’s one of the least of the inevitables, aeons bound tightly by rules and constraints. "
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Shaine. Always proud of his accomplishments, but he never takes the time to share. Listening is just as important as talking, so Jiggo keeps quiet and does some listening for him.
Jiggo looks around at his friends. "Hmm, Salera nor myself know much about the outer planes. Uh, besides those aligned with the gods, of course. We could just ask."
Estes' mind is none at the present. His thoughts wander as they talk with one another when he feels in his gut that somebody is calling him, or talking about him, he is not sure. They may have met before, or maybe not. It's just that out of nowhere he hears something with phrase "saw your description", his name, the word "rated", but he can't hear too well to understand a thing. He hears a female voice, he is sure about it, but he is not sure if the voice is talking to him or to somebody else.
Saw your description... Estes... rated... he is absorbing every words.
His bubble of wandered thoughts looking for somebody is burst out of the middle of his summoner's conversation about the portal. His daydreaming concludes to vanity with more confusion of self.
"I am sorry, are saying something? My mind recently wandered. My apologies," he says to Charlies.
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This room was clearly once a confluence of the various portals that pepper this dungeon, as all five colors of glyph are symmetrically arranged here. Only the red circle in the southeastern corner is currently activated.
Image of the creature is on slide #3 linked above. The creature hovers in the room’s precise center, slowly revolving and analyzing the room’s symmetry.
Jiggo identifies it as an arbiter aeon, from the city of Axis.
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"Well that's a shame. Orders are orders, of course. This reminds me of my days fighting the Worldwound. Sometimes the higher ups would order us to sacrifice the legion, saying there was no way to rescue them. I disagreed, and we had frequent arguments. Now, I was no military commander, but I did have compassion for my fellow warriors."
Jiggo begins spinning a long tale, hoping to distract the thing.
Salera takes this opportunity to sneak around the Aeon and try to steal the amulet. Jiggo sure is boring when he wants to be...