In Their Academy Days

Game Master caster4life

Gennie takes the lead explaining the grimples what's going on and persuading them that it's a good idea. While they don't look pleased, they do calm down. You take turns keeping an eye on them that day as Master Crenshaw writes you excuses for your absences from class. Even so, it's a lot of work to try to make up the missed time and hunt for other missing creatures.

The Acadamae is a massive place but Master Crenshaw hunts some of the more dangerous and restricted areas while she gives you a map to others. She winks and asks you to keep things quiet and you find a few more odd fey creatures. One you dispatch and two more you convince to return peacefully through the portal. When all's said and done, Crenshaw pays you each with a hefty purse (100 gp) for your assistance and your discretion then asks you to stay out of her secret laboratory.

The rest of your first year speeds by through the winter and then with the dawning of spring. As often as she can convince you to agree to, Whisken arranges study parties in which you all gain quite a lot of knowledge. Unfortunately, only a bit of it is directly related to your assigned work as Whisken gets excited about side topics.

Write up an extro of the adventure and year 1 in the Acadamae for yourself.

Marz's year is eventful, but in a less dangerous yet exciting way. The rogue reports her weeks to her benefactor, and as the months pass her impostor's syndrome almost fades. She's happy with the friends she's making, but even happier that she may be finding a place were she's not seen as an errant thief.

For times the Eldritch Scoundrel applies herself on the books, trying to focus her arts on the abjurations, illusions, and the defensive side of magic, besides that of crafting poison. Her adventure of saving Whisken surprised her; she never saw herself as a power with her bow, but the arrows flew to prove differently. More used to subtlety and the shadows than violence, she also prays that Desna would guide her to a path where things can be accomplished without resorting to bloodshed.

Of course, a free heart is never truly caged, and some of the nights - instead of spent sleeping, or studying - are those of navigating the academy halls seeking forbidden knowledge and other interesting secrets. She manages to stay in one piece by the skin of her teeth, but her abilities stealthing, searching and dealing with traps prove to be unmatched by other first graders.

Mezdav is thankful that there's no more (big) trouble for the rest of his first year. He's happy to get his nose to the grindstone in Maester Craenshaw's Artifice classes, and he has friends he can lean on for Necromancy, Abjuration and so forth... And they can lean on him for Artifice...

Over the year, he builds a relationship with Maester Crenshaw, helping out with her odd jobs. He's quite curious about what she was doing in that secret lab, but he doesn't push too hard. Rather, he concentrates on being a useful minion (and a discreet one). He also does some research, like who's mark is it on those bottles of alchemist's fire we found?

This feels both too long and like I'm neglecting things.

Jermaine does well at almost all of his classes. He's a bookworm, highly intelligent, and not afraid of hard work and long hours of study.

Jermaine particularly excels at his necromancy courses. He had a head start, after all, and is happy to help his friends with their studies in the same. Jermaine doesn't rest on those laurels mind you, and as Master Elias takes him into new directions of necromancy he had not yet learned, he still keeps apace. He does not grow arrogant in class, but he raises his hand often, and when he does he is usually right. While he doesn't care for Master Elias' sometimes borderline harsh behavior; he does recall Gennie was right that mostly the man gives others enough rope to hang themselves. Also, Master Elias WARNS people of the power of magic, not just it's advantages, and Jermaine respects that.

And if need be, he even warned Master Elias, perhaps by a note that Midicci is trying to get his family to make trouble for him. Speaking of the haughty elf peer; Jeremaine has taken a disliking to him. Not a disliking he acts on unless Midicci begins bullying others. Fortunately he has Mohk and others more socially adept to help him out.

One class Jermaine doesn't excel in is Artifice. He is very grateful to have Mezdav's help there. Master Crenshaw lost a lot of Jermaine's respect, though Jermaine tries not to show it. The teacher put others in danger and then covered it up. Whisken could have died. It creates something of a distance with the instructor who Jermaine sees as dishonest and not terribly responsible. Still, Jermaine took the coin for his family's sake, so Jermaine isn't hostile to Crenshaw as that would feel hypocritical, just very cautious and distrustful.

He rather enjoys Whisken's study sessions with the group. Friends and learning, a fantastic comboniation! But while not a leader type, he is the one who tries to steer things back on topic.. unless, of course, Whisken's new idea is really intriguing and gets HIM enthused as well... which is probably far too often. He will suggest, when he's not working there, that they sometimes go to the Seven Headed Dragon.

He keeps his job there, of course, and earns more trust from the owner even as he improves his cooking skills too.

That hundred goldpiece reward (Jermaine TRIES not to think of it as hush money) is not used selfishly. Any school fees requried are paid, of course, but that aside; most of the money goes to helping Jermaine's family! 100 gold is not enough to let his mother and sisters move out of Trickledown right away, but it does allow them a chance to better their lives and maybe begin to work their way out with the improvements they can afford.

His mother, Thanusia, who once sold simple rolls with jam on the street now can offer better fare and thus make a better profit. It's amazing what you can do with better cooking gear and higher quality ingredients.

Nortia, his youngest sister, just keeps growing, and while she is happy to help her mother with her budding business, she also turns to religion more, praying for her brother's soul as he puts it at risk with dangerous magics.

It is the middle child, Cainei who actually surprises everyone. While she has a perfectly good apprentice ship with a seamstress, she squirels away her section of the money, and , selling a few of her own sewing projects; gathers enough money to get magic lessons and proclaims she will be joining University di Magia in the fall semester as a first year! This.. creates a lot of family tension.

With poor Jermaine pleasing with Cainei that if she must learn wizard craft, please don't go focus on Necromancy!