"I imagine that it would be helpful to free up space for more specimens as we continue to bring them to you," Za Minyahil adds, believing it was best to appeal to the Teacher's selfish interests to get what they wanted. As much as the Magaambya seemed to encourage a more collective mindset, those lessons didn't seem to have stuck with Ulawa, they believed.
Koride seems distracted with whatever it is she is working on, and only half-listens before saying. "Yes, sure whatever. Take it if you want it, but don't spend it all in one place." She makes a hand-waving motion without really looking up.
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M'baba enlists Ikto's help to get 5 crickets separated into two jars, one with 2 and one with 3. He says "Thank you, professor.", actually meaning it. As they leave, he explains to Ikto, I think it's good to have a few spare in case Chizire botches... something."[/b]
Outside, he looks around for Chizire. As he sees the mischievous catfolk, he says "Hey Chizire, here are the crickets you requested." and hands him the jar with 3 crickets, hiding the other. He continues "We have to go to the Leshy Garden now, but after, we want to see what you promised us."
He starts moving towards the garden.
You find Chizire back at the dormitory, and his room is full of laboratory apparatus of various kinds. Something is clearly brewing as the bubbling is audible and the odor created is...pungent. He seems surprised to see you back so soon and pats M'Baba on the back warmly. "Great! This is just what I needed. Didn't expect you with it already (or at all really) but I think I can finish the potion with these. Come back later, and I'll give you a dose for the assist!"
As you get ready to head to Leshy Garden, you run into Haibram in the common room. The Rain-Scribe dwarf is carrying a rather bulky look contraption made of canvas and a wooden frame. He also greets you warmly."Hey all!, where you headed? You have a moment to help me test something? If not now, maybe later?"
"We are headed to the Leshy Garden," Za Minyahil replies matter-of-factly. "I assume what you are seeking to test is that thing you are carrying?"
"What IS that thing anyway, Haibram?" He greets his fellow Rain Scribe with a smile.
Haibram salutes Ikto and nods agreeably to Za Minyahil. "Well, its my own invention. A hang glider of sorts. I'm trying to set a record at the Soaring Spire. You know about the Soaring Spire, right?"
Since you don't seem to know, he says, "Follow me, it'll be quick." He walks outside the Spire Dormitory and points at the spire, one of four matching obelisks from which the dorm got its name. "If you stand next to that one, and jump, there is some sort of gravitational anomaly, and you can end up really high. As high as the top of the obelisk or the roof of the dorm. So, I want to launch from that obelisk point, and use the glider to come back down. But I need someone to be up there already, and then boost me even higher in the air."
He mimics a demonstration, like using your hands like a step and pushing someone higher in the air. As you look up, you estimate the top of the spire is like 60' above the ground. "I'll get higher than anyone ever has, and I'll get a cool slow ride down. Want to try it?"
While M'baba hopes that someone speaks up, Iovia does speak up.
"I'm sorry if this comes across as rude, Halibram, but we are already on a task for Professor Koride. Once we are finished with that, if you have not found someone else to help, I am sure that one of us can. However, at the moment, we just do not have the time."
With that, Iovia continues heading to the Leshy Garden, expecting that at least M'baba will come with her.
The Stormdruid sighs wistfully at the tower, "Almost more than anything," He admits "Haibram I REALLY want to help you, but alas, now is a bad time for the reasons the others mentioned. Maybe later today or tomorrow if the offer is still open?" He clearly is intrigued but, well, the timing.
"Yeah, sure. I can wait no prolblemo! This is gonna be awesome!" his excitement does not seem daunted by your deferral of his request. You can see he is pretty stoked at the idea of flying.
The Leshy Garden is an overgrown section of campus that is the domain of several leshys, who are uncommon in the rest of Nantambu. It is a tangle of riotous trees, shrubs, and vines amid usually pristine grounds. There are paths into the jungle-like Garden, and the leshys are known to welcome visitors. Student sometimes come to ask the usually friendly leshys for aid, especially on particularly difficult botany or other plant-based assignments.
Today a group of leshys are sitting alongside the path carving large wooden plates from the trunk of a fallen tree. They greet you with a wave and a smile as you enter the overgrown patch
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M'baba, completely oblivious to any Leshy based etiquette, says "Hello, there, Leshy friends! I'm M'baba, and these are my friends. How are you today?" Unsure of whether he should wait for an answer from them or not, he just says "Are you having some sort of insect problem you want to share?"
He raises his eyebrows then says "I mean, do you want to share with us whether or not you're having problems? If you want problems, we kind of not want them, but we might want to help solve it. Ahem... if, you have a problem, that, I mean..."
Za Minyahil bows to the leshies when they arrive. They had been invaluable advisors in their pursuit of the path of druidry.
"May your roots be ever cooled by the water below and your leaves ever warmed by the sun above," they say in Fey. "M'baba speaks truly: we have been told the local insects have been gathering in unusually large numbers in places around the school, and we've been asked to investigate."
One of the leshys, a gourd leshy named Shade-in-Autumn, stands from their work and introduces themselves in soft-spoken Common tongue. She bows to Za Minyahil and replies also in Fey: "Sunlight on your face, fair ghoran. Welcome to our garden. Avail of it as you see fit, if you are friend."
To the others, she says: "We did indeed reach out to Koride, as we have a bug problem. We are trying to make these planks, and there are an inordinate number of bark beetles gnawing them before we can complete our work." She points a storage area not far away where ore wooden planks sit. "You will find the beetles hard at work there."
Sure enough, as you go to investigate you find copious amounts of boring bark beetles noshing on the wooden planks the leshys are preparing.
Iovia stays quiet for the moment, deferring to the others who have more knowledge of the natural world than she does.
Ikto inclines his head, but lets Za Minyahil take lead as they might be seen as a cousin, not that he is sure "Ikto Banashee, a druid of the storm, at your service."
"Most curious," He says as he looks over the beetles. His knowledge of insects and nature alike at work.
Ikto know that bark beetles usually attack living trees, eating the sap that flows from up and down the trunk. Unfortunately, their dining is usually damaging to the tree itself, sometimes killing it with the invasiveness of their appetite. Seeing them in large number is not unusual, but attack and eating on cut wood is. The bugs would get little to no sustenance from such meals.
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M'baba looks at the beetles sideways on one side, then another. He finally says "This is strange... These eating patterns aren't random. They're following some sort of pattern."
He tries a few things to see if he can detect the pattern, or what's causing it. First he tries to put metal close to the beetles to see if there's a magnetic field. Then he tries drawing the patterns he sees.
"A pattern? That is unusual!" Iovia sounds excited, and she also studies the pattern, looking for hints that it might have been directed by some sort of ancestry.
"As a rule, insects do not practice deliberate acts of structural sabotage, incidental yes." Ikto says "But like this? Good find, M'Baba."
Za Minyahil grimaces and their petals rustle as Ikto and M'baba elucidate on the strange behavior of the beetles.
"I do not wish to become a meal for them. My sap would be as tempting to them as your blood would be to a swarm of mosquitoes or biting flies."
They turn to Shade-in-Autumn.
"Have they attempted to feed on you and your kin?"
Shade-in-Autumn shakes her head slowly, the movement making several gourds growing from her boughs clatter together. "They have not bothered us at all other then the nuisance of trying to chew through our work projects here. It' an irritation more than anything, but its strange, so we let Koride know. If there's nothing to be done, so be it. Live and let live, we say."
Iovia does not recognize the pattern the bark beetles are trying to carve as ancestry or any heraldry that she has ever seen. M'baba's thought about magnetic field is a good one, but he cannot detect any such field with any ferrous implements.
As Ikto sees the pattern, it starts to look familiar to him. At first he cannot place it, but as he studies it harder, he can see it at last. The pattern, though not perfect, really does resemble runes of conjuration or summoning.
Ikto looks over with a question, "Za Minyahil, you can detect magic eh? I've not the spell ready. It could confirm M'Baba's theory."
Za Minyahil nods and casts the detection spell and begins observing the beetles and what they're chewing on.
There are no magical auras returned by the spell.
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M'baba says "Hmmm, that's strange. I don't know much about magic, but maybe the conjuring rune doesn't need to be magical to work. At least not while it's not yet activated. Or, maybe it activated to draw the insects here. Anyone have a clue about that?"
He says "If the rune was used to draw the beetles here, maybe someone wants them away from somewhere else. Or if it's being drawn by the beetles themselves, then they've collectively gained some magical knowledge?" M'baba has no idea how ludicrous he sounds.
While the others stand and chatter, Iovia springs into action! "One of you get a beetle or two for a sample. The rest of you get the planks out of the garden and onto a sidewalk! We can't let them finish that rune!" Iovia starts to do that herself, grabbing planks and moving them to a place where a fire can't harm the garden.
Once the planks are moved, she calls upon her magic to set them alight!
As they burn, the Chelaxian woman shivers a little. "Something strange is going on here. We need to tell the Professor immediately." Iovia is clearly spooked.
Ikto tries to gather some of the insects as directed.
Samples of the bark beetles are collected, and the planks being chewed on are moved and burnt, marring the meticulous work of the bugs which seems to stop any further creation of patterns.
The leshy are a little perturbed that the planks they have been working on are being lit on fire in their garden, but when explained to them, they understand.
"Let us know what we should do about these bark beetles when Koride has finished her investigation," says Shade-in-Autumn with some concern. "We can try to keep them from finishing their work, if they continue it again, meantime."
Koride Ulawa takes possession of the bark beetles and listens intently as you describe the runes the beetles seemed to be chewing into the wood planks. He makes a clicking sound and shrugs. "Maybe you were mistaken. Bark beetles do not make patterns in wood, they just eat it as means to an end. They don't have a frontal cortex to make conscious thoughts. It must be coincidence...But, I wonder..." Whatever she wonders, she does not say. Instead she bends back to her work, calling out. "Good work again!" as you leave the laboratory. Clearly, she has something on her mind.
Iovia does not leave silently. "We were not mistaken. Something was controlling the beetles, and probably the other insects as well. All three groups were acting in a way that makes no sense." she says to the Professor.
Ikto would LOVE to see what Haibram is doing, but feels he owes Iovia some back up, especially since she's right, "It is true, professor. AN Intellect or influence is involved, even if it is not the insects themselves."
Samples of the bark beetles are collected, and the planks being chewed on are moved and burnt, marring the meticulous work of the bugs which seems to stop any further creation of patterns.
The leshy are a little perturbed that the planks they have been working on are being lit on fire in their garden, but when explained to them, they understand.
"Let us know what we should do about these bark beetles when Koride has finished her investigation," says Shade-in-Autumn with some concern. "We can try to keep them from finishing their work, if they continue it again, meantime."
Za Minyahil follows Iovia's instructions speedily.
"We could all stand to learn from your insight, Iovia," they comment. "It is easy to become ponder the curious aspects of a phenomenon and not see the whole, dangerous picture until it is too late to mitigate it."
Then they bow to Shade-in-Autumn again.
"If you would have me, I would love to return and assist in recovering and repairing your work from the damage the beetles and we have done."
After returning to Koride to complete their task, they fold their arms and nod at Iovia and Ikto's statements.
"And yet I could not sense any magical auras, so a spell was not used to compel them. There's only a few possibilities that could leave."
Their petals rustle a bit, a remark forming in their mind like a thorn sprouting from a stalk, that this apparent incuriousity from Koride, a mage and a teacher of mages no less, implied certain things about her ability and skill as both. But they hold their tongue.
As you speak back to Teacher Ulawa, you can tell she is already back engaged in whatever her work is. "Yes, well, that is what we are studying after all isn't it...Why these usually harmless bugs are acting the way they are. Controlled by an outside force is an idea..." but she doesn't finish the sentence and leaves you to wander off if you so choose.
Za Minyahil looks to Ikto and Iovia to see if they want to push the issue, but says nothing, arms still folded.
Ikto doesn't push, his expression seems to be one of 'Oh well, we tried' "I think I'll join M'Baba in seeking out Haibram then." And he hurries to catch up.
Iovia sees no need to push anything. She made her statement, and that seems to be enough for her.
Za Minyahil follows after Ikto, their own curiosity piqued.
Back at the Spire Dormitory, you find Haibram sitting cross-legged in the grass outside the building, tinkering with the frame of the glider he has built. He shouts and waves when he sees you coming, excitedly getting to his feet once again. "Are you ready to try this out?" he says with a grin. "Someone has to use the Soaring Spire and get to the top, then I'll jump up, and you boost me even higher in the air. Then I use the glider to zoom around bit, and land safely on the ground. What could go wrong?"
Iovia is not going up the Spire, and she still wonders why his own classmates aren't his helpers, but she is there and watching. She quietly hopes no one gets hurt, since the swarm used most of her healing earlier.
But, those thoughts aside, she is here to both support her own classmates, as well as the school in general, as she has to admit Haibram is at least being daring, and she can appreciate that.
Ikto joins in, "oh I cannot wait to try!"
The Soaring Spire magically tosses any student who stands near into the air, about 40' to the top, and then allows them to fall slowly back to earth once again. No real reason for this, but it is fun.
M'Baba builds a slingshot device from rubber tubing that he thinks will help propel Haibram even higher than a simple boost, but he attempt with the Soaring Spire results in him loosing his balance half-way up and slowly tumbling head over heels back to the ground without having gained purchase atop the spire.
Ikto stands near the Soaring Spire next and is launched like a missile to the top of the obelisk, and then instead of falling, he slowly rotates and floats to a pin-point perfect landing atop the spire's stone point, balancing there on one leg.
Haibram laughs and applauds the well-done leap. "Coming up!" he shouts, unfolding the hang glider's metal frame and canvas body. He straps it firmly around his chest and waist, and folds the "wings" in to make for a better launch. Stepping forward, he is suddenly rocketed to the top near where Ikto stands delicately balanced, headed starting for the druid's waiting arm-step.
"The Wind has such sweet kisses!" Ikto declares with delight as he leaps.
And he urges Haibram on
As Haibram is vaulted into the air, he grasps for Ikto's boosting hands, but the pair only sort of make contact, and any affect to aid the maiden flight of the glider is missed. Haibram still unfurls the canvas and coasts on the currents of air but the flight ends sooner than anyone wanted and he lands softly on the grass near the others.
"Well that was less than ideal..." he says disappointed. But his demeanor quickly improves and he smiles broadly. "But still, did you see my flying? Anyone else want to try it?"
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M'baba thinks hard on Haibram's offer. This, of course, looks very dangerous, but it looks very useful in a pinch. He knows he will not be the most powerful magician at the school. His value lies more in creative thinking, and having a gliding tool seems like a wonderful investment. He says "I'll give it a go! Tell me what to do."
He follows Haibram's instructions to the letter.
"I will also try it!" Iovia says, and after M'baba takes his turn (and if there are no injuries), she will take a go at it.