Earning Credits

Continuing to explore the rest of the rooms we found more of the books we were looking for. In addition to the listed books we found one about the Ruined City of Bloodsalt, whose residents were said to have sprouted wings and flew away. There was also a partial map of the city. Orkbolt noticed some paper cranes flying in the air. Once he focused on them they reformed into an image of some sort of creatures running and hiding from Silverfish. He did not recognize the creatures. Sevastin recognized the cranes as Spell Skeins. We surmised that the Spell Skeins were telling us they were worried about the Silverfish. We also found a very large Wasp nest and some more magic items. We decided to try smoke to lull the Wasps so we could carefully dismantle the nest to get the pages we needed from it. Orkbolt proved to be very good at this! We finished up at the Tree Stump Library & went looking for the insects that Orkbolt & Imryll needed to find. Orkbolt spoke with Anchor Root & received some concoctions he had made to help fight off the toxins of the Centipedes if we got into a fight with them. Several of our class drank them, with various levels of success. We proceeded to the locations Teacher Ulawa had sent us to, the Leshy Gardens, the Kitchen and the Speakers Stage, to look for the erratically acting insects. Our first stop was the Leshy Gardens. Imryll spent some time tasting poop in the area to see what he could find out about the insects in the area. He was able to tell there were some Bark Beetles infesting the area, seemingly eating similar shapes into any wood in the area. He told us that this was not normal behavior from these mindless creatures. Several of the class recognized these shapes as symbols of summoning. We collected some samples of wood with the symbols & some beetles. We then headed to the Kitchen to see what we could find. The cook, Lumusi Yao, met us at the doors. She had closed them and was turning people away. She told us there were Mites inside, plaguing the Kitchen. Her assistant was still inside trying to clear out the Mites. She asked that we help her out & not tell the other students. We headed inside to help clear them out. As we entered, we were attacked by a swarm of large Centipedes! We cleaned them out. Afterward we found Ibina, the assistant, hiding under a table. She was happy to be rescued. We made sure the Mites were all dead. They were, as they had been eaten by the Centipedes. At this point, Amara was not feeling well. She headed back to the dorms to rest. We then headed to the Speakers Stage. As headed out to the island the stage was on we saw many Water-Strider insects in a state of seeming agitation. We were not sure what might be causing this or them to gather in such large numbers. Orkbolt gathered some of them to take back to Teacher Ulawa. As we turned to leave we were approached by a group of people from Nantambu. They asked us to perform for them, since this was the place for such things. We did well, impressing a well dressed man. He introduced himself as Asanda. Several of us recognized him as one of the 11 Magistrate Mayors that govern Nantambu. We headed back to the dorms, just in time for supper!
The next morning some of us went to breakfast while Orkbolt and Imryll took the information/samples we had collected regarding the insects to Teacher Ulawa. They were met with indifference and hostility for their efforts. While they then went to breakfast, Laraena, Sevastin & Gazzean turned the books into Teacher Ot. We also gave him the other things we had found, this being the Necromancy ritual, the book about Bloodsalt (with it's map) & 3 books we could not read. It turned out they were books on Necromancy. We were happy to turn them over. He rewarded us well. We asked if he knew of anyone else looking for help. He mentioned that he had heard Teacher Zuma was looking for help with a magical experiment. We gathered our companions, though Amara was still not feeling well so we went without her to see Teacher Zuma. When we got there he asked us to enter a magical circle. Imryll had some reservations, but the rest of us convinced him to just get in the circle. Teacher Zuma performed a ritual on us where he drew animal symbols on each of us. It turned out to be a Tattoo Whisperer ritual. We all ended up being able to communicate as if by the spell Message for the next day. We then went to check the message board to remind ourselves what services were requested. In addition to the request for help with a Hang Glider, a request to play a new board game & a request to brew a potion, there was an advertisement for a Lost Chicken signed by Anchor Root, one last one was written in colorful writing, covered with webs. It said "Surprise!" & was signed by Zachva and Zanvi, who we knew were the Anadi children. We decided to help Hybram with his new glider invention. Imryll did his best to help Hybram with getting extra height to test his glider. Unfortunately, he just ended up throwing him into the spire & destroying the glider... We decided to go attempt to help the Anadi children with their "Surprise!" next. We found them waiting just inside the dorm. They asked us to help plan their Mother's surprise party. They told us she likes weaving and flashy magic. She would be turning 68. Thinking about it, she likes baking, bird watching and illusion magic. She prefers to do things for other people. People doing things for her makes her uncomfortable. We decided to give her some yarn, colored by prestidigitation, cast some dancing lights spells & got the children busy helping. She was very happy with the party.
The following day we checked the board to find that all the tasks were still on the board. We decided to see Okoro to play his new board game. Most of us won the game, with Sevastin being very perplexed as to how it was played... While reading the rules several of us noticed there was a scroll of Augury hidden in it. Okoro lost and was very upset about it. He gave Gazzean the game. He also gave us the scroll. We then went to visit Chizire to see what was needed. He told us he wanted us to "obtain" some magic crickets from Teacher Ulawa. The group all declined. We then went to help Anchor Root with her chicken problem. Several people noticed the chicken on the roof of the dorm. Orkbolt used the anti-grav pillar to get to the roof and his exceptional nature skills to calm and collect the chicken. After it was safely returned to Anchor we decided to see if we could convince Teacher Ulawa to part with a cricket. Laraena was able to make a convincing argument about trying experiments and learning. Teacher Ulawa was impressed and gave them a cricket. Chizire took the cricket, grinding it up to put into moonshine. It turned out to not be what he expected, but still gave some benefits while also sickening the imbiber. He gave us the potion & walked away.
The classmates spent the next year doing similar tasks, helping out where they could and currying favor with the Instructors. As the year came to a close they knew it would soon be time for their masking ceremony.
 
"To advance to the rank of attendants, initiates must craft a mask during their First Masking ceremony. This ceremony involves genuine and often lengthy work, as the students each craft a mask under the eye (and sometimes the aid) of their teachers. There’s one blank mask present for each initiate going through the ceremony. Although made of plain wood with simple eye slits, the masks have magical transformative potential. Containers of cloth, beads, feathers, and metals are all nearby, and incorporating these materials along with shaping the wood allows an initiate to focus their experiences and aspirations into the mask’s final form, magically shaping it beyond what mere craftsmanship can produce.
The heroes aren’t the only ones attending the First Masking. Every initiate from the Spire Dormitory is making their first mask, and several teachers will be present to guide their work. The upcoming ceremony is all the NPC initiates can talk about, so the heroes certainly know of the upcoming event. They should have plenty of time to consider what shape and type of mask they want to make. Animals are the most typical shapes for Magaambyan masks, but other shapes (particularly celestial objects or supernatural beasts) aren’t uncommon.
You might set aside some time between play sessions or during a play session for the players to discuss what masks their characters want to create, as this decision is important for any initiate. They’ll be known according to the appearance of their mask for the rest of their career at the Magaambya."