Fieldtrip to Karloff Ruins
General Summary
Prologue: Since last they narrowly avoided death together, the students of the Univerisity of Murkow has been busy preparing for exams. Irma has hanged out with the pickled Nothic eye (at Laymon's room, who's also there). Katia has increasedly become more withdrawn, while Nicolás has struggled with a new book on astronomy.
A few weeks later, Irma finds herself disembarking the SS Watersong. While having someone carry her and her dad's hatboxes and other essensials, she spots the automaton she travelled with walk off determinedly to gods knows where. A sea-elf engineer follows desperately. Still on the ship, the half-elf waiter(?) Halvon fills the ancient birthday-boy wizard Skussbaul's glass with whisky. Irma then proceeds to sit in on her father's business: Hearing local issues. Some include a giant half man half bison terrorizing lumberjacks, another a case on ownership of a large mansion being fought by the otterkin lawyer Otto. A third the recent terror on the boat she came in, and finally a case against a young elf accused of being a decendant of an evil vampire lord. As Irma leaves for her fieldtrip, she sees herself in the young girl, whom without proper birth-certificates might not win her case.
Katia arrives at the uni-sponsored hostel, having been heavily suggested by her mother to go as her efforts in studying has been dwindling. There she meets Laymon, and a very talkative and informative hostel manager. Allowing only a little bit of exposition from the receptionist, Katia gets to business quickly, as she and Laymon head to the ruins. Navigating the small town of Karloff, they eventually cross the north river, greeted by a good view of the castle ruins due north. A small bog leads to the menacing ruined spires and half-buried surrounding houses. Swirling dark clouds cover the area and the infamous forest behind it, simply referred to as ''The Fen''. At the outskirkts of the ruins lie a small camp filled with archeologists and mages. There,Katia DeCalthaar and Laymon Stones meet up with familiar faces Irma Portia Portia and Nicolás. The rest of the semiar-group stands around their professor Barren Conscience who is explaining to a disheartened Dugren Ironquill that the grand wizard Duzy Mozy probably has more important things to do than personally teach some first year students.
Once gathered, the afformentioned students are put into group 1, which will be first to get a tour of some of the ruins open to the public. They are met with Borek Lichenbow , an intern at the Arcanists and Archeologists Association (triple A for short) which has been working there for five years for experience, dreaming of one day doing a Ph.D on local butterflies. As their professor heads to the castle ruins proper to collab with the grand wizard, the envious students are left to follow Borek and his magical construct guide; a golem of stone and iron with a magically animated plate displaying Duzy Mozy's face. Their first destination: a quaint fountain and half-buried garden. Borek is easily distracted by his own research of pollinators, while the golem simply answers some questions about the ruins. When asked, both guides tell Katia that the castle proper is off limits. The castle once belonged to a high-elf turned vampire lord, who sought to extend his life indefinitly. Laymon gets to ask about the local flora, before Katia grow impatient with the lectures which does not solve mortality. She Suggests that Borek stay doing his own thing, while they wander off on their own. Bringing the golem, the group goes deeper into the ruined gardens.
After some minutes of walking they reach more and more petrified foliage. What seems like a maze of hedges twists around them, and an elemental sensing from Irma confirms that the rocks around them shift unnaturally. They eventually reach a dead end: a large square courtyard, perhaps right outside the main castle. Pillars, topiaries and small waterways line the paths, all meeting at a large globed sundial around a statue of an elven figure. Symmetrically lined up towards the centre sits old rusty mirrors, pointing at the statue which in turn points at a large arch at the opposing side. All other exits are blocked by rubble, while the centre one seems filled by the mural, which Dugren identifies as a more recent addition. Irma and Nicolás notices a fist-sized cog missing in the centre statue, while Katia inspects the mural on the other side. It tells a story of elves leaving the Feywild and entering the material plane. The centre image seems to suggest a gate being broken, while the end depicts an empty forest with arches towering in the background, all full of holes or eyes.
Laymon grabs more petrified flowers, while Irma finds the origin of the butterflies: they exit the water running below the pillars. Curious, she inspects the mirrors, which while their supports seems corroded, the surfaces are pristine. Her reflection reminds her for a second of Laika the accused elf from before, until it reveals in its hands some formal-looking papers. Excited at the convenience of a magical mirror handing her the most useful item to her right at this moment, Irma reaches in without a second thought. She is then yanked into it. Where Irma once stood, a malnourished vampire-spawn now stands, barring its teeth at the rest. He turns and breaks the mirror behind him. The three other mirrors produce the same foes, and the group readies for battle.
Katia and Dugren quickly armors up with their magical defences, while Laymon gets into a bout of contested athletics with a vampire noblelady. Almost throwing Laymon into the mirror, the vampires stopped in their tracks by Nicolás, who both increases and then lightens their gravity. Within the mirror, Irma finds herself in a identical room, but with its corners warping, and the mural replaced by a gaping hole of swirling darkness. She follows her intuition and quickly find the gear in the centre mechanism. She then feels a longing from her pickled Nothic eye, and trusting her feelings lets it get a good look of their environment too. Fumbling her little pet by pure coincidental clumsyness, the eye falls to the ground, breaking its container and slipping directly for the gaping darkness. Irma throwns herself after, but after sharing a moment with the eye, lets it go. Joining the darkness, the eye swirls with other similar lights, and Irma can almost see it winking back. Having let her eye go, Irma quickly rejoins the rest in the real world through a different mirror.
Katia gets in barrage after barrage of (textbook adhering) magic missiles. Laymon summons a chaotic bolt of energy, practically imploding a vampire's chest with a thunderous shockwave. Dugren struggles with his melee training for a bit before knocking the head of a vampire with a radient strike with his staff. Nicolás plays cat and mouse using the sundial as protection, and as the final vampire sees itself outmatched, runs into a mirror. On the other side, Nicolás sees the vampire call upon reinforcements. Irma acts quickly, again jumping in, facing off with the retreating vampire and its allies. She then turns around, sits carefully down in a flowerbed and scoops up dirt and flowers. Rejoining the real world, she instructs Dugren to place the cog. Doing so lights up the statue with a deep hum, as the statue sends a beam from its spear straight into the mural blocking their path. This radiant beam makes quick work of both wall and the golem's arm, and the mural crumbling seems to shatter the mirrors as well.
Out of harm's way, but with the room unstable from the fighting, Irma quickly grabs some water, and hands some of it to Laymon, with some flowers to booth. Laymon immediatly spots a Baron's Clover, a potions ingredient he has longed to experiment with. Dugren takes notes on all the features of the ruins around them, including the now broken mural. As they go through their new exit, they find the other side to be part of an excavation site. Walking for a few minutes lands them in a hall, where the grand wizard and professor stands hunched over some papers, at first unalerted to the new visitors. Acting as if the golem guide brought them here, the group explains their presence simply as neglect by their guide and flaws in the golem's design. While Barren Conscience seems hesitant and suspicious, Duzy Mozy seems thrilled to meet the students, quickly accept their reasons, and introduces himself to every single one. Nicolás gets an inked handprint as autograph, Dugren some commending on his lineage, Katia and Laymon a ''hang in there'' and Irma a ''doesn't ring a bell'' in response to her supposed famous family. Beckoning his golem with ''come here, Me!'', the professor sends them off with good wishes for their studies, even if he himself never went to school.
The trip back is long, silent and awkward. Back at the camp, the group ends up vouching half-heartedly for Borek, who might still keep his job. In the following days Irma manages to get her father to hire a lawyer named Otto to clean the name of the elven girl. Nicolás continues his nonchalant voyage through education, while Laymon now can experiment more with potions without risking the wrath of the forest guardian. Dugren increases his abjuration classes to one day perhaps earning a spot at his family's dinner table, but schedules some divination in where he can. Katia uncomplacent with only living a measly 2-3 centuries now looks into the history of Stanislaus the Oblation, her own family history from the distant west coast, and eventually vampirism.
Katia arrives at the uni-sponsored hostel, having been heavily suggested by her mother to go as her efforts in studying has been dwindling. There she meets Laymon, and a very talkative and informative hostel manager. Allowing only a little bit of exposition from the receptionist, Katia gets to business quickly, as she and Laymon head to the ruins. Navigating the small town of Karloff, they eventually cross the north river, greeted by a good view of the castle ruins due north. A small bog leads to the menacing ruined spires and half-buried surrounding houses. Swirling dark clouds cover the area and the infamous forest behind it, simply referred to as ''The Fen''. At the outskirkts of the ruins lie a small camp filled with archeologists and mages. There,Katia DeCalthaar and Laymon Stones meet up with familiar faces Irma Portia Portia and Nicolás. The rest of the semiar-group stands around their professor Barren Conscience who is explaining to a disheartened Dugren Ironquill that the grand wizard Duzy Mozy probably has more important things to do than personally teach some first year students.
Once gathered, the afformentioned students are put into group 1, which will be first to get a tour of some of the ruins open to the public. They are met with Borek Lichenbow , an intern at the Arcanists and Archeologists Association (triple A for short) which has been working there for five years for experience, dreaming of one day doing a Ph.D on local butterflies. As their professor heads to the castle ruins proper to collab with the grand wizard, the envious students are left to follow Borek and his magical construct guide; a golem of stone and iron with a magically animated plate displaying Duzy Mozy's face. Their first destination: a quaint fountain and half-buried garden. Borek is easily distracted by his own research of pollinators, while the golem simply answers some questions about the ruins. When asked, both guides tell Katia that the castle proper is off limits. The castle once belonged to a high-elf turned vampire lord, who sought to extend his life indefinitly. Laymon gets to ask about the local flora, before Katia grow impatient with the lectures which does not solve mortality. She Suggests that Borek stay doing his own thing, while they wander off on their own. Bringing the golem, the group goes deeper into the ruined gardens.
After some minutes of walking they reach more and more petrified foliage. What seems like a maze of hedges twists around them, and an elemental sensing from Irma confirms that the rocks around them shift unnaturally. They eventually reach a dead end: a large square courtyard, perhaps right outside the main castle. Pillars, topiaries and small waterways line the paths, all meeting at a large globed sundial around a statue of an elven figure. Symmetrically lined up towards the centre sits old rusty mirrors, pointing at the statue which in turn points at a large arch at the opposing side. All other exits are blocked by rubble, while the centre one seems filled by the mural, which Dugren identifies as a more recent addition. Irma and Nicolás notices a fist-sized cog missing in the centre statue, while Katia inspects the mural on the other side. It tells a story of elves leaving the Feywild and entering the material plane. The centre image seems to suggest a gate being broken, while the end depicts an empty forest with arches towering in the background, all full of holes or eyes.
Laymon grabs more petrified flowers, while Irma finds the origin of the butterflies: they exit the water running below the pillars. Curious, she inspects the mirrors, which while their supports seems corroded, the surfaces are pristine. Her reflection reminds her for a second of Laika the accused elf from before, until it reveals in its hands some formal-looking papers. Excited at the convenience of a magical mirror handing her the most useful item to her right at this moment, Irma reaches in without a second thought. She is then yanked into it. Where Irma once stood, a malnourished vampire-spawn now stands, barring its teeth at the rest. He turns and breaks the mirror behind him. The three other mirrors produce the same foes, and the group readies for battle.
Katia and Dugren quickly armors up with their magical defences, while Laymon gets into a bout of contested athletics with a vampire noblelady. Almost throwing Laymon into the mirror, the vampires stopped in their tracks by Nicolás, who both increases and then lightens their gravity. Within the mirror, Irma finds herself in a identical room, but with its corners warping, and the mural replaced by a gaping hole of swirling darkness. She follows her intuition and quickly find the gear in the centre mechanism. She then feels a longing from her pickled Nothic eye, and trusting her feelings lets it get a good look of their environment too. Fumbling her little pet by pure coincidental clumsyness, the eye falls to the ground, breaking its container and slipping directly for the gaping darkness. Irma throwns herself after, but after sharing a moment with the eye, lets it go. Joining the darkness, the eye swirls with other similar lights, and Irma can almost see it winking back. Having let her eye go, Irma quickly rejoins the rest in the real world through a different mirror.
Katia gets in barrage after barrage of (textbook adhering) magic missiles. Laymon summons a chaotic bolt of energy, practically imploding a vampire's chest with a thunderous shockwave. Dugren struggles with his melee training for a bit before knocking the head of a vampire with a radient strike with his staff. Nicolás plays cat and mouse using the sundial as protection, and as the final vampire sees itself outmatched, runs into a mirror. On the other side, Nicolás sees the vampire call upon reinforcements. Irma acts quickly, again jumping in, facing off with the retreating vampire and its allies. She then turns around, sits carefully down in a flowerbed and scoops up dirt and flowers. Rejoining the real world, she instructs Dugren to place the cog. Doing so lights up the statue with a deep hum, as the statue sends a beam from its spear straight into the mural blocking their path. This radiant beam makes quick work of both wall and the golem's arm, and the mural crumbling seems to shatter the mirrors as well.
Out of harm's way, but with the room unstable from the fighting, Irma quickly grabs some water, and hands some of it to Laymon, with some flowers to booth. Laymon immediatly spots a Baron's Clover, a potions ingredient he has longed to experiment with. Dugren takes notes on all the features of the ruins around them, including the now broken mural. As they go through their new exit, they find the other side to be part of an excavation site. Walking for a few minutes lands them in a hall, where the grand wizard and professor stands hunched over some papers, at first unalerted to the new visitors. Acting as if the golem guide brought them here, the group explains their presence simply as neglect by their guide and flaws in the golem's design. While Barren Conscience seems hesitant and suspicious, Duzy Mozy seems thrilled to meet the students, quickly accept their reasons, and introduces himself to every single one. Nicolás gets an inked handprint as autograph, Dugren some commending on his lineage, Katia and Laymon a ''hang in there'' and Irma a ''doesn't ring a bell'' in response to her supposed famous family. Beckoning his golem with ''come here, Me!'', the professor sends them off with good wishes for their studies, even if he himself never went to school.
The trip back is long, silent and awkward. Back at the camp, the group ends up vouching half-heartedly for Borek, who might still keep his job. In the following days Irma manages to get her father to hire a lawyer named Otto to clean the name of the elven girl. Nicolás continues his nonchalant voyage through education, while Laymon now can experiment more with potions without risking the wrath of the forest guardian. Dugren increases his abjuration classes to one day perhaps earning a spot at his family's dinner table, but schedules some divination in where he can. Katia uncomplacent with only living a measly 2-3 centuries now looks into the history of Stanislaus the Oblation, her own family history from the distant west coast, and eventually vampirism.
Rewards Granted
-1 pickled Nothic eye
An ornate cog of unknown origin
A vase of dirt and flowers
An invaluable experience for a lifetime with some of the best academics of the realm (though cut short in favour of indepentent research)
More fear of mortality
Endearment of a professor of divination and with good relations to the Ironquill clan
Missions/Quests Completed
Got attendance on a fieldtrip
Released a pickled Nothic eye back into the... ''wild''?
Gained better grades in classes more approved of by family
Found one of the last remaining speciments of Baron's Clover
Destroyed irreplacable historical sites
Character(s) interacted with
Laymon Stone
Irma Portia Portia
Katia DeCalthaar
Report Date
14 Apr 2025
Primary Location
Related Characters
