02 - 01/20/25 : Two's Company
While Arwyn was excited for the new students to begin hunting for their ley lines, he reeled himself back, telling the duo to take their time and prepare as needed. As this was an assignment, however, he requested that the they finish visiting theirs and Nessali's ley lines within one month. Ezri and Snow decided to wait a little before heading on their quest and explore the school and town.
First, they introduced themselves to the final two professors, starting with Numblestump Bellbrexilden, a deep gnome who had implanted his brain into an artificial body. The odd instructor informed the students of his specialty in crafting magic implements, which he encouraged the others to consider for their own equipment. Ezri was curious if the professor might be able to use his tools and medical expertise to study her unique magic situation. Bellbrexilden offered that he might be able to learn something, but would need a sample of her blood, which Ezri reluctantly agreed to. Next, the duo visited the office of Raine, who seemed more interested in the practical uses for magic and in harvesting arcane reagents from plants and monsters. She offered to teach the students her skills in foraging and making use of monster parts in the future.
Ezri lamented how unusual all their teachers had been, and Snow suggested they visit the town for food and drink. The two visited the Queen's Glaive tavern, a meeting place for the town's large seafaring population. They immediately noticed a winged woman who stood out from the rest of the crowd sitting at the bar. Choosing to order their food first, the duo struck up a conversation with the bartender, Urshar Frostbrand, who gave them some information about the town. She mentioned that a group of dwarves who had been abandoned by the Copperbottom mining family had banded together to form the Frostbrand clan, who made up a large portion of the town's population, with one of their numbers recently voted in as mayor.
Urshar also knew of Nessali and shared that the youth had an odd reputation. They were known to have helped free the land that was now called Fortune's Calling from a zombie plague at the age of 10. The people of the town know Nessali is skilled, but also very full of themself. While they had moved away from spouting about Yuan-Ti supremacy, this had evolved into a more typical superiority complex. But she mentioned that Nessali was mostly food motivated and generally protective of their "minions."
As the two continued discussing their school task, they were joined by the winged woman who overheard them and introduced herself as Nadya, another student of Everlight Academy. She asked the duo what they thought about fate. The two responded feeling neutral at best on the subject, which seemed to satisfy her. She explained that being an aasimar meant having a lot of expectations about her "destiny," which Nadya chose to fight against by indulging in "uncelestial" behavior, such as frequenting the seedy tavern they found themselves in.
The next day, the duo decided to explore the town they now lived in, heading to the town square. They explored the shops in town, picking up a few knickknacks and baked goods. While in town, Snow had a literal run in with another student, a young human woman, who seemed especially frightened of Ezri. She gathered her books and ran off, leaving some on accident that Snow picked up to return when they finished their trip. Ezri also picked up an encyclopedia of archfey that seemed of importance to her.
The two surmised that this girl was a divination student Nadya had told them about the night before, and looked for her at the school's observatory. They found the girl again, and once more she was especially concerned about Ezri, mumbling about "an inescapable blaze." Ezri managed to calm her fears about her setting the school on fire. The girl introduced herself as Zana and explained that she had vision of the future, but was particularly skilled at seeing the worst possible outcomes.
Comments