Crystal Academy Squad Opal: Second Year - Episode 2

## Summary

The Empire of Mowen, one of the three major kingdoms of A’lune, created in secret a school called the Crystal Academy. Threadtouched youths could hone their abilities in all aspects of the Thread, and in exchange for these three years of free schooling, food, and board, the students pledged to devote three years serving in the Mowen army after their graduation.

In 1216 A.S., five teenagers attended the Crystal Academy, together forming dormitory squad Opal. Caiteor, Mariska, Milo, Ohros, and Umber became fast friends. Their first year was a blur of excitement—attending classes and learning about their Threads; romantic relationships and making a boyfriend from body parts; releasing eleven devils and destroying a Hell Gate; the death of the dean; giving in to an inner evil that went on a rampage and killed fellow students; and the unfortunate expulsion of Ohros from the school. The rampage and devils had been erased from the minds of most faculty and students, though Squad Opal covertly protected their memories. Now the four remaining squad members had to continue their schooling while knowing that not all was as it seemed at the Crystal Academy. Far greater challenges would face them in the Second Year.

In this episode, the squad made a new friend, erased sigils, and chased a relic off-campus.

## Dealing with a Devil

Previously, Squad Opal had been tasked with retrieving a stolen wine stopper. Taken by Luden Wilde, the wine stopper was a dangerous relic that held the visage of Svsx and had been locked in Dean Cacian's office. After leaving the island upon which the Crystal Academy resided, passing through Inzet, and splitting up, Umber and Mariska found a child who had an arm made of stone. As they comforted him, Caiteor and Milo meanwhile found Luden, who was distraught; a voice had told him to steal the stopper, usurping his will. According to him, the stone-armed child took the stopper from him and used it, petrifying every living person in a caravan, leaving them as stone statues.

Umber picked up the child and wanted to meet back with the others, thinking Caiteor could do something to help the child. Mariska remained at arms' length, uncomfortable with children. Femur the raven was weirded out by the kid; Mariska was unsure if this was her own bias bleeding into her familiar.

Before she could decide, the child whispered in Umber's ear, "Thank you for saving me—Go to sleep." Umber instantly collapsed, which caused the child to feign panic. Mariska tried to wake Umber, to no avail.

Milo, Caiteor, and Luden were on their way to warn the others, crashing back through the wood to the petrified caravan, meeting up with Femur whom Mariska had sent to fetch them. Milo lent Luden two daggers, expecting a fight. When they arrived, they found Umber unconscious, Mariska on the ground and withering from a spell cast by the child, and the child holding the stopper over Mariska. While Caiteor jumped out and began peeing on a tree as a form of distraction—genuinely confusing the child—Milo grabbed the kid from behind and pinned him to the ground, demanding answers. But Luden charged and stabbed the child, which caused the child to wail and morph into a toad-like devil called a silvertongue.

The battle truly began then, Caiteor drawing on his holy power to summon a spiritual weapon while Umber swiped with a living blade he had stolen from Amber, a paladin of Vilithk. But the blade passed through the devil, confused that Umber would attack one of their own.

Milo tore into the creature's loose skin with his dagger and rapier, and when its blue blood spilled onto his hands, he felt the blood burning him. Mariska, still withered, hid behind a boulder and sent a call for help with a sending slate, contacting Dean Cacian. She also sent out Femur to find help.

The devil held powerful suggestive magic; after Caiteor seared the silvertongue with a Guiding Bolt, the devil said to him, "You cannot see me." Instantly, the devil vanished from Caiteor's sight, especially unnerving because he knew it still had to be there. Similarly, when Milo stabbed into the fiend with a critical strike, he was then convinced that snakes covered him and pierced him with their fangs. The devil ordered Umber to run, and Umber fled even though he wasn't afraid.

Caiteor cast See Invisibility, but still couldn't perceive the devil; however, he did see a middle-aged woman with a notebook observing him. The woman didn't notice that Caiteor saw her.

Finally, Mariska blasted the devil with a ray of sickness that seemed to make the devil's body atrophy. But then the squad was on the ground, covered in dirt, in an empty field. They were unharmed and the devil was nowhere in sight. Luden tried to awaken them, saying that the devil had put them to sleep and then headed west.

But Mariska noticed for a split second that they all looked like they were dying, their calm faces belying racing pulses. When she began to bleed from her eyes and ears, the squad slowly realized that they were caught in an illusion caused by the silvertongue’s steady humming. After Milo, Mariska, and Umber all had fallen, Caiteor covered his ears, blocking the hum and breaking himself from the illusion. The Firbolg whispered a plea, casting Prayer of Healing to restore the health of himself and his friends. Milo slashed a claw off of the devil and Mariska blasted him with one last Ray of Sickness. The devil wailed that it "didn't want to go back" before turning to dust, the physical form destroyed.

## An Audience with Uloreen

As the ashes wisped away, three red crystals were left in the devil's wake. Though Mariska was wary, Milo collected them. Luden was astounded that they both protected him and defeated a devil. He hugged Milo, who told Luden that he did well in the battle with that first strike and granted him the pair of daggers as a gift.

As the party discussed what they would do next, they found the stopper, which had been broken into three pieces. Luden believed that the devil had used its power of suggestion to coerce him into the school and steal the stopper. Mariska picked up the stopper pieces with a special cloth Dean Cacian had given them.

Femur then returned with a towering man and a squad of fifteen soldiers. The head of Inzet's guard, Prague Rayzmond had been ordered by Dushah Uloreen to check the area and make sure they were safe. Prague escorted the group back to Inzet, returning the bison Squad Opal had rented earlier in the night.

Unsure if they were guests or under arrest, the group followed Prague. They were led into the keep and met with Dushah Uloreen in his throne room. The leathery wizard yawned, looked away from his sending slate, and gave a gesture of respect to Prague; then he stated that besting a devil was an impressive feat, telling the squad to spare no details. Uloreen knew about the Crystal Academy and assured them that they would be returned to Dean Cacian soon.

Milo pretended to trip, and in that moment cast Message to ask Umber, "Tell him?"

"Only the rod, not the crystals," Umber replied.

The party discussed what occurred, revealing the stolen stopper. Uloreen told them about silvertongues and how they were lazy and gluttonous, but were masters of suggestion. He asked for the stopper pieces and destroyed them by burning them in a brazier. If Cacian had an issue with this, he could ask Uloreen about it.

Umber decided to reveal his fiendish blade, which Uloreen confiscated. Milo lied and said that the silvertongue announced there were other devils that had come with it, which was an attempt to reveal the other ten devils that he and Squad Opal had released from a Hell Gate without shouldering the blame. Uloreen thanked him for the information, saying that the Hellions would have much to deal with.

Caiteor mentioned that a woman had been watching their fight, but had been invisible. Uloreen said that was a concerning thing and gave Caiteor a ring that would glow when people were watching him.

Finally, Mariska said that they should tell Uloreen about the cult of Vilithk within the school, such as the paladins Vivian and Amber, who claimed to be part of the Order of Righteous Might. They also mentioned the expelled student Tiffany Zetna, another paladin who had been a double-agent, not actually working with Vilithk. Umber had taken the fiendish sword from Amber. In the end, they also revealed that the school had previously had a Hell Gate, in which Amber had been eaten by the silvertongue and from which eleven devils had escaped.

Uloreen hadn't known about any of that—the cult, the Hell Gate, the deaths; it had all been hidden from him. The wizard summoned Inzet’s guard and declared that it was time to take a trip to the Crystal Academy.