Episode 192 - Invitations & Infiltration

## Synopsis

The students went to their classes, and worked through various personal projects. Winsler finished his Conjuration class, and found a quiet bench to look through the books he had stolen from the Restricted Section. He managed to discover that while previous attempts to sever a warlock pact had been made, none had been successful as they had all died. As he tried to read further, the books began to twist and corrode, until they crumbled to ash in his hands. He started trying to subtly sweep the ashes back into the portable hole, when he heard footsteps behind him. Looking back he saw Ainsley Woodley marching towards him. Ainsley leaned into him and whispered to meet him in the Old Chapel that night before walking off.

Mira Marchand entered her Independent Composition class with Professor Raethran. He welcomed her, and explained that she would be planning, preparing, and writing songs for a two hour concert at the end of the year. He would be there to act as guidance, but wouldn't interfere otherwise. She asked if he had seen Delnys recently, to which he told her he hadn't. She explained that they had a conversation about the lich trip, and his face immediately darkened.

*"What are you talking about?"*

*"What? Oh shit, did you not... No, nothing, nothing."*

*"How did— What did you hear?"*

*"Nothing, nothing! Just that Delnys— Just that she decided that it wasn't really something she wanted to do right now."*

*"When was that even on the table, what are you even talking about?"*

*"Well because she was visiting her mum right?"*

Elrich looked confused. *"What are you talking about? She was with me all winter break?"*

*"What do you mean—"*

*"I mean she was with me all winter break. It's a very clear statement Mira, she stayed with me at the house all winter break."*

*"But she told me... Oh... Ok then..."*

*"Is there some sort of miscommunication?"*

*"There must have been yeah, I must have just gotten the vibes wrong. Maybe she just meant that she didn't want to see her mum? I don't know, I must have misunderstood something."*

Elrich sounded relieved. *"Yes, I'm sure. Strange, maybe you just need more sleep. Anyways, we can start working now..."*

Mira agreed and went about composing. Despite her mind being occupied, she managed to perform excellently. After class, she met up with Integrity while they had a break.

Integrity was sitting in the Dining Hall, peeking over an upside-down book and watching Bailey Blue. Mira sat behind her friend, facing away from her. She pointed a finger towards her, and *Messaged,* *"Is the mission a go?"*

Integrity replied, *"Go go go, yes, the mission is a go. Go go go."*

*"I know Serinepth said she can find him in a dream, and I think that's great, but I bet we can still find some major dirt in his room if you're still willing?"*

*"I like snooping, so I will happily do it. But I might add some people here, but don't worry, they can keep a secret."*

*"Don't mention my name in any case whatsoever then, because if something happens, and they get caught and put under a Zone of Truth, I don't want it to trace back to me."*

*"Ok, your codename's Swordfish."*

*"You got it, your codename is Carrot."*

*"Wait a minute! I already have a codename, and it's not Carrot!"*

*"Wait, but I thought I was Swordfish and you were something? I thought that like, you came up with one for me, so I came up with one for you?"*

*"Call me Octopus."* Integrity then mumbled aloud, *"Wait, am I Seahawk?"*

Mira replied, *"You got it, from Swordfish to codename Seahawk-topus."*

Mira stood up and started to walk away. She glanced briefly towards Bailey, and saw him watching her every move. She smiled, and he smiled back before a brief look of disgust flashed across his face.

After Mira left, Integrity waited for a moment before walking around the Dining Hall to recruit other students for help. She spotted Lucia among the crowd eating white bread with butter. Integrity used her *Mage Hand* to untie her shoelace, then walked behind Lucia. When she reached her, she bent down to retie her shoes and whispered Lucia's name to get her attention. Integrity quickly asked her to meet outside her dorm room that evening if she wanted more power in the school. Lucia asked what the meeting was about, and whether she meant they would be impersonating professors or stealing money. Integrity denied this, saying they would be taking power from someone who didn't deserve it. Lucia finished her glass of plain water, and agreed to meet her that night.

Serinepth was sat in the shade besides the sweetling. As she rested in between classes, she saw a figure come out of the Alchemy Department. They were wearing a hat with large dragonfly wings, all black clothes, and a students robe covered in various bodily fluids. Delnys Raethran walked back and forth passed the greenhouses until she suddenly stopped, looked around, and scurried towards Serinepth.

When she reached Serinepth, Delnys glanced back to make sure no one was watching before saying, *"Hey, um, really important kinda thing, don't tell anyone. Meet at the Chapel, like the actual Chapel, main floor, tonight ok? As soon as the sun starts to go down. Do not tell anyone about it."*

*"Uh, ok?"*

*"Bye, um, see you around."* Delnys turned on her heel and started to dash away.

Serinepth quickly got up and started following her. Delnys immediately panicked and said not to follow her, though agreed to stay if Serinepth cast *Invisibility* on her.

Serinepth heard a disembodied voice say, *"It's just a secret meeting, sorry if it was startling, they just asked me—because I already know you guys—to let you know"*

*"Ok, ok. Number one I was just worried there because you looked extremely panicked, I just wanted to double check you're ok. Also, I just wanted to get us a status update on like the"—*Serinepth also looked around*—"The um, potion, that you were working on?"*

*"Oh, yeah. I mean, those I can just drop them off outside your dorm room or something, and we don't have to... yeah."*

*"Ok, I just thought if I bumped into you at any point I would ask that question."*

*"Yeah, I'm sorry for not... Yeah, sorry."*

*"You don't have to apologise! I just— I thought for a second you were running away from something, and then you came back, and then I was worried that— just checking in on you."*

*"No I was just, I don't know how to do this, I've never done this before, like the meeting thing. Really, don't— I know the other two already know, but like don't tell them you got invited."*

*"Ok, that's absolutely no problem. And again thank you for the potions and everything, thank you."*

*"I mean I didn't really do that much, I can just drop them off at your room, or Mira's room outside the door or something if you guys want them."*

*"Yeah, I'll let everyone know where we're going to pick them up, it's all good. But still, I do want to say thank you."*

As Serinepth talked, she heard footsteps as Delnys tried to get away from her. She cast *Message* and said, *"Let me appreciate your skills dammit!"*

Delnys ignored her and carried on running away.

The rest of the day passed, and 6:30 approached. Integrity sat in her room and waited for her minions to arrive. She heard a very cool knock from the door, and peeked outside to see a person in grey robes pushing a hand cart. They pushed their glasses up their nose and said that they had some items from Crowe to give to her. Integrity invited them in, and the person brought the trolley in. They unloaded everything she had left behind in Troisle, including a book that Integrity didn't recognise. She thanked them and asked for their name, which they said was Strigon Blackhawk. Strigon left, and Integrity looked over the book and realised it was some kind of religious text. It had a small emblem of a coin on the front and was titled *"Circus Acts".* She then picked up the birthday present she had left, and ripped the wrapping off in a frenzy. Inside was a white robe with many patches on it, a note from her mother read:

*"Dear Integrity,*

*I hope that you really enjoy this, I bought it while I was on campus during the festival. The vendor said it's something called a Robe of Useful Items, I hope that you can get a lot of use out of it.*

*Love,*

*Mum & Dad"*

Integrity squealed in delight, immediately put on the robe and began dancing around in it. As she did so, she heard another knock at the door, this one slightly less cool. Integrity looked outside to see Lucia dressed in dark clothes with a hood covering her face. She invited her in, and explained that she needed to break into someone's room to find dirt on them to prove that they abused their power. Integrity asked if she had done anything like this before, and Lucia said only when stealing from Joan. She also reminded Integrity that she had promised to join the swim team, but agreed. Lucia asked what role she would have, and Integrity told her she would be distracting anyone trying to get into the room and keeping watch, while she looked through the room for anything suspicious. Integrity also told Lucia she would be disguising herself as someone else, showing her a secret signal that would identify her, and finally told her that they would be breaking into Bailey Blue's room.

Lucia asked, *"Who's that?"*

*"The president of the Event Planning Committee?"*

*"We have a president? Isn't it just a committee, why do we need a president? Don't they just plan parties?"*

Integrity tried to explain that the committee did have some degree of power, and that if they found what they were looking for it would help the person she wanted to win. Lucia quickly realised they would be committing election fraud, and looked much more afraid. Nonetheless, they headed out in search of their target room, finding it on the second floor of Integrity's dorm building. Integrity told Lucia to check if Bailey was in the room, and to keep him occupied if he was while she climbed in through the window. Integrity hid around the corner, and Lucia knocked at the door. After a few moments, she saw the door open, and Lucia start talking to someone, before gesturing down the hall. Integrity watched as a grumpy-looking elf come out of the room, lock the door behind him, and leave with Lucia.

Integrity used *Disguise Self* to look like on of the new golems with a green crystal and cloak. She easily picked the lock on the door, slipping inside and closing it behind her. The room had the same floor plan as Serinepth's dorm, though was much more lavishly decorated. She snuck forward, finding the dining room and bedroom. She went over to Bailey's desk, and started looking for a diary. There was a very fancy looking bag nearby that she put on her shoulder, as she began to pick the locks on the desk drawers. Inside she found two matching iron keys, as well as several old journals. The keys reminded her of the set she had that let her into the Evocation department, and so she decided to make an imprint of one of them using some chewed up gum. As she finished, she heard footsteps racing up the stairs towards the room. She put everything back where she found it, ran to the window, and jumped out. As she fell, a voice behind her yelled,

*"Who's in here?"*

She landed, walked over to the fountain in the middle of the courtyard and pretended to be fixing it. The elf looked around outside the window, finding nothing amiss, then slammed it shut. Integrity ran to a more secluded part of the campus before looking through Bailey's backpack. She found a pencil case, an enchantment textbook, and a notebook. She through everything, trying to find anything incriminating, but couldn't. Then, she noticed a small note with a reminder to go to the Old Chapel at sundown. She put his things back, and snuck Bailey's backpack into a lost and found. The sun was beginning to set as she looked over the side of the cliff, realising her evening of espionage was not over yet.

## Trivia

* When Mira and Serinepth cast *Message*, they were asked to make a Wisdom saving throw. Sarah rolled a 20 while Sam rolled an 8. It was not confirmed whether either succeeded or failed, but nothing happened immediately so everything must be fine.