Runecircle

Runecircle is a simulation of a little village designed by Professor Annie Wintersummer for the final exam in her course Basics of Adventuring at the Arcane Academy.

## Description

Runecircle is created out of the more or less bowl-shaped classroom in which Annie Wintersummer teaches the course. As she casts the spell, the seats and stairs of the room subside into the walls, and the lectern turns into a platform with a giant circular rune in it, and a lever with two rectangular slats next to it. Three of the walls of the class room transform into store fronts, the fourth one into a rustic sign saying "Welcome to Runecircle".

### Puzzle and Border Ethereal Plane

Since the simulation is supposed to be an exam, it includes a little adventure puzzle: the town owl, who is played by Charles, has been stolen by a group of hostile simulated adventurers called The Champions of It. To find the adventurers at the border of the Ethereal Plane, students need to get the batteries to operate the lever in the town centre from Ruthen, the Barrelmaker.

If the students not only manage to get the batteries, but also help the other people in the simulation with their problems, they not only also gain Potions of Lightning Resistance from Mips, but Annie additionally grants them Inspiration for the second part of the adventure.

With the batteries inserted into the slots of the lever, they can pull the lever. The unstable mechanism deals a bit of Lightning Damage in a certain radius, but transports them to the border Ethereal Plane, where they can see faint outlines of the Material Plane, but also new things. The circular rune has transformed into a pillar, with Charles inside three nestled cages on top, and the three adventurers are waiting there for them. The cages are in the colours yellow, blue, and purple, and so are the clothes of the adventurers, and the big padlocks with no keyholes they carry around their necks. The adventurers are a pun on the Bop It! game: the Aarakocra with the longbow likes to pull people in the air with her, the Goliath with the mallet likes to bop people, and the Gnomish Sorcerer likes to use twisting magic. If the same things are done mechanically to the padlocks, the corresponding cage breaks. In the two outer cages, there is a Potion of Healing each, and in the innermost cage is Charles, waiting to be freed.

## Notable Places

The shops are sorted alphabetically here, but can be explored in any order.

### The Barrelmaker

The shop, like all the store fronts, is only a few feet deep and has Ruthen, the cooper, sitting on a small stool and working on another barrel, while muttering about wanting to be able to think about anything else. He is willing to give anyone that comes to him a barrel for free if they just ask, as he doesn't get actual customers anyways, and can just do more barrels. It strains him that he can do nothing but think about barrels, and his mind really needs a break from the monotony. If students manage to give him something else to do, he happily gives them two metallic cylinders with a minus and a plus: the two batteries necessary to use the lever.

### The Book's Place

The Book's Place is a skinny building full of all different kinds of books, run by Fjarg, the Dwarf, who eagerly jumps around between the bookshelves and sorts away books. Fjarg has a huge crush on Ruthen, and thinks it's hot that he has a beard and is so strong, but he never really saw the chance to talk to him and wouldn't know how. If students help Fjarg talk to Ruthen, or set them up on a date, Fjarg is willing to share the information he has on what happened in the town: the adventurers came into the village, slashed Mips's wine bag, and grabbed the town owl. Then, they used the lever in the centre to go to the border Ethereal Plane. He can also warn them that the lever mechanism is a bit unstable, and they should be careful.

### The Tavern Bar

The Tavern Bar is a very small place with no tables or chairs inside, just the bar that you nearly run into when entering. It is run by Mips, who doesn't serve adventurers anymore since the hostile adventurers came into town, slashed her wine bag with a sword, and stole the town owl. On the whole tavern, there is a stench of wine since then, because the wine bag was an endless wine bag and is still spilling out wine all over the floor. Mips has not found a way to put the wine back into the bag and have it stay there, yet, and while Ruthen has suggested keeping the wine in barrels before, it is a family tradition for her to store the wine in bags, and she cannot really imagine keeping it in barrels. Students can help her by convincing her to use a barrel, and then put the wine from the floor into a barrel they can get from the Barrelshop. Mips refuses to have the wine thrown away or cleaned up in any way, magical or mundane, because she still wants to be able to serve it. If the students help her, Mips is not only willing to work on her prejudices against all adventurers, but also gives each of them a Potion of Lighning Resistance.

## Notable Inhabitants

* **Fjarg** - Dwarf with no beard but a chiseled jaw and curly dark brown hair that runs the Book's Place. He has a huge crush on Ruthen.
* **Mips** - old Human woman with bright, colourful tattoos that runs the Tavern Bar. Since adventurers came and sliced her wine bag, she doesn't serve any adventurers anymore.
* **Ruthen** - huge, burly, red Dragonborn with a big black beard that works as a barrel maker. His whole life is about barrels, and he wishes he could do and think about anything else.

## Notable Visitors

* **The Champions of It: Bennie, Bessie, Buster** - three hostile adventurers that are part of the simulation
* **Charles** - Annie's familiar, who plays the role of the abducted town owl for the adventure
* **Chuck Breezy** - part of the Wintersummerschool party, a student at the Arcane Academy taking his exam in 136 AE
* **Ellia Forrester** - part of the Wintersummerschool party, a student at the Arcane Academy taking their exam in 136 AE
* **Marius Anavan** - part of the Wintersummerschool party, a student at the Arcane Academy taking his exam in 136 AE
* **Tissa Ouai** - part of the Wintersummerschool party, a student at the Arcane Academy taking her exam in 136 AE

## Trivia

* Gus underlined that Annie is not attached to the people of Runecircle any more than other professors are attached to their exam questions, and that her goal was to create a representation of a typical town.