[Solo Jacior] Academy of Secrets [PF]

[Cowpies77]

After a few minutes of tearful sobbing from the girl as she clings on to Kuroto and curls up near him, who is sitting on a desk and cradling her, Kuroto gets her to calm down just enough to talk a little more.
Sniffling, she tries to explain "M-my name is S-seska I-i-imintar... I just... I just wanted the other girls to finally recognize me... It was a dare and... and... and... bweeen... I thought I could control it, but I wasn't really prepared for it... it was way bigger than I was expecting and stronger and the spell went awry and... oh gods, I'm in so much trouble...!"
The last realization there is enough to make her break down and start sobbing again.
Just then Toff Orlenos comes bursting into the room with Jandar behind (him still looking panicked). The Headmaster looks quite surprised to see you all there, but upon laying eyes at the carnage in the room, his eyes narrow into a glare at Seska. Alexander would swear that she would burrow inside of Kuroto to hide if she was able to. Toff looks beyond angry, to the point he is beginning to tremble with rage.
"Jandar," He says slowly, through gritted teeth. His tone obvious that he's not really asking when he says "Would you please have our guests wait outside while I get this sorted?"
Seska whimpers a little, but Kuroto keeps a tight hold of her. Merz helps drag out Alexander and says to Toff quietly, "Don't mind him: He won't really interfere, but you're not going to separate him from her as long as he's still alive. He's always kinda had a soft spot for damsels in distress."

Closing the door behind them as they left, Merz sits down and works some kinks out of his shoulder. The three people stay around awkwardly as they can hear muffled sounds of Toff screaming at the girl over irresponsibility, endangerment to herself and the school, damage to the school's reputation, property damage, and also possibly killing the three guests that thankfully happened to be passing by when she enacted her hare-brained scheme, and how he intends to make her work to pay off every last copper piece for what she broke, and three times for what she stole to actually do the summoning, and that's in addition to detentions and demerits. Kuroto can also be heard protesting, arguing for leniency on the young wizard's behalf.
Coming out several minutes later, Toff looks bright red from shouting so much, but takes a minute to compose himself. Smiling, he says "I'm sorry you had to get involved in that. Many students try to pull stupid stunts like that, and these sorts of incidents spike around the time of the Festival when students try to demonstrate their ability to do things that they have no business doing." He says some parts louder and looking back just to drive it in to Seska.
"Anyway, I think that this was at least a good demonstration of your ability. You've certainly earned your place in the Breaching Festival, if I don't mind saying. A Retriever like that would've most likely have injured or killed quite a few of our School Guards, and maybe even some of the Deans. But you all barely look like you've taken any scratches. And I think I could spare some reward from the school budget as our way of showing appreciation for your quick-thinking and readiness for changing situations. And I suppose saving the life of one of my students should also be commended. I hope you won't be offended if I offered you 900 platinum pieces as reward for your services."

Kuroto comes out, carrying Seska (who's still sobbing quietly) in his arms, saying to Toff "If it's alright, I would like to take my share of your reward and have it help pay for the damages incurred by miss Imintar. She's already been through enough and I think this is a lesson she won't be forgetting. I don't want her to suffer needlessly.."
Toff considers it, and Kuroto adds "... I wish for your considerations for leniency to be considered the same as my answer for whether I'll show up to the Breaching Festival, as well."
This gets Seska, Merz and Alex to both turn and look up at the big man.
Kuroto explains "Like I said before, I want my strength to give hope and inspire people to be better. To protect those that cannot protect themselves. You said I'm invited as a 'guest of honor', but... if you can't find it in your heart to show mercy on her, then I'm not sure how much honor there would be for me to come as your guest, you see. I would feel a lot better knowing that I would be risking my life so that she would be spared a lifetime of needless hardship."

Toff grumbles a bit, but says slowly "Well, alright. Fine, I will accept your requests. But you, Seska... You better realize how big of a favor master Kuroto here just called in for you."

Seska is rather busy staring up at Kuroto, wide-eyed in appreciation and continues to hug him. Alexander realizes that, considering Kuroto is wearing fullplate, that must actually be kind of uncomfortable. Which quickly changes to not-quite-as-uncomfortable when she starts kissing him on the cheek and hugging his head.
Merz breaks it up by loudly saying "Gag. Headmaster, about that reward..."
Toff and Jandar appears mildly thankful for a reason to get out of the rather awkward situation as everyone heads back to Orlenos Hall, with Kuroto declining, saying "I think I will instead go and see if I can find anything out about the other participants. Don't wait up for me. I guess I'll see you all in the morning?"

Back in Toff's office, he counts out 300 platinum into two separate piles and offers it to Alexander and Merz.

EACH PARTY MEMBER HAS EARNED 6,500 EXP  

[Jacior]

"I hardly did anything. Twas Kuroto and Merz that took down the fiend. I'm just lucky I didn't end up disintegrating part of the building. I really need to work on my aim." Alexander says, frowning slightly. "Anyways, it would have been hardly any trouble anyway. Things like that are dangerous, yes. But between the three of us we've fought much worse." He gives Toff a look. "Why weren't there wards in place for this kind of thing? Or to prevent the scroll from being stolen in the first place?" He looks off into the sky for a moment. "That girl was very skilled to be able to perform such a spell to begin with."  

[Cowpies77]

Jacior

"I hardly did anything. Twas Kuroto and Merz that took down the fiend. I'm just lucky I didn't end up disintegrating part of the building. I really need to work on my aim."
"That'd be nice. You blew up a desk."

"Anyways, it would have been hardly any trouble anyway. Things like that are dangerous, yes. But between the three of us we've fought much worse."
"Like I said, I think you're the perfect candidates to finally beat the Breaching Festival this year then. I look forward to it."

"Why weren't there wards in place for this kind of thing? Or to prevent the scroll from being stolen in the first place?"
"That was just a classroom for intro-level spellcasting, and the worst they would have to deal with is a couple of fiendish hawks or a lemure. A Retriever is simply far too large and too powerful for those basic barriers to have been expected to contain it. The classrooms at the Hall of Conjuration would have had better sealing barriers in place. And in more dire situations, the Acadamae itself is sitting on top of a large ward to keep summoned things from getting out into the city.

As for the theft, there are a host of reasons why she might've been able to nick one, but normally we're pretty good on preventing theft of magic items in the school. Also, it's a special kind of idiot that would steal something so powerful and try to use it. "

"That girl was very skilled to be able to perform such a spell to begin with."

Toff's brow furrows again as he says "You mean 'Semi-literate'? Because in magic terms, that's all you really need. Normally, the spell would've failed and scroll would've been consumed, but she's unfortunate enough that I'm betting it was a misfire. I have serious doubts that she would intentionally call in something so powerful, especially in a room like that. Many of the students here lack good judgement to be sure, but their heads are still screwed on pretty tight. And if she made it out of basic education, then that means she's also not hopelessly stupid."

Merz looks over the stack of coins, takes a small pile of, and says "Eh~, I'll take this as my fee. For the rest of it... I suppose I will give it to the girl as well. Just... don't let her know."
Sighing, he says "I was just sitting here thinking to myself. A few thousand gold to me isn't that much. I'm already a wealthy man. But to her, it's the end of her career. I look at her, and can't help but think of some of the scrapes my brother got out of because he had someone looking out for him. He's still immature and impulsive, sure. But he's also quite the powerful spellcaster now, and that's because he's been able to fail and pick himself up."

Toff says, shuffling a bit "I considered the debt for her settled with master Kuroto's donation."

"Well, there's still some deficit between good intentions and good financials. Use it to pay for that." Standing up, Merz leaves the room.

Alexander, pocketing his platinum, follows shortly afterwards.  

[Cowpies77]

ACT TWO: THE BREACHING FESTIVAL

___When morning arrives, the Acadamae wakes to a single sharp ringing of the campus bells at the break of dawn. The Breaching Festival officially begins an hour after dawn, but eager spectators begin gathering on the surrounding walls and the campus’s southern quad even before sunrise. Hundreds of common folk sit or stand atop the Acadamae’s southern walls, while vendors of refreshments and souvenirs wander nosily and often through the mass. Important observers, such as aristocrats and other prominent locals and nobles, are allowed to gather at ground level among several large and colorful tents and pavilions erected overnight in the quad just south of the Hall of Summoning.

___It is in this area that Alexander's group and other contestants are expected to gather, waiting for Toff to begin the competition with his opening speech at precisely 7:00 a.m. Kuroto appears to be near the commoner stands, where Seska is leaning over the railing and stroking his head while another person, who Alexander finds out is a representative from the Cerulean Society, Korvosa's premier Thieves' Guild named Illia Ean, appears to be rather attentive to Kuroto as well. Kuroto waves over to get Alexander's attention and sign his greeting before going back to chatting up the two women.

___At 15 minutes before the hour, a large group of nobles arrives to excessive fanfare—this is none other than Queen Ileosa and several royal attendants.

___Alexander is slightly miffed when he tries to approach to exchange pleasantries, but is knocked back and nearly falls, but is caught by Merz's large arms. Sneering at them, he says "Don't worry about them, Cross. Just then, Alexander sees the guards back up a little and draw out their weapons, looking at something behind Alexander and Merz. The Sorcerer looks up too once he sees he's in a massive shadow, and sees a Gray Render in armor and magical baubles on it. Taking in a deep breath, the monster lets out a deep bellowing roar. The entire area goes silent for a long moment, as everyone looks (including the Queen) over at Merz, Alexander, and the Render. Merz merely smiles, finishing his thought with "Mine are bigger. Let's go, Tiny. Excellent job. Remember, Alexander: When you're with me, you can act like a royal dickhead. If they give you problems, they can go ******** themselves."

___At 7:00, the bells toll the hour and Headmaster Toff Ornelos arrives in a blast of multicolored smoke, teleporting into the staging area from his office. He lifts his hand to signal silence, and after the crowd quiets, he speaks aloud to the crowd, but especially to the contestants.

Quote:

“Welcome one and all to this year’s Breaching Festival! I know the contestants are eager to begin, so I shall keep this introduction short. This year, as every year, one must enter the Hall of Wards via its eastern entrance after solving several minor conundrums our professors and spellcasters have set up at the other seven halls that surround us. The first contestant to emerge from these doors—” here Toff pauses to indicate the large doors in the Hall of Wards’ western facade, facing the quad—“shall be declared the winner of the Breaching Festival. If no winner emerges by dusk, there can be no winner for this year’s festival.

Yet should one of these brave contestants accomplish what no one has accomplished in over 150 years, that person will walk away with more than 150,000 gold coins!”

Here, the crowd erupts into cheers for several seconds. When the roar dies down, Toff places his hands inside the front of his robe and withdraws a glowing, fist-sized sphere of shimmering light that he holds aloft. The sphere dances and bobs an inch above his upturned palm.

___

Quote:

“These glowing spheres are the keys to your fate and fortune, worthy contestants. This is a key-light—there are seven of them hidden among the seven other Halls on the grounds. Each contestant needs his or her own key-light to get into the Hall of Wards. So find yourself a key-light, use it to enter the Hall of Wards, and you will have your chance to enter history!”

___With that, Toff bows to the contestants, then signals to several other students standing nearby. They aim fireworks into the sky, and with a touch of magically conjured flame to fuses, a colorful set of pyrotechnic fire bursts signal the start of the Breaching Festival!  

[Jacior]

Alexander heads for the Hall of Summoning as the festival starts, figuring it would be the least problematic to deal with, when it came to his skill set at least. He had Kuroto follow him, just in case he did manage to get over his head. After some searching, he found the room with the stones in it and cast some preventative spells, Mage Armor and See Invisibility, and then took the opportunity to perform a summoning of his of his own conjuring a number of celestial tigers.

"Ready? Let's begin." Alexander reaches for the closest stone first, hovering slightly above a desk.  

[Cowpies77]

Alexander reaches out and grabs the floating Key-Light, but it doesn't move in the slightest. Instead, the other key-lights flare up and Alexander covers his eyes from the sudden bright light.
When the light dies down, there are four attractive looking angelic women... with black wings and vengeful looking expressions on their faces.
"Huh. Erinyes. That's... something."


(From the top left, and going clockwise)
Erinyes 1: Draws out a longsword and slashes at the top tiger. (14 damage)
Erinyes 2: Draws out a longsword, then throws a rope at the middle tiger. The rope coils around the tiger and trips it up.
Erinyes 3: Draws out her longsword, but lets out a dark shout, filled with infernal power.
Erinyes 4: Draws out a longsword, then throws a rope at Alexander. The rope hits Alexander, and quickly begins to twisting around the Aasimar. (REFLEX SAVE DC: 20)

Everyone (including the lions) has to make a will save (DC 19) or take 23 damage and be sickened for 4 rounds.
Tiger 1: Saved (Took 17 damage)
Tiger 2: Saved (Took 17 damage)
Tiger 3: Failed (Took 35 damage)


Roll initiative btw.

Initiative goes:
Tigers(20)
Erinyes (19)

Kuroto (7)  

[Jacior]

((Init:+2, Reflex: +6, Will: +11))  

[Cowpies77]

Tiger 1: Rawrness~! (Full attack against Devil babe 1)
2 claws +10 (1d8+6 plus grab), bite +9 (2d6+6 plus grab)
Hit, miss, Crit!
37 damage. Nom nom nom

Tiger 2 struggles, but can't break free

Tiger 3 roars as it turns and attacks Devil babe #4
Hit, fumble, fumble

The Tiger leaps at the woman, and catches her with a solid claw strike. But his head bounces hard off the table and while he manages to n** her, the tiger looks out of it.
(Stunned for 2 rounds.)
21 damage total.  

[Cowpies77]

Devil 1: Two sword strikes both hit, and make short work of the Summoned Tiger as it winks out of existence.
Devils 2 and 3: Seeing how well it worked last time, they both begin shouting out heresy, infusing their profane words with power that claws at Alexander's soul.
Both tigers do their best, but the darkness is too much for them as well and both of them explode in a puff of light.

Devil 4: looking around, she lays eyes on Kuroto and throws a rope at him. Kuroto catches it and tosses the twisting mass aside, and looks at Alexander. "I'm beginning to thing that The Hall of Summoning may have been a bad choice."  

[Jacior]

((Will: +11))  

[Jacior]

"I could really use some help here, unless you're planning on resurrecting me later." Alexander says, being entangled with hair. "I might have miscalculated slightly. I'll be in the hall." He says before blinking out of existence.

((CL Check: +20 ))  

[Cowpies77]

Looking at the room full of devilish she-women, kuroto thinks for a moment. Seeing Alexander pop into the hallway beside him, Kuroto say to the ladies, "I believe that my friend has descended from the heavens above. And you all have come from the depths of the Abyss. But my people... we are of the earth. And the earth protects."
With a nod, he turns to Alexander and just says "Hold your breath."

"What? WHY?!"

Before Alexander knows what to do, Kuroto tackles him the the ground, and Alexander can feel himself sinking, as if the ground were actually more like really thick water, and gets the unpleasant sensation of being buried alive.
Kuroto tries to push enough space around him so that Alexander's not pressed directly against Kuroto's armored chest and the ground, and says "While I'm pretty sure I can take them from simple difference in physical abilities, I figured that this was a summoning spell, so if we stay down here for maybe a minute, they should run out of time and disappear. It seemed far safer. I do hope that the Headmaster won't be too upset I just wrecked his stone floors. They seemed expensive."

Somewhere above Kuroto, Alexander can hear (and pretty much feel, considering his situation) the sounds of angry shouting and of metal striking against marble to no avail.  

[Cowpies77]

Kuroto focuses his strength into a calming presences, releasing a wave of positive energy to heal both Alex and himself for 31 damage.

After a minute of trying to hold his breath, Alexander suddenly can feel the clanging sounds above him cease. Kuroto tunnels back upwards and tosses Alexander back into the open hallway, coming out himself a moment later. Alex notes that the Eyrines were evidently very determined on killing the two of you, judging by the number of gouges in the floor.

Looking into the room, Alexander sees the one Key-Light still floating above the desk and cautiously reaches out to grab it again while preparing to dimension hop again if it set off another trap. Thankfully, the light moves without much effort, and the Sorcerer is able to put it in a belt pouch.

Coming out as Kuroto brushes himself off, Alexander leads the goliath out of the hall and back (thankfully) into open air. Wandering around the campus a bit, they see Merz sitting on the steps of the Hall of Induction, playing with his pet ferret Nerui. There's a bloody sack next to him where he sits. He turns to look at the two, then looks away.

"What's wrong? You're still alive, so... Didn't get a key-light?"

Merz snorts as he pulls out the glowing light and says "I went in and was searching the building for the Key-light, and I smelled a dwarf also lurking around. I found the room first, but decided to let him go and try for it first so that I could see what I was dealing with."

"And that's... bad?"

"Well, he touched it, then got frozen, baked, electrocuted, then melted into a puddle of goo. So I worked out a strategy to dodge them, went up to set it off again, and the stupid thing didn't go off." Folding his arms as the ferret rests in his lap, Merz says "I intend to show off my superiority, and refuse to accept something like this instead. So I'm sitting here and I figured I'd give it an hour to reset. That's all that's left of the dwarf." Merz points to the bloody sack next to him. "Can't send a dwarf in to do a real man's job afterall."

"Hmm. I'll take it then, I guess." Merz looks at Kuroto and raises an eyebrow. "Waste not, want not." Handing the key-light to Nerui, the ferret goes and scales Mt. Kuroto as he stands there awkwardly.  

[Jacior]

After they come to the surface, Alexander is grumbling. "Twice now! First I missed my disintegration spell and now I'm being walloped on by, what, devils? I don't know, probably immune to fire either way." He dusts himself off, invisible dust of course, just a show for himself. "Let's go back to dungeon delving, this magic school is for wizards." He harumphs and takes the stone, following Kuroto.

"You're upset because you didn't get zapped first."[/green] Alexander says with some enthusiasm. "Don't worry, I can zap you if you like." He cocks his head to the side and furrows his brow. "Am I always in a better mood when I'm outside? Weird. Anyway, I'm going to go take a look at the Hall of Seeing. That should hopefully be an easy one. Anyone want to come with?"  

[Cowpies77]

Jacior

"Am I always in a better mood when I'm outside? Weird. Anyway, I'm going to go take a look at the Hall of Seeing. That should hopefully be an easy one. Anyone want to come with?"

Kuroto and Merz look at each other, then shrug. Merz gets up and says "Eh, sure. What the hell."

After a short exchange with a confident Maganar, Merz seems determined to get a key-light ASAP and the party heads over to the Hall of Seeing.

The hall isn't very hard to find, taking only ~2 minutes or so. Upon entering, this is what they see:
The two long hallways meet in a 15-foot-diameter circular room with a domed ceiling above. The walls of this room between the four hallways are decorated with several tall mirrors—the orange key-light appears to float 4 feet off the ground in the center of the room, but only in the reflections in the mirrors, not in the room itself.

Kuroto and Merz look at the mirrors, then at the empty space in the center of the room, then back at the mirrors.
"I ******** HATE magic. Just throwing that out there."