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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheBard" data-source="post: 53050" data-attributes="member: 2821">Episode 9: How NOT to Succeed in the College of WizardryTime Elapsed: 5/22 — 5/29/495 A.I. Summary Several days after the internment of the Eagon's stone and the division of the spoils, Martaine relayed to the rest of the group that they had all been commanded to appear before the Baron himself in court the next morning. Everyone made a point of washing and selecting appropriate garb, and special care was made that the fianna did not expose a bit more of herself than the assembled nobility of the empire would tolerate, and the entire party made there way together to the citadel the next morning.In the great hall of the keep were assembled a number of Tavia's better-heeled citizens, including all of the nobles with properties within the city walls as well as a few that apparently lived in the nearby countryside. Before the assembly, Brec gave a carefully worded yet dramatic retelling of how the party members all originally met on the road to Tavia, and touched lightly on the finding of the barrow and the quest for the three tresses of hair - which she claimed were needed to "put the trapped spirit in the grave to rest." She gave simple details of the group's travels through faerie and claimed that they had made some enemy there who followed them back to Tavia and was responsible for the damage to the College of Wizardry as well as the death of Theodorus' servant and the city luminary. She hinted that this enemy was envious of the treasure the group hoped to win at the end of their quest, but at no point did she mention Balor, the Eagon, or provide any details of possession or anything of the sort. She concluded by explaining how the party had vanquished their enemy, recovered the treasure, and pointed out that sharing it with the servants of the Helveti king would help enhance the relationship between Tavia and the cimbri.Finally she produced a scroll which named all of the characters as friends of the Baron's household, and explained that it would be posted in the hall of the keep. The Baron personally greeted and thanked each member of the group in turn, and everyone adjourned for a bit of socializing and general low-key revelry. Theodorus and Nicasia seemed most at ease with the assembled nobility, and each made several introductions that might serve them in the future. Theodorus learned that the new master of the College of Wizardry was to arrive within a fortnight, and he began making plans for a proper first impression. The remained of the group principally enjoyed (yet another) free feed and wondered to themselves how long their good fortunes would last. Ingolf and Aoelif began planning a bit more "rustic" of a celebration, and when the official gathering had ended they revealed to the group that they were throwing a party in two weeks time. This was to be in thanks to Aoelif's newfound human friends, who had helped her fulfill her oath to return to Svear's tomb.Ingolf's idea of a successful celebration could be summed up fairly simply: plenty of ale and wine, plenty of music and merrymaking, and no-one sleeps alone when the partying is through. To those ends, he and Aoelif hired the barn of the Bad Pony inn for the sum of 60 pieces of gold. Cormac the innkeeper was only too happy to oblige the group, and he provided a great quantity of ale as well as a few local toughs to act as bouncers in the very probable event that a fight broke out. Ingolf ultimately spent another 65 pieces of gold (all but 25 of it actually Aoelif's) to ensure there would be ample musicians present, and to hire a number of the most expensive prostitutes he could find. These he instructed to give particular attention to Martaine and Theodorus. The "formal" guest list was actually rather small, being confined to the immediate members of the group, plus the satyr known as Vasto, Magistrate Cyrus (reported by Theodorus to be fond of his ale), Captain Troilus of the city watch, who was acquainted with Zaccara, and Commodus Marcelus, the victor of the spring chariot race. Not unexpectedly, when the evening of the party arrived, the actual number of people that showed up was somewhat more than the ten invited, probably by a factor of 12 or so. In short order, Vasto had struck up an sort of impromptu musical group and everyone who wasn't busy drinking was dancing. Captain Troilus took the opportunity to reacquaint himself with Boris, the head bouncer, a rather enormous orc or possibly half-orc hired by Cormac. Boris and Troilus seemed to know each other well, as might be expect from the captain of the city guard and a member of the local thieves' guild. Magistrate Cyrus and Ingolf played at dice and worked at drinking one another under the table, Aoelif danced like a dervish, and in generally everyone was having a spectacular time. Even the normally stoic Theodorus allowed himself to be lured away by one of the "working girls" and disappeared into the inn proper, though Martaine proved to be remarkably resistant to their attentions. Sometime after midnight, an enormous wagon, large enough to be properly thought of as a wheelhouse, rolled slowly through the city gate, past the inn, and into the city. Though few of the by-then besotted and exhausted revelers much noted it at the time, when the wagon returned in a half-hour or so to stop just outside the courtyard of the Bad Pony it began to draw more attention. When the large door on the side opened and a large, seemingly metallic object apparently levitated itself to the ground outside, the attention turned to fascination. When this object slowly unfolded itself into a 12 foot tall mechanical construct that looked like some demon of iron, the fascination turned to an admixture of panic, drunken confusion and fear. And when the huge metallic figure opened its iron jaws and bellowed out "Theodorus" - most of the revelers, having likely never heard the name before, relaxed, resumed drinking, and watched to see what would happen. Theodorus, for his part, was still busy in an upstairs room of the Bad Pony, and realized too late that he'd inadvertently chosen a spectacularly bad time to break his usual rule against whoring - for the new master of the College had just arrived. Ingolf could barely contain his amusement when Theodorus came bolting out of the inn, still tucking in various articles of clothing to their proper locations, while the two (!) young women who'd led him astray happily called his name out of the window. While everyone assembled watch, the iron guardian reached into the wheelhouse and produced a strange gilded chair, which it fastened to its own torso with an audible click. Then the creature reached almost gingerly inside the dark interior of the wagon once more, and cradled in its iron arms was a wizened, scowling and legless man, quite advanced in years and very unhappy looking. No one present need have been informed that this was master Basil himself, newly appointed dean of the Tavian College of Wizardry. The guardian placed the old man carefully into the chair, and he proceeded to chastise Theodorus thoroughly for failing to be in residence at the college upon his arrival. Theodorus realized quickly that it was no time to protest that the new master had arrived ahead of schedule, and excused himself back to the college as tactfully as he might to set things right. On top of everything else, it seemed that the apprentice responsible for door warden duties that evening had flatly refused admission to master Basil, a fact which had not pleased the old man in the least. While Theodorus was off making the appropriate arrangements, master Basil accepted a bowl of beer from the remains of the evening partying and questioned several of those present regarding Theodorus. His friends all embellished their tales about him admirably if perhaps a bit too enthusiastically to truly fool the old man. Within a half hour, Theodorus had returned to inform Master Basil that everything was in readiness for his arrival and the guardian-cum-sedan chair construct made its way across town with the wheelhouse bringing up the rear. At that point the beer was more or less exhausted, to say nothing of the beer-drinkers, and things began to quiet down. Martaine noticed during the commotion that once again, someone was scrying the group - specifically, Zaccara's room at the Bad Pony. Speculation that they were looking for the spear was rampant, and eventually Martaine and Zaccara elected to move it from the inn and hide it in a little-used store-room at the orphanage. The next day the group was to learn from Theodorus that Master Basil was so eager to assume his new duties that he lectured for 3 hours the previous evening on Transmutational Alchemy, much to the delight of the apprentices (Most of whom rarely had the chance to stay up until 5 in the morning,) and that much to Theodorus' relief, Basil's impromptu questioning of the apprentices had turned out quite satisfactorily. That morning, the new Master commanded Theodorus to arrange for the appropriate introductions, and also attended the meeting of the Bishop's Curia, where he caused something of a stir by not only leaving early, but by doing so without the Bishop's leave. Master Basil, it seemed, was far less concerned with pomp and circumstance than was his predecessor, the late Master Nicodemus. In fairness, Theodorus felt that this was to be expected from a man who explained his choice of magical disciplines by pointing to the stumps of his legs and quipping "If I hadn't been an Invoker, that damn thing might have eaten more of me than it did!" As to what, exactly, the thing that ate his legs was, Theodorus elected not to inquire. Not long after these events, Ingolf and Aoelif ran into Brec while out riding, and she suggested to them that they should contact Lord Vihar (!) who was apparently having some troubles with bandits and necromancy in part of his demesne. She stressed that she had no desire to act as a go-between for the group, and that any commission they accepted from Vihar was strictly between the Ogre Lord and themselves. Ingolf and the alfar bard spoke privately together before he and Aoelif rode back to town to discuss Lord Vihar's request with the rest of the group, though he did not relate anything of his conversation to the others. In general, everyone seemed interested in hearing the Ogre's offer, though of course all (with the possible exception of Theodorus) suspect he has some ulterior motive behind his interest in them.</blockquote>

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