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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 1200506" data-attributes="member: 5808">Part the TwelfthIn which: the party finds a terribly clever and novel way in which to circumvent certain difficulties, a fact which is endlessly lamented by the DM.    "We had that discussion in front of twenty first-year mage's academy students?!?"    The rest of the party briefs Lira and Dennis on their recent revelation regarding the circumstances in which Professor Alexandra informed them of her difficulties with the Dwarf.  In the main, they take it rather well.    Although the party is generally intelligent, they realize that might not have been their finest hour.    (Okay, yes, we freely admit that’s a bit of an understatement.  In fact, so sure were we that we hadn’t had that conversation in front of witnesses, we spent nearly three hours in real time talking to every NPC in the city before Fajitas found a way to clue us in.)    "So," said Thatch, "now we have to interview 20 fifteen-year-olds to see who might have sold us out to a cleric who hates arcane casters?"    Dennis, still testy from one such interview, speaks up quickly.  "There's got to be a better way to do this."    The party discusses the problem from all angles.  Are there leads they haven't yet explored?  Would it be feasible to circulate Jelliana’s description with the city Watch, in hopes someone knows where she stays in the city when not at the Temple of the Handmaidens?“We should employ magical means to locate her,” Anvil announces solemnly.“Do you have such… means?” Reyu asks.Anvil looks at her blankly.  “No.  But among those who have risen in my order, such things are possible.  We should submit a petition to Bastion the Just---”    "Wait a second," Lira interrupts. "This involves a mage's academy.  Do you think someone has a crystal ball we could use?"    Not ten minutes later, the party is in the Divinations building, having convinced the reclusive professor to allow them to use his scrying device.    Reyu makes the first attempt.  She concentrates on the ball in front of her, recites the incantation, and focuses her mind on everything she can remember about the priestess in the woods.    Slowly, the scene comes into hazy focus.  Jelliana is in a room.  She stands with three men around a table, examining a piece of paper spread before them.  Reyu cannot see it clearly, but she guesses it is some kind of map.      Behind Jelliana is a window.  From her angle of view Reyu can make out rooftops of the city, but nothing to pinpoint the room’s location.  She attempts to get a better view, but as she tries to refocus the crystal ball she looses her concentration, and sphere before her goes dark.Reyu gives a small sigh of frustration and relates what she was able to discern.“Should I try?” Lira asks.The elf shrugs.  “It… could not hurt.  If possible, try to look out of the window.  See if you can tell where they are, and what they are looking at on the table.”    Lira has never before tried to use a crystal ball, but after only a few seconds of concentration, the room Reyu described to her snaps into focus—as though someone has unshuttered a lantern on a painting. And there, dead center of the composition, is Jelliana.To her right is a man dressed entirely in black, and although his clothing is not immediately familiar to Lira, she notes that his hair is shaved into a topknot, similar in manner to certain orders of monks.  The assumption is further strengthened by virtue of the fact that he carries no obvious arms.In sharp contrast is the man to Jelianna’s left, a tall handsome man who wears a holy symbol of Kettenek over his breastplate.  He carries a large sword and appears in all respects to be a knight in shining armor.  The only thing out of place is that his holy symbol, like Jelliana’s, is unadorned by sect affiliation.  That, and the fact that he is consorting with someone who has already tried to kill the party once.The man beside him appears much less refined.  His crudely made leather leggings show signs of obvious repair and even the silver holy symbol around his neck looks as though it has undergone some hard battering.  Still, it identifies him as an Ehktain, also without sect affiliation.There is a break in Lira’s descriptive monologue, and Thatch leans down to whisper in Dennis’s ear, “Kettenek, Ehkt, and we know Jelianna’s a Handmaiden of Alirria…  Want to lay odds that the monk is a Sedellen?”Dennis shakes his head.  “No bet.”Having examined as closely as the can the occupants of the room, Lira turns her attention to the table before them.  Indeed, Reyu’s supposition was correct that they were examining some kind of map.In fact, it’s a map of the Mage’s Academy.Lira abruptly asks Professor Davis, "Why can't I hear what they're saying?"    Reyu knits her brows in puzzlement.  "If this… device.... is similar to magic practiced by my kind, sound should work…"    The professor waves a hand impatiently.  “You think we let just anyone use our good crystal balls?  Those are for people who know what they’re doing…” Dennis rolls his eyes, “Well, she seems to be faking it pretty well.”    Anvil is incredulous.  "You gave us a low-rent crystal ball?"Professor Davis mutters something under his breath as he returns to his research.    Lira, having gleaned all she can, cuts her connection before the occupants of the room realize that they are being spied upon.  "I could see the spires of the Library through the window.  We should be able to triangulate where the building is from that."    Thatch tightens his sword, and the party heads out.</blockquote>

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