The Fire and The Black: Daemonfold [IC]

[PersonMan]

Irena blinks. "...Smell?" She asks, raising an eyebrow. "Normally, I'd think you're trying to flirt, but..." she sighs. "I suppose. I don't know why my perfume would be in Jerrick's room, though."

Rakinen draws her attention as she, after a moment's consideration, extends her right arm over to Solys, bringing the left to Hardcheese. "Old One? Nickname?" Irena furrows her brow. "...It could mean, the oldest teacher here? Or the Headmaster? I don't think he has nicknames..."

Then Cecil arrives. "Well, this just gets more and more unusual," Irena says, nodding in response to his bow. "As for routes - well, I had thought, hoped really, that Jerrick may have just fled the Academae to return home. I don't know why he would, since he wasn't in danger of failing anymore by that time, and the only other thing that would make a risky escape like that seem like a good idea would be if he'd been breaking one of the Archrules."

Spoiler: Solys

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This is definitely the same perfume. The scent is much stronger, and as such has details the other lacked, but it's definitely the same perfume.

[Hazuki]

Solys nods at Tsolg as her horns regrow.

[Stelio Kontos]

Rakinen shrugged, slamming his journal shut and stuffing his writing objects back in his pack. "Oh well, it was worth a shot."

Then his brow furrowed. "Hey, Irena... I'm not sure why they're intent on sniffing you, but... we were told that you and Jerrick were, well, together -- that's why we're here talking to you now, and you seem to know what's going on, so obviously the rumors weren't wrong. Were we misled? It's nothing to be ashamed of if it's true, at least I couldn't care less. Maybe we should have a contest to see who can try to hide things from me the least, that would be a nice change of pace."

[Genth]

Tsōlg chortles. "Politest way of telling someone to stop fibbing I've heard in a while, Rakinen. Look, woman, you have the same perfume as was in Jerrick's room. Clearly you're involved, probably not in a bad way, but involved nonetheless." he tosses a small wrapped item onto the table - the vial he had taken from the bottom of Jerrick's bin. "Another two questions. One, do you know what that thing is, or the symbol on it?
Two. Are you one of those 'repenting' Tieflings involved with the Dawnflower?" he asks, recalling the information Solys told him about the other symbol they found.

[PersonMan]

Irena frowns. "Together? No. We're friends - he did tell me he had feelings for me, but took it well when I turned him down," she says. "Only ever brought it up again to make jokes about it at his own expense," she continues, turning to Tsōlg before going to unwrap and examine the vial. "I...wait, no, I do remember this. Jerrick brought it to me, asking me if I knew what it was," she says, smiling slightly. "I remember now. That was the last time he tried to call me I-hawk before dropping that old naming scheme..."

The tiefling looks up from her examination at the second question. "Repenting? What - oh," she pauses. "Well, I'm not affiliated with the church, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who is, in here, but I like what I've read of her philosophy. Why?"

Spoiler: Everyone but Rakinen

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After Irena says "I-hawk", the paper covered in poor poetry begins to slowly shift, its contents flowing over the page like molasses, but beginning to form an entirely different set of words.

The page's new contents are a rough sketch of the Academae's layout, with a list of harsh-sounding names and table of numbers off to one side. On the layout sketch, circular routes along the campus are drawn, with a few markings (thankfully explained by a key at the bottom of the page, which reveals the marks to be indicators of 'normal stop', 'switch' and 'always skipped') spread across it along the route. Small checkmarks are present, one next to the gate leading to the city, one next to a 'normal stop' marker near it, and one on the sketched Hall of Conjuration.

[Stelio Kontos]

Rakinen bristled. "I'm glad you find it amusing, Tsolg. It was for your benefit as much as it was hers, you know. I know you don't like me, fine, whatever, but you're stuck working with me whether you like it or not. It would be nice if you'd at least pretend I'm useful, share the things you find, not withhold vital information, that sort of thing? I'm sorry I haven't been any help so far but I'm never going to be if you don't work with me, and you DO want me to help, because then you get your money sooner and as a bonus you get to never have to see me again sooner too. Now what's this talk about the Dawnflower?"

[Genth]

Tsölg grins, his goblinoid features doing that uncomfortable trick of extradimensional space, far more teeth than possible showing. "I told you we had retrieved artifacts. The symbol was on one of the artifacts. If we had gone somewhere private first,
You would have seen it first. I don't dislike you, I don't care. Stop projecting your unfounded insecurities on to me, and look at whats going on in front of you." he says, pointing at the page currently morphing

[Stelio Kontos]

"You know what? Let's discuss it later. I'm perfectly 'secure', I'm just tired of everyone working on their own and ..." Rakinen glanced down at the paper. "Um... oh. That's, um, a neat trick..."

[Hazuki]

Solys consciously doesn't tap her fingers on the table as the group discusses Rakinen's insecurities. She's wondering about why Irena would be called the "Old One", for one.

[Stelio Kontos]

"Okay, so it's obviously a map of some kind." Rakinen said, a bit puzzled. "I don't know what the 'stops' are for though... Could they be oh, hey, wasn't that nasty guard we ran into named Versix? he said, pointing to one of the names on the list; a light bulb was starting to switch on. "So, guard routes maybe? But, why would Jerrick even have a map like this in the first place? I ...

I don't like the looks of this at all."

[truemane]

Cecil was pretty confused by this point. He wasn't really good at mysteries. Not real ones. He was very good at mystery STORIES, especially ones starring him, where he solved everything very quickly and impressively, and just in time to smile at a pretty lady.

But real mysteries were hard. And complicated. And messy.

He peered at the map, tilted his head. Looked back up at Irena.

"You live here, we don't. So what do the guards... do? What do they guard? Are they keeping people out, or in? What would someone DO with this map? Break out? Steal something? Walk around after curfew? Pantie raids? Stealing things?

[PersonMan]

Irena stays silent during the entire talk of insecurities, and seems happy to switch focus to the newly-appeared map itself. She frowns as she looks at it, pulling it closer to look at it as well, once Rakinen has examined it. "The guards make sure things are orderly, and so on..." she says, furrowing her brows before looking up. "They enforce the rules and the Achrules, and...well, that's it, really. They patrol because there's a curfew, and they do their best to make sure the students abide by it."

[Stelio Kontos]

"That's fine, but that doesn't answer why Jerrick would need to know the guard's patrol patterns in the first place. What was he doing, where was he going, that he needed to know that in the first place?

"If anyone here has anything they're not sharing, this would be a splendid time to say it, because I really don't know where we go from here."

[Hazuki]

"What are the Achrules?" Solys asks Irena. She has nothing to share that she can recall. Well, she saw a man take a bun out of his hat and eat it like that was normal, but that wasn't relevant. Probably.

[Genth]

"Likely, Jerrick wanted to be able to avoid the guards at night. Know it's obvious, but bears saying anyway" Tsōlg muses, leaning over the map, eyes narrowed as he looks it over, thinking. Then he looks back at Irena. "Also, after you answered Solys' question,
you didn't say whether you knew what the vial was."

[PersonMan]

"Oh, right..." Irena nods apologetically. "You wouldn't know. Well, the Archrules - those're just what people call them. They're the rules that are most important, have the biggest punishments," she says. "There's cheating, sabotaging other students, unauthorized exit from campus, unauthorized entry to an off-limits area...Oh, unauthorized summoning is specifically an Archrule, unauthorized spell use in general is a minor one."

Irena looks to Tsōlg and the vial as she finishes. "Don't recognize it, except...the symbol seems like some kind of place? Well, a symbol, of a place. But I don't know where."

[Stelio Kontos]

"Well, is there anyone on your campus who's an expert in geography, maps, that sort of stuff? Obviously none of us know, or someone would have spoken up by now. We should go find out. Thanks for your time, Ms. Devold." Rakinen said, rising from the table in a clear sign that he was thoroughly done with this conversation.

[Hazuki]

"Do you, um, have any examples of off-limit areas...?" Solys asks, as Hardcheese tries to climb up the tiefling's arm. "Oh, sorr- Are those wooden?" She asks, pausing in her motion to grab the hedgehog.

[PersonMan]

Irena frowns, either not noticing or simply not responding to Hardcheese's advance onto her arm. "Maps and geography? I...no, wait," she snaps her fingers. "They have a room full of that sort of thing, in the Hall of Conjuration. Professor Wella, she teaches a few advanced conjuration courses, and Teleportation is one of them."

It's then that Solys moves, and Irena turns. "The - oh," she smiles, and shakes her head. "Thankfully, no. It's an illusion. Wooden pants would be...rather impractical," she says, chuckling. "And, well, places marked with little letters, like..." Irena pauses. "Well, like the one I remember them putting on Jerrick's door. That, and a few places you get told to not go - inside the guard houses, into professor rooms, into teacher-only rooms...they're marked, generally, with a symbol above the frame, a little...it looks like a simpler version of Iomedae's symbol," she explains. "Those are off-limits. If you're found inside, it's generally, well, being exmatriculated is common, and you generally don't live long after that."

[Genth]

"Rakinen, sit down. You're still needed, and we're not done." Tsōlg growls, looking up at Rakinen with narrowed, annoyed eyes. He turns back to Irena "Then this Wella is the person we should talk to next. However, I do want to check a few things. First, this map would indicate that Jerrick wished to leave the campus. Second, he is using markings that are commonly used for learning about teleportation. Third, despite your initial conclusion, he did not return to his family. A question then - does the campus have some form of block against teleportation magic? As in, were he to need to teleport somewhere, without being caught, would he need to first escape the campus outside of hours he would be noticed, and then teleport outside the walls?" as he talks, he looks around the group, as if to confirm his thought process with the rest

[Stelio Kontos]

Rakinen looked to be forming some sort of reply to Tsolg, but then stopped. He eased back into his chair, the barest hint of a bemused smile upon his face as he sat, fidgeting the whole time but remaining silent. At the conclusion of Tsolg's ruminations he muttered to nobody in particular "Teleportation?!" as the smile evaporated. "So he could really be anywhere, and have been there for a month, with apparently no way at all to get back or get in contact with anyone unless he WANTS to be gone, and we have absolutely no way to trace him. That's... somehow even worse ...."

Suddenly his head perked up, and he focused his gaze on the tiefling. "Hey, maybe -- Irena, did Jerrick have any prized possessions that you know of that he liked to carry with him, maybe a lucky charm, a favorite book? Something from his family that he held dear? Something you might have given him? It's obvious he still loves you, or did a month ago. It... if we can get somehow get somewhere close, it might help me locate him, maybe?"

[Genth]

Tsōlg snaps his fingers, and grins at Rakinen "We've got the vial, the glove, and, though it was unintentional, the pillowcase!" he says, pointing at the pillowcase the vial was wrapped in. "Would that work?"

[Stelio Kontos]

Rakinen looked at Tsolg. "What? I mean, that's... -- I don't even want to know why you took that, do I -- but no, it doesn't work like that I don't think. I mean, it would need to be something that he would have with him right now, would have taken with him wherever he went. Kurgess would surely grant me the ability to find it, if we were near enough to it, as a means to finding Jerrick, it's for a good cause. If I could just find the boy using anything he'd ever touched I wouldn't be wasting your time dragging you all over, would have just asked Lord Overni for something. Does that make sense? I'm probably not describing it very well."

He sighed deeply. "But, even knowing that, we'd have to be a lot closer than we probably are walking around this place, and it's not something He's blessed me with today anyway. Maybe it's a waste of time talking about it, sorry. I just don't know what else to do."

[PersonMan]

"Wait, wait - " Irena says. "I don't - Jerrick couldn't teleport! I just meant, if you're looking for someone who would know the symbol... Even with that sudden increase in how well he could do magic, that was still way beyond his skills," she explains. "And..." the tiefling woman frowns. "Now, don't get me wrong, it seems entirely possible, that Jerrick wanted to leave here. With a map like that, likely, even," she continues, with a nod to the map.

"But - for him to try that, even with all of this preparation...it would mean he was worried about something worse if he stayed," Irena finishes. "But, well, what would be bad enough that you would risk getting the Academae after you to escape it?"

"As for...well," Irena looks to the letter, tapping her finger on the table for a moment. "He did give me a wand, some time ago. Said it was burnt-out, but that he'd managed to activate it and use the last charge by blind luck as a kid, and it made him want to learn real magic...I could go and get that from my room," she says, looking at the group and moving to stand if no one objects.

[Stelio Kontos]

"What? No, that wouldn't help at all" Rakinen grunted. "I must really have explained this badly. The magic will help me locate a certain item, or a certain type of object, that I ask to find. If Jerrick has some certain thing that he has with him, on his person, then maybe I could use that to find Jerrick. But you giving me a wand or something else YOU have won't do any good, I'd pray to find the wand and I'd get the answer 'it's right there in front of you'. But if he's wearing say a diamond necklace with a sapphire in the middle I can think 'find me a diamond necklace with a sapphire in the middle' and assuming he's the only one with one of those in the area, I know where it is, and that means I know where HE is, if he's still got it on him ... does that make sense? And the more specific the better, because if I just say 'find me a necklace' it'll find the closest one even if it's not his.

"I know it's probably a long shot, but what else am I supposed to do?"

[PersonMan]

Irena nods. "Oh, sorry, I must've missed that," she says. "Something he has on him...Well, if it isn't in his room, then he probably still has this carving, it's of a series of animal heads, corresponding to the nicknames of all the people in a group we had, about a year back. Hawk, dog, bear and shark."

[Stelio Kontos]

Rakinen nodded enthusiastically and snapped his fingers instinctively. The dark cloud emanating from him dissipated rapidly; for the first time, he seemed almost ... pleased. Happy, even, especially compared to his previous demeanor. "I can work with that! That's perfect! Do you have one like it that I can look at, to get a real picture of what I'm looking for? If not that's probably all right, how many of those can there be, but if you do have one I'd love to see it!"

[Hazuki]

"Um, excuse me, sorry." Solys says softly. "You mentioned the Acadamae coming after him. Do the Acadamae...do...that? The imps make it seem like they don't care about anything that's not in these walls."

Spoiler: Knowledge (Nature)

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For the significance of the animals on that carving.

(1d20+8)[9]

[truemane]

Cecil nodded and tried to look smart.

"You are Hawk, I gather. Who was Jerrick? And who are the other two? And should we go talk to them? Would they know where he is?"

[PersonMan]

Irena nods to Rakinen, and raises her hands, clearing her throat before speaking a few clearly-enunciated syllables, accompanied by a series of quick but complex gestures, followed by the sudden appearance of a hand-length wooden rod, about as thick as a baton meant to easily fit in one's palm, with four animal heads carved out of the center. On top is a hawk's head, followed by a floppy-eared dog, then a white bear's head and finally a shark's. She turns to Solys as she speaks.

Spoiler: Solys

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Irena cast Silent Image.

"Well...it depends on what you mean by go after," Irena replies, one eye on the carving still floating over the table. "I...honestly don't know, if they'd chase you down if you ran off. If you didn't steal anything, then you could probably get away, unless you stayed in Korvosa and were blatant about what happened."

Then Irena turns to Cecil. "Well, the bear would be Grenk - G-bear, as Jerrick would say. The shark, Abrogail. He laughed at it for weeks, every time he said 'A shark' instead of 'A-Shark'," she says, with a smile. "Jerrick was the dog, of course. I'm not sure they'd know more about where he went, though."