With summer vacation over, our heroes looked to the starting school year. With their 2nd year underway, they had to pick their colleges. Once done, it was expected for them to stay in the dormitories of the college they chose, but some exceptions were made.
Pol and Torqua went to see if Torqua could room on the Quandrix campus, by the forest, despite the owlin being in the Lorehold college. At the room assignment desk, they found a hurried and frantic professor named Prof. Sharpbeak. She was trying to maintain control over the chaotic process of assigning students rooms for their dorms but it was difficult. Torqua’s request to room in the Quandrix dorm was nearly unheard of, but not impossible. Sharpbeak was too busy to argue, but made the two promise a favor in return.
Meanwhile, in the central campus, Driri and Iilay took the standard method to room together. There were some rooms at the central dorm that can possibly be used by upper classmen. To that end, the two got into a disagreement with a pair of brothers who wanted one of the few rooms. After some debate, a coin flip settled the matter, with something from Driri influencing the outcome. The girls won the room.
Their classes were set, with the group sharing a class set in the Biblioplex called “Scrivening and Symbology”. The class is taught by Professor Brenneth Blackstone, a rising star in the scriptology world. After the first class, and despite instructions otherwise, Pol tried to go up and ask Blackstone a question. Blackstone told him to message the teaching assistant, but Pol pressed on. Blackstone then activated a glyph that pushed out a wall of force to push the student back. Taking the hint, Pol left with his friends.
After class, at the Bow’s End Tavern, there’s a small misunderstanding as Pol tries to invite Cadoras to sit with them. But unfortunately, Pol didn’t know that Iilay and Cadoras broke up. Cadoras leaves with Nora after the incident and Pol and Torqua are brought up to speed on the situation and the group try to have a nice time. As they’re enjoying their night, Quentillius comes over and tells the group about the Mage Tower tournament. It’d culminate in the Battle for Strixhaven where two teams battle it out for supremacy. There’s some back and forth, but after being informed that Cadoras is planning to make a team, Iilay joins the others in agreeing to the team.
The next day, going to the Witherbloom main hall to turn in their team application, Prof. Sharpbeak is revealed to be running the Mage Tower tournament. She calls in the favor from Pol and Torqua and asks them to tag some missing mascots for the tournament.
The group goes through the swamp and try to find the Pests. During this time, they encountered an Ettin, a giant creature, Ankheg, two monstrous insects, and some other students were attacked by Ochre Jellies, all of which seemed to be out of place for the area. Additionally, on the search, they found a large plate of chitin with some strange scribbles in the ground. Driri tried to read it but, it seemed to be some kind of incomplete formula.
They informed Sharpbeak about the creatures and the professor was surprised. She said she’d ask teachers to patrol the area, as these monsters aren’t supposed to be on campus.
