The Life and Times of a Dead Man - Episode 15 - Back To School

During the downtime, Sabrina goes around to everyone who owes them money to remind them to pay. Dol networks and Bosley does mysterious things. Hendra meets with Sheila Highmark and catches her up on what’s been going on with the agency. She hands Hendra a box with two wands. Sheila tells Hendra, “Consider this an investment. The Society has it in good authority that your agency will be contacted by the University for a job. We want you to take this job. The Society is invested in securing rare artifacts.” One wand is from House Jalisco and is a wand of Cure Light Wounds (50 charges) with the activation word Stayoc. The other, much older wand, is of Cure Moderate Wounds with the holy symbol of Olladra. The activation word is Stethus. Zita picks up her masterwork dagger from the store.

Sabrina and Zita visit Ceseli. Her grandmother’s assets have been unfrozen. She hands over 4000 gold. Each adventurer gets 666 gold, and 4 gold goes into the party treasury. She’s going to sell the house and move. Zita inquiries about Barnsworth as the companions are considering employing him. The city plans to handle the sale of the house. Zita and Ceseli agree that they will catch up again once she relocates.

Audrey Rose sells her masterwork chain shirt to Sabrina at a bargain.

The third day off is the Day of Mourning. A somber mood permeates the city as all remember the destroyed country Cyre. Uncle Jonathan Wadsworth sends Audrey Rose an invitation to her and her colleagues to lunch the next day to discuss a business proposition. They also receive a package from the city paying them back for their work on Cord Feldrum. The party gets 2000 gold pieces.

Sabrina shows up hungover the next day. The adventurers go to the University. The University was founded 260 years ago by Lord Lareth ir'Morgrave to be a "beacon of knowledge shining from the tallest towers of the city, illuminating the forgotten secrets of the past." The current headmaster is Lord Morgrave. The University has spent years studying Xendrik. The University is not the most reputable because they have sold their findings in the past. They’ve made great gains in researching Xendrik. There is an unfriendly rivalry between the University and the Pathway Society.

Audrey Rose leads the group to her uncle’s office. He takes an interest in Zita’s head and decides to run an experiment on her. He connects a suction cup to Zita’s head and proceeds to read her. He then gives Sabrina a wake-up pill to help with her hangover.

The group goes to the faculty commissary for lunch. Uncle Jonathan tells them that he will introduce them to Erics Righten, a professor of practical historical application who is looking for a missing colleague. Bella Senden, professor of history of the arts has been missing for days.

Dol asks for a reference to the astrology department.

Uncle Jonathan leads them to Dr. Rightsen’s office. He’s probably in his early 30s with slicked-back black hair, a mustache, and beard. He leads them to Dr. Senden’s office. She’s been missing for two weeks. She’s been mostly working with historical and practical applications of music in thaumaturgy. Ideally, Dr. Rightsen wants her brought back alive safe, and sound. If she can’t be brought back, they at least want to know where she is and why she left. They discuss the fee of 1000g/per person/per week.

Sabrina remembers the name Bella Senden. The lock to Dr. Senden’s office has not been tampered with. Upon opening the door, a rat and a cat come running out of the office. The cat has auburn fur with a blue stripe. There is a faint thaumaturgical aura with the cat. A loud metallic clang comes from within the room across the hall. There is a roar. Zita opens the door, and they see a jaguar with snakes coming out of its shoulders in the middle of the classroom.

Hendra closes the door. The beast charges the door and rams its claws through the glass.

Bosley casts Ray of Frost on the creature. Dol summons Tweetie-Bear, while Hendra tumbles into the classroom. The creature takes an attack of opportunity against Hendra. Despite being blinded, the beast searches for Hendra and attempts to bite her with its snakeheads; they all miss but it manages to claw her. Zita follows suit by also tumbling into the room. She jabs both her daggers into the creature’s shoulder. It lets out a loud shriek of pain. Bosley rams his rapier through the creature’s jaw. It slumps to the ground.

The rat is shivering by the control panel. Dol approaches it slowly with a lunch roll. He attempts to calm it before taking it. The rat is detecting as magic; it’s transmutation magic. They talk with Dr. Rightsen about the rat; he dispels the magic, and a teenage boy appears in its place. The boy is Cooven. He was trying to learn a spell that lets one teleport a short way, and the spell went awry. Sabrina can tell the boy is lying. Sabrina bluffs that she’s going to cast a truth-telling spell on Cooven and claims that if he lies, his penis will shrink. Cooven backtracks and admits he slipped into the office using a potion of gaseous form. Cooven, as Dr. Senden’s TA, was trying to find out what she was doing. She left abruptly on an expedition with a group of graduate students. During the fight, the cat slinked away.

Hendra searches the office. She finds a world map mounted on the wall. There are several pins stuck at various points in Corder and Zendrek. There’s a pin on the ground. There’s a pinhole in Breland in the King’s Forrest.

Dol went in search of the cat with Tweetie-Bear. In the stairwell, a teenage girl is hugging the cat very protectively. The cat is the girl’s familiar, Bluestreak. Dol brings the girl back to the office. The girl is Levini; she was looking through the familiar’s eyes because she was worried about the professor.

Coven gives them the names of the graduate students who went with the professor. Dol asks for their addresses along with the names of other graduate students with whom the professor worked.

Uncle Jonathan takes the two students away. Before he leaves, he shows them how the control panel operates. They suspect the rat ran across the control panel, opening the cage and releasing the creature. The beast was probably on loan from the zoo.

Zita unlocks the hidden panel on the desk. There is a book and magenta and forest green velvet sacks. The note is for a field trip. The book is a shorthand journal with teaching plans and expedition notes. The last entry just says Iron Cavaya, King’s Forest, and Breland. King’s Forest is a tempered rainforest by Sharn that goes all the way to the gnomish kingdom. There are many tales. One unvetted story is about Iron Cavaya, a witch. She has something to do with illegal drug trades.

The best bet is to take the House Orien road along the coast for forty miles and then head north. Taking a coach is 40 silver per person. They spend four gold from the party treasury to pay for the coach.