Before you can ask anything else, the Speakstone crackles to life again! ‘<span class="mu-i">Let’s see here… if I was a mouthbreathing idiot, which I’m NOT, where would I shuffle off to? Oh yea… TRIMBAULT. They call it a school, but the place might as well be some kinda’ maniac daycare center–psychos outnumber the idiots five to one, the ‘MERIT’ system actively encourages killing off the competition… oh, and the whole thing is run by that wrinkly bastard TRIER. Steer clear of THAT dusty sonnovabitch…</span>”
“He’s not wrong. Trimbault’s pedagogical practices have always leaned heavily on ‘experience-based learning’...” Oti adds as he dismissively shakes his head. “Duels, assassinations, theft…”
“Sounds like good prep for the mage world…” Shrugs Morook with the usual blank expression. “From what I’ve heard, at least.”
“You’ve heard correct.” Nods Oti. “Which is precisely why none of you should be going there without a good reason… and this ‘assassination plot’, well-”
“<span class="mu-i">Alright, time’s up! Quit chattering and listen to your elder!</span>” Interjects Volkir’s disembodied and disinterested voice! “<span class="mu-i">I’m old enough to know you’re not gonna listen to any warnings I throw at ya, so what the Hell? Might as well lay all my bells on the table.</span>”
Another round of gutteral throat-clearing later, the Durher continues! “<span class="mu-i">Somewhere in that hideout should be my old <span class="mu-s">KEYSTONE</span>--the thing they give professors to actually access the damn place. Without it you’d never get past the reception hall–not without enrolling, at least.</span>”
Hmm, you remark, so if you enroll–A dry, raspy laugh fills the room!
“<span class="mu-i">HA! Don’t even THINK about it, kid! A Maakar would have a better chance! Probably graduate with honors, too, given the competition! Nope, unless you can ‘borrow’ someone else’s student credentials I’d say the professor route’s the way to go–turnover rate’s sky-high for both students and teachers so they’d never pick ya’ outta’ the crowd, but professors have access to much more facilities than students… course, if ya’ get caught you might get dissected, dueled to death, or worse: forced to TEACH!</span>’
T-t-TEACH?!?
https://youtu.be/T-BOPr7NXME‘<span class="mu-i">... Sorry, had to zap a totta. Sneaky little bastard… anywho, ordinarily I’d let you die doing whatever harebrained scheme your invalid brain cooked up, but those academy bastards took away my tenure AND garnished my pension, so take the key and go nuts! The more chaos the better!</span>’
>CONTD. 