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DROPBOX
This is the mod dropbox. You can leave any questions you have about the game here, including:
❖ Administrative concerns like errors on the cast list, a request to change your face claim, dropping a character, etc.
❖ General questions about worldbuilding and game mechanics.
❖ Broad suggestions for plots, memes, and anything else you'd like to see in the game.
❖ Pitches for character-specific plots (which I love to hear!). This can be anything from "I'd really like to explore this concept with my character more" to "My character is breaking into the Biblioplex, what happens?".
❖ Requests for interaction with NPCs such as deans, professors, and older students.
❖ Anything requiring mod feedback!
Comments are screened, but may be unscreened if they contain information pertinent to other players. If you'd rather, you can contact me on Discord (jj#5656) or strixhavenmod@gmail.com.
❖ Administrative concerns like errors on the cast list, a request to change your face claim, dropping a character, etc.
❖ General questions about worldbuilding and game mechanics.
❖ Broad suggestions for plots, memes, and anything else you'd like to see in the game.
❖ Pitches for character-specific plots (which I love to hear!). This can be anything from "I'd really like to explore this concept with my character more" to "My character is breaking into the Biblioplex, what happens?".
❖ Requests for interaction with NPCs such as deans, professors, and older students.
❖ Anything requiring mod feedback!
Comments are screened, but may be unscreened if they contain information pertinent to other players. If you'd rather, you can contact me on Discord (jj#5656) or strixhavenmod@gmail.com.
Biblioplex Exploration!
Soooo! Helmine, Larkspur, the Strangewayes sisters, Velvet, Hecate, and Yrsa will have headed into the Biblioplex last night, trying to recreate and investigate the experience that Helmine had of getting into the depths of the stacks, getting supernaturally misdirected (this may or may not be what actually happened but Helmine's pride insists it happened!), and being stalked by some unseen presence.
I think Helmine will want to approach this as analytically as possible, so she'll be taking notes about the experience and drawing a map as they go, searching for anything that seems out of place magically or otherwise, searching for obscured passages among the shelves that would let something moving along unseen, and the like. She'll be expecting the others to do the same...but also to take point if anything goes sideways in a dangerous way. That's not her Thing. Because of the size of the group and the library, I think splitting the party is definitely a possibility. If there's anything else I can specify that'd help, just let me know!
Additionally, I wasn't sure what to say re: timing, since I'm not sure what the library's hours are, if it's always open, if they know when the less busy times of day might be, etc. So if you have any recommendations on that front, I'm happy to go with whatever makes sense and reply to Farrow accordingly.
Thank you for humoring this nonsense on day one!
Biblioplex Exploration: Helmine, Yrsa, Farrow & Flavian
🦉 Helmine is able to confidently direct the group back to the location in the stacks where she got lost initially (rolled 19). However, the group does once again find themselves unusually disoriented and confused, and they struggle to locate the exit again. Everyone is aware something is following them, but nobody can get a clear look at what it is.
🦉 Yrsa is at the back of the group when they're ambushed from behind. They take moderate slashing damage. While their companions don't see what attacked them, Yrsa catches sight of it out of the corner of their eye. The creature is large, gaunt, and cat-like, with glowing yellow eyes.
🦉 Farrow keeps a level head while the rest of the group scatters. She takes a crossbow shot at the creature, but her bolt goes way wide (rolled Nat 1). She takes moderate slashing damage from the creature's claws.
🦉 Yrsa manages to punch the creature a few times, dealing it moderate bludgeoning damage. Everyone else's attempts to hide are fruitless (rolled 2, 2, and 1), but because Yrsa hit the creature, they draw its attention. It does major slashing damage to Yrsa with its claws, and then seemingly vanishes. Yrsa has taken enough damage that they are puppeted.
🦉 Helmine begins to navigate the party back towards the exit, fairly confident that she now has her bearings about her (rolled 17). Someone will have to grab puppet!Yrsa and carry them, because their little puppet leggies are too short to keep up with the group on foot.
🦉 Flavian takes major slashing damage from the creature as it ambushes the group again. Helmine (nat 20), Farrow (19), and Flavian (17) all manage to hit the creature. Helmine does moderate bludgeoning damage by using catapult to pelt the creature with books. Farrow does minor piercing damage with her crossbow. Flavian does moderate necrotic damage with inflict wounds. The creature is in very bad shape, and everyone gets a good look at it as it skulks off back into the stacks. It has a panther-like body with six legs and two long tentacles on its back.
🦉 Without the creature pursuing them anymore, the group is able to sneak out of the Biblioplex without being caught. Yrsa will need to be healed or take a rest before they revert to their non-puppet form. Flavian and Farrow have moderate cuts from being clawed. Helmine is unharmed.
Biblioplex Exploration: Hecate, Larkspur & Velvet
🦉 Hecate is fairly confident about where she left her lipstick marks earlier today, and some of them are no longer visible. After some investigation and teamwork, the girls are able to determine that some of the walls in this wing of the Biblioplex have moved since they were last here. Velvet even locates a section of the floor which displays scuff marks from the walls shifting (rolled nat 20).
🦉 Unable to find a lever of any sort, the group decides to try to force the hidden door open. Hecate (18 STR) and Larkspur (16 STR) manage to push hard enough that the wall begins rotating. Velvet (5 STR) is not much help in this effort.
🦉 Now caught in the rotating wall, the girls find themselves pushed into a large open chute in the floor. By the time they spot it, it's too late to get back on the other side of the wall, and they are all eventually knocked into the chute. They fall a long distance at a fairly steep angle, terminating in a straight drop of about 10 feet that causes them all minor bludgeoning damage.
🦉 The girls find themselves in an underground cave which is full of magically luminescent crystals and mushrooms which are covered in chalky spores. The way the crystals glow reminds all three of the girls of halo, the liquid substance which the crime families of New Capenna use to power the city. If they try to harvest the crystals, they will not be able to break them apart into manageable chunks. They can take samples of the mushrooms if they so desire.
🦉 They are also able to determine fairly easily that they fell at least three stories from the ground floor, meaning they're now in the depths of the Mystical Archive. Velvet (rolled 19) is able to locate a set of roughcut crystal stairs which lead upwards, and the group determines that getting closer to the ground floor is probably a good idea. The staircase is long, narrow, and eventually turns from the glowing crystal to mundane granite. When they emerge from the staircase, they quickly realize that they are not alone in the new area. With the help of Larkspur's pass without trace spell, they are able to blend into the rocks that line the damp cave.
🦉 Safe in their hiding spot, the girls are now able to spy on the other two figures in the cave. They are both humans, similar in appearance: pale skin, black hair, black clothing. The man is a little sickly-looking and accompanied by a large Inkling in the shape of a sort of bat-manta-ray creature. The woman is opulently dressed in black silk and rubies. They both wear the badges of Strixhaven professors: the man is a Silverquill teacher and the woman is a Witherbloom teacher, neither of them Deans.
🦉 Hecate (rolled 18) and Larkspur (rolled 15) are able to make out a little of the conversation the two professors are having, although Velvet (rolled 7) isn't able to hear them over the sound of the bubbling wellspring at the center of the room. The woman is reprimanding the man for failing to complete a task for her, and the man is not doing much to defend himself. The woman stoops to the wellspring, dips her hand in, and withdraws it. Her hand comes away covered in a brown-black putrefaction which all three girls can clearly smell from their hiding spot. She rubs her fingers together to appraise the substance and she asks the man what he thinks they should do. As he begins to respond, they move to leave, and the girls can no longer hear them.
🦉 The group can either approach the professors for help or attempt to make their way out of the Archive on their own.
Re: Biblioplex Exploration: Hecate, Larkspur & Velvet
Re: Biblioplex Exploration: Hecate, Larkspur & Velvet
🦉 Getting out of the Archive is a balancing act between avoiding detection and not getting lost. With a handy set of stealth rolls bolstered by Larkspur's magic, the group is able to tail the professors at a safe distance. At one point Velvet notices the female professor stop in her tracks and tilt her head, as if to concentrate on listening. However, she resumes her normal pace a moment later.
🦉 The group follows the professors through winding natural passages as well as finished hallways. Eventually, they come to a large plaza with a grand staircase that leads back to the Biblioplex. As the professors ascend the stairs, the group pauses to let them go ahead. They wait thirty minutes before following. While they're waiting, Larkspur has the persistent sensation of hearing human voices in the distance, just barely unintelligible. Neither of her companions are able to hear these voices, no matter how hard they focus on the eerie silence of the Archive.
🦉 Upstairs, the group manages to sneak out of the Biblioplex without being spotted.
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In further Bilblioplex Adventures, Flavian and Lark and Velvet and Maybe Farrow and Helmine! And whoever else are going to study the properties of the mushrooms and slime they found in the Archive. They will probably consult whichever books they can find on local and then far flora and mushrooms she can access both from the biblioplex (legal) and Flavian's own horde of 18-20 books.
Looking for their origin, but also by any magical means try to see if the shrooms n slime are inherently magical, and if so maybe what they do if that's evident. Flavian would also do some light experiments on them like trying to burn them and drop water on them to see any reaction, and think about eating them but not doing that. (She will do that Outside the library.)
Do they learn anything or just make no friends because slime is stinky either is cool thank youuu
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Besides that, here's what they learn:
🍄 The mushrooms are almost certainly moonshrooms, a mild intoxicant commonly found in Ikoria. They have distinctive crescent moon shaped caps, a chalky texture, and a mild flavor.
🍄 The slime is not inherently magical. Flavian does enough reading that she discovers some blight magic produces similar putrefaction, but if that was how this slime was created, none of the magic lingers.
🍄 It is, however, extremely flammable. It's also hydrophobic, which means like a grease fire, water will not extinguish the flame it produces. Farrow (rolled 20) manages to figure this out pretty quickly, and is able to smother the fire before it spreads too far.
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Lunulata isn't a subtle or socially savvy fellow, so when he hears Quentillius Melentor speaking harshly and unfairly about Myrto's performance, he wouldn't have the sense to hold his tongue and would speak up to defend her. He wouldn't make a scene, but he'd be direct in saying that he shouldn't speak about Myrto like that and how graceful and inspiring she was. If pushed, he may push back and highlight ways in which her performance outshone Quentillius' (if he gave one). Not to be rude! But hers just resonated with him more! Isn't that how art works?
...How does that go? :)
Thank you!
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Bored of her classes and of whining to her peers, Ashling begins stalking him for fun and profit. She follows him around campus for most of the rest of today and into the evening. When she feels he is suitably distracted elsewhere, she will signal to Astra and they will begin their attempt to break into his room using their various skills and wiles (to start with, Knock).
Werewolves stalk Killian
🐺 Astra, on the other hand (14 Stealth, 9 Investigation), is almost immediately clocked by Felisa Fang (Nat 20 perception) as she follows the couple around Silverquill campus after breakfast. Felisa grills her for awhile about what she's doing on Silverquill campus, and doesn't quite buy it when Astra plays dumb and says she just got lost. Felisa eventually lets it go, but regards Astra with a lingering suspicion for a week or so to come.
🐺 After dinner, Ashling sees Killian (and his inkling Doco) accompany Dinah to Sedgemoor swamp. The group have plans to harvest ingredients for Dinah's potions there tonight that will occupy them for most of the evening.
🐺 Both girls were able to discern the location of Killian's dorm: The Manor House, a spindly-looking Victorian house on the outskirts of Silverquill campus that houses their senior cohort. Felisa is also absent from the house this evening, attending at a party at Prismari campus, but the rest of the cohort is home and currently playing a game somewhat akin to D&D in their living room.
🐺 Ashling (Dirty 20 stealth) is able to sneak in handily, but Astra (7 Stealth) trips and falls in the hallway outside the living room, drawing the attention of the Silverquill seniors. After a little kerfuffle which serves as a distraction for Ashling, they kick Astra out of their house and return to their game.
🐺 Even though the Manor House looks small from the outside, the inside is deceptively sprawling and laid out like a maze. Ashling quickly becomes lost in the switchback staircases and winding hallways, and cannot locate any bedrooms, let alone Killian's.
🐺 Outside, Astra manages to locate a third-story balcony which she is able to reach with the use of her kinetic jaunt spell. With a little fuss, she's able to break in through the balcony door.
🐺 Inside, Ashling starts using knock to open doors. The first room she busts into appears to be Felisa's, as it is lined wall to wall with various pieces of designer clothing and jewelry. There's so much of it here that Ashling could probably get away with snagging a piece or two unnoticed, if she wants.
🐺 Astra and Ashling manage to reunite in the upper floors of the house, and do eventually locate Killian's room. Even after they sack it, they don't find much of interest, and secretly nothing secret. He has a lot of books about dead languages, a few spellcrafting projects, and a very long handwritten dissertation on alternate uses for inkcasting, the field of magic his family pioneered. Astra (22 intelligence check) is able to make a little sense of it despite having no knowledge of inkcasting: the field is currently used primarily to create inklings, which are inherently spiteful creatures, as well as for offensive magic and dueling. Killian wants to use it to create interactive magic books which can explain their subject matter to whoever is reading them.
🐺 After they trash Killian's room, Astra casts featherfall on herself and Ashling, allowing them to jump out of Killian's third-story bedroom window instead of making their way back through the maze of the house.
ADDITIONALLY:
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Specifics: she'll explain that she noticed the existence of the room, and ask about the purpose of the room and how to get in there.
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Taking this information to Nora also yields a little extra information. She wasn't familiar with many members of the the recently-graduated cohort of seniors who lived there last year, having been a freshman herself at that point, but she does recall one of them saying that the Cathedral is "haunted".
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Also general question: if I want to say that my character gets some basic adventuring supplies, how much do I need to run by the mod first?
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Adventuring supplies are not difficult to come by on campus, if you have money. Basic everyday objects are available from the campus bookstore. Weaponry, dungeon-delving equipment, or other more advanced objects would have to be imported from another plane. If you have a little money, this is also easy enough to do: asking around will result in referral to Fain, a Silverquill professor who handles imports to campus. Velvet can recognize Fain as the man who was with Professor Onyx in the Archives on the first night of term.