[Game Thread] Pop Quiz

[admiral squish]

As you push through the massive gates of Morgrave’s front entrance, the first thing that strikes you is the sound. Dozens of hopefuls mill about in the huge room, chattering to each other, the echo of the room making the whole place reverberate with the sound of voices. The clatter of armor and the sound of boots on stone, the clear, sharp sound of weapons being sharpened and inspected complementing the chatter and raising quite the ungodly din in the huge room.

The room itself is richly decorated, with huge, sprawling carvings on almost every surface. On one wall, an arcanist flings powerful, arcane magic at an ancient dragon. Another, sprawling vines choke an entrance as a band of relic hunters seek entrance to some long-forgotten tomb. A third bears a scene of a student hunkered down, a wide array of arcane implements at his fingertips as he inspects some manner of artifact. On the ceiling, there’s a squared-off spiral from the center framed with a molding of raised stone, filled with a long string of text in draconic, the school’s motto, if the plaque near the door it to be believed.

As the hopeful applicants milled and chattered, the in was tremendous. But suddenly, a single, sharp tap, like metal on stone cut through the roar, and the hopefuls fell silent. Another tap, and all the head turned to view as a redheaded dwarf woman strode from the faculty office and towards the raised platform on the far wall from the door. She was clad in simple white robes with black accents. Her hair was braided and pulled up into a tight bun atop her head, and a circlet of woven silver rested on her brow. The tap sounded again, and it was collectively realized the assembled that it was something to do with her footwear. As she ascended the steps, you see how, as glimpses of steel-shod boots are visible under the hem of her robes.

She strode confidently across the stage and surveyed the crowd as she stepped behind the podium, which sank automatically to adjust to her height. She cast one more glance before she began to speak. “Good morning, hopefuls!” She began. “You all know why you’re here. You all seek to join the acquisitions department of Morgrave University. And the smart ones among you know not all of you will be accepted. So, before we go any further in the process, we have a mission for you all, a test to ensure you all have what it takes to be faculty here at the prestigious Morgrave University.” She redhead said with a sly smirk.

“The city sewers are a dangerous place, but nothing compared to what you will face if accepted to the department. And so, twelve warforged staff members are milling about below the city. They’ve been instructed to avoid contact with anyone wandering the sewers, and if they are cornered, to activate these.” She mentioned, holding up a golden disk the size of an orange with six wings forged of the finest gold filigree. “These are your objective. They’re small, they’re fast, they fly, and their only purpose in existence is to return to me as fast as possible. If it reaches me of it‘s own power, you’ve failed. Bring me one of these in the next 24 hours, and you will be recognized as a Morgrave staff member. I don’t care how it gets here, as long as it’s intact when you get it here, and in your possession.” The dwarf woman explained. “The test begins at high noon. I’ll be answering your questions until then.” She added, a wicked gleam in her eye, her voice still deceptively cheerful. The massive magical clock behind her was gesturing the time, only thirty minutes to noon.

[gauris]

'I thought this would be a relic hunt, not a game of tag, well I suppose this is a test to pick out the smart and able beings.'
Jin scratches his roughly shaven chin. he looks at the clock just like everyone else. his oil stained leather vest showed some remark that he wanted to look better than usual. at least his efforts are shown, nonetheless, to average viewer he's another tinkerer who spends too much time in his workshop; brown bushy hair that's growing like wild bush due to lack of caring. some of them are burnt or in different shade for who knows what kind of chemical it's been exposed to. on his forehead there's a pair of goggles that is not symmetrical by design and has multiple lenses. like the owner, his backpack is stained like mosaic with different chemicals.

Jin takes a quick look at the crowd, and puts down his backpack and starts digging through them as he ponders about how physically unfit man such as himself can catch little flying device within 24 hours.

[M_Sinner]

Olrick had done a bit of acquisitions on his own time; they had all been small, private jobs. The kind of stuff that got him primed for the field. Morgrave had interested Olrick in the same way that a torchlight interested moths. Chances are, the moth was going to have a better time than Olrick. He was outside of his comfort zone here. The members of his House liked him, sure... but they were a special breed that held high different ideals.

Olrick pushed those thoughts from his mind. Now wasn't the time to be questioning his place in life. He pushed through the crowd, most rushing in various directions, and attempted to speak over the clamor to the dwarf. "Miss! Need a man bring his own token, or is it one token per troupe?" Olrick knew that his chances increased with partnership, but wasn't sure of the... scruples of others.

[admiral squish]

The Dwarf smiled as she noted the enthusiastic lad in the back. "You each need one of the tokens, but there's no rule that says you can't team up to get them." She explained. "One messenger, one staff position. That's how it goes. You can use whatever means you feel are necessary to get a messenger, however." A wicked gleam flared in her eye once more. "No questions asked. Come back with an intact messenger, and you're in, it's that simple."

[GleefulNihilism]

Zero barely hears the speech and the questions, assailed with a new sense of confusion as she looks upward. A desperate search for more memories once again comes up short, and once again the lack of memories makes before 3 weeks ago makes itself painfully clear. The squared spiral however raises more questions then it answers then, as understanding the words only makes the situation worse.

I. . .I can read draconic? When did I learn draconic?

OOC What's the spiral say for those of us who can read draconic?

"Um, yes." says the strange sorceress, dressed more like a male courtier then someone going to explore sewers and every inch of exposed skin covered in strange tattoos, "When you say intact, how intact are we talking?"

[gauris]

Jin listens to the man talking and quickly squueze over through the crowd; well technically they were moving away from him due to his pungent ordour o chemicals from his clothing.

" I hear your proposition very advantageous to us both lad, I would like to work with you to be in this acquisations department. I am Jin Louis, a tinkerer from Stormreach."

he introduces himself as walk towards Olrick as he also overhears someone's voice asking how intact the disc should be.

[admiral squish]

The dwarf woman arced an eyebrow. "How intact? Well, if the tokens are destroyed, the arcane message they carry will be lost. The message has to be present for a passing grade. You can clip their wings if you must, but I won't accept a pile of scraps as a token." She clarified. "You could even bring me a whole staff member, if you can take one of them down before he releases the messenger, without setting it off. Oh, I should mention these devices automatically detach and come to me if you destroy the warforged carrying them, so be gentle with our scholars." She added.

[M_Sinner]

Olrick stalks over toward the man who newly addresses him, his large cloak creating a large frame unfitting of the grace he flits through the crowd. As Olrick approaches, his manner of dress becomes more apparent, all bunches of leather and chain and cloth and grit. He seems to have had his fair share of tasks like this, but manages to keep himself clean enough that he doesn't stink the place up. Olrick reaches the man, and begins talking with him quietly, and the sound of the room stops anyone else from hearing.

OOC For the record, I can see all secret text. I do my best to avoid reading things, and have had enough practice not to metagame, but if anyone's worried about this, please use Spoiler Tags inside of the secret text. Also, my character speaks draconic, so I have no qualms with reading that latest one.

[gauris]

"Ah, a man with adventure so you seem, we should cooperate to produce maximum efficiency of our skills to retrieve those discs. Since its a flying object all you need is some way to prevent it from flying." Jin states with his small hand gestures of drawing a small circle then flapping his hands. then he draws a thick book that resembles closely to a wizard's book; except that the context is full of schematics of some sort.

[admiral squish]

[StrawDog]

As Garrick looked at all the taller folk around him in the room he realized that some that could fly would have an easy time avoiding his grasp, even if he were jumping. He would also be incredibly lucky if he managed to shoot the wings off with his bow. So teaming up must be the venue to take... And as Garrick finished this thought he saw two humans chatting as the crowd cleared.

Well there's only one way to team up and that's by asking. He thought as he resolved to go over and seek "help" in the form of working together.

Well hello there gentlemen. Seems like it will be harder to get these than that time my uncle's clawfoot chicks got out of the pen. Now I don't want to seem needy, but it may be easier to collect several of these things together as opposed to one by yourself. I'm Garrick Envictos by the way, a pleasure to meet you. He said as he looked up at Jin and Orlick.

[M_Sinner]

Olrick looked over the plans with a fleeting eye, the schematics and equations far beyond his realm of expertise. He was interrupted by the presence of the newest interested member, a halfling-- much more pleasant than the usual specimen. Olrick forced a sardonic grin, lifting his head high in exasperation and allowing his matted head of brown locks fall down around him.

Olrick was very keenly aware of the intense competition for this post, and thought it ridiculous that a large group of people could agree on who would keep the treasure in the case of "one too few" tokens. With a wistful whisper to the other two, he said "Perhaps we can talk as we walk, gentlemen. I'd hate to get caught up in the rush later on..." As he did so, he began walking towards the doors to the hall, intent on finding the entrance to the sewers. Olrick was a man of action, and intended to use it to his advantage... before someone else used it to theirs. A quick motion of the hand indicated to the two he had been talking to (Garrick and Jin) that he wanted them to follow.

[GleefulNihilism]

Zero thinks about it for a moment and can't help but smile. The idea of the university being so casual with this lives of Warforged she certainly doesn't like, but now doesn't seem like the best place for to discuss that. Probably wouldn't listen to a mystery sorcoress with no past anyway.

No, the sewers is where Zero could protest the most. Feeling that she's got all the information she needs, she heads toward the door to see that others have a similiar idea.

"Well, seems I'm not the only one who wanted to get an early lead. The name is Zero, at least for now. Who are all of you?"

[Rahzeil]

: listened to the speech and then grinned earnestly. Any onlooker could not possibly expect the innerworkings of the halfling's mind. Of course not everyone gets in, who would be dumb enough to think otherwise. This isnt a charity... He glanced around the room until he found the biggest, dumbest looking mooch in the entire congregation. Bingo! he thought almost subconceously. Slipping under the taller creatures with ease until he reached the desired prospect. "Excuse me, but my name is Sammy Archmouth and you my friend seem like the kind of person that understands the value of teamwork. Care to team up for greater profit?"

[admiral squish]

As you approach the doors, you see them close, a par of heavy iron bars securing the solid doors. The Dwarf commented. "I'm sorry, the doors remain closed until high noon. To ensure the fairness of the competiton, you see." She explained, then turned her attention back to the crowd at large. Fifteen minutes left to noon, according to the clock behind her. "Any more questions? After this, you'll have to make do with what you know. I will not be answering further questions afterwards."