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It was, Ulos thought, not the best weekend.

The Parrot's Perch was a terrible place to study, so he had gone to the library to study the exam material alone. He had tried tutoring Abraham and Madavian earlier, but the entire thing had been a disaster. He couldn't focus quite enough to teach properly - reading and internalising material was one thing, but dealing with constant questions and interruptions was quite another. In the end, they'd simply abandoned the session and the two had studied on their own.

Roll 32 + 29 Magical Theory = 61. 150% of Magical Bonus added to eventual exam score. Current Theory Exam Score = 29 * 11.5 = 334.

It had not been the worst session, but also not the best. It was difficult to say more than that. Ulos knew how the exam was likely to be structured - the advantages came not just from raw skill, but memorizing things likely to be tested to be able to get them down onto paper more quickly.

After half a day he decided to go talk to Inukar. He'd been inclined to leave it to Edward at first, but Inukar might take it even worse.

Roll 40 + 29 Magical Theory + 10 Cha = 79. One-step success. Relationship degradation stopped temporarily. Will begin to fall over time as Ulos starts to work with Edward next term.

He had needed to wait for nearly an hour to see Inukar. He was sure the man wasn't busy, just unhappy. Eventually, Inukar invited him into his office. It was cleaner than Ulos had seen it before, papers put away and blackboards meticulously wiped clean.

Inukar looked him up and down.

"What did you want to say, Ulos?"

"I... it doesn't have to be forever."

Of all the things Inukar had expected, it looked like that had not been one of them.

"What?"

"I'm working with Edward. I know you think what he's doing is unduly risky, or stupid. But he's brilliant and driven, and I'm only driven. I'm not as smart as you or Edward. I'm not as rich as my friends. I don't have great magical reserves. I know you think what I'm doing isn't wise, but I don't have so many good choices, Senior Mage."

Inukar frowned at that.

"You could be excellent, Ulos. You're comparing yourself to who may well one day be considered the greatest magical talent of his generation - at least the best in the school - and pushing yourself because you don't measure up? It's not the worst thing to not be exceptional. You don't need to push yourself ridiculously, to take risks. You can be safe and learn and grow that way. I know you're from the Empire, and I don't know how you got here, but if I had to assume it'd some necromancer's favour, right? Someone who sent you off to go get information and come back and help them become more powerful?"

Ulos almost snorted. Inukar really didn't grasp at all how the Empire worked.

"Still, you could do well enough here. You don't need to be astounding, just.. good. You have the talent and the drive, and, yes, the intelligence, to be a good student. Is it so bad to be in the top 10 or 5%, and not among the rarefied few who make a great name for themselves?"

Ulos thought of the pain from the Ghost Lotus Tea, thought of the memory of his flesh being sliced open, of searing agony as runes were carved into his bones.

"I'm sorry."

"Ulos."

"I'm... sorry. I can't explain, but I have to do this."

Inukar looked over at him.

"Ok. Just..."

The older man seemed to be struggling for words.

"If Edward gets too stupid, too dangerous, takes too many risks. Come and see me. I won't judge you, won't blame you for it."

Ulos's face took on a half-smile. It cost him nothing to promise, and... he didn't know exactly what Edward was doing. Why not promise? Too many risks seemed implausible to him, but if Edward truly did demand unreasonably dangerous tasks in return for tutelage, it cost him nothing to take the out.

"I will, Inukar. I mean, Mage Inukar."

Inukar smiled, but it was a wan sort of thing that didn't reach his eyes.

"You can go. I'm sorry, but I have a lot to do as I prepare for exams."

Ulos nodded, stood, and left.

- - - - -

Sunday he sought out the Key Miranova mentioned.

Roll 40. Found 1 Part of the Key (vs DC 10). Roll 20 above DC, roll for Part 2. Roll 37 vs DC 30. Found Locations 1 and 2 of the Key.

Roll to solve puzzles. Rolled 28. No puzzles solved yet.

The first part was incredibly simple, he realised. Miranova had hidden a message from a Spirit outside the classroom. It was really as simple as using the same technique to speak to a Spirit in class - he suspected it was somehow the same Spirit - and listening to it. It actually spoke fairly simply, and gave six short puzzles to solve, each of which led to a location. He wagered for a moment that might actually be the Spirit they were to give their answer to, it didn't seem unlike Miranova to frustrate her students by hiding the final goal in plain sight.

It made sense - each clue would lead to the other five in some way, and finding more made it easier to find more. One was a small series of what looked like iron half-hoops entrenched in the soil in some sort of mazelike procession, and the second was a seat sitting in the middle of nowhere, but was impossible to see until you got within two or three metres of it.

They weren't especially complicated, but the first one seemed to require some sort of meditation, seeing the flows of mana rather than simple knowledge. Ulos sat down, but the lingering effects of the Tea made it incredibly difficult to focus, and in the end he simply failed.

The weekend ended, finally. It wasn't until Monday that his relentless headache finally ceased for good, and he felt like himself again. Two weeks. Then the exam period, then two weeks of break.

He frowned at that. He'd need to find some way to occupy his time - he certainly wasn't going to waste it.

You presently have 2 Willpower. 2 Willpower is locked behind your Locked Action, Tutoring Session: Magical Theory. 1 Willpower is locked behind Tutor Your Friends, giving Ulos a total of 2 Willpower per week. The pool regenerates after next turn.

Ulos will take 4 Actions, but one of these is locked in as Tutoring Sessions: Magical Theory. You cannot unlock this without abandoning the Tutoring Sessions entirely. As such, only 3 Actions will be taken from this list.

Newly Unlocked Actions:

None at the moment.

Temporary/One-Off Actions:

[ ] Craft the Magical Map - The design is done, so it's time to get a'craftin'! DC 85. Currently Henrietta will be the primary crafter, adding +20 to the attempt to craft the map. Willpower Upgrade - gain a second roll.

Exam Actions:

[ ] Exam Prep (Subject) - Begin exam preparations! DC 20/40/80/100/1?? vs relevant skill. This only increases your exam results and has no associated Training Roll or other benefit. Willpower Upgrade - gain a second roll.

[ ] Six Parts to the Key - Start searching for Miranova's hidden challenges. DC ???. Can be taken multiple times. Willpower Upgrade - every failed roll (not including rerolls) is rerolled.

Offensive/Defensive Actions:

[ ] Scout out your Rivals - Pretty standard. Go spy on your enemies. Roll vs your Rival's roll to avoid being scouted. If you beat their Roll, gain +20 on all Actions against them (defensive or offensive) for the remainder of the week.

[ ] Launch an Assault! - You have Itching Powder now, you can do something terrible (ly amusing)! Make your enemies itch in class to humiliate them, douse their clothes in it to force them to miss valuable learning sessions, or even convince onlookers they have some sort of disease. Roll vs your Rival's roll to succeed. A regular success will cause an automatic failure on their next Action. A major success will cause an automatic failure on their next Action and their classes for that day. A critical success will cause both these effects and cause them to be humiliated, reducing all Relationships with anyone who observes this humiliation by one step.

[ ] The Brickworks - Use your newfound tools and knowledge to carve up some sweet, sweet Slumbering Bricks. Litter the walkways with them, put them anywhere you tend to go as long as they can be reasonably hidden. Offers a chance for any confrontation to involve a Slumbering Brick that you and your friends can activate. Slumbering Bricks allow an automatic escape from almost any situation, or alternatively a free attack on your opponent. Will take a lot of time and effort. Roll against DC 20 (-1 from former Willpower upgrades) vs Craft: Rune up to 8 times, or until you fail. The first eight successes (this Action may be taken multiple times - successes refers to number of successes on all Brickworks Actions) will offer you and your three friends up to one brick apiece if they do not already have one, which offers a 50% chance to withdraw from a hostile situation. Each success after that offers a +5% chance for any confrontation on campus to involve a Slumbering Brick, which will offer an automatic withdrawal from hostile situations, capping at a 95% chance. Willpower upgrade - By focusing hard on this task and working to discover the best ways to etch runes in clay and bricks, all Clay Rune DCs are reduced by 1.

Current Bricks:
Ulos, Madavian, Henrietta, Abraham

No bricks on campus.

Training Actions:

[ ] Start Studying (Write-In Subject) - You have your textbooks. Next step is reading through them. Sort of nerdy, but hey, aren't you here to learn? Gain a Training Roll associated with the subject you choose. Willpower upgrade - spend 1 point to gain 2 Training Rolls. -1 to all Training Rolls of this sort due current roommate penalty.

[ ] Relentlessly Practice Magical Combat - Use some of your little magic to practice your Spellweaving. Abraham will help you, using his progidious Magic Pool to help you deal with, avoid, and retreat from spells. Gain a Training Roll on the lower of Combat: Evasion and Combat: Retreat, as well as a Training Roll vs Channeling. This will help Abraham practice his own Magical Combat. Willpower Upgrade offers a second Training Roll for the applicable Combat Skill. Shooting at you with fireballs is not easy for Abraham, who will spend 1 Willpower undertaking this Action.

[ ] Study Group - The Study Group needs to get going if you're going to dominate your subjects. Get your books, get your bag, and head on over to the Library to get the librarians to let you into a study room. Gain a Training Roll for Lore: Magical Theory of Magic or Lore: Six-Fox Pact. 20% chance for Relationship improvement (DC 80). Willpower upgrade - spend 1 point to gain two Training Rolls. Can only be taken twice per Week max.

[ ] Study to Resist Mind Magic - You don't know anything about mind magic or illusions at all, but you figure you can probably find a way to learn to resist them some, surely? Then again, it's an elective. It might be more efficient to learn about this later... Gain a Training Roll associated with Lore: Illusions. With sufficient effort you can learn Skill: Perceive Illusion, and perhaps even Spell: Break Illusion. Willpower upgrade - spend 1 point to gain 2 Training Rolls.

[ ] Practice Spell (Write-In From Spellbook) - Time to practice a spell. Get better, cast faster, cast cheaper. Roll against DC (??? depends on Spell). Takes ??? Magic Pool, where ??? is equal to a Spell's cost times 5. Character gains an additional Training roll if they still have more mana after practicing. Willpower upgrade - spend 1 point to gain an additional two Training Rolls if you have enough mana for it.

Diplomacy and Discovery Actions:

[ ] Hang Out With A Friend (Write-in Friend) - It's good to spend time with people you know. Maybe take a break, and hang with one of your friends. Available options include Madavian Junotrin, Henrietta Aufstadt, and Abraham Quincey. Increase Relationship by one step. Roll against DC (Variable, depending on friendship level). On success, increase Relationship by another step.

[ ] Madavian's Speed Dating Agency - With Madavian here to help you, you'll have an easier time of meeting new people. Gain two Diplomacy Rolls. Madavian's presence also offers one reroll, mitigating any unpleasant social consequences (reroll will be taken after both rolls, reroll will prioritize Critical Failures over regular Failures). Willpower upgrade - Spend 1 point to gain a third Diplomacy Roll.

[ ] Go Exploring - It's a big campus, and you haven't seen the half of it. Who knows what you could find? Roll 1D100 vs ???. Success offers ???, failure offers ???. Willpower upgrade - spend 1 point to gain a second roll. Spend 2 points to gain a third roll.

[ ] Study your Magic Pool - You need to learn to meditate, focus, and understand what is happening in the Ether, and in yourself when you draw from it. Gaining such inner understanding may shed light on your Curse's functionality. Gain a Training Roll for Skill: Arcane Meditation versus Willpower.

[ ] Suck Up To Inukar/Miranova - Figure out what they like. Do the research. Then suck up. Not hard in theory. Roll against DC 40 (Inukar) and DC 40 (Miranova) vs Cha and the teacher's class Lore skill. Success increases teacher's Relationship by one step and future DC of this Action sharply.

Crafting, Gathering & Shopping Actions:

[ ] Gather Mushrooms - Unlocked by your knowledge of the Secret Mushroom Colony. Self-explanatory. Roll against DC ??? using either Lore: Alchemy or Lore: Magical Plants. On success, gain ???.

[ ] Go to the Marketplace - You have money to spend and items to sell. You need to spend some time gearing up, finding tutors, spells, artifacts, items, and more. Activates Shopping Mini-Turn with more Actions within it (including "Find a Buyer" for your items), allowing the buying and selling of items and services.

[ ] Search for Ingredients - You don't know about a whole lot of Alchemical Ingredients, but you can go looking. Even if you don't find exactly what you're looking for, you can scout out good places. Roll against DC ???. On success, find Ingredients. On critical success find a Location with Ingredients.

[ ] Family Money - Madavian would be happy to send away for money on your behalf (or spend some of his money on you and then replenish it later). However, he'd need a good reason to do so. Reason must be written in if no reason has come up in the thread. No Skill gains. Madavian rolls Cha vs DC (Variable) to gain a Variable number of Coins.

Locked Actions:

[ ] Craft Alchemical Recipe (Write-In) - Time to get your Alchemy on! Get in there and make something useful! Roll against DC ??? (depends on Recipe). Success adds Recipe to Inventory. Locked. Requires at least 1 rank in Craft: Alchemy. Requires access to Alchemical Equipment.