Done.
That was all Ulos could say.
"It's done."
Henrietta smiled at him. He had helped, observing the runework and such, but ultimately it had come down to Henrietta's actual skill.
(Stored roll 76 + 20 = 96 vs DC 85, pass.)
Now, it was done. The map itself was etched in metal, and a simple press onto one of the relevant runes made the 3-dimensional display light up. Life detection, persistent naming, and the ability to detect in the dorms, the area around the dorms, and all of the major classroom buildings. It was, in short, spectacular.
Henrietta spoke.
"I have some idea for future improvements - map relays to allow it to retain real-time mapping of areas it's not in, and additional viewing maps for all of us. But those can wait. We really only need one, right?"
Ulos nodded.
"This opens up a lot of options. You know, for all Thomas has done to you and the others - framing you for cheating, damaging the exams of Abraham and Madavian, and attacking Abraham, well. I think we're in a position to do something, if we want. I'll talk to Madavian about it."
They opened the map, and immediately named themselves. That much was difficult, as the naming interface was simply a list of letters - one pulsed mana through it to cycle a letter, and then sent a quick double-pulse to imprint the letter into a 'name'. A triple-pulse ended the name. It was unwieldy and slow to name, but the naming was persistent, and any life signature it had detected, it would not forget. To be honest, Ulos suspected there were better ways to do magical detection and the like, but for first-year students? This was an impressive work.
Obtained the Magical Map. Offers +40 to all Actions it is relevant to in geographical areas it has detection in. This includes sneak-attacking Rivals, defending against Rivals, sneaking around Classrooms/Dorms for whatever reason, and so on. For semi-relevant Actions it offers a +20. May offer other, smaller bonuses at various times.
-----------------------
The rest of the early week was dedicated to Miranova's key. The first part, Ulos decided, was to map out all six puzzles.
There was the magical awareness one with the hoops, the seat, and four others yet to be found.
Roll 92. High level success! Found 2-3 more puzzles. Miranova opinion improved one step! Roll twice more. Roll 21, found third puzzle. Roll 17, failure. Reroll 17 due to Willpower. 68. Found final puzzle!
After a little thought it was actually quite simple. He just followed Miranova one day - obviously she'd be checking her puzzles to make sure nobody damaged them. He was worried she might punish him, but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed unlikely. Miranova had shown she preferred taking risks and alternate solutions - at the least she'd only be mildly offended.
She walked around, inspecting various locations. At one point she turned and looked at him and smiled.
"You know, everyone else is going around trying to solve my puzzles. You decided to follow me instead. Risky in a life-and-death scenario, but it shows good instincts."
She patted the ground next to her, and sat down on what Ulos quickly realised was some sort of invisible force construct. He hadn't even seen her cast that sigil!
"Sit, Ulos."
He did.
"Now, you've done well. You'll still need to find the last puzzle on your own, so you can't follow me. I won't let you. But tracking an enemy for their secrets makes a lot more sense than trying to reason out where they've hidden things. Let me tell you a story. Sixty odd years ago, I was doing some odd jobs for one of the Undying. They wanted a few traders in the city gone permanently, but didn't want to tip off their enemy that they were the ones doing so. Or so I thought. In reality, as I found out, they believed a strong enemy was among the traders and wanted to try and use me as bait to figure out some of their defenses. I followed the traders back to Undying territory, using a few hit-and-run attacks on their wagons to convince them their trading expedition wasn't worthwhile. Now, you're a flit, so you might not know this, but the Undying are not the most trusting creatures. If you're a necromancer, even if you have a Lich-paterfamilias, you're still going to hide resources and the like for yourselves."
She smiled.
"I let the necromancer among them find his way back to his own little cave, and looted it for all it was worth. For all you hear other mages prattle about sharing knowledge and advancing together, the Undying are the greatest powers on the continent for a reason, and that reason isn't how nice they are. Without his wealth, the necromancer never came back to the city, and I got paid - twice. The Undying was annoyed, of course, but they're creatures of the most primal reason - unless there's a benefit to killing you, they won't do so."
Ulos looked at her, trying to reason out the point of the story.
"The point of the story?"
Ulos started. He hadn't said that. Was Miranova reading his mind?
"Don't look so surprised, you children expect every story to have a moral, to teach you something. There's no special road of knowledge, no signposted morals in a hundred stories to try and improve you into something you're not. There's just knowledge, and those with the will and fire to turn knowledge into power. If you don't have the will or the fire, the knowledge was wasted on you to begin with."
Her smile grew a little more ghastly.
"Now, off with you. Unless you want to come around for a cup of tea..."
Ulos's face blanched. He left quickly, a quiet chuckle from Miranova echoing behind him.
-------------------------
Solving the puzzles, he had decided, was simpler.
Roll for Puzzle 1. 71. Pass.
Roll for Puzzle 2. 32. Fail. Willpower allows Ulos to reroll.
Reroll for Puzzle 2. 50. Bare pass!
Roll for Puzzle 3. 56. Pass.
Roll for Puzzle 4. 36+40 (Rainbow Hammer bonus!). Pass!
Roll for Puzzle 5. 18+40 (Rainbow Hammer bonus!). Fail.
The first puzzle was a number of hoops. He meditated, and without the tea clouding his mind he found it simple. It was a matter of guiding his ether-sense through the hoops, each one leading to another. After he found his sense on the last one, mana seemed to be in the air in the shape of a few words. He memorized them quickly. Without a sufficiently keen ether-sense, though, you'd lose track after a hoop or two, and it would take hours.
The second puzzle was the seat. This was similar, he found. The seat itself was difficult to detect, and once you sat on it, you couldn't detect the outside world. Mana raged around you, and there was a single word amongst it all. Focusing on that singular word was difficult, but with some effort he managed it. It took longer than expected - for the first half-hour he achieved nothing but a clanging headache from all the attempts, but Ulos had suffered far worse than this over the last week.
The third puzzle was literally a logic puzzle. A series of rods and cubes with holes on them to stack onto the rods. Ulos shook his head. It was literally something out of a puzzle-book, moving the blocks around from one rod to another until they were all stacked on a single rod that could hold them. If they were moved incorrectly, the rod would throw the cube off. Once they were moved correctly, a word formed of mana came into existence at the end. Interestingly enough, the puzzle didn't stay solved - the cubes themselves seemed to be made of some etherial substance themselves, and reconfigured themselves once complete.
The fourth puzzle was more difficult. It was a Spirit, Ulos wagered. An ever-changing maze of fog and brambles, growing and changing. Only the strongest sense of mana could find a way through. Ulos failed at that, but rapidly realised he wanted to go in a single direction, so... why walk the maze? The Rainbow Hammer rapidly tore gaping holes in the walls, and he walked through the maze to the centre and the prize with ease. The Spirit rebuilt the walls after a few seconds, but that was enough time for Ulos to duck through. The brambles themselves left him scratched and bleeding all over, and his clothes were torn badly, but he made it through.
The fifth puzzle seemed to be a guardian of some sort, guarding a box. It didn't speak, and his spiritual sense offered nothing. So Ulos tried the Hammer - it tore the creature apart, which took it badly. Had it not been for Ulos retreating quickly, he might have been hurt more badly. Well, there was always more time. He hadn't expected it all to be so easy, truth be told. He suspected Miranova would ramp up the difficulty at some point, and he thought the creature might well be that point, however.
Four of six Puzzles solved. Two remaining.
