Shattered Star

After an hour or so Cade finds his concentration suddenly broken by a knock on his door. Before he can even contemplate getting up to answer it, the door swings open. This of course can mean only one thing. ”Hey Cade!” Risiki, a pink-haired gnome woman, says as she walks in. ”I didn’t need my magic to predict you’d be face first in a book. You go disappearing for a few days and you don’t even come say hi when you get back?”

Risiki hops up onto Cade’s desk and gives him a false puppy dog look. ”Don’t you care about your poor university pals?” she says mockingly.

"I guess," Anastasia grunts. "It would be kind of impressive if you weren't used to it."

Cade is at first shocked as his door is kicked in, then mellows into dull surprise as Risiki waltzes in and hops up onto his desk.  "Yes, well," he responds, "I was... busy.  There was a..." he hesitates as he fumbles with his glasses, "...a research party that went to investigate the portion of the Irespan that opened up after the recent earthquake, you see.  Very short notice, quite important.  Asked for a Thassilonian expert so I left to assist them."

”Still spending more time chasing history than living in the present, eh?” Alan says as he enters the room. He’s a human man a bit taller than Cade with red hair and a well trimmed beard. ”Sorry I couldn’t keep Risky from barging in. She rushed off ahead of me. In all honesty I’d be quite excited to hear about your discoveries.”

"Oh, both of you would not believe what was in there!" Cade replies excitedly above Risiki's exasperated sigh.  "There were statues depicting the former Runelord of Wrath Alaznist everywhere!  I have never seen so many statues so well preserved!  And the murals--by the gods the murals!  Not only were there examples of Thassilonian art styles, but there was a depiction of the Runelord before Alaznist--Thybidos!"  He pauses as he looks at his two friend's blank expressions before enthusiastically repeating himself.  "Thybidos!"

Alan nods and smiles. ”Sounds exciting. Maybe you should calm down though and explain a little better so us scholars of non-historical topics can understand you.”

Risky gives Cade a wry smile. ”You’re out-dweebing nerds.”

Naomi thinks for a moment. "I don't know how traditional it is, I'm afraid I'm not familiar with Dwarven lands, but there is a good Dwarven-run place down on the Dockway," She says after a moment.

"Sounds good to me, though probably can't beat my ma's cooking" Ali grins, "I'll treat us"

Cade sighs as he runs a hand through his hair.  "Perhaps you're right," he admits.  "Let me instead start from the beginning."  From there, Cade gives them a short summary of his adventure so far; from being called by Lady Heidmarch herself to the group's investigation in the Underbridge and their foray into the Crow.  Notably, he makes no mention of the Shards and their encounters with the Tower Girls, instead simply saying they were looking for an "important relic" and "met resistance" when they arrived at the Crow.

Alan looks at Risky after the story and then back to Cade. Risky wipes an imaginary tear from her eye and states ”Looks like our little evoker friend is all grown up. He’s gonna start adventuring with the big boys.”

”Are you really gonna leave, Cade?” Alan asks. ”This seems like the kind of opportunity you just can’t pass up. I mean it’s definitely dangerous, but recovering a Thassilonian artifact seems like the perfect material for a thesis, or honestly more like a major historical and magical tome. The kind of book scholars will talk of for centuries to come.”

"Exactly!" Cade agrees with Alan.  "Though, I will most likely have to run this by Professor Dellum before I can begin working on a thesis in earnest.  He has been rather strict with his application requirements for evokers, so even this may not be enough to allow my research..."

”Well you said Alaznist was all over this place, right?” Alan asks. ”Bring Dellum some proof that this could further our understanding of evocation magic. The Runelords, if I recall correctly, were masters of their field. If he sees something they produced there’s no way he denies that thesis proposal.”

"Yes..." Cade mutters as he mulls this over.  "...yes, you're right!" he finally exclaims as he stands from his chair.  "If I can show the Professor proof of Thassilonian evocation, then he'd have no other option but to allow my research!"  Cade pauses as his triumphant stance slowly simmers down into one of contemplation.  "...But what could I use?  Hrm, perhaps I might fight something tomorrow when we return?  In any case," he segues, eager to stop talking about himself for a moment, "what about you two?  Did anything happen while I was away?"

”Well Vendrik accidentally turned the transmutation class into a giant amalgamation of oozes while demonstrating his thesis proposal,” Alan remarks.

”It was hilarious!” Risky adds. ”It was a big rush to get everyone separated out and into their own proper pile so there weren’t any issues when the spell ended.”

”It was a lot more stressful than fun. Risky just didn’t have to help the cleanup.”

"What on Golarion was Vendrik's proposal?" Cade chuckles in disbelief.  "Is everyone alright?  Did anyone end up in their own... piles?"

"It was something to do with applications of ooze morphology and magic circles as it relates to more successful transmutation effects," Alan states. "Needless to say his proposal was rejected."

"Far as we know, only a few people had some minor misplacements," Risky notes. "Nothing too severe. It was all able to be fixed through some careful applications of magic."

"Well, that's a positive at least," Cade sighs.  "Though I'd imagine the student body were none too pleased with his demonstration.  Speaking of thesis," he adds, "how is your's coming along Alan?  I'd imagine the extrapolation of paracausality from multiple divinations is a challenge to your liking?"

"Well I had Risky helping me out with some experiments when you arrived actually," Alan says. "I had her sit in a box where a random magical wave could possibly trigger the releasing of a muffin into the box. I then tried to see if I could collapse the possible causalities to determine without opening the box whether or not the muffin had been consumed. Thus far the experiment has had.. mixed results."

"I've eaten 12 muffins today!" Risky states proudly. "I only need one more for a baker's dozen!"

Cade laughs after Risky's statement.  "Ah, well," he gasps after his laughter, "perhaps a change in criteria could help?  Have you tried your experiment with other subjects yet, or with different materials?  If you need a subject for confirmation testing, though, I'll gladly lend a hand for a muffin or three," he adds with a chuckle.

"I've been thinking of trying something with a cat, actually," Alan replies. "Honestly though, seeing as you might be sparse soon, I think it'd be better if we just went, got some food, and hung out. You hungry?"

"I did have some food on the way back to the academy," Cade admits, "but I would not mind a bit more.  Where were you planning to go?"

"How about that tavern a few streets away? The one that serves those spice covered chicken wings," Alan proposes.

"Hm, interesting," Cade wonders aloud.  "Why not?  It sounds appetizing enough.  I wonder what kind of spices they would add to chicken wings..."  With that, the three of them head to the tavern for a night of modest food and social interactions.

"So where or who are we going to first?" Meliora asks.