Nov 1, 2022 1:36 am
It should have been an unremarkable event. It was only a single line on a long list pinned to the message board in the main quad of Grey College. The list had Thesis Defenses written at the top and about halfway down the list read, "A Treatise on the History of Navigation of the Nyr Dyv and the Danger Posed to Those That Sail Upon It. - Azan Reyneth 2pm Moonday, 3rd of Patchwall, Meeting Room 3".
Azan knew something was wrong the moment he stepped into the room. It was full. Thesis defenses do not attract crowds. The audience should be three grey haired dons ready to tear you and your work to shreds, the few friends not getting ready for their own defenses to encourage you and if you are local maybe your parents. Who were all of these people?
The three dons up front looked as confused as he was. A knot of dwarven porters stood stoically by the door in case of trouble. The middle rows of chairs were filled with men and women with tanned, weathered skin wearing ill-fitting shirts and blouses over worn pants and well cared for leather boots. At the back, the last row was taken up by six kenku, each with a stack of parchment, a set of quills and ink, and their full attention on the speaker.
Azan nervously made his way to the podium up front, set down a long, rolled up piece of paper easily half as tall as he was, and shuffled his papers around until he found his place. For the first half an hour, Azan described in exhaustive detail the history of how the current patterns of trade formed and the development of rutters and other navigational aids to make traversing the Nyr Dyv easier. Faint snoring could be heard from the middle of the room as Azan’s droning voice and the white noise of the kenku’s scratching was too much for their attention spans. There was a muttered grumbling when Azan started to praise the various navy’s that patrolled the great lake and he swiftly moved to his next subject.
Azan motioned to two lanky students towards the front to assist him and the entire room leaned forward as it was unrolled and pinned to the wall to reveal a map of the Nyr Dyv marked with the locations of known shipwrecks. The kenku’s wrote at a furious pace as Azan told the tales of a handful of known wrecks for which he had the most corroborated evidence. The audience erupted with questions.
"Can ye be sure if the Maiden’s manifest was true?" "What degree off Amundfort Isle was the Eastern Star last seen?" "Would anything have survived such a magical blast?" "Just who was telling tales about Captain Ozman Jaks, anyway?"
This bombardment went on forever until one of the old dons finally rallied himself to demand that the room be cleared so they could begin the actual defense. Most of the room looked ready to toss the don out the window but a few in the crowd quieted them with a look and jerk of the head. Not all angry men in robes were wizards but it was best not to take chances. The room slowly emptied out with the kenku being the last to leave encumbered by all their notes. It would only be a few days before copies of the map were being offered to interested parties throughout the city. No doubt inside a week they would be in every port along the lake. Not in his wildest dreams did Azan picture what his scholarship would set in motion.
Azan knew something was wrong the moment he stepped into the room. It was full. Thesis defenses do not attract crowds. The audience should be three grey haired dons ready to tear you and your work to shreds, the few friends not getting ready for their own defenses to encourage you and if you are local maybe your parents. Who were all of these people?
The three dons up front looked as confused as he was. A knot of dwarven porters stood stoically by the door in case of trouble. The middle rows of chairs were filled with men and women with tanned, weathered skin wearing ill-fitting shirts and blouses over worn pants and well cared for leather boots. At the back, the last row was taken up by six kenku, each with a stack of parchment, a set of quills and ink, and their full attention on the speaker.
Azan nervously made his way to the podium up front, set down a long, rolled up piece of paper easily half as tall as he was, and shuffled his papers around until he found his place. For the first half an hour, Azan described in exhaustive detail the history of how the current patterns of trade formed and the development of rutters and other navigational aids to make traversing the Nyr Dyv easier. Faint snoring could be heard from the middle of the room as Azan’s droning voice and the white noise of the kenku’s scratching was too much for their attention spans. There was a muttered grumbling when Azan started to praise the various navy’s that patrolled the great lake and he swiftly moved to his next subject.
Azan motioned to two lanky students towards the front to assist him and the entire room leaned forward as it was unrolled and pinned to the wall to reveal a map of the Nyr Dyv marked with the locations of known shipwrecks. The kenku’s wrote at a furious pace as Azan told the tales of a handful of known wrecks for which he had the most corroborated evidence. The audience erupted with questions.
"Can ye be sure if the Maiden’s manifest was true?" "What degree off Amundfort Isle was the Eastern Star last seen?" "Would anything have survived such a magical blast?" "Just who was telling tales about Captain Ozman Jaks, anyway?"
This bombardment went on forever until one of the old dons finally rallied himself to demand that the room be cleared so they could begin the actual defense. Most of the room looked ready to toss the don out the window but a few in the crowd quieted them with a look and jerk of the head. Not all angry men in robes were wizards but it was best not to take chances. The room slowly emptied out with the kenku being the last to leave encumbered by all their notes. It would only be a few days before copies of the map were being offered to interested parties throughout the city. No doubt inside a week they would be in every port along the lake. Not in his wildest dreams did Azan picture what his scholarship would set in motion.
OOC:
This thread is for any PC-PC interactions you might want to have prior to heading to your ships and setting sail. If anything needs DM adjudication, I'll hop in. I will be posting separate Chapter One threads for the two groups to start each adventure.
