2. Some Lessons Belong in the Classroom

Zix felt conflicted and puzzled. Apparently its adaptation answer got overlooked in favour of the more incidental remark about task magnitude. Oh well.

Kiraen is amazed. Dominatio is the school she wants to excel at. Not the mind warping stuff, but changing the world with her will, telekinetics all that. She raises her hand.
Professor, is it to late to change my elective? I have signed up for Amplifico but now that you have enlightened us in Dominatio, I want to focus on that instead.

Zix doesn't laugh, but certainly finds the late realisation amusing, though tries not to show it.

"Oh, I see. In the end, cooperation is the greatest magic of all, hm?" Marlena says in a tongue-in-cheek manner. She finds the sentiment to be rather obvious, but they are only just starting out. In time, they will get past the basics and delve into more complex material.

"Where do we go from here then? Shall we tackle the challenge again, combining our minds to solve it?"

Dorian chews on the thought and then asks, "Professor, you speak of pacts or councils combining their magics. Is that advanced magics that will only be straight to us later, or simple enough that we will be so instructed early on in our studies?"

Thank you for the lesson Professor Lorridian.In the hallway Kiraen finds Dorian. You had something for me to look at?

As she tends to favor destruction in her works, Marlena takes a golden Tutela sheet when she approaches Professor Lorridian's desk. She takes copies of the associated books and scrolls as well, stuffing them into her satchel of holding. The thought of exploring the possibilities within a new school of magic is enough to make her giddy. "That was a wonderful lesson, Professor. Good day." She bows her head slightly before turning to make her way out with the rest of the students.

I have some time before my next commitment, and I'm already in the Biblioplex... It was a good time to start looking into the alledged 'Hollow Quill' incident, she figures. She heads to the first floor archives and begins to search through the records for any mentions of the incident, or anything that could possibly be connected.

Zix takes the Dominatio sheet and prepares to begin learning a new school.

Biblioplex archives
The towering shelves stretch high, filled with records of the university’s long and storied history. She sets to work, fingers trailing over the labeled spines of bound volumes.

She starts with the obvious—incident reports, faculty records, disciplinary logs. But there’s no direct mention of the Hollow Quill incident in any official capacity. No scandal, no reprimands, no missing pages that scream "something was erased." It’s frustrating. If something of that magnitude had truly happened, the records should at least hint at it.

---

As Marlena shifts a stack of brittle newsletters aside, a faint shimmer catches her eye—tucked between the pages of an old, forgotten tome is a scroll of Improved Sight. The parchment hums with a subtle arcane charge, its edges lined with delicate silver filigree. Unfurling it carefully, she sees the incantation inscribed in precise, flowing script, the runes pulsing ever so slightly as if waiting to be awakened.

A spell like this could heighten perception, allowing the user to see beyond the mundane—detect hidden texts, magical auras, or even illusions meant to deceive the mind. How it ended up buried in the archives is a mystery in itself, but Marlena isn’t one to ignore a gift from fate. Carefully rolling it back up, she tucks it into her satchel.

---

After nearly an hour of searching, she shifts tactics, turning to student-written accounts, underground publications, and old campus newsletters—the kinds of things that slip through administrative censors. It’s in an unnamed student periodical from decades past that she finds something.

A single passage catches her eye:

There are whispers of a semester that never was, a time scrubbed clean as if it never happened. Students who once walked these halls with us, now strangers to their own past. We call it the Hollow Quill, the ink that was never written. An Oracle told us this: Ask too many questions, and you might find your own pages turned blank.

No direct evidence, but a trace of something. Enough to tell her that someone, at some point, believed in this story.

As Marlena leans back, rubbing her temple, a thought creeps in—was this truly erased history, or just another ghost story meant to spook inquisitive minds?

One thing was certain. She needed more.

Just that hint of information is enough to reinvigorate Marlena. However, the last part of the passage gives her pause. If true, proceeding discretely and carefully will be paramount. In addition, who was this oracle? Were they still around, and if so, just how much did they know? Figuring this is worth showing to Dorian and the others later, she puts the periodical in her satchel.

She pulls out the scroll of Improved Sight she found. Perhaps she could save it for later, but she doesn't want to miss a single thing. If anything is hidden away behind the veils of magic, she wants to see beyond it. So she focuses her intent into the scroll and the runes respond, glowing as their magic pours into her. The scroll disintegrates in her hands, but her world expands, revealing what lays beyond normal sight. She initially squints as the sudden intensity of her empowered perception, but she gradually adapts to it.

The focus of her research shifts to the oracle, as she feels it may be important somehow. She goes through the records in an attempt to find any notable oracles in Misthaven's history. Perhaps I need to make Perceptio a priority after Tutela, she thinks to herself in wonder. There was so much she couldn't see before, and that was unacceptable.

An Oracle is a rare individual with an exceptional, sometimes inborn, talent for Perceptio magic—the school of sight, foresight, and truth. Unlike mages who must train extensively to glimpse beyond the mundane, an Oracle's vision is often effortless, piercing veils of illusion, unraveling secrets, and even foretelling the future. Some are blessed—or cursed—with spontaneous prophecies, scrawling cryptic messages that only gain meaning in hindsight. Others train their gift, using their insight to guide scholars, rulers, and seekers of hidden knowledge.

---

Biblioplex archives
As Marlena sifts through the records, she finds mention of an Oracle who lived in Misthaven around the time the periodical was written. This Oracle, a woman known simply as Eryndel, left behind a series of prophecies regarding the discovery of a vast dungeon beneath Misthaven. Her writings warned of its hidden dangers, of ancient forces best left undisturbed. But one passage stands out—a dire prediction that an early discovery would bring catastrophe. The dungeon, she claimed, had to be sealed and protected until the "Chosen Ones" arrived—though she never specified who they were or when they would come.

Marlena's heart pounds. If the Hollow Quill incident was connected to this prophecy… what exactly were the professors protecting? And more importantly, had the time of the "Chosen Ones" already arrived?

After finding a spare minute of relative privacy, Zix turns to its befeather companion. "Say, if this Hollow Quill incident was so spooky and ethically dubious, do you think perhaps some of those involved in enacting it still have nightmares related to it? Maybe not every night, but enough to leave a trail in the oneiric world? Perhaps we, or at least you, can gain some insight from snooping around those. What do you think? Would you have somewhere to lead me or something to show me when we meet on the other side again after bedtime?"

"A dungeon...? Truly?" Marlena murmurs to herself, surrounded by countless papers and books. It sounds rather fantastical to her, but a part of her wants to know more, despite the fact it might be better to leave this alone if there were truly ancient forces resting beneath Misthaven, forces terrible enough for the professors to consider rewriting so many students' memories for the 'greater good'.

Is this really related to the Hollow Quill though? It's likely, but she feels the connection isn't solid enough for her to say for certain. I can't assume this Eryndel is the same oracle mentioned in the unnamed student periodical.

She places the records regarding Eryndel in her satchel and rises, taking a small break to stretch her legs. Perhaps there's more to discover about this on the second floor, but she's not able to freely access the material there. However, she remembers that she may be able to gain access under supervision. She leaves the archives and approaches the circular information desk.

She's now somewhat familiar with the staff due to her job, so she recognizes the reference librarian she speaks to. "Good afternoon, Rhamud. You're doing well, I see. I'm looking to access the second floor's archives for a little while. I'm tasked with learning Tutela for Professor Lorridan's class, but I'd like to get ahead of the curve with some more intermediate Tutela texts," she says. Technically true, but it was a low priority for now compared to the Hollow Quill mystery.