Teocawki Thread One: Hope Academy

[Zelphas]

Erica

You flip over the test and scan the first question.

1. Name the three largest governments prior to the Threefold Day, the primary religion of each, and the primary export of each.

That's... most people would find themselves unable to name one of the BTD governments! You are able to name the three largest, and sketch out the religions of each for the most part, but the export of the third largest government (Vunderland) escapes you. Luckily, the questions seem to be sequenced in order of chronology rather than difficulty, but many of them seem to be absurdly detailed. You finish the test feeling like you've answered everything that you could realistically be expected to, but some of the questions were simply ridiculous. How were you supposed to know the name of the dictatorship that ruled on the mainland that became the Savior Sea between 273 ATD and 274 ATD?

Roy

Comparing notes with Erica during the tests lets the two of you have more or less the same answers, and frees you up to enact your plan to videotape your teacher. You aren't able to know for sure until the test ends and you can check the footage, but you think you've pulled it off; at least, every time you look up from the test, the teacher is still standing at the front of the room and doesn't react to you any more than he does to anyone else.

After the test ends and you are all released for lunch, you take a quick look at the footage... and in the first few seconds, the teacher turns directly to face the camera and winks. Well, that's it then.

Glancing through the rest of the footage reveals something interesting, however: the teacher makes no move to leave the area being recorded. In fact, at one point the camera was knocked slightly askew as you bent down towards the paper again, and the teacher actually adjusted his position so that he ended up framed at the center of the screen again. Um... maybe he just really likes being on camera?

Spoiler: OOC

Show

You learned one of the teacher's Quirks: Shutter Bug! As long as he knows that he's being recorded and isn't actively being attacked, the teacher will move to be "on camera" at all times.

Connor

There's a section on Ashpah in the test that you are able to breeze through, but otherwise... You decide that watching the teacher and seeing what you can learn is a better use of your time. While the teacher doesn't seem to be looking at anything in particular, after a little bit of focusing you pick up on that strange feeling that someone is watching you, and you trace the feeling back to the teacher. It looks like the teacher doesn't really use his eyes to watch you.

After over an hour of "taking your test", you notice a sharp dip in the teacher's attention. Looking up, you can see him looking out the window on the west side of the room, staring down at something in the grass outside. A closer look lets you make out a tiny, furry creature, digging in the ground just outside. You didn't know that rabbits still lived in the Inner Ring; they're rather rare in True Ashpah, only seen in flashes in grassy valleys.

A tiny stream of sand jets across the room, curving around the teacher's head at the last second and scattering on the blackboard. The teacher turns, his attention once more on the room, and the boy in white robes is suddenly not wearing white robes--instead, he is in bright orange robes that look almost like curtain drapes, embroidered with lurid pink and lime green flowers. The boy makes a sound like two rocks scraping together--grumbling, maybe?--and pushes the overlong sleeves out of his way to get back to the test.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

You learned one of the teacher's Quirks: Adorable! If he is presented with something overly cute or charming, the teacher will focus on it; he is Entranced until he is in immediate danger.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Once the test was over and the group had gathered for lunch, Erica said, "So, my glasses are enchanted to view auras. Among other things, they let me scan for supernatural and elemental powers." She started speaking a bit more quietly at that point, not wanting other students who might be nearby to overhear. "Our teacher back there is a supernaturalist, which is helpful, since the enchantments are much more sensitive to those and I can get a lot more information out of what they're telling me."

"From what I was seeing, his powers are psionic in nature. He has an extremely powerful psionic sensory power. Figure if you're within a thousand feet of him, he knows you're there. If you're further away...he still might know you're there. Ambushing him is going to be more-or-less impossible. He can mentally deflect pretty much any physical or energy attack, and even those that he can't deflect, he can ignore if they're weak enough. He also has stupid levels of control over his physical body, which includes but is nowhere near limited to a powerful regenerative ability. He's able to psychoport out to several hundred feet, and can attack with direct mental blasts. His psionic powers also gift him with highly enhanced intelligence."

"That all being said, his strength seems to be more about deflecting than resisting harm. I don't get the sense that his psionic defenses could stand up to quite as much punishment as the wards on my armor, based on the energy readings, but I wouldn't be surprised if the threshold required to actually damage them is higher."

"So obviously, Serhe, if you can shut down his powers, that's the fastest route to victory. However, that's probably going to be a tall order considering how powerful he is. He's a supernaturalist, so he might be somewhat weaker to your powers, Connor. We won't be catching him off-guard, but if we can curtail his ability to deflect attacks, we might be able to punch through his defenses if we throw enough power at him."

Spoiler: OOC

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Erica's Routining Insight and scanning emotions; if any students appear to be showing interest in their discussion, she'll talk more quietly or possibly suggest moving elsewhere.

So, my critted Assessment didn't actually get any specific stats, so we know he has a high enough Deception that he was able to come within one degree of an effective 40.

As one might expect, his stats mostly came back as higher than Erica's - except Toughness. So his Toughness can't be higher than 11. My gut instinct here, based on the description of his powers, is PL 14 with a four-point Defense shift, but that's pure speculation. It did appear based on description that Serhe had hit with his original Nullify though at a roll of 24; I can't rule out that he "let" it hit due to somehow knowing he was immune, although that seems somewhat unlikely given the limited information Serhe's power provides opponents and the fact that my scan didn't detect any power-analyzing effects. So if we take that as evidence, it's more likely that he's PL 12 with a two-point Defense shift.

My best guesses as to his mechanical powers are:

Senses (Ranged Radius Acute Accurate Extended Counters All Concealment Mental Sense). My scan said his senses work within "at least 1,000 feet", so Extended 1 would give him 1,000' range of detecting a base DC 0 within 1,000' from Routine Perception +0 alone. But I can't say for sure he doesn't have Extended 2 (which would be 1,000' per -1 to his Perception checks). The description makes me fairly confident it Counters All Concealment, but I'm not quite as certain that it also Penetrates Concealment. I would not be surprised though.

High levels of Enhanced Dodge and Parry. He may or may not also have a Deflect power. I don't expect he has some sort of extremely broad immunity, but I wouldn't put it entirely past him.

Mental Blast.

Impervious Toughness and Regeneration. Working on the assumption that his Toughness is +10, I would expect he has Impervious 20. That makes him immune to rank 10 and lower Toughness-resisted attacks, which puts him out of range of any normal Damage from a PL 8 student, and means we can't reliably use Area and Perception attacks to just circumvent his high Defense stats. We also don't really know just what mechanically qualifies as "wounding" him. It may mean inflicting a single Bruise, it may mean inflicting damage he can't just regenerate in one round. But it's also not impossible that Bruises get fluffed as merely taking him more energy to deflect, so a Daze or even a Stagger could be required to qualify.

Zelphas' description of the next one was, and I quote, "Completely control his body's form, to a level you've never even heard about". To me, that suggests a Variable power for physical traits. I have precisely zero idea what rank it might be. But assume if we get unlucky he'll be able to reconfigure to deal with whatever our trick was.

Teleport 4 or 5.

Enhanced Intellect 16+.

So it's pretty beefy. Seems doable though depending on the exact threshold for wounding and his actual PL. Between Inspire (which I'm down to spend a Hero Point on for this), All Out Attack, Extra Effort, and some Aids and Team Checks, I think we can stack enough bonuses up to get it done.

[Thokk_Smash]

Roy scans the crowd for signs that anyone's trying to listen in on their conversation as well. "It was tricky at first, but Erica's scan of his powers gave me enough clues to figure out who our teacher is," Roy says after Erica has finished. His voice is low as well. "His name's Renatus Weiss, Hero name Watchman. He's relatively young, so it's weird that he's been given a teaching position so soon. There's all sorts of rumors surrounding his past, mostly 'cause it's impossible to figure it out. There's almost no proof of his existence before seven years ago, when he appeared in the Magellans and started fighting Tribs. The especially paranoid insist that he's a product of the World Government's, created to supplement or replace Heroes in the Magellans, or else that he's some creature from beyond the Magellans taken human shape. Typical ramblings of the clinically paranoid, naturally."

~"There's gotta be some info on him in the Hero Registrar, though,"~ he thinks to Erica, in the tone of one who is implying their course of action without outright stating it.

"Anyway, I managed to get a recording of him through the morning, to try and review later for tics or weaknesses. Right away, I saw that...well, he apparently likes being on camera. He never once tried to leave my recording's field of view, and even once purposefully put himself back in the spotlight when I looked away. Maybe we could use that to corral him where we want him to be? That probably wouldn't last while under attack, but if we want him somewhere specific, then maybe that's a possible ploy."

"Erica and I are tinkerers, like we said yesterday," he continues. "If there's something you can think of to give yourselves a little extra oomph, let us know and we can try to make something for ya."

[Arcran]

Serhe frantically tries to find a mirror as the professor explains exactly how all of this would work, his mouth hanging open slackjawed. Thus far, nobody had ever detected that he was using his powers. Hell, barely anybody had managed to piece together that he was actively shutting them off! That meant that somehow the professor was able to both notice what he was doing, as well as effortlessly resist it.

Still, despite the fact that he had been humiliated in front of the class, Serhe was already thinking of a plan. Whatever the professor was, he wasn't Odd, which cut down the real options to Paragon and Supernaturalist, although the latter seemed more likely at the moment. Even more, if the professor was going to give him a makeover each time, he just had to keep pushing until he did something that Serhe could actually see and attempt to shut off or, if he didn't want to risk it, just turn off whatever occurred to other students. He gives a good-natured laugh as the others around the room giggle, before running his hands through his hair in an attempt to minimize his humiliation. As the laughter dies down, Serhe gives Connor a pointed look, trying to look as confident as a man currently in pigtails can, at least until the professor puts his hair back to normal.

As they moved forward into actual classes, however, Serhe quickly realized that while he might be able to deal with the powered type of the challenges, he couldn't hope to pass this exam to save his life. It took exactly one question before Serhe started pouring enhancement into his eyes and they began to dart between the professor and other students' exams, zoomed in far enough that he had no difficulties reading the writing, and hoping against hope that he wouldn't be caught, but hoping that if he was, the professor would try to change something other than his hair. When the exam was finished Serhe let out a sigh, hoping that he'd diversified his cheating enough to not be caught.

Spoiler

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Going to routine a 22 on Stealth to CHEAT

When they arrived at lunch, Serhe wasn't expecting the others to have accomplished much. After all, they'd likely been just as busy with the exam as he had, right? When Roy and Erica instantly go over what they learned, Serhe's eyes bug out slightly. When Erica reveals that she already knows how the professor's powers work and Roy goes over all the details about who the professor is, Serhe lets out a low whistle. As they finish, Serhe thinks for a moment, before coming up with some semblance of a plan.

Uh, Erica, Roy, Serhe asks, thinking carefully. People usually don't know when I try to mess with their powers until it's too late. That's probably the biggest perk, Serhe says, whispering as quietly as possible. If you could build something that lets me still do that, this test will just be a matter of time. I can hopefully just keep hitting him over and over again until something happens. If his powers allow him that much control over his body, something has to happen when we shut it off, right? Serhe muses, looking at the others. At that point if the three of you hit him with everything we have we might be able to put a scratch on him, however small.

Is that even possible though? Something to block him noticing my powers?

[Zelphas]

Serhe

As you surreptitiously begin scanning the tests of those around you for answers, you soon come to the conclusion that nearly everyone is as clueless as you are on the test questions; only a few of the students are still actively writing, two of your Cell-mates among them. You are able to gather together a fair number of the answers by combining the scraps of information that each student was able to pull together, answering a majority of the questions this way. One particularly useful student is the bland-looking boy with intense green eyes; since the test began, he has not stopped writing, and at a prodigious pace.

After taking a third glance at the green-eyed boy's paper and writing down his answer, words appear unbidden in your mind, spoken by a moderate baritone in a clipped voice: The first three were free samples, to show you what I can offer. You want more, we can talk price. Glancing up a few minutes later, you accidentally meet the teacher's eye; he very deliberately winks at you before returning to his examination of the middle distance. You notice nothing change about your hair or clothing; it looks like the only actions worthy of punishment are those that attempt to harm the teacher.

Everyone

After lunch, the teacher leads the class out into the woods on Hope Academy; the buildings are soon lost to sight as the trees tower around you, some so huge that it seems like they could have stood since before the Threefold Day. The early afternoon sun casts green-shaded light down through winding pathways covered in underbrush and shines brightly in the few open clearings that you cross, and small flashes of movement show where animals, sensing your presence, flee deeper into the forest.

"On the first day, you have a simple task," the teacher announces, coming to a stop in the middle of a clearing and turning to face the group. "Find a suitable campsite, construct a camp for your Cell, and build and light a proper fire. Assume that you are in unconfirmed but likely Trib-infested territory, your supplies are limited, and any reinforcements are unlikely; you will be graded on your ability to conserve resources as well as your campsite's viability and comfort." He grins widely, looking over the class. "I will move from Cell to Cell, offering advice and instruction if asked. You have one hour, beginning now." At the word "now", he vanishes.

[Quellian-dyrae]

At Lunch

~I'll add it to my list,~ Erica sent back with a flicker of amused confidence, a sort of telepathic equivalent of a grin.

Erica considered Serhe's idea, but she didn't look confident. "Not likely," she had to admit. "I could enchant something to conceal all of the sensory displays of a power, and to mute most of the sensations that it would cause, but not perfectly. Given the scope of his perceptual abilities and his level of control over his own self, I expect he'd have little trouble seeing through it."

At Survival Training

Erica managed to keep from giggling after their teacher vanished, but only just. You might think, the Stonesmith twins had left the Magellans when they were eight years old. Maybe they didn't have the full breadth of survival experience that the average Magellan might? Hah, no. First off, these are Magellans we're talking about. By eight years old? Yes they did! But even discounting that, they went camping all the time. It was fun.

That wasn't the hilarious part though. The hilarious part was that they had Connor in their Cell.

"Come on, best place to set up a camp in a potentially Trib-occupied area is about {Expertise (Survival)} upwind of an animal lair." That was far enough not to disturb most animals, but any Tribs were more likely to catch the animal scents and ignore the scent trail entirely, or come across the animals first if they did investigate and move on to something else, since Tribs didn't bother with non-human fauna. "Judging by the terrain, we can probably find some {+16 bonus} if we head {mad skillz yo}. We can gather wood and forage for food on the way. Should be plenty of {Erica knows stuff}, just stay away from {nature is bad sometimes}."

Spoiler

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Expertise (Survival): (1d20+16)[20] Also 33.

...Expertise (Cooking): (1d20+16)[33].

[Arcran]

In the Exam

Serhe blinks rapidly as he hears the voice in his head, glancing back at the boy with green eyes. For a moment, Serhe's eyes narrowed, more out of annoyance than being caught than anything. Still, the boy apparently knew all the answers, which meant that, depending on his price, it might just be worth it. He does, however, hang his head in defeat when the teacher winks at him. Was there anything that he didn't notice? It almost wasn't fair at this point.

It didn't stop Serhe from cheating though. After all, he was better off with flowers growing out of his head than trying to answer these himself.

---

Survival Training

As the goal of the task is explained, Serhe's shoulders slumped slightly. The Stonesmiths were from the Magellans, and Connor could almost literally make a mansion of a campsite in his sleep. Serhe, on the other hand, was raised in a wealthy family, and had never really had to bother with actual survival skills. Even more, unless the woods were boobytrapped by teachers (which isn't impossible), there was pretty much no way that he was going to be able to help here.

I, uh, can carry the firewood, Serhe says cautiously, giving way to Erica's guidance as he pushes a bit of power into his muscles.

[herodofcows]

At Lunch

Connor sits uneating, drumming his fingers against his cane as the group speaks. He's running on a little mix of frustration (Allmind be kind, that test was a bloody calamity . . .) and excitement (I've got something, I've got something, oh aye I've got something!), which together make the prospect of eating ENTIRELY unappealing.

"Well, I don't know about his not being off-guard," he ventures, turning to face the group with a sparkle in his eyes, "I was watching him as we sat that exam, and it looks to me that he's got a wee fascination for the cute and cuddly. Seems he can't keep himself from distraction in the face of rabbits, puppies, and the like. Good diversion fuel, wouldn't ye say? Gets us a surprise hit in if we play it right . . ."

Survival Training

Connor cracks his knuckles against his cane as he follows Erica into a likely area. He surveys the area with relish . . . and then gets to work.

<Dirt and rock below! If I might have a wee moment of yer time . . .>

Within moments, the ground has bowled inwards to create an indented "basement" within the ground. Walls arise within this lower level, creating sectioned-off "cabin" areas within the earthworks to be used as individual quarters. These quarters (each walled and windowed and containing about as much room as a decent-sized bedroom) are united by a central unroofed courtyard area, perfect for a communal bonfire or meeting space. On impulse, he gives the exterior wall of each "cabin" a granite frieze depicting each member of their cell in a semi-heroic pose.

"Well, here's my rough draft!" he eventually exclaims, after putting the finishing touches in, "Figure we keep things low to the ground, decrease visibility. And of course it would be child's play to roof over the whole thing with stone, if we should need to hide further . . . Thoughts? Changes? Plenty to work with here, and the ground is plenty friendly!"

[Thokk_Smash]

Earlier, at lunch

"There we go!" Roy whisper-exclaims with a grin. "Between keeping on camera and gettin' the warm fuzzies, we might just be able to get a sneak attack in."

Survival Training

"Excellent, excellent, excellent," Roy mutters with glee as he watches the campsite spring into existence. He kept a close pace to Erica, helping where she needs it, but for the most part he prepares his spare Empowered Flux Crystals, channeling his Enhancement energy through them in a way that almost makes him forget they're there.

"Connor, I'm about to start working around the perimeter of the campsite," he calls out to Connor. "Might wanna give your buddies a heads up to avoid me for awhile, since I'm gonna be channeling my energy quite a bit."

He begins by placing his crystals strategically around the campsite's exterior, in a roughly square formation. He works quickly and efficiently, running his fingers on the ground as he moves. The contact provides a barebones conduit for his energy to follow, and he repeats the act with four trees that he places several crystals within as well. His index and middle fingers glow faintly with his energy as he flies to the center of the area.

Closing his eyes, he concentrates hard on the energies around him. And in an instant the energies almost seem to vanish. In fact, the entire area seems to have a bit of fuzz to it. The eye seems to slide over details of the surface, sounds seem dimmed, even smells seem muted within that area. He flies into the campsite proper and grins. "That ought to hide our trail even more," he says with pride.

Spoiler

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Technology to help hide the campsite from notice: (1d20+16)[34]

[Zelphas]

Using Erica's suggestions of a good place, Serhe is able to spot an excellent campsite, and the group is able to claim the sight before any of the other Cells come near. The place is a small depression in the ground near a cave that Erica identifies as a fox den, surrounded by some of the older trees in the forest. Cole is able to use the intertwining roots of the trees as a natural floor as he digs out their new campsite, giving the eventual camp an oblong, homey appearance. Roy places his flux crystals strategically over the camp, fuzzing it from view until it is difficult to tell that the camp is even there.

"Clever," says a voice at Roy's ear, and the teacher is suddenly beside him. He looks over the campsite, nodding. "A sunken, covered campsite will obfuscate your presence from most visual and scent-oriented Tribs. I would suggest directing some of your flux concealment energy towards the ground below you; burrowing Tribs are highly sensitive to changes in the landscape, and such a large excavation would undoubtedly grab their attention. Mr. Berg, I would suggest asking the earth to subdue its movements; it will slow the creation of your camp, but will greatly decrease the tremors in the earth." A moment later, he is gone.

In the process of gathering wood, Serhe is able to observe the various campsites that the other Cells are making, as well as the teacher's reaction to each. Most of the groups focused on stealth, similar to your own Cell's campsite; for example, Farhan McDonald has persuaded an entire large tree to open and become a living space for his Cell, sealing the tree again with a few gestures. Other Cells have gone a slightly different route; the Cell with Dawnlight in it seems to have made several small campsites dotted throughout the forest, each one well away from the others and surrounded by well-concealed traps filled with Elita's corrosive acid. All in all, the Cells are making a better showing of this test than the morning.

The teacher shows up to each Cell in turn, and some of them several times, seemingly dispensing advice to each. Even when he is being actively attacked by the Cell the moment he arrives, he still remains for several seconds in danger of attack from the Cells, though those that do attack him suffer from his "punishments". At one point, he somehow turns a Phoenix transformer's flames hot pink--you're not really sure how he did that...

Spoiler: OOC

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You learned one of the teacher's Quirks: The Teacher! It seems that teaching is a compulsion for your instructor; he cannot help but dispense advice to his students, often leaving himself in danger for several seconds in order to do so.

Spoiler: Serhe

Show

When the hour is almost up, you realize that you have lost sight of the teacher. Glancing around, you finally spot him; he is sitting atop a giant coniferous tree in the forest, his face in profile to you. He is looking down at something in his hands, and although his ever-present smile is still in place, he looks... sad, as though he was looking down at a loved one's corpse. In his hands is a drawing, immaculately detailed, of a woman's face: long black hair, slanted hazel eyes, a small upturned nose, and a somewhat wide mouth caught in the midst of a laugh. A moment later, a bell tolls over the forest, and the drawing is gone, as is the teacher. He doesn't seem to have noticed you seeing him.

You learned part of one of the teacher's Secrets: The Drawing of a Woman. Whoever she is, she seems extremely important to the teacher, and her drawing seems to make him sad.

A bell tolls across the grounds, and the teacher appears in front of each Cell in turn, telling them to meet at the clearing where they began their afternoon class. The other Cells seem more-or-less confident as the class gathers together. "I have looked over each of your campsites, and have graded them accordingly," the teacher says once everyone has arrived. "All of you have done excellent jobs; tomorrow morning before the morning test, I will give each of you a note of what I consider to be the strong points of your designs, as well as any improvements that you could make on them.

"This evening, I will stay the night in the campsite which I consider to have best fulfilled the requirements I set for you," he continues, once more showing his superior grin. "I will also restrict my awareness to the interior of the camp. I will remain there until the first attack, and then I will leave to my own lodgings. Class is dismissed for the day; we will meet again at the same time in the same classroom as this morning. Have a good night." With that, the teacher vanishes.

[Zelphas]

Roy

The genial-looking older woman who is in charge of the Hero Registry is more than happy to allow Roy access into the archives after talking with him for a few minutes; she's a font of information on the habits of the Heroes in the Inner Ring, though she doesn't have any more information about your teacher than you've already found by observing him.

The archives are organized by the current assigned locations of active Heroes, with the Heroes in each location organized by Cell and in alphabetical order. It takes you a few moments to find where the school is located in the section for Hope; the teachers there are given their own folder set slightly aside from the main Hero teams in Hope. You finally find the folder labeled Weiss, Renatus and pull it out. The folder is surprisingly thin, and when you open it you only see a single sheet of paper.

Spoiler: The Paper

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To the Student who found this note:

I commend you for your curiosity, but my past is not so easy to unlock. I will give you part of the key, as a reward for your out-of-school work:

'Theus'

Pass my tests to find the rest.

The paper is signed by a familiar-looking smiley face.

On the inside of the folder, you see an official-looking seal, inscribed with words:

Contents Sealed by Order of Knight-Commander Akakios Kalb

Everyone

After dinner, you are able to make your way quickly through the forest and back to your campsite. After you pass the projection blockers that Roy had put in place, the depression in the ground becomes clear to you. As far as you can see, nothing has changed...

...Well, except for the large signpost placed in the middle of the camp, just to the left of the now-extinguished fire. The sign is a rectangular section of unpainted wood, with small block letters stenciled onto the front. Moving closer allows you to make out the writing:

Miss Stonesmith, excellent directions, and Mr. Nihilo, excellent eye, to find this campsite. The fox den will hide your scent effectively, and the natural depression serves as a useful way to mask your later excavations. Miss Stonesmith, the meal was delectable.

Mr. Berg, your excavation progressed well, and the addition of an earthen cover is a good touch. Some Tribs are able to recognize man-made constructions, so unless you are willing and able to spend the time in the morning to demolish your lovely additions to the walls of your camp, you may cause any Tribs nearby to go into heightened alert. Otherwise your construction was durable and well-built.

Mr. Stonesmith, the addition of the perception filter around the camp added a further layer of protection against discovery, and you can never have too many of those! I will note that many would consider the flux crystals you used an exorbitant cost for the protection, especially if the camp needed to be left in haste.

For all of you, one note:

Always create an escape route. Tribs have found Heroes who were completely concealed before, and the larger the concentration of humans, the better Tribs are at sniffing them out. Any camp created in possible Trib-controlled territory should be a temporary structure, able to be evacuated from at a moment's notice.

In summary: An excellent temporary encampment, especially for a first attempt. Be aware of all of the abilities of Tribs, and be prepared to escape if necessary.

This campsite placed Second in this afternoon's competition.

At the bottom of the sign is another familiar smiley face.

Spoiler: Perception DC 37

Show

Yuo can see a few fox ears poking out of the fox den nearby, twitching in your direction. On a second look, the ears seem far too large for a normal fox...

[Thokk_Smash]

After School...

Roy's mouth twists in frustration-tinged curiosity at the sight of their teacher's signature mark. What the heck is "theus" supposed to be a clue for? Something related to divinity? It sounds like an ancient, BTD language's word for "god". Maybe Prof Weiss has connections with one of the religions? He puts the paper back in its file and places it back in the rack. Well, he's got other things to worry about.

That Night...

Roy fiddles with the impromptu night vision scopes on his visor as he stares at the sign. Second place, huh? It stings, he'll admit--more than it maybe should have. The teacher's comment on his anti-skinflint actions kinda rankles, true, since he was fully aware of the price of those crystals when he placed them. Their protection warranted sparing no expense, and he could snatch them all up in the same movement as fleeing. Not to mention--between Connor's power and Erica and his flight, they could be out of the plot at the drop of a dime. Hardly difficult to evacuate from.

Well, all the more reason to find him tonight, then.

"I can only think of one campsite that would be better than ours," he says, turning to his team. "Bernhard's team's site. They have Water and Earth Elementalists, and there's a Savior Sea stream in the forest. Tribs do their best to steer clear of Savior Sea water, and between the two Elementalists they could get their team out of an underwater base in a moment's notice. Serhe, did you notice where Bernhard and his team were setting up camp earlier today?"

Spoiler: Note to all PCs

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Roy took a little less than an hour after school to make Darkvision night-vision lenses for everyone but Serhe, so we don't need to sacrifice stealth for light.

[Arcran]

While Spying...

Serhe looks at the professor's picture as best he can, not quite sure what to make of it. While the person was obviously important to him, Serhe had absolutely no way of telling in what capacity the two were related. It could be anywhere from a good friend to his daughter, and damn near anything in between.

Still, a physical object that the professor cared about was a rather large advantage; at the very least, it could give them some potential bait to use later on.

In The Campsite

When they arrive at the campsite and Serhe spots the campsite, he can't help but scowl. He'd expected the professor to be standing there waiting for them, and instead they had a signpost. His scowl only grows when he spots the writing at the bottom.

Bloody second place again, Serhe says angrily, kicking a small rock with as much of his Enhanced strength as possible, sending it whistling into the trees. It'd be nice to actually win something, he adds, muttering a string of curses under his breath and he lies down for a moment.

When Roy asks about the other campsite, Serhe's scowl slowly turns into an excited grin. Oh, I know exactly where they are, Serhe says, hopping to his feet. What's the plan, take out the professor while he's there? Serhe says, trying to think of some way they could take them down.

Before he does, however, Serhe notices a flicker of movement on the outskirts of the camp, thanks to a disturbance in Roy's generators. As he spots the fox ears, he almost ignores them until he realizes that one pair was, well, a bit too big.

Hey, Connor, Serhe asks, trying to keep his voice somewhat low. You can tell where stuff is underground, right?

[Quellian-dyrae]

As much as getting first was a thrill, Erica wasn't disappointed in second place. After a childhood spent jump-roping the line between "last" and "dead last", placing second among Hope's newest students was still an amazing achievement. It did make her realize that she had been kinda riding high on confidence after the entry exam. The other teams had their powers too, after all, and even if they weren't all Magellans, they knew that at least Bernhard and Nancy were, so it wasn't like that particular advantage was unique. These exams wouldn't be a cakewalk, but that was fine. That was good. The challenge would force them to push themselves to do better.

She did admittedly have some of her own questions about some of the stated reasoning. Erica hadn't overlooked the importance of an escape route, she had just figured there weren't many that they could build into the camp itself that would outdo their own mobility powers. In retrospect, she supposed it wouldn't have hurt to ask Connor to dig a maze of escape tunnels and conceal the fastest path for getting through them in a riddle carved into the walls of the buildings, but she felt she had a fair argument that it wasn't really a necessary precaution. But then, that was a good thing in itself, really. Having some intelligent questions to ask him while they were trying to hit him might actually help make sure he'd stick around long enough for them to hit him.

Overall, though, she was happy with the result of their campsite. And doubly happy when Roy and Serhe narrowed down where the professor was likely to be!

"Yeah I think so. Hopefully getting into the camp despite the water won't be too big a problem. I mean, I'm sure you could dam it up, right Connor? But your elemental powers are probably going to be the hardest for him to deflect. I have some questions I want to ask him about our grades anyway, so hopefully he'll stick around long enough to answer those and we can just more-or-less hammer away full force." The real trick would be if Bernhard's Cell made a play, but hopefully those hot-pink phoenix fires would make them think more cautiously before making their next attempt.

[Zelphas]

A few seconds after Serhe asks Connor his question, the over-large ears in the fox hut twitch, and then... fade. There is no other word to describe it; the ears darken into shadows and then simply vanish, all in the space of a few seconds.

"Teacher's not here? Aw, now I owe Patro a cookie." The high, giggly voice comes out of Connor's wavering shadow from the light of the flux crystals, and a moment later the girl with three fox tails and giant ears simply steps out of the shadow to his side. Up close, the girl really is tiny; all four of you tower over her.

"In the old legends, the Sea took a human husband," she comments in her bubbly voice, sounding as though she was continuing a conversation that had started moments before. "She didn't want her husband to die, so she cut out his heart and kept it. The Sea is fickle, though, so she eventually got tired of her husband and started playing cruel tricks on him with his heart. The husband, tired of the abuse, stole back his heart and kept it in a jar full of earth, so that the Sea couldn't touch it anymore." Her bright golden eyes, nearly glowing in the evening twilight, flick over to Connor's pack before focusing on his face. "Is your heart in your jar, Mister Berrrrg?" she says, rolling the 'r' in 'Berg' theatrically.

[Thokk_Smash]

Roy blinks and tenses slightly when the fox-girl--Tsubaki, he believes her name is--literally emerges from Connor's shadow. A fascinating ability, to be sure! And quite useful in a dimly lit forest at night, to boot. He'd be happy to grill her all about her powers, after tonight.

"And does that make you the Sea in this scenario, little flower bud?" he replies with amusement, recalling vaguely what her name meant in an old BTD language. "Connor, I dunno, man, you could do worse than the Sea."

He grins and slaps Connor's shoulder, then takes to the sky. He doesn't go far, and will wait for the others to follow, but his meaning is pretty clear. He shoots Tsubaki a smile that's at least suitably apologetic.

[herodofcows]

Connor lets out a minor "bah" upon reading his teacher's comments. To be sure, the walls had been a bit of a frivolity, but he'd been proud of them. And obviously he'd take the time to bring them down in the mornings after breaking camp . . .

Och, shut up, Berg. Teacher knows better than ye do. Take the lesson and leave it be . . .

Feck off, Berg. My walls're a work of bloody art and I'll mope as I damn well please.

"I mean," he begins, turning to Serhe, "I can sense when rock is about, sure. Anything within the rock is-"

And then the fox girl makes an appearance.

"WHAT in the Allminded feck!" he half-yelps, starting so hard that he nearly falls over.

He whirls around and glares at the newcomer like a drunken vulture. Her story takes him a moment to place relative to their earlier exchange, but he can feel himself getting wrong-footed already. All of this talk of husbands and the sea and hearts . . . it's so far out of his wheelhouse that he might as well be falling through the Mists without a trace of rock to be found.

"Ye ribbin' me, Stonesmith?" he growls, doing his best to will his blush away as Roy takes to the sky, "I'm no' here fer no foxy harridan!"

He harrumphs and turns back to the fox girl, flushed with anger and embarrassment.

"Did I no' make meself clear?" he snarls again, accent intensifying with his discomfort, "Leave me an' me jar of dirt alone or I'll feckin' murrain ye!"

He whirls around and begins to walk off . . . before sheepishly returning as he remembers that they have some planning to do.

". . . I'll go in from below, then?" he hisses into Erica's ear, trusting Serhe to be able to keep up (or maybe read his lips, who could tell?), "Figure they'd have to touch the streambank SOMEwhere . . ."

As he speaks, he throws the fox girl another look of pure loathing.

"What the feck d'ye want anyway?" he snaps at her, trying to override discomfort with anger.

Spoiler: OOC

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Throwing my hat into the Evaluate ring!

(1d20+8)[24] Insight!

[Zelphas]

Tsubaki stands in front of the group, looking crushed, her large golden eyes filled with tears. "I-I was just--" she stammers, before abruptly turning on her heel and rushing into a patch of shadow on the side of a building. She vanishes, a glitter of water droplets hanging in the air level to where her eyes were for a moment before falling into the gloom.

At the River

The offshoot of the Savior Sea floats slowly by in its riverbed, the crystalline waters shadowed, looking impossibly deep in the low light. The area where Serhe saw Bernhard's Cell last in the afternoon is a ford in the river, a natural spot of shallower water where the river is only a foot or so deep. The sandy shores of the river and the trees around it seem untouched, the land quiet and still in the swiftly fading light.

Spoiler: Expertise: Survival DC 25

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Although not impossible, it's rather unlikely for a forest stream to have sandy shores. There's also an inch-wide strip of land that stretches for about a hundred feet on the edge of the river near the center of the ford that seems to be newly flooded, almost as though the water was recently displaced, though only slightly.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Erica did have her suspicions that the fox-girl was stalling them. She couldn't tell for sure, but this was a zero-sum game where their team had established a dominating advantage in a combat-oriented trial. Curtailing their efforts to gain the advantage through battle made sense. She agreed with Roy's stratagem, a quick but polite escape.

Connor's response...could have been more tactful, though. She wasn't sure what their background was, but that might have been a bit much. However, she had scampered off before Erica was able to try to smooth things over.

(Although, since Erica was looking at her aura at the time, that would probably help determine whether the fox-girl was actually shedding crocodile tears).

As they made their way to the river, Erica said gently, "So, it occurs to me that we miiiiight want to start relating to our fellow students a bit better, before this friendly competition turns unfriendly." She included herself in the assessment; her initial response to Nancy had been every bit as confrontational and aggressive as anything any of the boys had done then or since, and while she didn't regret putting Nancy in her place (even if her reaction had been entirely feigned), she did regret the message it had likely sent to her Cell and the rest of her class.

She couldn't undo that, but she could do better going forward.

As they approached the river, well, there may have been no sign of the camp to the naked eye (aside from some signs of flooding that suggested a displacement in the water), but the Stonesmith siblings didn't do naked eyes.

Spoiler

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Acute Analytical Detect Emotions to see if the fox girl's reaction is real. Insight if needed: (1d20+15)[35]. Yeah see, Erica can actually see your feelings so...

Routines the Survival check.

Routine Perception for 10 at the river. That won't do much in itself, but the Detect Transformer Powers (neither Accurate, Acute, nor Analytical, so it won't be precise, but should reveal a rough location if any active transformative powers are in use), Acute Analytical Detect Supernatural Powers (should pick up the teacher's sensory powers if they're being "confined to the camp", suggesting some sort of actual manipulable field), and Extended Vision Counters All Concealment should help more. If she does see a sort of "bubble" of his Senses power, she'll alert the team so they can stop before they reach it.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"What if we called him out? Said we want to get a picture with him at the winning campsite?" Erica suggested. "I mean, he'd know we're planning to attack him too, but considering how confident he is and how much he likes to be on camera, I think he might go for it anyway."

Her clothing was changing as she spoke, going from her usual dignified, flowing garments to a pink and white dress with...a frankly unnecessary amount of frill and ribbon. She brushed her hair forward a bit to make her bangs more prominent, and then took the two elastic hair bands that her helmet had become and tied the rest of her hair up into pig tails. Her sword had taken on the appearance of her favorite stuffed animal from back when she was a kid (a foofy white bunny rabbit that had gone by the name of Ears. Ears had been a stalwart companion, but had sadly been eaten by Tribs during the fall of their town.) As a finishing touch, she plucked a conveniently-located flower and slipped it into her hair, before looking back to the others and giving her best wide-eyed-idealist smile. "What do you think? Cute?" she asked with a laugh. Hey, if it could provide any distraction or hesitation, it'd be worth it.

...But then remembering who she was talking to, she also added in a dangerously sweet voice, "And before any of you offer any comment on this outfit that does not relate entirely to the tactical ramifications of its ability to assist in creating a momentary distraction, do keep in mind that no matter how little it may look like it right now, this is still a sword!" She held up Ears 2.0 in a manner that absolutely would have been threatening if it weren't a stuffed bunny rabbit being dangled by its kinda ludicrously long ears.

[Thokk_Smash]

Roy inspects the ford's surroundings with a critical eye. There, and there--two signs of where the camp might be, and where its entrance might be. Whoever the Earth Elementalist had been, they'd done an incredible job, both in hiding the signs and in crafting that fake log. He's beginning to see why Professor Weiss had chosen them over his team. They'd probably made their own kind of traps or things to slow down Tribs, something Teach had said their campsite had lacked. If he considers the "attack" to begin when they enter the campsite, he might be able to bug out before they can even reach him.

As he considers his information, he can feel a buzz of thought from Erica. Before he can ask what's up, she proposes her plan and starts to tailor her appearance. He has to fight down a laugh. Trust Erica to just cut the knot!

At her final command, though, he does put on an exaggerated pose of thought. He stares at her with a critical eye. "Not bad, sis," he says. He does pull out a Flux crystal, however, that Erica knows he uses for miscellaneous appearance-related situations. "I've got a few improvements, though."

His Enhancing powers make her glasses notably larger; some carefully-applied foundation and the glasses give the illusion that her eyes are also larger, but not necessarily abnormally so. More foundation and manipulation of hair falling down to frame her face, and her cheeks appear ever-so-slightly rounder. With a quick trip round the clearing, he gathers enough flowers to make an acceptable flower crown to adorn her, well, crown. "Now, hold Ears The Second like this...no, no, closer to your chest, and tilt your head to the side like..."

Finished, Roy takes out a palm-sized mirror and holds it for Erica to see. "If he doesn't give a damn 'squee' at the sight of you, well, the man's got a heart of stone," he says with a chuckle.

Spoiler

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Using Roy's Expertise (Theater) and the implied costuming skills and acting chops to enhance (hehe) the effect of Erica's outfit swap. Routining for a 26, if a number is necessary.

[Arcran]

At Camp
Serhe's eyes widen as Connor lets out his tirade. While he understood being annoyed with somebody, that was a bit much for somebody that they had just met, right? Or was there actually something more to Connor's dirt than it just being a jar of, well, dirt?

Either way, Serhe shakes his head then leads the way towards Bernard's camp.

The River
As Erica's costume shifts from practical to ridiculous, Serhe snorts, before catching himself as a stuffed bunny is brandished towards him. While he certainly questioned the legitimacy of this plan, he didn't see how it could hurt their chances.

So what, you distract him, I whammy him, and we see how things go from there? Serhe asks, obviously unsure of the actual plan. If we don't time things perfectly only one of us will get anything off before he just teleports away and gives us new hairdos, Serhe adds, frowning quite a bit as he does so. And that's not to mention the other students there. If they see us doing well against him, there's a very good chance they'll either steal our glory or try to get the kill themselves, Serhe adds. Serhe continues to stare at the bunny, until an idea crosses his mind.

Hey, uh, Roy, you make guns, right? Can you do bombs? And maybe disguise it as Ears the Second? It would at least work for us getting close to him, although I suppose there's no way for you to not be caught in the blast radius... Serhe says, musing to himself aloud.

Spoiler

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Look around I guess?
Perception: (1d20+18)[35]

[Thokk_Smash]

Unseen by Serhe (or seen, if he happens to glance to the side), Roy gives the other boy a death glare. It only lasts a fraction of a second, but then again so did the boy's smothered snort, and Roy had noticed it. The glare is gone before anyone can really register it, and he moves on to helping with the outfit.

"Well, yeah, I could whip up an explosive," Roy says with a nod. "But it'd take some time. I'm fast, but I can't just pull a bomb out of thin air in a second, and I'd say time is still of the essence here. The longer we wait, the more time the others have to get here and muck everything up. For what it's worth, I think you may be underestimating how much we'll be able to get done in a split second. You've already seen Erica in all her leadership glory; she'll give the signal, then we'll bum rush him together. All we have to do is lay a scratch on him; much easier than actually killing him, in my humble opinion."

[Arcran]

I suppose it will have to do, Serhe says, sounding rather annoyed. There was a certain charm to blowing up their teacher with a bunny rabbit. As long as I can shut down his powers, he can't teleport away. Hopefully he's a Supernaturalist, Serhe says, desperately hoping that he wasn't using things from every category.

As he talks to the others, Serhe notices something out of place in the river: a slight rise in the middle of the ford which is too regular to be natural. Serhe signals the others, then points at it silently.

There's a noise coming from it. Almost definitely their camp, might be trapped, Serhe says, trying to keep his voice low.

[herodofcows]

At Camp

Connor feels his anger turn into something far more green and sickly within him as the fox girl flees. Some kind of double-team of guilt and shame begins to eat at him as he turns away from where the girl had been standing, and Erica's words hit him like an explosion to a weak support beam.

"Aye, ye . . . Aye, I suppose . . ." he half-coherently mutters, glowering further as the optics of the situations start to sink in.

Must've looked fekkin' mad, just there . . . Damnations . . .

At The River

The shame wasn't going away. If anything, it was getting worse. He was having internal monologues with himself, mixes of contrite fantasies and proud lambasting tirades all directed at that strange vulpine girl. He'd stalked behind the rest of the group, half-muttering to himself before realizing that Serhe would probably be able to hear him. He'd spent the rest of the hike with pursed lips and a perpetually-blackening heart.

As such, coming to his senses to find Erica transforming herself into a strange frilly . . . thing . . . was a bit of a shock.

"Er . . ." he finally interjects, wresting his mind back to tactics, "If it's traps we're worried about, shall I go in loud first? Set them off, make it loud, cause our teacher to assume it's a straight fight . . . and THEN ye all blitz him with yer, eh . . . yer . . ."

He gestures at Erica mutely, and then decides to throw dignity to the wind.

"Yer . . . what-the-fekkery ye've got right here?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

Erica followed Roy's instructions with an impish grin. "He's definitely Supernatural, and I would have detected if he also had Elemental powers. Roy would have detected if he had Enhancer or Transformative. It's not impossible that he also has Paragon or Odd powers, but I'd call it unlikely, based on everything I saw." She knew - or more precisely, was fairly certain based on context - that Serhe had tried to counter him back in class, but she didn't know what power set he had targeted or what information he had gained from the attempt. "Timing shouldn't be as big an issue. Roy and I do actually have some legitimate questions we want to ask him about our campsite grade, and we saw that he will hang around to give advice, so I don't think he'll just vanish on us immediately."

"Other students getting in on it might be somewhat more of a concern, but if we only need to put a scratch on him, safe to say there's not much of a window between 'doing good' and 'mission objective completed'. But Bernhard's team took a shot at him earlier and it didn't go so well for them, so hopefully they'll be trying to prep more before taking another shot. I'm not sure if Tsubaki overheard us discussing which camp we were checking though, so her team might be on the way."

"And no," she answered Connor. "Hopefully, he'll be coming out to us, in which case their traps are pointless. Even if they aren't, you're an Elementalist. Of all of us, you have the best shot at actually hurting him, because his defenses are so heavily based around his powers, which are cardinally Inferior to yours. After that is Serhe, since he can possibly strip his powers outright. Roy and I will play support, but realistically, actually tagging him is going to fall to the two of you. So if we can't lure him out, the best play is for us to go in first and risk the traps." ...Never before had the word "us" sounded so much like the word "me", but now wasn't really the time for the Patented Stonesmith More Protective Than Thou Argument^TM.

...

"And this is just a costume to hopefully distract him with cuteness," she added with a grin.

"So, that all sound good to everyone? You guys ready?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Didn't want to jump in without making sure, but unless anyone has any further ideas, I think I'm good to go. Thokk, you want to try to call him out or should I? Not sure if Persuasion or Deception would be more practical given that it's, though perhaps not entirely false, certainly complex pretenses. But that being said he almost certainly knows that either way and the real goal is to get him to come out anyway.

[Zelphas]

As soon as the fake log is shifted away, the teacher's calm, confident voice issues from the newly-revealed hole. His voice is faint, but his diction is clear enough that his words come across clearly. "..trace amounts of lithium chloride. I placed it under your feathers so that it would transform and vanish along with your alternate form, and the form itself burns hot and fast enough to dissipate the substance before it would cause any averse effects.

"But it seems we have more guests. This is interesting; I said I would wait until the first attack, but I at least expected to be attacked by an entire Cell... While I decide, would you prefer turquoise flame, or pale green?" The only response is the shriek of an angry bird and a whoosh of flame.

The tunnel is surprisingly rough, made out of crumbling sand with chunks of cloudy glass in the walls. The glass catches the flickering light of flames from deep beneath and reflects it throughout the tunnel, giving you enough illumination to see by should you decide to enter the camp.

Spoiler: Perception DC 30 (Only if you enter the camp)

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Against one wall and behind a small pile of collapsed sand, you spot a familiar pair of overlarge fox ears.

Spoiler: OOC

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Map.

Initiative

Connor: (1d20)[9]
Erica: (1d20+16)[18]
Roy: (1d20+16)[27]
Serhe: (1d20+8)[13]

Teacher: (1d20)[8]
Bernhard: (1d20)[4]
???: (1d20)[15]

It is still possible to talk the teacher out of the campsite; the Initiative just lets you know whether or not the NPCs move before you do. If you want to place yourselves, you will be emerging from the tunnel at the bottom of the map.

Erica and Roy act first!

[Thokk_Smash]

Roy, being closest to Renatus' voice and Bernhard's screeches, tilts his head in surprise. Bernhard went after the professor by himself, alone? Was it confidence, arrogance, or frustration at the afternoon's embarrassment?

Well, something to consider later. For now, though, Bernhard's presence may end up surprisingly useful. "Professor Weiss," he calls out, loudly and clearly, using the man's actual name to make a point and as a callback to the teacher's knowing look earlier that day. "We saw your message at our campsite, and I figured that Bernhard's team was the team most likely to have done better than us. Erica and I have some questions about our grade we were hoping to get on tape for posterity. Oh, and since he's here, we could get a picture of you and Bernhard by the secret entrance! That'd be awesome for Bernhard's team, right?"

Spoiler

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Deception: (1d20+16)[20] Re-rolled in the OOC for 36

[Zelphas]

At Roy's voice, you hear a screech of annoyance from an avian throat. The teacher doesn't answer for a moment. "I am always happy to answer any questions, and a photo-shoot is always a treat," he responds finally, his jovial voice pitched to carry easily out of the tunnel. "Very well then; I shall await you... at the secret entrance!"

Spoiler: Insight or Deception DC 27

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Something about the way he said "secret entrance" is a bit suspect...

A few moments later, you can see the teacher walking slowly up the tunnel mouth, the flickering pinkish light growing slightly brighter behind him. He stops a few steps shy of the forest floor, looking up at the group. "Now, you said you have some questions?" the teacher says, smoothing out his robes and looking at you attentively.

Spoiler: Will DC 17

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The "teacher" in front of you flickers and turns transparent for a split second before solidifying again, and he's left no footprints on the sandy floor. It's likely that this is not the teacher but some sort of illusion, although creating illusions is not a power that Erica sensed on the teacher...

Spoiler: Perception DC 20

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Just before the teacher appeared walking up the tunnel, a pair of familiar overlarge fox ears peeked out from one side of the wall before whipping out of sight.

[Thokk_Smash]

One look at the "teacher" in the tunnel below and Roy palms his forehead. Damn him and his mouth and its words. "Hey, Tsubaki, good to see you again," he calls out to the tunnel at large, past the image of the teacher below. His tone isn't angry, more amusedly tired than anything. "Your whole 'shadow walk' thing's pretty cool, and fast, if you beat us here. Say 'hi' to Bernhard for me when he gets to you."

With a polite wave, he promptly pulls the log above the entrance to seal it. "Okay, that's one hidden entrance down," he says, brushing his hands. "Time to find another one." He takes to the sky, moving quickly to inspect a wider area around the bump in the riverbed that is the campsite.

Spoiler

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Expertise (Survival) to check for other possible hidden entrances: (1d20+16)[21]

Perception to possibly aid: (1d20+12)[19] (no special senses because Roy's flying).

As a note, Roy does have Quickness 3, so can do this at 8x speed while able to Routine checks.