In the morning, LLAFEE sports representatives arrived and scrimmaged with some of the Heroes in a game called Troll Ball.
A representative from the Mail Guild arrived and set up a mail sorting system so the Heroes could receive and send letters and messages. Two letters were addressed collectively to the Heroes of The Travail. One was from the Scalewatch on Aburu thanking the Heroes for their prior help and the other was a plea for help from the people of a world named Hutilion experiencing a disaster called a Chronobreak. A third letter was addressed to an old Hero of The Travail who is presumed to be dead, Alamesh, from his homeworld of Eoxila. All of these letters are available here.
Some Heroes ventured into The Travail’s vaults and, among other things, found a door that Helper told them they weren’t allowed to go through. No further explanation was given nor offered.
Heroes participated in LLAFEE courses in Linguistics, Zoology, and Paradox. There were strange sounds present at these courses that would later be revealed to be the impending presence of Malevolence that was attacking LLAFEE students.
In the afternoon, one of The Travail’s Helpers gathered everyone and informed them that there were instructions left to them in the form of a series of sealed envelopes. These envelopes were to be opened when The Travail was next docked at LLAFEE. There was an accompanying message from Elara Ravenshadow, one of the old Heroes, informing the Heroes to follow the clues in the envelopes to their logical conclusions. The Heroes did so, and at the end received pieces of another document with further instructions on how to create a Vermilionite Gem and use it to reach the Music Room at LLAFEE where something of importance left by the old Heroes was stored. The Heroes would additionally need a LLAFEE Hall Pass to get the LLAFEE janitor to take them to the Art Wing where the Music Room was.
The Heroes completed the crafting challenges to create the Vermilionite Gem over the rest of the day. All that was left was to expose it to a sunrise to complete it to a usable state.
Guest lecturer Professor Tintin came to teach a seminar on the basics of spelunking, setting the students up to be ready for the practicum. Upon completion it will earn them their salamander certifications. The students were instructed to form their prospective teams, and prepare for their first spelunk.
Around dinner a few different Visitors arrived at the tavern. One was Varikin, a researcher from the Luminary Observatory on Luzeliot. He brought research notes from the Observatory that detailed some of what they’ve observed since the end of the Interdiction. The Observatory found that at least 31 worlds are now missing that were present prior to the Interdiction. Their best explanation at this moment is that these worlds have died. Varikin also brought a number of documents from LLAFEE’s Akashic Archive. All of these documents can be found here.
A LLAFEE student, a Cabhair Sí named Èala (pronounced EYE-luh), visited the tavern looking for assistance in returning home to Ríocht. After spending the Interdiction Age studying in LLAFEE’s library and not realizing the portals had closed, she asked the Heroes to help with the trip once they had explained to her what she had missed. Later in the evening Heroes would create a portal so Èala could return home, and they were able to step through and meet some of Ríocht’s denizens, Sí of the Summer Court, before parting ways with Èala and returning to the Travail.
A writer and journalist Eric Knees from The Great and Auspicious Haberdashery visited the tavern looking to write an article on the Travail and fashion trends throughout the reopened worlds. In efforts to create his article he conducted multiple interviews and his assistant took pictures of the Heroes.
LLAFEE’s theater director burst into the tavern in disarray. His cast was missing and he needed to put on a performance known as a Balsturian Folly for some of LLAFEE’s generous benefactors. The Heroes volunteered to help and created costumes, set pieces, and a script to put on the performance. As thanks for their help, the theater director gave the Heroes his Hall Pass, one of the things the Heroes needed to access the Music Room at LLAFEE.
Saturday night the Malevolence that had been attacking LLAFEE students fully manifested in a classroom at the academy. A professor came to the Heroes and asked for help sealing the Malefactor in the classroom. The Malefactor summoned groups of Heroes to itself while commanding lesser Malefactors to attack the other Heroes. A mysterious presence helped the Heroes escape the room while also chastising them for being there at all. Ultimately the Malefactor was sealed in the classroom, solving the problem for the moment.
Late Saturday night a group of LLAFEE students calling themselves Drinks of Deep Knowledge visited the tavern offering membership in their group to Heroes. They claimed to be an expansive group consisting of current students as well as LLAFEE alumni.
