Investigate the Tower to find the cause of your trouble

Lolo tells you that the Wardress' quarters are clean and sparely furnished to the point of being bare. "No mirrors," she reports. "Heavy old books I didn't open. Incense burner. Empty altar she must have cleaned off. Water pitcher. Hard bunk. Thin coverlet. You would have been cold. Fay would have been sore. How's the tower thing coming?"

"Wardress has me retracing my steps," you tell Golondrina. "I missed something she thought was obvious, but she pretty much called up the Sight, pointed, and said to fix that, whatever it was. So I'm going back for a closer look."

"See you at tea?" she says, batting her eyelashes.

"Hope so!" you say. Leaning in closer. "Or the baths. Sssssss."

Lolo giggles. "Sssssss."

And she's off to class.

Back in Iris Amethystine's Tower, it's like out-of-class study from back in your second-year Divination class. You have a portable magical worktable, a stack of magical references, and a lamp set up in the musty sub-basement. The Tower is no doubt much older than its most recent resident, of an age with Boarbristle as a whole, perhaps. If your own inspection doesn't reveal the problem, perhaps the Librarian can point you to the right bit of history.

You have a bit of a creepy feeling in your shoulders that Minerval's Head, Tutor, and Wardress may be letting you swing in the breeze by taking this on by yourself. But maybe there's something else keeping them busy. Or perhaps they're just tired of dealing with a tiresome little village prodigy and would rather be doing the job they thought they'd come here for.

Still your mind. Banish. Invoke power and perception.

Now.

Clearing your throat, you lift your wand and incant the Calling of the Sight.

Roll +CUNNING(+2) (Custom Move) to investigate the tower magically to help with your GOAL.

⚅⚀ + 2 = 9.

On a 7-9, take +1 Forward on your next time you ATTEMPT TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL.

You can barely believe what you've found.

Someone dropped a wand DOWN A DRAINPIPE.

It's a handsome tool, you'd allow. A forearm long, dense ebony with a silver tip and a thickened grip engraved with a rings-and-grids texture to make your grip secure.

And when you were doing your nine times nine circumambulations of the Tower, each time you passed the wand, it picked up an echo of your banishing and threw it back at you. You didn't figure it out at the time, just trying to push through.

"Ooo, fancy," Fay says when you show her. "May I?"

Fay strokes her fingers down the shaft, turns it round in her hands, and inspects it closely.

"Well, one thing I'd say, I wouldn't try MORPHO PHALLUS on this wand." Fay frowns, her pale eyebrows lowering. "Probably get a grand backfire out of it." She passes the wand from hand to hand and cautiously makes some gestures. "Huh. I think it's warded against DISARM. Not zippy enough to be a real duelist's wand, though you could use it for that." Her lips curl in concentration. "Maybe made for some special kind of conjuration, summoning, or banishings. If you wanted to ask someone about it, I'd say Elbegast, Travers, or Firetail, if you could get his attention."

"Lolo could," you say.

"There's that," Fay says. "So yes, Master Elbegast, Devices; Mrs. Travers, Conjurations; Fergus Firetail, Flashy Big Conjurations and Lolo's sponsor." She looks up from the wand. "Or you could just fuck around and find out." She looks you straight in the eyes with her pale blue ones open wide. "Please don't."

You swallow. "Yes. I was already feeling like Hawk and Euryale might be giving me enough rope to get into trouble."

"Eyes on the prize, Morgan," Fay says. "You. Me. Lolo. In our own tower that used to belong to Iris Amethystine. How about that. How About Fucking That."

The look on her face sends you into a spasm of giggles.

"What?" Fay says.

"About Fucking That." You start laughing again. "It is a round tower."

Fay gives you a disgusted look. "And I thought I was the one with the schoolboy sense of humor. So, play good girl and give the wand to Wardress. She might already know what you found. Or play good Minerval and try to figure it out. Carefully. AFTER we get us all settled in Dragon Castle."

Your face flushes hot.

Fay grins and leans in. "The washed-out jade, the soppy scarecrow, and the flame-haired amazon," she says. "Dragonfuckers, all of us." She shakes her head. "Morgan, sometimes you're just adorable, you know that?"

You have no words. Well, some words. "Fay, I, I lllll"

"Love me," Fay says. "I know. I still don't know why."

"Don't cry," you say.

"That I can cry is your gift to me," she says. "You should know that. Now tuck that silly wand somewhere. We're going to the baths. With Lolo if we can pry her loose."

Roll +CUNNING(+4) (+2 Cunning, +2 FRIEND) to ENCOUNTER Golondrina and see if she's in the mood to HAVE SEX.

⚀⚁ + 4 = 7.

On a 7-9, you have to convince her to go along with what you want.

Golondrina is at tea, at one of the big wooden tables next to Boarbristle's main kitchen. The Houses have their own common rooms, with an ever-hot, ever-full vessel of hot water and little bites, but for a more substantial tea, it's the room off the kitchen. Cozy and warm, just the place to linger over something sustaining on a cold day. It's not that cold today, but it is winter.

"It's like my first day," Golondrina says.

"Half drowned amazon," Fay says.

"In my field hockey uniform," Golondrina says. "And you showed me your fingers, you know?"

Fay holds up her left hand. On her little fingernail is your symbol, a golden apple in a wreath of pouting woodbine flowers. You hold up your matching fingernail. "And you flounced your way straight into our bed."

"You did ask if I dated boys or girls," Golondrina says.

"And if it was girls you might be happier to transfer into Minerval," Fay says.

You clear your throat. "And you told us, 'Show me'," you say. "Are you happier?"

Lolo looks from you to Fay and back again. Her lips twitch like she's trying on words and discarding them. Finally she takes a deep breath and says, "Yes. Am I...do I get that on my fingernail too?"

"If you want," you tell her. "But it's both of our names. Woodbine and Applebum. Maybe we'll want to think about it. No hurry anyway."

"Let's celebrate," Fay says. "Baths. Now."

Golondrina looks disconsolate. "I can't. I have an extra lesson with Hawk."

Fay sends a **** Stare into the corner, then shakes her head. "At least if she tries to thrash you, she'll break the damned stick."

"No, no, just Minerval things, you know?" Golondrina says. "She's handing me over to Prefect Pip halfway through."

"Oh, Fates be praised," Fay says. "Pip's alright."

"When are we going to see you again?" you ask Lolo.

"I suppose when we move in together?" she says. "They're keeping me busy. Wardress said I shouldn't bother you, Morgan."

"Could you get away early-early?" you ask. "When there's nobody in the baths, really?"

"I suppose," she says. "Yes."

"Dark for dark business," Fay says.

"Ssssss...." you hiss, and Lolo and Fay join in.

You have an EASY GOAL (-1) vs. DILIGENCE with Wardress Euryale to prepare Iris Amethystine's Tower for you, Fay, and Golondrina to share. With your success, take +1 Forward to Achieve your Goal.

You have a FAVOR from Pipistrelle Clawson, Minerval Prefect.
Your roommate Fay in House Minerval and your soon-to-be roommate Golondrina are each your FRIEND.
Barbara Torch, Warden of Leontes, dramatic and impulsive duelist, is your ENEMY.

You have 3 XP, Ambition +2, Bravery -1, Cunning +2, Diligence +0.
You know the spell TRANSFORM and the Forbidden Spell SHAMEGASM.

Roll +CUNNING(+2) to HAVE SEX with Fay and Golondrina in House Minerval's baths in the dark hour before dawn.