Stay in the Garden, then choose your next Move toward your GOAL

"Very good," Firetail says. "Very good, Golondrina." Your housemaster scratches his short black beard, looking abstracted for a moment. "Let us prepare you." He leads you to a little stone hut in the corner of the orchard, conjures a picnic basket full of food -- one of his special interests, in rivalry with the Headmistress -- and lays down protective and concealing wards upon the place. "You should pass unnoticed if you rest here," he adds. "Do you see how to open the wards?"

"Yes, Housemaster," you say.

He smiles at your formality. "Then show me. Open them, step out, close them. Open them, return inside, close them."

You raise your wand and go through a careful sequence of gestures and words to open a door in the encircling magical barriers, step through them, and turn round to twine the threads of magic closed. After a breath, you repeat the operation, opening the wards without breaking them, stepping back inside, and closing the wards.

"Very good," Firetail says. "I shall leave you to get settled, and to investigate."

Firetail raises the wards with two swift gestures of his wand, steps through, closes them again. and walks round the corner of a hedge, soon lost to sight.

You and your serpent familiar Sapienta are left in the warded stone hut in the corner of the orchard, with supplies for your comfort and sustenance. And a mission -- to discover what is happening to the ripening fruit in the magical Garden of Delights.

Sapienta nuzzles your wrist, hungry. You make a small cut to raise blood for her to drink.

You could watch from a window, or raise the wards to take a closer look at the orchard or more broadly around the Garden. Given that you don't know much, you figure it's time to look and see if there are any clues among the trees. Or you could help Sapienta prepare to assist you by priming her senses and tuning into hers.

You have a -3 GOAL vs. DILIGENCE to keep watch. On success, gain +1 XP, Fergus' thanks, and the special privilege to enter the Garden of Delights.

Dorothy the Porter, Housemaster Fergus Firetail, and Miss Wormwood are your FRIENDS and each will grant one FAVOR. (Fergus will not let you use his FAVOR directly to ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL, but you can use it to help resolve a bad result or for another purpose).

Your familiar Sapienta also counts as a FRIEND.

Your suitemates and FRIENDS Marina Madeline, Andrew Saltire, and Rebecca Honeybee are absent during term break. Marina and Andrew owe you a FAVOR each.

Possible Next Moves:

• Search for clues. Custom Move: Cunning (+1). On a success, hold +1 to use when trying to ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL. On a 7-9, you've also stirred up a magical danger. GET OUT OF DANGER. On a MISS, you have to GET OUT OF DANGER.
• Prepare your familiar Sapienta to help. Roll +BRAVERY(+3 Bravery, +2 Friend, capped at +4) to ENCOUNTER Sapienta; on a success, ask for a FAVOR (+AMBITION) which Sapienta can use to help you later.
• Quietly observe from the warded hut. Roll +DILIGENCE(-2) (+1 Diligence, -3 Difficult Goal) to attempt to ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL by waiting until the thieves arrive.