Rib's Notes, Session 9

While I’ve still not had much success with my personal research, my training with the Tempest Sun Mages is going well; and I’ve caught up to where Mafika (our shīfu as he likes us to call him) would like me to be. Part of me wonders what Swift Zebra (my old combat trainer back with the tribe) would make of Mafkia: a human male—not a claw or fang on him—who wields the Craft and takes on opponents bare-handed. He’d be a real shock the females back home. Though, that also makes me think: we never officially broke things off. Are she and I still, technically…? It doesn’t matter anymore. She’s on the other side of the Expanse, and I can’t keep letting the past haunt me. I need to move on.
Though ironically, part of the tribe’s history has just returned to the Magaambya: Lesedi, an Alijae elf who specialises in runes and circles, magic pertaining to portals. I knew mages from the Magaambya had helped us out back then during a major undead incursion, but to actually meet one? Nana recognised her, but didn’t say anything to me until after class: guess she didn’t want me to get distracted while trying to contain a minor demon. It’s kind of weird that events which still define our lives to this day in the tribe were just another job to her; but I guess it’s thanks to her and her companions that I knew about this place to begin with.

Putting academic stuff aside, Haibram and Ignaci had organised a celebration for Vidrian’s independence day. I had to admit that until now, I really didn’t know much about what had happened here on the coast, though I had noticed that Ignaci looked different to the other humans around here: such pale skin. Turns out there’s a whole continent of other pale-skinned humanoids called Avistan, and that Ignaci’s family were originally from a nation on that continent called Cheliax. He showed me a map, and it’s even further away from Nantambu than the savannah lands. Though, I should remember he was born in Vidrian, here in the Mwangi Expanse. He’s never been to this “Cheliax” place, and has no interest in ever doing so. The way he described it, even my tribe’s strict social structure and rules seem relaxed by comparison. He told me about how back when he was born, Vidrian was still Chelaxian territory. Seems neither of us get on well with our families: he decided to support the revolution, and they ended up fleeing back to Cheliax—abandoning him alone in Vidrian—when things didn’t go their way. Ignaci and I have actually grown a lot closer over the past few weeks. I woke up from one of my nightmares screaming so loud that I ended up waking him in the next room. I was pretty embarrassed when he knocked on my door to check in on me. We ended up talking things through, stuff about my past that I haven’t shared with anyone else here. We even did a harrowing to see if that might help, though that’s maybe a story for another time.

There were some notable absences at the festivities: Goss, Maztachia and Savanakin, the anadi students. When we followed up with them about this, it turns out that Okoro had been asked to invite them, but ended up just screaming and running away as soon as he actually saw them. This squeamishness is really beginning to rub me the wrong way, but at least this whole situation helped us further our investigation into why the anadi felt so compelled to come here. The three of them told us that they had felt drawn to a particular disused building on campus: the Hababe Building. While they hadn’t entered it yet, they had heard some strange noises from behind one of the doors on the ground floor, so we decided to investigate as a group. As we tried to listen for any sounds behind the door, one of the statues flanking the stairs to the main entrance sprang to life and attacked. Unfortunately, we had to disengage, as it was a fight we were clearly going to lose: Faran had been knocked out cold, and I was forced to carry his unconscious body as the statue pursued us through the campus. After a short pursuit, we came across Mafika, who was able to help us dispatch the statue. After explaining ourselves and taking some time to rest up, we asked Teacher Ot for permission to properly investigate the building. Examination of the statue’s remains found that this reanimation of the statue had occurred in the past few days, by magic quite different from the background magic of the Magaambya. Backing down from a challenge like this didn’t feel good, but the outcome there was better than what went down with Kurshkin.

While investigating the interior of the building, we ended up tripping some kind of trap that caused a vision of snakes to spring out and bite us, but there was no immediate effect, As we continued to investigate, we discovered a secret door leading to a room full of cleaning supplies and a dead body: that of a female snake-headed humanoid—a look of terror frozen on her face. Examination revealed that the body had been lying there for a few days already. The next chamber held a pair of huge snakes, and it was there that we learned the purpose of that trap: it seems that there was some kind of curse that made us more vulnerable to the snakes’ venom, which led to serious problems while fighting them. After falling unconscious and being revived, I was reduced to using my jaws to fell our opponents, who now included two humanoid assassins masquerading as students. I succeeded in ripping one of their throats out before we needed to call on Mafika’s help once again. Between the adrenaline, blood loss, and the venom, my memories of what happened next are a bit fuzzy. I think the second assassin got exploded by a lightning bolt? It didn’t feel good to have to rely on a faculty member again, but we were in way over our heads. Whoever these people are, they meant business. In the aftermath, we were able to find a tunnel leading to a concealed entrance outside the campus, which allowed these serpentine people to come and go unbeknownst to those of us at the Magaambya.