The party head off to their elective classes to finish up their second trimester for the year. Arth, having signed up for Beginning Computational Magic, arrives at a large lecture hall to complete this written, theory-based exam. In-lore, the exam consists of a lot of mathematical equations for Arth (the character), but for Luke (the player), he is given a real-life 9x9 Sudoku puzzle to complete! Arth starts on this while we examine what the other characters are up to.

The players discuss their character's level three abilities:

Arth continues going with Darius to the "Collective for Strixhaven Development" meetings, but finds that Vestan is reluctant to share much information outside of his "selected" group members. Trix feels concerned that they haven't spoken with Darius about Vestan's false identity (Rodane), and plans a meeting to sit down and talk with him about it.

The party continue following Vestan, who they suspect is also "Rodane", a figure who in Quandrix professor attire asked Edolkar to return a parcel to Candlekeep, which secretly contained Blight seeds. Khorvus leads the trail, following along as Vestan and Darius walk through the Quandrix grounds towards their club meeting. Arth, Trix and Edolkar keep their distance, but continue to follow.

As the episode begins, we discuss what Khorvus got up to during the trimester break, having taken part in a Dragonsguard Reserve Corps endurance weekend. Deep in the Lorehold Badlands, we come across Khorvus trying to keep up with a small group of students being led by Lilianna Flametounge. Khorvus struggles in the hot, arid environment, and begins to question his beliefs on what life outside his Triton colony is like, and the superiority complex that Triton's have towards the land-dwelling species. After sometime, when the rest of the group is far ahead of him, Khorvus begins to smell salt in the air, like that from near the ocean, and follows the scent.

The story continues with the party consisting of Arth, Edolkar and Trix in the long-abandoned Dwarven mining caverns. Arth's sister, Celeste, was caught in a trap, and has now been freed. From the east, a number of Kobolds have begun to run in their direction. Taking a protective stance around Celeste, the party engage into combat with the creatures.

This session begins as the trimester has finished, and many students and faculty have taken advantage of the break in classes to see family or travel before classes resume in a few weeks. Khorvus is unavailable for episodes 9 & 10, and we explain that he is participating in a Dragonsguard Reserve Corps endurance training weekend.

As the trimester continues, the party consider how their classes have gone through homework checks (needing to meet a difficulty check of 12)

The small gnome, located in this hidden room, continues to shout out into the darkness, clutching for his glasses and calling for someone named "Jeremus". Edolkar steps forward, and calmly explains he is not Jeremus, but offers to help find the gnome his glasses, finding them on a small side table nearby. Edolkar enquires on why the gnome would live in such a place, especially in the middle of the sewers beneath Candlekeep. The gnome indicates it was not by his design, then prompts Edolkar to confirm who he is and what he is doing down below. Edolkar indicates that they were following rumours of a "closed circuit" sanitation system, and that an Otyugh may be involved, wishing to study it for academic purposes. The gnome offers to provide some first-hand experience for a task if Edolkar and the others are willing to help with a task. As the party introduces themselves, the gnome indicates he is Weetlewort. Weetlewort explains one of his duties down here is to keep the Otyugh, named 'Otto', "in-check" and satisfied. A number of sanitation pipes above funnel waste into the sewers, which is then prepared for Otto, though he does also require some other foods which are brought in by hand. He says if the party are willing to carry some supplementary bags of food, he will take them to Otto, and they can get a first-hand interaction with it.

As the episode begins, the group discuss their character advancements to 2nd level. Some of the highlights include: