The story continues on the day after the party has completed the orientation challenge and found their accommodation in a small cottage a few minutes from central campus. With their mandatory class Magical Physiologies not due to start until the afternoon, the party discuss their morning habits and rituals. Khorvus soaks in the bathtub in the basement of the cottage. Edolkar goes for a long pre-dawn walk, before it begins to get busy on campus. Arth finds in the back of the cottage is a small garden, and tends to it, pulling weeds. Still acclimatising to daylight, the owlin Trix is quite groggy and wants to find a good place on campus for a good feed.
As Edolkar returns from his walk, a Silverquill student approaches him, and hands over a copy of the Strixhaven Star, a student-run newspaper. Edolkar is dismissive, but brings it back to the party at the cottage. Meeting together in a small common room at the cottage, they debate on what to do for the morning. Arth reads over the newspaper and finds a small article that acknowledges the group’s accomplishments in the orientation challenge yesterday. Another article discusses that Clubs and Societies will be looking for new members on central campus around midday, and encourages everyone to attend. The party agree that could grab some food (and coffee), attend the societies fair, then go off to class in the afternoon. Trix notes a final article in the newspaper that indicates the Dragonsguard have issued a warning against use of teleportation on or to Strixhaven grounds, due to several reports of teleportation mishaps from across the demiplane.
Arth recalls reading about the Firejolt Café, located on Central Campus. As they arrive, they find it buzzing with a mixture of students, studying and socialising. After finding a table, they go up to order. A human woman named Mina Lee with the white and black colours of Silverquill, greets them enthusiastically. Trix asks for coffee for everyone, and is talked into getting the Firejolt special. Receiving a magical stone that helps the wait staff find the table, Trix and Arth are curious into its magical origins. Arth determines through an Arcana check it has some form of tracking magic encasing it, and the caster, likely one of the waiters at the café, is always able to determine the whereabouts of the stone to a certain distance. Khorvus approaches the woman behind the counter and indicates an interest in their food options. Mina provides a copy of the menu which includes options such as:
- Masked Vanilla Mooncake: 2 sp (Light and etherially blue cake. The frosting glows like moonlight. Very vanilla-y)
- Ember Apricot Jelly: 2 sp (Lava like apricot jelly, usually ingulfed in small harmless flames.)
- Goldhorn Buns: 1sp (Glowing and golden horn shaped croisant)
- Bunyip Bonbons: 1cp (Extremely bright green, glowing candies, which have a small vortex inside of them. Usually 25 bonbons per bag)
- Ugriamon Bread: 1sp (A heafty round bread, very soft with herbs and butter)
- Strix Delight: 1cp (Small sugar covered sweet in the shape of a six eyed owl. It changes flavour to a different fruit each bite)
(These menu items were created by TheMightyPERKELE on Reddit). Khorvus decides to buy one of everything, and has it added to the same tracking stone. As they wait for the food, Trix eagerly tries to explain to Edolkar what coffee tastes like. Mina brings out five Firejolt Specials, large mugs with a small flame on-top, as well as the food Khorvus ordered, which he distributes amongst everyone. They toast to their time at Strixhaven, and as they sip, the flame on-top of the mugs subsides, allowing them to swallow the hot coffee with a slight aftertaste of sweet ash. Both Edolkar and Khorvus are not impressed, but Arth and Trix enjoy it thoroughly, along with Darius. As they continue to drink, they try out the foods, which feature a variety of different flavours and textures.
After some time, the party leaves and arrives at an open field where a number of stalls are set up, with different clubs and societies pitching to prospective members. The party splits up, each seeking a club to join. Khorvus, having heard of the Dragonsguard in the newspaper earlier in the morning, finds a half-elf woman in Lorehold clothing, speaking with a prospective student. As Khorvus approaches, she asks if he has what it takes to join the Dragonsguard Reserve Officer Training Corps. Coming from a militaristic background, Khorvus shows he is keen. He is informed about a training course being held later in the week, which will test his true merit.
Meanwhile, Trix comes across a large stone giant, named Osgir, sitting with a large collection of trinkets and artefacts, tinkering away. Trix indicates her interest as a Lorehold student and the possibility of uncovering old forgotten artefacts. Osgir explains he frequently holds lectures in his workshop, at the Lorehold campus, and she is welcome to attend to learn more. Trix hints that her magic bust, given to her by her grandfather, might make a suitable artefact for review in the future.
Still struggling to process the vast amounts of crowds of people, Edolkar moves out of the main thoroughfare to find a seat towards the outer fields. A high-pitched voice shouts towards him, telling him to CATCH, right before he is hit in the head by a soft ball. A small half-ling introduces himself as Finlan Teafellow, and admiring Edolkar’s height, asks if he is looking for any extracurriculars outside of classes. Edolkar looks towards where Finlan was playing, and sees a group of small humanoids playing a game with sticks, throwing the soft balls between each other and out into the field. Finlan explains that Silkball is played as an intramural league within Strixhaven, but Finlan’s team has ended up with many smaller humanoids, which makes getting some good shots in difficult. He asks if Edolkar would join, to which he attempts a shot with the stick to a goal in the distance. The throw is powerful, but misses the goal. Finlan says he can see promise in Edolkar, and formally invites him to join them to practice on the field twice a week.
Arth continues to browse the groups, struggling to find one that meets his true interests in academia. He approaches a club promoting Astrology, and meets with the half-vampire Silverquill professor, Brenneth Blackstone. Blackstone looks at Arth, seeing that he looks to want to explore more of the universe. The professor indicates that while on the surface the club is promoted as an Astrology club, the members explore concepts beyond this universe, and attempt to contact powerful beings in the wider multiverse. Arth expresses his keenness to join, and is informed that the group usually meets at late notice, when Blackstone decides to make contact with an unknown entity.
The group meet backup, and briefly discuss what groups and clubs they joined. Darius mentions he joined a lesser-known club hosted by a senior Quandrix student, called The Collective for Strixhaven Development, which helps integrate students, and advocate for enhancements to make the university better. They decide to head to class, being held in the Biblioplex.
A short walk later, they arrive to their classroom for Magical Physiologies, being held the dryad, Veralda Lang. The party find spare seats, with Edolkar making friends with a Loxodon named Rampart. Veralda explains that for the first trimester, the course will be focused on studying Otyughs. When she prompts the class for what information they already know, Trix jumps in to discuss that Otyughs devour and like to eat waste and live in piles of remains and filth. Veralda contains the lecture, providing some further basic information on the creatures and reminding the class that an exam will be held at the end of the trimester. As the class ends and the students departs, Veralda indicates that an upcoming excursion to Candlekeep might provide a good opportunity to learn more about Otyughs.
As the party leave the classroom, they head off to their chosen electives:
- Edolkar: Arcano-botany for Beginners
- Trix and Arth: Introduction to Archaeomancy
- Khorvus: Beginning Inkomancy
- Darius: History of Magic and Art