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Some may have considered it the strangest flock to have ever taken flight above the grounds of Ersand'Enise, but such was the school's history and oddness that there had, in fact, been stranger in the distant past. Yet, where great flocks of crows, magpies, and ravens had flown mere hours ago, now items of an entirely different nature swirled through the sky.

Books, maps, clothing, coin, and weapons, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to them. Locks jiggled and popped open, doors creaked, shutters fluttered, and the strange procession continued. These items, a keen eye may have noticed, all made their way to the same destination: a single window rather high up in the Forked Tower. They found their way into the hands of a pretty young blonde woman who was seated in a wheeled-chair just inside. These, she dispensed to those around her with smiles and well-wishes. The stream became a trickle. Her accomplices gradually disappeared through a door that was most certainly not within the official floorplan of the tower. She was left alone. She let out a long sigh and glanced up and down the stairs. Then, she turned and glanced with annoyance at the door that should not have existed, schooled her features, and wheeled through. 

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Inside (but not truly inside, for it was daylight there and quite obviously an entirely different place) preparations were finished. At the flick of a wrist, people had gotten either what they had desired or what they had deserved. In most cases, those were one and the same. In a handful, they were not. They listened to the address of Hugo Hunghorasz with varying degrees of rapt or feigned interest. Some had so little regard for the great mage or else so much excitement for their upcoming endeavour that they could not even feign engagement. [color=7ea7d8][b]"I would wish you luck,"[/b][/color] he concluded, [color=7ea7d8][b]"but you must remember that there is no such thing and, even if there were, I would expect you to succeed without it."[/b][/color]

With that there was a surge of magical energies so intense and alien that a handful of students visibly winced. Temporal magic... felt different: warm, easy, and comforting, like a bonfire on an Dorrad's night, but also as if chaos and void were waiting just outside of its glow. Three portals opened and three sets of students were dispersed through them. At the last moment, one - Karim Nazeri - got cold feet and was replaced by another: Penny Pellegrin, who was all-too well known to most of her peers. 

The youths glanced at each other with varying degrees of nervousness and anticipation. Then, they stepped through.

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A portal opened and six youths stepped through. They found themselves on a wooden deck near the very top of the Lorentine Queen. The rumble of the great riverboat's engines could be subtly felt even this high up. They were of a peculiar type - unknown anywhere else in the world - that used compressed steam, heated by arcane mages, to power them. The air was warm and muggy, and two towering black iron smokestacks poured great gouts of smoke into it, obscuring parts of the starscape above. The world slowly moved as the ship plied its way up the calm, muddy waters of the river for which it was named. Lanterns and bonfires flickered ashore, illuminating dwellings, businesses, and towering willow trees. Further on were the spratz farms, those notorious places. Other smaller ships - many of them floating rooming houses - hunkered in inlets, oxbows, and creeks by the shore, their lights mostly out at this hour.

Yet, all was clearly not peaceful here. As the Queen headed a bit further up, towards the shallow inland sea of The Gods' Eye, gunfire could be heard. Along one distant part of the shore, torches en masse lit up the night. Down below, were sounds of raucous debauchery, mostly coming from near the stern of the ship. Somebody was hammering away with great skill at a piano - another recent invention of Revidian manufacture - and dozens of card, dice, and darts games were underway. The ladies of the night were out in full force as well, pulling eager and inebriated men into their rooms just upstairs. Periodically, a fight would break out, swords or guns would be drawn, and matters would resolve themselves one way or the other right then and there.

On towards the bow, past the area amidships taken up mostly by the engines and massive paddlewheels and traversible only by means of a passage about three men wide, a different sort of violence was simmering and ready to explode. [color=ed1c24][b]"Even now,"[/b][/color] a man shouted, [color=ed1c24][b]"ashore, they are breaking their chains of servitude. Do not you see their torches in the night? Their tools of farming raised as weapons in defense of their rights? And 'rights' I say for that is what they are! Answer me: where is it in the Menan that one man - or woman - should be subject to another? Where does it say that his freedom to act on his own desires and to profit from his labour should be curtailed so that some other who may - or may not - have had an ancestor who'd done a 'noble' deed in the past may benefit?"[/b][/color] Voices rose in angry agreement and he continued. [color=ed1c24][b]"And then there are ships like this one, to serve your needs, because a mere plant is considered more valuable than your right to own a house and raise a family. They ply up and down this Godsforsaken river, sucking the money from your pockets so that you will never have the resources to challenge those who have named themselves your betters! Rheinsburg! Benrath! Rednitz!"[/b][/color] The last one elicited a particularly strong response and he paused for dramatic effect, the ambient noise of water churning, voices shouting, and distant music playing taking over for a moment. [color=ed1c24][b]"Already, they claim the Gift for themselves, just like they claim the spratz, and jealously guard both. Truly, this is why we bend our backs and obey, why we allow our nature to be suppressed in the service of a 'survival' provided from their lacy-cuffed hands!"[/b][/color] The crowd was rather worked up now. [color=ed1c24][b]"There is a way, my friends. You know me for who I am. I have shared your tables. I have worked in your fields. I have slept in those rat-infested barges they force upon you as homes. I tell you that those great gifts they call 'aberrations' are not to be feared so long as one makes use of them in moderation. I tell you that I can now do the things that a nobleman does because of them. No longer does he hold the threat of inescapabale violence above my head. Mine is now the power to say 'no' to him where, before, I could not. I come, this night, to share with you the Gift!"[/b][/color] Close by to where he was speaking out on the forward deck, there appeared a spot of the purest blackness, darkly scintillating. He was poised to invite people up to make contact with it.

Meanwhile, however, there was one further act of note taking place aboard the Lorentine Queen, pride of House Rednitz's rivergoing fleet. The six youths who'd just arrived had been apprised of the location, in the ship's hold, just aft of the engine room, of a holy artifact of priceless value: the Lyre of Ipte-Zept. At that very moment, as the gathering of rough-hewn fieldhands threatened to turn into a shipboard riot, the speaker's accomplices were headed aft to take advantage of the impending chaos. One could only speculate at what they hoped to achieve but, contrary to its grassroots impression, this was clearly a well-planned and tightly executed operation with a clear goal in mind. All that left to be seen was where the six youths who had just arrived would fit into it: allies, enemies, or something else entirely?

[hider=The Gamblers]Carmillia Carbonneau, Manfred Hohenfelter, Dorothea Hohnstein, Seung Eun-Ji, Leon Solaire, and Zarra Travendour[/hider]
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A portal opened onto Isla d'Amato and a motley assortment of eight youths stepped through. There were three exceptionally tall women, a fourth - merely tall - who leaned on a single crutch, and a fifth who seemed greatly fond of the colour red. The three young men who followed them through consisted of a pair who had the distinct look of mercenaries and a third who was... exceptionally [i]short[/i]. They found themselves on a near empty dock at the very edge of a ramshackle settlement. Waves lapped gently at its posts and crickets chirped in the tall grass and subtropical undergrowth. There were birds in the sparse growth of palm trees which swayed quietly in a light breeze. 

The eight young people were dressed in clothes that might mark them out as pirates and, looking upon the nearby settlement, it became evident why. Lamplight burned into the warm, humid night, and the sounds of gambling, brawling, and merrymaking wafted out across the docks. Ships groaned softly and sails stood sentry, bound and furled under the light of four moons. This, then, was the Isla d'Amato: notorious place that it was and home to many of the most storied pirate crews of the Ensollian Sea.

It appeared that, near to where the infiltrators had landed, along with a wagon and some chests of what were either plunder or supplies, a dirt road began, winding into the heart of town. Perhaps those perceptive enough would note the names of a handful of establishments close by: 

[indent]1) A large stone and wood building of some three floors, with wraparound balconies and an inner courtyard. It flew the Pennant of Revidia and was named 'The Doge's Breeches'. It appeared to be quite full but perhaps not as raucous as some of the others.

2) A tall wooden structure in the heart of town, with elegant carved balustrades and balconies and a red lantern burning in one window. It was called 'La Fleur Rouge'. Sounds of drinking and laughter emanated from its direction and a great many provocatively dressed women could be seen in the area.

3) A smaller, well-maintained stone building towards the near edge of town, close to the ships, called 'The Main', which flew a Dorvalish flag. There appeared to be a handful of crews making their way back and forth between it and a couple of ships.

4) A great rambling compound perched on higher ground towards the far edge of the townsite. Its construction was markedly different from that of the other three buildings and a great many individuals seemed to be coming and going from it in various states of inebriation. Its name - in an unfamiliar script - was translated by Ismette as "The Mermaid's Knees".[/indent]
Further afield, there may well have been other places of interest, and the picaroons, in particular, were known to inhabit areas some ways from the townsite, but these four were the significant ones closest to the ersatz pirates. The question now became, "where to begin?" Indeed, a plan for tackling their goal had been the subject of not a little discussion among the group. Would they remain united or was it time to divide and conquer?

[hider=Infiltrators Ahoy!]Desmond Catulus, Benedetto Corvi, Ismet'ych'lahin'dichora, Wyvsen Myranne, Penny Pellegrin, Ingrid Penderson, Trypano Somia, Onarr Yidlob[/hider]
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