And I'm thinking towards the end of the school year, members of the Cult of Tiamat can infiltrate the Crimson Cup Championship, which sets in motion a huge climactic conflict to wrap up Volume I. Maybe our Dark Acolyte characters can use glamour charms to steal the identities of a Battlemancer team from a different school, and then while the Paladins' attention is on the chaos arising from that, the other Cultists can invade the Academy to break into the Headmaster's Vault, which is normally under powerful protection magic. Any attempt to break in triggers an alarm, which is why they needed to wait until they could have a giant distraction for the Paladins before making the attempt. And during that invasion, the Monster Club and their familiars could defend the school, thus tying all three Side Stories into the Main Story. 

By the time we get to that point, my Battlemancer's abilities will probably be similar to this:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/tNZkMG5OBAs[/youtube]