Session 28 — 13 September 2026
Kroak has been promised three hours for their final examination. The note inside their circle gives them one.
Make one useful potion. Use only what grows, crawls or hides within the circle.
Around them, Strixhaven's stadium has fallen quiet. The other first-years are still visible beyond the glowing boundary, but the noise is cut off. Kroak's own challenge is a small patch of wilderness: a fungus-covered log, an almost oily black pool, a thorny plant and an animal burrow. A battered cauldron waits among them.
The thorn-flower's nectar is a stimulant. Kroak has been experimenting with elixirs, and it suggests an Elixir of Boldness, something to help its drinker get the best out of themselves.
The nectar is thick, though, and the only liquid available is black water. A little on Kroak's tongue stings strangely, with the feel of transmutation magic. They rig up a way to distil it over a fire. The water comes out clean, but the magic remains. That might help with a potion intended to change and embolden someone.
Unfortunately, the flower also contains poison. Ground beetle shell can bind the mixture, but cannot make it safe. Kroak looks again at the dead beetles near the burrow. Something else lives here. They listen until they hear the pitter-patter of a lizard, and recognise a creature whose saliva can neutralise the flower's toxins.
Kroak pounces.
The lizard wriggles in their hands as they collect the saliva they need. Once it is added, the mixture brightens, but still gives far too sharp a kick. Dark blue mushrooms soften the effect. At last, Kroak has something closer to boldness than an uncontrollable rush of adrenaline.
During the final filtration, the cauldron almost tips over.
They catch it just in time. Steadying themselves, Kroak filters out the pieces and finishes with a properly mixed potion in their hand.
"I'm finished. Stop the time. Do you want a taste?"
For several seconds, nothing happens. Then the potion dissolves into a scroll. The circle lights up and fades, and the sounds of the stadium return.
Ingredient identification: excellent. Resourcefulness: excellent. Formulation: passed.
Daiki congratulates them, delighted. Lana is pleased too. All four friends have passed! Kroak, however, thought they had done really well. That final, plain passed is a little disappointing.
Ruben had full confidence in everyone. Now they can stay for another year.
They stay to watch the remaining examinations. Ruben studies the prospective Lorehold students' challenges, making notes about subjects he might not know. Lana looks for their friends and the students heading for Silverquill. Kroak strolls through the stadium, offering encouragement and looking out for Aurora.
Daiki would like to encourage everybody. He flies around, hoping to add a little supporting magic, until a strict voice sounds in his head as he approaches the circles. He is to refrain from interfering with other students' exams.
Lana has much the same concern. She tells Ruben that changing someone's examination conditions might make things better or worse. Ruben is too focused on watching to keep up.
Some circles turn gold. Others fade into red, leaving students to walk away in tears. Roughly a fifth seem to be failing. They will have one retake before they must leave Strixhaven.
Sszethik comes over pleased with his results, and Ruben is eager to hear about the exam. More importantly, they can both remain here. Aurora passes too, with a challenge that seems to involve music. Nymri takes longer. She struggles between an artistic solution and talking her way through the problem, finally joining them in the last half-hour.
It was the hardest examination she has ever taken. Everything was mixed together, and she could not even decide how to begin. Eventually, talking worked.
Lana tells her she can be proud. She passed, didn't she? Nymri can stay in the dorm with them if she wants.
Nymri corrects her. Their dorm is for first-years. They will all have to move.
Lana thought they could get another place together. Perhaps they can request one, Nymri says.
At the final bell, the last few circles turn red. Even students who have worked right to the end have failed. Ruben offers tutoring to the Lorehold students facing a retake, for five silver pieces each. He needs money for his spells, and the chance to stay at university seems worth the fee.
Daiki has a housing problem to solve. He is sad at the thought of emptying his bunk, although Lana's suggestion that he leave confetti cannons for the incoming first-years improves matters considerably.
But he still wants somewhere the four of them can stay together. A home for his friends feels like a first step towards establishing his own domain in the Feywild, and he is ready to put a great deal into finding it. Ruben helps investigate the available accommodation. Lana can supply the arguments while Daiki supplies the enthusiasm; Kroak suggests approaching Wildemere, who has money and has bought several buildings.
Daiki's priority is a home for the four of them. Having Nymri and the others there would be lovely, but keeping the four together comes first.
Lana has another request to make. Once the examinations finish, she approaches Professor Embrose for feedback. Could she have reached her answer faster? Should she have asked about previous offences?
He directs her to her results scroll.
It says excellent twice. Lana knows that. There must still be room for improvement.
Embrose agrees, but she has exceeded expectations already. She should be happy. Those might be the last excellent marks she ever receives at Silverquill.
"I doubt that."
He invites her to prove him wrong.
She intends to. She also intends to get an answer: providing feedback is part of his job, surely? Embrose has more than a hundred and twenty students in an exceedingly popular course. He cannot give everyone all the personal guidance they want. If she were in the honours programme, he might be able to do more.
How does she get into that?
Her two excellent marks might give her a chance. It will be a lot of work.
"That has not scared me before."
Silverquill involves actual hard work, he warns, unlike those other colleges. Lana does not doubt it for a moment. She is still here, after all.
Embrose may be able to arrange something for next year. She thanks him politely, wishes him a good day and leaves. Something else in her schedule will have to give. Between debate club, the ensemble and this new ambition, Lana stops going to the gym for now. Daiki is leaving physical training too. He has enjoyed cheering so much that he joins the Mage Tower Cheer Squad instead.
A week later, everyone is packing in the dorm, and Daiki still has no answer.
He has chased the professors, but hasn’t heard back. He tries to stay hopeful while counting his belongings, humming and singing as he works out how to pack them. There are paintings, his award and the tiny curtained cabinet that serves as his bed. Perhaps he can move that with magic. For now, there are bags and boxes to fill.
Ruben suggests a farewell breakfast, like those they shared at the beginning of the year with food from Daiki's work. It would be nice to do that again before everybody goes their separate ways.
"We will stay together. We will."
Nymri has been assigned a Silverquill dorm, though she has not met her new roommates.
Lana has a more immediate question for Nymri. If she ends up without a room, can she crash on her couch?
Surely the students of the year will get somewhere wonderful, Nymri says. Perhaps the university is arranging the best possible counterparts, the best possible friends.
"We already have the best possible friends."
Lana agrees with Kroak. Nymri is their friend too; she need not be starstruck. They did their best. Ruben will not deny that they have done great deeds, but they can still have friends outside the heroes of Strixhaven. Nymri is a hero in her own way.
Talk of next year's courses turns to Kroak's interest in reanimation. Ruben suggests house rules. As their magic grows more powerful, perhaps they should agree what can be reanimated in the dorm.
If they get one, Lana reminds him. Still, it is a considerate idea, and Kroak agrees that boundaries would be useful.
Perhaps it is time to try the staff room again. Which professors has Daiki already asked?
Before he can answer, somebody knocks.
Nora Ann Wu stands at the door, smiling, with a book and four handmade mugs. Ruben gets red, Lana grey, Daiki blue and Kroak green in their respective college colours. Daiki thanks her, although his mug is much too big for him.
Ruben examines his with Mage Hand suspiciously. Their last unexpected gifts tried to strangle them.
This mug's most obvious defect is that its bottom is not flat. It rocks when set down. Nora apologises; she made the mugs herself and hopes they like them.
Ruben tells her he can see the handcraft. She is pleased he can tell.
They are apology mugs. Their accommodation has taken so long because she has been working on it. But now she has good news: Daiki has enrolled them as student resident advisers! She had hoped the heroes of Strixhaven would take the role.
"Excuse me? What did he enroll us in?" asks Lana.
They wanted shared accommodation, didn't they? Resident advisers have their own dorm on central campus.
Ruben thinks this is excellent. Lana finds herself enrolled in something she knew nothing about, again.
Daiki tries to explain. He asked everywhere. Then he discovered that they could stay together if they helped the first-years. They are heroes of Strixhaven, role models. Surely helping should come naturally?
Ruben agrees. He would be happy to inspire students. Is it a paid position?
There is no stipend, but the accommodation is luxurious. Nora heard how persuasive Daiki was with the professors: ready to sign anything to get a place for his friends.
Kroak would like to know what they will actually have to do.
Nora explains: welcome new students, answer questions and help them settle in. Kroak hopes this means the first day only. Nora explains that it continues through the year; students struggling with university life may need a buddy.
Daiki has his first initiative ready: confetti in every welcoming dorm.
She loves it. Unfortunately, it might not fit the budget.
Kroak asks how much that budget is.
There is no budget.
Budgets and stipends are different things, Kroak points out. Meanwhile, Daiki checks another request: has she arranged to have PP close to their dorm?
Yes! They will have their very own bathroom.
He means their company, Potions & Prophecies.
She checks her book. There has been a misunderstanding. They definitely have a bathroom, though. Where is the company?
On central campus.
Then they are in luck. Their dorm is on central campus too. Very close!
Lana asks how much time the position will take. Nora expects each adviser to guide roughly five students and help with events. Ruben thinks they will say yes, provided it is all four or none. Nora immediately treats that as settled. Kroak still wants to compare their options.
Their rooms are ready now, but they need to sign. She hands over a single-page contract. Kroak asks where they can reach her once their lawyer has checked it.
“The lawyer is probably me,” Lana says.
Everyone reads. Daiki finds no clause giving away a firstborn or their names. Ruben checks for anything strange or incomplete. Lana looks for wording that might come back to bite them.
The contract is vague. Wonderfully vague. Its only enforceable obligation is helping on five student-event days. In return, they receive free accommodation and discounts at cafés and taverns. All that year-round mentoring is much less firmly expressed.
Lana opens a mind-link to each of her friends and explains. They can sign. If anyone demands more than the contract requires, they should come to her.
For a while, Nora stands waiting as all four silently look at Lana. Then Ruben signs and thanks Nora for her efforts. Kroak thanks her for the mug too. Everyone adds their signature; Lana is particularly happy that this need not take over her schedule.
Nora is delighted. The heroes of Strixhaven will be her neighbours! Their new place is near Dorm 1, the Biblioplex and the game hall. She has experience as a resident adviser herself, and Ruben hopes to learn some tips from her, perhaps over coffee or another hot drink.
There will be plenty of time to get acquainted, she assures him. The faculty have signed everything off. It is official at last.
There is more packing, then unpacking. Nymri and Sszethik help carry their belongings across campus, and evening falls as the four move into their new home.
It is enormous compared with their old dorm. Each has a room of their own. Ruben is especially happy that Kroak has a separate bedroom, although they could still bunk together if they wanted.
Nymri and Sszethik look around in admiration. Perhaps they should have become resident advisers too.
In Lana's room, Nymri marvels at the luxury. Lana winks and suggests she could spend the night sometime.
Nymri might just do that. She jumps on the bed, looks out of the window and continues exploring.
Ruben invites Sszethik to stay in his room too, and would like to see Sszethik's. Sszethik is happy to show him sometime, and continues admiring Ruben's room and its shelves.
Kroak runs from room to room before claiming the middle of the couch, putting their feet on the table and looking around. They ask Nymri how her new place compares. Hers is much smaller. Better than the room they all shared as first-years, certainly, but her bedroom is perhaps half or a third the size of theirs.
Daiki thinks he has a ballroom. Being the smallest makes his room feel largest of all. He is already rearranging anything that does not suit him, gathering his own possessions into a corner and preparing to spend some time cocooning.
Eventually, Nymri and Sszethik leave them to their first night. Kroak looks around a little longer, then begins making dinner for everybody.
Daiki is grateful it has worked out. Their castle needs a lovely name. Lana suggests the Hero's Roost, but they do not settle on anything. Officially, the place is R3, the third residence-adviser dormitory. Ruben thinks they could keep the R or the three in their choice. There is time to decide.
Over the following tenday, they still sometimes leave the building and turn the way they did at the old dorm before remembering to go the other way.
By the first of Ches, there are new courses to attend and old accounts to settle. After twenty-one tendays of business, Halcyon's competition, three employees' wages and rent have left Potions & Prophecies with seventy-eight gold pieces in profit.
It could have been worse. Kroak could have lost money. It could also have been much better. Daiki has earned more in salary than Kroak has paid themselves, and his savings have passed two hundred gold pieces.
After a full first day of second-year classes, they join the other students celebrating at Bow's End Tavern. They have come for a drink. An excited student approaches with a flyer.
It is happening! The Mage Tower game! The Battle of Strixhaven!
The game pits two teams against each other, each trying to steal the opposing mascot and bring it back to their own tower. Magic is allowed; actively harming other players is not.
Lana, who has already had a few drinks, would like the flyer. He is more interested in telling them why they need him. They would be the perfect team, and teams can have five members. He could be their fifth.
"Ehmm… Who are you?"
His name is Tori. They should remember it. He can be strong or fast, whatever they need. They can register with Professor Sharpbeak. What more could they want?
Ruben would like time to consider it. Tori can write down what he would add and leave an application in their mailbox.
While Ruben is explaining, another student arrives. Have they heard about Mage Tower? Are they looking for a fifth? They certainly should not take Tori. This newcomer knows better magic and is more agile.
Tori tries to keep their attention. Ruben invites his rival to apply too.
Then another student approaches. And another.
Everyone assumes that the heroes of Strixhaven will enter, and that they will win. Kroak asks about their possible opponents. Students from second year onwards can compete, forming their own teams; some return together, while others look for new teammates and a better chance of victory. Who will enter this year is still unclear.
Daiki can cheer and play. His new club does not prevent him joining a team, and the other cheerleaders would only encourage it.
Lana draws Ruben aside. Wouldn't his first choice be Sszethik, or somebody they already know? Are they giving all these applicants false hope?
They have not even decided individually whether to participate, he replies, let alone whether they want to be on one team. Competing against each other might be fun. Their closest friends could have first refusal, but they can still be friendly to the students approaching them.
Around them, the pitches grow more eager. Furthermore, the party discovers there is prize money: two thousand gold pieces for the winning team.
Kroak's interest sharpens. By then they might be rich, or destitute and in debt. The prize could fund their next business and help pay off the first. They have to think bigger.
The final competition is at the end of the year, with practice and qualifying events before it. Ruben will investigate earlier Mage Tower competitions in the archives and ask the professors who remember them.
They have yet to agree to enter, form a team or choose a fifth member. For now, students from every college crowd around their drinks, each trying to secure a place beside the heroes of Strixhaven.