The party went down the stairs and found themselves on the 15th floor of the tower, which is where the offices of the Headmaster and other top school officials were located. Shanris went down first, followed by the ever-curious Clarance. As soon as they reached the bottom of the stairs, they stopped and listend. From down either end of the hallway they could hear a rhythmic pounding, like metal on stone. It seemed to be getting closer, though from that distance it was hard to tell.
Rather than wait for the source of both noises to find them and have them flanked, the party went down one of the hallways to meet the danger head on. When they reached the end of the hallway, the noise was very clearly coming from around the left corner. Shanris peaked around the corner and discovered the source of the noise; a very large golem. The golem took up most of the hallway and had very ornate armor. It looked like it was a statue at one point, and Denise later revealed that it was one of the statues that was normally located on either side of the Headmaster’s office door. Also notable was the gigantic obsidian sword it wielded. It was definitely not something you wanted to be on the business end of.
Unsure what to do, the party was frozen with indecision until the golem came around the corner. It seemed to not notice them, for it turned the corner and went right past them as they hugged the wall to avoid it. At that point they looked back down the hallway and noticed another, identical golem coming from around the opposite corner as the first one.
The party decided to observe them for a moment, and watched as the two golems met up in the middle. As they did, they both turned sideways and walked past each other to resume their patrol. As the second golem approached the party, Clarance said hello to it. He got no response, and the golem kept on walking. When he told it to halt, however, it stopped and looked at him.
The party then spent a good deal of time talking to the golem trying to get information out of it and command it. When it could not process a request, its eyes would glow red. The party was able to determine that the golem could tell the they were students, which was probably why it paid them no heed unless commanded to do otherwise by them. The party also suspected that the reason that the golem would not follow all of their commands was because it was able to recognize them as students rather than teachers or other high-ranking faculty.
After they realized they weren’t getting any further with the golem as long as it saw them as students, the party decided it was time to inspect the rooms. As they went down the hallway, they noticed that all of the doors were still locked and seemingly untampered with, much like they had been on the party’s previous trip up there. Only this time, the party decided that breaking and entering was in their best interest and proceded to do so. Shanris and Clarance were able to pick many of the locks. In each office they investigated, everything seemed to be in order.
Some of the locks, however, could not be picked; at least by the novices that were trying. One such lock was that of the head of security for the school, Jonas Andres. The party still wanted to get in, however. It was at this point that Hayate offered to demonstrate is his power, which was a form of ice magic that allowed him to cool the air around things and freeze them. He thought that might allow the party to smash the handle and make their way into the room. Shanris protested for multiple reasons, but was overruled by the rest of the party. He kept an eye on the golems while Hayate froze the door handle. After some time, it was frozen and Clarance hit it with his sword. It took a few swings, but the plan worked. The golems either didn’t notice or didn’t care, as they kept up their normal patrol route.
Inside the office, everything seemed fine. No papers were out of order, no drawers were open, and the closet was closed. There was one strange thing though. Inside his desk, the party found his badge that marked him as a school official. As the party would later discover, this badge allowed access past the magical defenses of the school and unlocked several more advanced and powerful commands to the golems. The party thought it was very strange that Jonas would leave it behind. To put it in modern terms, it would be like locking your keys in your car.
A similar situation occurred as the party entered the office of Antony Smith, the school’s archery professor and a renowned bowyer. The lock required breaking, and once inside everything appeared to be in order. His badge was also found inside his desk, which was again very confusing. Later, the party would find the badge of a low-ranking library worker in an office attached to the library.
The party had many theories on why the badges were left behind, ranging from kidnapping to conspiracy and everything in between. However, more information was needed to reach any sort of definition conclusion. The party made their way to the headmaster’s office in hopes of finding such information.
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