The Ninth Trial

[advisories]

Who: everyone
When: Day 18, starting just after dawn
Where: The Hermit's Tent, and all around

[This morning as the sun begins to pour through the train's windows, there's the tremor that signals a Trial.]

Come hither, Heroes. Prove thy worth. Or something like that!

[It's the same older man's voice from the sixth trial, and outside is the same fortune teller's stall. Today the front flap is lifted to show a normal interior -- there's a wooden table, carved with geometric patterns and painted in bright colours, lit by teal-coloured carved candles.

At the table sits a man of indeterminate age, somewhere between 30 and 60. He's wearing what appear to be monk's robes, teal with patterned trimming. In front of him is a crystal ball and a stack of bingo cards, along with a stand-up sign bearing the rules of this Trial.

Across the top in large font, it says:

Icebreaker Bingo

Good luck and have fun!]

Comments

[desirestruth]

We may as well.

[Sup. Here with a blood baggie. Sucking on it.]

[unaffective]

Well, then...

[ giving the sheet another quick scan. hmm ]

To speak candidly, you are quite beautiful.

[desirestruth]

[She saw it on the card, so she expected it, but she still gets a little bit red.]

Ah....thank you. You are--lovely as well, particularly your hair. It seems quite luxurious.

[unaffective]

I do try to care for it when possible. Thank you.

Is there something the matter?

[desirestruth]

I'm simply...unused to compliments, is all.

[She's gotten it back together quickly this time, though, and glances down at the card again. And then at her blood bag. Yeah let's skip 'share a meal' here...]

...Well, I suppose one of these is fairly easy for me.

[POP. NOW SHE'S A JACKAL. CHECKMATE, HERMIT.

...she's wearing a senna-colored collar.] Is there a square you'd particularly like to fill?

[unaffective]

Oh.

[ dog! that's nice? she regards her with some mild interest before deciding it's probably just shapeshifting and going back to the topic at hand. ]

All of them, ideally.

[desirestruth]

Well, yes, but it is your turn to pick, Miss Elaine.

[WHY DO NONE OF YOU PEOPLE HAVE ANY PREFERENCES FOR ANYTHING.]

[unaffective]

[ abuse mostly ]

Perhaps... it would be prudent to discuss our goals, in that case?

[desirestruth]

At the present, I would like to achieve blackout?

[That counts, right.]

[unaffective]

[ she can't really help just

looking at her, evenly ]

... Though such a response was within neither my intent or my expectations, I suppose that is acceptable.

[desirestruth]

I find I've already spoken about most of my other goals, and I don't know if it will accept repeats.

[She's had a long morning, Elaine.]

[unaffective]

Then I suppose I'll offer an alternative as well...

[ what are her other goals? ]

Well - I'd like to finish my degree program, I suppose.

[desirestruth]

Degree program?

[What the fuck is a college, Elaine?]

[unaffective]

Ah, I see...

Would you happen to have heard of universities?

[desirestruth]

I...believe there is one in the Golden Empire's capital, but Schwarzwald has never had such a thing?

[unaffective]

That's quite alright. A university, in essence, is an educational institution which operates on a scale greater than individual tutelage, or rudimentary group instruction. Further, it provides the opportunity to specialize one's learning dependent upon areas of focus and interest.

[desirestruth]

Hmm. I believe the capital's institution focuses mainly on teaching magecraft, particularly for healing...

[She is actually deeply considering this idea now, though. Schools! Widely-accessible schooling. The Black Forest is low enough in population that individual education has always worked fine but...

Hmmmmm.

You may have lost her a bit here, Elaine.]

[unaffective]

Ah, its focus, rather than those things, is more frequently academic matters - mathematics and the sciences, or literature...

[desirestruth]

Hmm. Normally those who'd wish for more than a basic education in those topics would join the ranks of the archivists...though, to be honest, the system hasn't been reformed in a long time.

[Because of. Reasons.]

[unaffective]

Respectuflly... how is it that your people are intended to persist, if they are so poorly educated?

[desirestruth]

They are not particularly poorly educated. We are a small nation, and literacy, arithmetic and basic forestry skills are easily taught by a headsman or archivist in a settlement.

On a broader level, for higher education, individual study or apprenticeship is still feasible for a small population, especially given nightkin are longer-lived humans.

And, very respectfully, there's very little use for the study of literature in times of war. And as we are a cursed people, breaking the curse and achieving piece have been of somewhat higher priority than educational reform.

[She's not really offended by the question, honestly. It is a fair one. But her tone and bearing do shift, as they do any time she discusses policy and politics.]

Going forward, I would like to establish a more rigorous system, but rushing the establishment of it wouldn't do anyone any good. Furthermore, it would have to be a system that appealed to both my people and the Empire's, and I don't yet know enough about the latter to reliably suggest policy change.