I've a pretty good idea of what this scene is all about; I'm not even going to roll on the scene checker. There is a chance that things may go differently than I expect, but over all I see this more as a transition scene to take us into the next chapter.
You'd think that with nothing else to do I might have been able to sleep in, but my body is well-used to a particular schedule and insisted that I get up early. I spent the morning hours thinking, and renewing my prepared spells. I took Mair at her word, and prepared spells for a journey. However, as I'd never actually been on a journey, I wasn't sure what to expect, and couldn't know which spells would be best. I prepared Cure Wounds, since I could imagine needing to heal injuries. And False Life to give me a bit of a stamina boost. And though I did like to imagine myself heroically battling thieves and monsters, it seemed more likely that I'd need to run away, so I prepared Expeditious Retreat.
And then I sat and waited to be summoned, and wished I could believe that Mair was actually going to arrange for me to be freed, somehow. It seemed...unlikely. I started to imagine how I might "expeditiously retreat" from the masters, but every scenario ended with me back in this room. Or worse.
When a guard finally came to usher me to the hearing, I was just about ready to confess to anything at all, as long as they let me out of that room. Well, not really, but I was quite ready for a change of scenery. And quite ready to resort to something desperate if Mair didn't come through. I had to find out what had happened to my father, and recover Olwynna.
I'm assuming all seven masters will be at the hearing. It's likely, even. Oracle? → "Wrong question. (Check your assumptions.)" (1/5/5) I'm not going to lie, I'm getting a little tired of these "wrong question" responses! But let's see where this goes.
Okay, so asking if the masters will be at the hearing is the wrong question...because there is no hearing? But the guard already came and got me, so it must have been a sudden change. Maybe something Mair said or did has changed the plans abruptly. Is this so, Oracle? Has Mair done something to cause the hearing to be called off? "Yes, and" (5/4/4). Ah, here we go! Yes, she has done something, and it's the thing that's going to get me freed!
I was nearly to the chamber where the hearing was to be when the guard and I were met by Osior and Mair. He hailed us and we halted, there in the hallway.
"The hearing has been called off," said Osior. "Mair has proposed an...interesting alternative. That council was sufficiently intrigued to overlook her lapse of judgment." His glance toward her was surprisingly chilly, I thought. Mair looked chastened. I had a sudden suspicion as to why.
She cleared her throat. "They know, Reinold," she said. "I confessed that I spied on their session with the Syrcrystal, in a misguided attempt to get a confession out of you."
I knew it. In one swoop she'd taken away any leverage I might have had over her. And now the hearing was cancelled, too...was I going to be hauled back to the tower room? Or...wait. What was this "interesting alternative" she had proposed to the council? Not knowing what to say, though, I just nodded.
"As penance, I've volunteered to go after your father, and retrieve the sword."
"Wait, what?" I wasn't sure I'd heard her right. Mair was going to go after my father? But what about me? Were they going to make me wait in the tower until Mair returned? "You can't! I was going to—"
I was going to what? Rescue my father? Retrieve the sword? There was no way they'd permit that. But I had to go! I was the only one who didn't assume my father was the thief.
Osior held up a hand. "She won't go alone," he said. "She convinced us that having someone along who knew the sword would be helpful. You'll be under her very careful observation, though." He looked meaningfully at Mair.
She nodded. "Yes, sir."
Okay, is the council really sending just the two of them? That seems unlikely, given the magnitude of the problem here. Oracle? → "No, but" (2/3/2). Okay, so it isn't just the two of them, but it's also still a surprisingly small entourage. Mair, Reinold, and...who? Perhaps a couple of guards? → "No" (1/6/5). Okay, are they rounding out the party in traditional style, with a cleric, rogue, and fighter? "Yes" (6/2/6) → Bad thing happens to a PC (6/2/1).
That's kind of hilarious, but let's go with it. How about the bad thing that's going to happen to Reinold? Random words say improve decision. I'll say that's the masters, "improving" their decision to send Reinold by making sure he's not actually "free". I'm picturing some kind of tracker, a bracelet or something that requires him to stay within some distance of at least one party member. Oracle? → "Yes, but" (2/1/2) → Bad thing happens to an NPC (3/6/1). Okay, I think I see where this is going...
I looked between Osior and Mair, feeling like everyone was laughing while I missed the punchline entirely. When Master Osior merely continued to look at me expectantly, I cleared my throat and asked, "Just like that, then? I'm free to go?"
"With Mair," he said. "And, with this." He held up a thin bracelet of silvery metal. "I'll put this on your wrist, at which point, it won't come off again until one of the masters says the keyword, and releases it."
I eyed it uncertainly. "What will it do?"
"It won't hurt you," he said, "if that's what you're worried about. Or rather, it won't hurt you, as long as you stay within a hundred yards or so of Mair." He gestured for me to extend my arm, and I did so, but not without severe misgivings. The bracelet slipped easily enough over my hand, but immediately tightened on my wrist. It was snug, but not uncomfortable.
"What happens if I go farther away from Mair than that?" I asked, feeling like I already knew the answer.
"No permanent damage," he said. "Just pain. Lots and lots of pain. I would recommend not getting farther from Mair than that."
I gulped, but couldn't suppress my curiousity. "Is it keyed to Mair somehow?"
"No," Osior said. He held up another bracelet, identical to the one I now wore. "It is keyed to this."
Mair gasped, understanding. "Wait," she said. "You don't expect me to—"
"Yes," he said. "I do." He handed the bracelet to her.
She recoiled. "You never said anything about this!"
He shook his head, as if at a child's unreasonableness. "Mair," he said. "You admitted to spying on confidential masters' business. You will either wear this bracelet—", he shook it gently at her, "—or you will atone for your misdeed in...some other way."
Her shoulders sagged, and she gingerly took the bracelet. With a sigh, she slipped it onto her wrist, where it tightened just as mine had. "I'm beginning to think Reinold's plan might have been better."
Osior raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What plan was that?"
She shook her head and shrugged. "I have no idea. I told him I had a better plan, and left."
Osior laughed, then. "Fine, fine," he said. "Now, go gather your things—together!—and be at the stables in half an hour. I'll introduce you to the rest of your party."
"The rest of our party?" I asked. "I thought it was just Mair and me."
He snorted. "I hardly think you can expect us to entrust such a quest to an untried youth and—forgive me, Mair—a bookish academic. No, there are three others who we've arranged to go with you. A small group, so you can travel quickly, but with sufficiently diverse skills to give you a variety of options."
I opened my mouth to ask another question, but he cut me off. "That's enough for now," he said. "Go on. Gather your things. You'll meet your companions soon enough." And then he was striding away down the hall.
Mair sighed again. "Come on," she said. "Let's get going. The sooner we leave, the sooner we can resolve all of this. We'll visit your rooms first."
"Why mine?"
"Because I don't want to have to carry my things all over the tower."
There was no arguing with Mair, I knew, so I turned around and headed for my rooms.
And, cut. Reviewing threads, I'd say the following two have made progress: "recover the sword" and "find father". Let's move them both from a 3 to a 4.