---
campaign: Avalon Adventuring Academy
type: session
session_number: 5
date: 2025-11-26
arc: leyline
status: planned
---
# Cold Open
>[!quote] Root Oversight Array- Location Classified
>We start somewhere else, while you are all discussing what happened at B2 with Ellias
> The room is all stone, and steel, and light. 
> In the center, is a platform which holds a wide, shallow basin. It is not filled with a liquid- but light, that seems to map out a ghostly diagram of the leyline network: bright trunks, branching roots, pulsing nodes.
> Hooded technicians in plain grey robes move between pillars, checking readings, murmuring quietly. The whole place hums with an all to familiar heartbeat- but here, amplified one hundred fold- the room throbs. Each beat knocks dust from the walls and gravel from the roof.
> **A BEAT**
> One of the technicians, younger, nervous, stiffens. The crystal pillar in front of him flickers, then flashes an angry red.
> He frantically taps the runes. "Why would delta three be spiking at this hour?"
> A label resolves on the pillar: "AVL-ACAD / B2 - DIST. JUNCTION- ATHLETIC GRID"

Let them sit with that for a moment- they need to realize that's them.

>[!quote] Enter D'Serris
>A figure at the far end of the room looks up from the basin. Older, sharp features, with white streaks in his hair. His robe is more formal than the others. His belt bears an engraving- Root Overseer.
> He walks over, staff ticking against the stone. 
> He eyes up the pillar, then the basin. One thin branch flares within. A cluster of points around it, representing your campus, jitter, before stabilizing.
> "B2 again?"
> The tech nods- gulping. "Yes sir. Load divergense from A series root. It... uh.. it looks like lock intervention. Manual."
> D'Serris: "Maintenance?"
> Tech: "No scheduled work orders."
> D'Serris is lost in throught for a moment- "Nobody under thirty moves this recklessly." 
> Before the tech can respond- the pillars light **spikes**. The label flashes from amber to a hard red. In the basin, the representation B2 swells- an overbright node connected to four lines- then one of those lines implodes- leaving only a cracked, dead segment. 
> The hum in the room stutters. For a heartbeat, the entire network map freezes.
> Crystals up and down the walls flicker. Technicans grab pillars, steadying themselves as the floor quakes.
> Across half a dozen pillars, the same message flashes in harsh red script: 
> **ROUTE OVERSIGHT: LOST. C-LINE DISCONNECTED. FAILSAFE UNAVAILABLE.**
> The tech panics: "Sir! B2! It's just- I don't know! It's just *GONE*! Output line 4 shows no physical connections. Root oversight for that segment just dropped. Whatever's riding the C-series over there, we... we can't see it anymore."
> D'Serris exhales through gritted teeth. 
> "Of Course it's the academy." He taps his staff against the stone. In the basin, the map shifts, and zooms out. The Avalon node is just one of many sprinkled along a massive glowing trunk that runs under the whole region, off the edge of the projection. 
> "They built that school on a vein and let children play with the taps. This was always bound to happen."
> "The tech asks: "What shoudl we do? Re=route? Cut the whole site?"
> "Can't.". He gestures at a cluster of distant nodes linekd to the same trunk. "Too much weight on that line. You cut Avalon, you destabilize everything from here to the capital."
> **Beat**
> Besides, the root seems to like them.
> He waves a hand; the view zooms in just a bit more, enough to show **three tiny motes** near the Avalon node, pulsing slightly out of sync with everything else.
> “Pattern anomalies,” the tech reads off. “Three signature clusters. Adolescent. High contact with the B-series.”
>D’Serris’ mouth tightens.  
>“Of course. We sever the watcher and the first thing the root does is mark new favorites. It’s learning.”
>A secondary crystal on a nearby stand starts chiming – a **comm node**. The tech glances at the label.
>“Incoming link from AVL-ACAD administration. ID… Larkvale.”
>“Put him through.”
>A hovering image flickers into being above the comm crystal: Larkvale, in his office, looking furious and sleep-deprived.
> “Overseer,” Larkvale says, skipping pleasantries. “Your pet tap just tried to kill my field and half my grid. I have students reporting visions, three systems down, and a very irate Headmaster from across town asking if our little ‘pilot program’ is going to take his network with it.”
> D’Serris’ expression doesn’t change.  
> “Good morning to you too, Aldren.”
> Larkvale: “Don’t do that. Don’t pretend this is routine. I just lost whatever miserable little safety net you called ‘root oversight’ on my campus, and I am not paid enough to explain that to a board full of elves who think magic is something they buy, not something that can turn on them.”
> D’Serris: “Your node is still standing. B2 is stable. The children down there actually did decent triage, considering.”
> He let's the word hang- **children**.
> Larkvale: "So it *was* them?"
> D’Serris: “Who else? Oversight is gone. The root is… improvising. And it has opinions about your students.”
> Larkvale: “Can you restore oversight?”
> D’Serris: “Not remotely. Not now. That branch is dead. If we want eyes back on Avalon’s root segment, someone would have to go in from the _inside_.”
> Larkvale: “I have a school to run.”
> D’Serris: “You have a **containment project** to supervise.”
> **BEAT**
> “Or would you prefer we relocate it? Shut the campus, move the tap, let the root chew on some other town’s children?”
> Larkvale: “…No. The Board would never go for it. Too much sunk cost. Too many eyes on Avalon as the ‘model.’”
> “Fine. I’ll keep the lights on and the kids from dying in bulk. You keep your people from using us as a stress test for whatever half-buried mistake you made under this valley.”
> D’Serris smiles without humor.
> "Deal.
> And Aldren?"
> Larkvale: "What now?"
> "Those three anomalies? The ones the root's cuddling up to?"
> "Yes."
> "Watch them. If oversight can't see throught their eyes anymore..."
> (He dips a finger into the basin; the little motes flare.)
> “…something else will.”
> Larkvale's projection vanishes.
> The room slowly returns to its low hum. Technicians shuffle back to their pillars, muttering about rerouting, local safeties, contingency drafts.
> D’Serris stays at the basin, watching the Avalon node and its three little anomalies pulse in the dark.
> Under the surface of the map, the main leyline trunk flexes once, like something rolling over in its sleep. For just a moment, the light isn’t blue or white at all – it’s the deep, angry red of blood seen through skin.
> D’Serris closes his eyes.  
>“Root oversight offline,” he says, to nobody in particular.  
>“Let’s see what you do without a leash.”
# Spin Alley
Non-negotiable in world facts Ellias will NOT bend on:
- Elias' priorities:
	- Keep his job
	- Keep the party from getting expelled
	- prevent admin from panicking and making things worse
	- stop them from admitting they destroyed expensive government property out loud.
	- He will not agree to a story that paints him as the sole mastermind sabotaging the school.
	- He will not outright lie about the node nearly failing; he _did_ see the stress levels and knows “we stabilized it” is mostly true.
	- He _will_ downplay the intentional destruction: “a failing line went during emergency triage.”
>[!quote] Elias, pacing:
>“Okay,” he says. “Before Larkvale drags us into his vivisection lab, we need to get our story straight. Because right now, the system logs say: Node B2 flagged a critical load, **Students** were detected in the tap cell, and an output line physically failed while someone was manual-adjusting it.
> “So. In your own words: what happened down there?”

Remind them- They know a guy!

## Cooperate
"We stabilized, shit went bad in the process."
>[!quote] Elias
>"Good. Okay- we can work with that- emergency triage.
> We say that we saw the stress from up top, and you all insisted on going down with me because nobody else was responding. We manually lowered the intake and tried to bled off pressure. One output was already cracked, and failed while stabilizing. That makes you out to be heros, not saboteurs.
If they mention the unknown branch:
>[!quote] Elias
>"Stop. There was no "unknown branch". Only a compromised conduit.
>Admin doesn’t even admit the C-line exists. If you bring it up, we’re not just in trouble, we’re in ‘shut-the-campus-down and ‘where did that funding really go’ trouble.
>We call it a cracked line. We say it failed. That’s it.”
## Ben commits to Elias is the villain
>[!quote] Elias
>“You think _I_ built this? If I’d designed the tap network, I’d be on a government salary in a tower somewhere, not eating academy cafeteria slop and patching leaks with underage arsonists.”
>He jabs a thumb toward the field.  
>“I’m a **grad student on a stipend** with a maintenance pass and a supervisor who thinks ‘mana physics’ means ‘turn it off and on again.’
>What I had was a diagnostic tool and enough training to see B2 was about to go from ‘concerning’ to ‘front-page obituary.’”

If Ben continues to press Elias:
>[!quote] Elias
>“ Yes, I knew that line was ugly. That’s why I brought the only people on campus who had already survived one meltdown to help me stop the next one.
>I didn’t _make_ you kill the line, Mulkerberg. You did that all by yourselves. I’m just the idiot who stayed topside and watched the graphs scream.”

If ben threatens to blame Elias:
>[!quote] Elias
>You _can_ try to pin this on me. You can walk into Larkvale’s office and say ‘Elias dragged us down there and broke the node.’ You know what happens next? I get investigated and probably thrown out. Admin still has logs showing **student biometric signatures** in the cell. Admin still has logs showing **student biometric signatures** in the cell. You don’t get off the hook by lighting me on fire. You just guarantee you burn too. I am not your enemy. I am the one person in this building who understands what you actually did last night and isn’t immediately calling the district audit board. So either we work together, or we walk into that meeting as four separate suspects. Your call.”
## Throw Admin Under the Bus
>[!quote] Elias
>I *like* that idea. We *did* respond when nobody else did. We *did* lower the stress before the line failed.
> Be smart about it. Blame the system, blame the lack of oversight, blame the fact there was a critical node under the field with no on call engineer.
> Do not start naming hidden branches or implying you have a more complete map of the tap than the people who built it.

If they commit to wanting to expose the whole conspiracy:

>[!quote] Elias
>"You don't *have* the whole conspiracy. Right now you have a weird grid, a bleeding tree, and a dead conduit. If you go in there screaming about secret C-lines and ancient root watchers without proof, you look crazy and dangerous. And crazy, dangerous students get removed from unstable systems, not entrusted with investigating them!

## The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth
>[!quote] Elias
>Let's play that out:
>You walk into admin and say, ‘We knowingly destroyed a branch of the tap network whose function we didn’t understand because we thought it was evil.’
>Best case, they think you’re irresponsible and slap you with suspensions, maybe worse.
>Worst case? They decide you’re either a security risk who might be working for someone else, or perfectly aligned with whoever’s trying to destabilize the tap, and you don’t see daylight without a scrying collar for the rest of the year.”
> “Is that really what you want? To be benched while the people who built this mess go back to pretending it’s fine?
> Or do you want to stay in the game, keep your access, and maybe actually find out what was on the other end of that branch before it fell on someone else’s head?”

## Extortion
>[!quote] Elias
>He laughs humorlessly.
>"You are threatening the only person on this campus who can explain these graphs to admin in a way that doesn't end with "'and then we expel them'".
>I’m already planning to stand in that room and say, ‘They helped me stabilize a failing node and a damaged conduit broke while we were doing emergency work.’
> If you’d prefer I say, ‘I don’t know why they were down there at all,’ that is absolutely an option we can explore.”
> “I am not your shield, I am your translator. You burn that bridge, you walk in alone. And if you’re so certain I’m the villain, maybe you don’t want me anywhere near your testimony anyway, hm?”

## Transition out
>[!quote] Elias
>Elias rubs his face, then holds up a hand:
>"Okay- here's what I am going to say, unless someone stops me.
>We detected a dangerous anomaly at B2.
> I went to investigate, you came along because you were already tangled up in the A3 incident and had the most context. The tap cell showed a near red-line condition. You helped me reduce intake and re-balance output. We evacuated and reported the failure. We do not mention any branches that weren't on the official schematic, voices, visions, ghosts, or anything else that makes this sound like a possession instead of a systems failure, and everything else stays between us for now.

Ask them one by one if they're sticking with that.
If ben is still combative:
>[!quote] Elias
>“Okay. Then I’ll see what version of me you invent in there. Just remember: whatever story you tell, you’re stuck with it. And so is everyone else.”
# Admin Investigation
>[!quote] Narration
>The next morning, as you all expect, you're pulled out of class almost immediately, and cramed onto the same familiar ugly wooden bench outside Larkvale's office you've become accustomed to. The "TEAMWORK!" posters seem ironic to you all now. Through the frosted glass- you hear voices- Estrada and Larkvale, and Elias, trying his best not to sound terrified.
>Larkvale pokes his head out. "In."

GM NOTES- Make the office in DND beyond if you have time.

>[!quote] Duel of Fates
>Larkvale steeples his fingers and looks at each of you like he’s lining up targets.
>“Here are the facts,” he says.
>“Last night at 22:13, the maintenance network recorded an anomaly at tap-cell **B2**, under the athletic grid. At 22:16, the hatch under the home bleachers was opened using student biometrics. At 22:19, manual adjustments were made to the node. At 22:22, **output line four suffered a physical failure**.”
>He taps the crystal panel; lines of red script flicker.
>“At 22:24, Mister Vaelor filed a report of ‘near-catastrophic load failure avoided by emergency triage.’”
>His eyes narrow.  
“You three were down there. So. Tell me exactly what you were doing in my tap cell.”
## If they follow the spin
>[!quote] Larkvale
>“So your position is:
>You observed an anomoly
>You accompanied Miser Vaelor to investigate.
>You assisted in reducing intake and re-balancing output.
>And during that process, a pre-existing compromised conduit gave out.
>His gaze slides to Elias.
>“That is also your position, Mister Vaelor?”
>Elias: “Yes, sir. Stress curves show we lowered the overall load before the line failed. If we hadn’t—”  
>Estrada cuts in: “If you hadn’t, my field might have gone up like a fireball. Yeah, I saw the replay.”
>Larkvale: “The logs support part of that narrative. B2 was redlining. Manual adjustments brought it down, then something broke. 
> What I cannot decide is whether I am looking at an act of **reckless bravery**… or an act of sabotage wrapped in a heroic story after the fact.”
> Estrada grunts: "They're idiots, not saboteurs. They're been a pain in my ass since day one, but if they wanted to blow the field, they wouldn't have stayed to turn the valves."
## If Ben throws Elias under the Bus
>[!quote] Larkvale
> Larkvale turns his gaze to Elias like a knife.
> “Is that so, Mister Vaelor? You coerced three students into unauthorized maintenance on a live node?”
> Elias goes pale. “No, sir. I informed them there was an anomaly; they insisted on coming because they had prior exposure to A3. I did not ‘coerce’ anyone. And I did not instruct them to damage any conduits.”

If Ben continues:
>[!quote] Larkvale
>“Mister Mulkerberg,” Larkvale says, voice dropping a degree. “If Mister Vaelor were secretly re-wiring root segments, he would not be grading first-year artificing.
>He would be in a tower somewhere earning ten times my salary and arguing with people you will never meet.”
>“And our logs show **student** signatures at the failure point, not just his. Choose your scapegoats carefully.”
>Estrada snorts. “Yeah, nice try, kid. You don’t score extra points by throwing the TA under the bus. You all went under the bleachers together.”

## If they press the admin is part of the conspiracy
>[!quote] Larkvale
>He regards you for a long beat.

>“Of course it’s part of something bigger,” he says finally. “You do not hang a node this size off a rural Academy for fun.”

>“But the ‘something bigger’ is so far above your student clearance that if I explained it to you, I’d spend the rest of my career in a tribunal explaining why.”

If they mention root oversight from the logs:
>[!quote] Larkvale
>His eyes flick to the crystal panel for a fraction of a second.
>“Root oversight is **offline** at your campus segment. That is all you need to know,” he says. “And that fact is the only reason you are not all being suspended on the spot. We need eyes on the ground more than we need to make an example right this second.”
## When they fuck with Estrada
>[!quote] Estrada
>“Fine. Crunch away. Just understand that every time you do, you make it harder for me to keep arguing that you’re just dumb kids and not a walking safety violation.”

>[!quote] Estrada 
>“You nut-tapped me once, Mulkerberg. Don’t try it in here,” he says. “Out there, that’s ‘team bonding.’ In here, it’s ‘grounds for suspension.’ Learn the difference.”

# D'Serris Reveal
>[!quote] Narration
>A soft chime cuts through the tension – a clear, crystalline tone from a fist-sized crystal set into the wall behind Larkvale’s desk. Its surface flickers with unfamiliar runes.
> Larkvale grimaces. “Of course.”
> He taps the crystal.
> “Overseer. You’re intruding at a delicate moment.”
> The air above the crystal shimmers. A **half-height projection** resolves – not full-body, just shoulders and up: a older man with streaks of white in his hair.
> He’s looking down at something off-screen, then his eyes flick you all.
> “Assistant Headmaster Larkvale,” he says. Voice dry, slightly distorted. “I see you’ve collected our… anomalies.”
> **A beat**
> “Assistant Headmaster Larkvale,” he says. Voice dry, slightly distorted. “I see you’ve collected our… anomalies.”
> D'Serris gives you all a nod- it isn't friendly.
> “You were present in tap-cell B2 last night,” he says. “You manually altered a load on a live node. You witnessed the failure of output line four.
> I would like to hear, in your own words, what you think you did.”

No matter what they say- he responds from a systems perspective, not a normal one. 
>[!quote] D'Serris
>“You reduced intake,” he summarizes. “You redistributed load. You watched a compromised conduit die instead of the node. That is, from a certain angle, correct triage.”
>From another angle, it is vandalism of infrastructure you DO NOT UNDERSTAND!

If they mention the unknown branch:
>[!quote] D'Serris
>His eyes narrow, just a fraction. 
>“There should not have been an unlabeled branch accessible from B2,” he says quietly.
>“If you saw one, and if you… removed it… then you have interfered with a layer of the system you were never meant to know existed.”
>Larkvale shoots a worried gaze at D'Serris' projection.
>D'Serris looks to Larkvale
>"You could suspend them,” he says mildly. “Report them to the Board. Claim they nearly destroyed school property out of boredom.”
> “You could also admit you have three students who can walk into a live node, improvise emergency repairs, and walk out without dying.”
> He looks back at the party.
> “Oversight is blind at Avalon now. Someone cut out its eyes. Until we restore it, local monitoring falls to you whether you like it or not.”
> Larkvale scowls: “I am not making them my ‘student task force,’” he says. “I am making sure they understand that **any unauthorized access again will have teeth**.”
> D'Serris: “Do try not to break anything else you can’t put back together, children.”
> The transmission ends.

>[!quote] Larkvale
> Larkvale straightens a stack of papers that doesn’t need straightening.
> “Here is what is going to happen,” he says.
>  “One: You are all receiving **formal disciplinary marks** for unauthorized access to a restricted area. Enjoy the extra detentions.”
>  “Two: You will attend a series of **after-school ‘safety briefings’** with Mister Vaelor on the tap infrastructure. Call it remediation. In practice, it means if B2 burps again, you will know before the rest of the student body.”
>  “Three: You will **not** go spelunking in my sublevels without explicit authorization again. If you do, I will have you off this campus before you can say ‘appeal hearing.’ There will be no second warning.”
>  “And four, if you notice any further… anomalies – voices, visions, static, unexplained glitches – you will report them through Mister Vaelor, not through hallway gossip.”
>  “Because whatever was riding that severed branch will not simply disappear. It will find new paths. And I would very much like to know which hallways it chooses first. Now, continue with you day.”
## Backup tactics
### If they try to bargain for a reward:
>[!quote] Larkvale
>“You already volunteered when you went under the bleachers. I am offering you _context_ and a chance to act with a modicum of guidance instead of in the dark.”

Offer a DC 13 Persuasion- if they succeed, they get what they want (within reason).
>[!quote] On fail
>“You want a deal? Fine. You do not get expelled today. There is your deal.”

### If they accuse Elias in front of D'Serris, he shuts that down:
>[!quote] D'Serris
>“I have already reviewed Mister Vaelor’s access logs. He is guilty of poor judgment in his choice of assistants, not of orchestrating a structural failure.”
> “If you wish to fight beside him, that is your choice. If you wish to fight him, that is a different conversation, and not one we are having today.”

### If they threaten to go public:
>[!quote] Larkvale
>“If you attempt to take half-understood tap diagrams to the Board or the press, you will discover that their first response is not to thank you for your bravery.”
>“It is to question your stability and your security clearance. You will lose what little access you have and someone far less sympathetic will be brought in to ‘contain’ the problem.”
>“You are welcome to test me on this if you are tired of attending this school.”

### Get out of jail free cards
>[!quote] Larkvale
>“Let’s review the terms, shall we? ‘One waiver of an **ordinary disciplinary action** at the Assistant Headmaster’s discretion. Not applicable to matters involving **external oversight**, **grid integrity**, or **criminal investigation**.’”
>“This meeting is a **safety incident review** involving the tap network and an Overseer.
>You are not here because you were late to class or punched someone behind the gym. You are here because you were physically present in a **live node failure**.
>I cannot – even if I were inclined – wave this away with a coupon.”
>“Here is the only thing this ridiculous piece of cardstock can touch today: the **detentions**.”
>“If I honor it, I waive the after-school punishment and the formal mark attached to _this_ incident. That is all.
>You still attended a dangerous failure. You are still now on Mister Vaelor’s ‘safety briefing’ schedule. You are still on my informal list of ‘students who will be nowhere near my sublevels without permission’.”

# Transition Out
[TODO]
>[!quote] To Ben:
>Your sending-stone buzzes in your pocket with a cheap little default tone.  
The screen lights up with a contact you remember all too well from the Circle the other night:  
**PIP** – black-lettered, no emoji.
>new messages pop up one after the other:

paste into discord:
`pip: hey lil stinky`  
`pip: fun run the other night`  
`pip: but my boss aint laughin`  
`pip: circle. after school.`
`pip: tonight.`
`pip: dont make me come find that nice house up the hill`
If Ben is difficult, pip sends's a photo of his house.
# Ben's Folly
Run this last, after the school encounters for the day:
## Arriving 
TODO- DND Beyond this map
>[!quote] Opening
>The Circle is the same as always: magic pumps humming, a flickering neon sign in the window, smell of grease and sugar and old cigarettes.
>The parking lot’s mostly empty except for **three beat-up vehicles**:  
– a rusted-out sedan with one mismatched door,  
– a compact wagon with a cracked headlight,  
– and a low hoverboard rack with a halfling-sized helmet dangling off it.
>Leaned against the sedan, smoking something that smells like burnt sage and cheap weed, is **Pip**.
>Small, wiry halfling, bleached tips on his hair, hoodie two sizes too big, rings on every finger. Same smug little smile he had before he tried to box you in with headlights.
> Two older human kids lounge nearby – one on the hood, one flicking a lighter open and shut – watching the door like bored guard dogs.
> Pip flicks his smoke away and grins without warmth.
> “Well, well, well. If it isn’t **Lil Stinky**, live and in person. Thought maybe you’d ghost me again.”

Ben says something- Pip gets to the point:
>[!quote] Pip
>“See, here’s the problem,” Pip says, stepping closer. “You didn’t just waste my time the other night when you took off.  
>You wasted my **boss’** time.”
>He jerks a thumb toward the sedan.  
> “He had product riding a nice, quiet little arcane route right under your fancy academy’s field. And then, like magic – poof. Route’s dead. Signal drops. Stock goes cold.”
> Pip taps the side of his head.  
>“And you know when that happened?”  
>He looks up at you.  
>“Same night you and your little friends were playing spelunker under the bleachers.”
>**Beat**
>“My boss has people who read the maintenance chatter,” he says. “Talk of ‘Node B2’, ‘output failure’, ‘student signatures in the tap cell’.”
>He spreads his hands.  
>“Now, I’m not a genius artificer, but even I can do the math:  
>**you down there + line dies = my supplier pissed.**”

## If Ben is cocky/dismissive:
>[!quote] Pip
>Pip’s smile gets thinner.
>“Cute,” he says. “Real cute.”
>He steps in just close enough that Ben can smell the smoke and the cheap cologne. “Here’s the thing, Lil Stinky:
>My boss doesn’t care about the **technical** explanation. He cares that his route through ‘AVL-ACAD B2’ died the same night some rich kid from up the hill went for a joyride in the tap cell.”
>He taps your chest once, lightly, with two fingers.  
>“He told me to collect. Money. Info. Or respect. In whatever order I can get it.”
## If Ben says "We tried to save it!"
>[!quote] Pip
>Pip cocks his head, listening, expression unreadable.
>“So you’re saying,” he drawls, “that if you **hadn’t** gone under there, my boss’ route might’ve fried completely with zero warning.  
>That you _saved_ his pipeline, and the crack was just… collateral.”
>He considers this, then shrugs.  
>“Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t have clearance to read the graphs. I just know: before you, route was working. After you, route is dead and my boss is looking at me like I’m the weak link.”
## The Deal:
>[!quote] Pip
> Pip leans back, and calls off his muscle. You get the sense this more a negotiation than a mugging.
>“Look, I’m not here to stuff you into the trunk,” he says. “Bad for business. You’re on campus, you sell to kids with allowances. You’re useful.”
>“So here’s what we’re gonna do.”
>“You keep doing your little dime-bag hustle at school. Pretend you’re king of W-block, whatever helps you sleep in the big house.
>In return, when **weird shit** happens with the grid again – lights, voices, glitchy taps, teachers freaking out about ‘leylines’ – you **tell me first**. Not your mom. Not your counselor. Not that try-hard TA.”
>“You hear about a node going red, a hatch opening, a ‘subnode’ whatever? You send me a ping. I pass that upstream. My boss gets **advance warning** instead of nasty surprises. Everybody’s happy.”
>“You play ball, that little debt from the Circle? Forgotten. I’ll even cut you a better rate on your next re-up. Call it a ‘thank you for your service’ discount.”
>“You don’t play ball?”
>He jerks his thumb at the hill behind you, where the fancy houses sit.  
“Then maybe one night some bored goons take a drive up Madera, check out the view. Maybe they don’t break anything. Maybe they do.  
Either way, you’ve got more to lose than we do.”

### Ben Accepts
>[!quote] Pip 
>Pip’s grin returns, wider, more relaxed.
> “Knew you were a smart kid,” he says. “All bark, some brain.”
> He pulls out his own sending-stone, taps it against yours; a small rune flashes as your devices sync.
> “There. Direct line. When the Academy’s tap sneezes, you text me ‘bless you’ and a few details. That’s it.”
> He steps back, gives you a little mock salute.  
> “Stay safe, Lil Stinky. I’d hate to have to find a new campus plug.”
### Ben Rejects
>[!quote] Pip
>Pip’s face goes flat. He takes a slow drag of the second smoke he’d lit somewhere in there, flicks ash at the pavement.
>“Okay,” he says finally. “Okay.
>That’s your play. I respect a bad decision. Keeps the universe interesting.”
>“But then we’re done with ‘favours’ and ‘discounts’. Next time my boss says, ‘That kid at the Academy cost us a route,’ I don’t have any reason to say, ‘Nah, he’s useful.’
>Next time something breaks under your school, I’m not asking questions. I’m just picking a target to make a point.”
>Think it over, Mulkerberg. When the lights flicker in your fancy little canyon, you’re gonna wish someone in this parking lot was rooting for you.”
### Ben Fakes Acceptance But intends to Betray
Insight Vs Deception contest on Ben Vs Pip (TODO- Pip Char sheet)
If ben wins, go to the accept route. If Pip wins:
>[!quote] Pip
>Pip squints at you, then chuckles.
> “You’re not the first kid who thought he could nod and smile and then pretend my number doesn’t exist,” he says.
> “Tell you what: we’ll call this a **trial run**. You feed me something useful next time your school hiccups, I’ll believe you’re serious. You don’t?”
> He clicks his tongue.  
> “We go back to Plan C: you learn what it feels like to be on the wrong side of my boss’ mood.”

## Transition Out
>[!quote] Pip
>As you turn to go, Pip calls after you:
> You glance back
> “Next time you’re under there, tell your little magic tree friend I said hi.”  
>He taps the pavement with his heel.  
>“Routes change. Product finds new paths. So do other things.
>You kids aren’t the only ones using that root.”
> Pip gets in his vehicle, and leaves.
