Last time Basket tried the Mage Tower alone and found it very difficult. This time Scoti_Garbidis is on the server too, and the two of them go in together with a proper quest behind them. They get what they came for. It just doesn't do anything yet.
The dean with the skull
The episode opens in an office at the academy. Behind the desk is Vargos, who introduces themself as the Cerulean Blademind, Fourth Archmage of the Grand Council and Dean of this Academy, "but please just call me Vargos. I dislike titles." The academy is where you choose your path: warrior, mage, alchemist, scout, cleric or rogue.
There's a skull on the desk. Asking whose it is turns out to be the way into the quest. It's "a daily reminder, not a pleasant one at that," and Vargos will explain, but only in return for a favor. The quest is Mage's Legacy, marked long and easy: head to the Mage Tower north of the city and look for some research.
Advice from the solo attempt
On the walk over, Basket shares what the first try taught. The building itself went OK, but alone it ended with digging through a wall and pillaring up to get out. The bigger warning is outside the tower. There are gas spawners out there that can't be reached to break, and "if they hit you once you just die." Leaving the bounds is probably against the rules anyway.
Inside, it gets hot fast. One of them ends up upstairs and on fire. "I'm coming out, I'm coming out." The plan after that is simple: they're working from the bottom up, so every level has its own crowd, and if things go bad they fall back.
Blinded by the light
The tower is full of endermen, baby zombies and creepers. Some of the mobs cause blindness, which is how one of them remembers why the solo run stalled here. "I can't see that guy and I need to heal." A burst of song follows ("I'm blinded by the light!") and a drop to about three hearts. At one point the mobs start fighting each other.
On a balcony they find what they came for: Jungle Research Notes, a quest item for Ezariah. The spawner up there stays for now, and the barrier blocks mean the gas spawners only matter if you bridge out. Someone apologizes for opening a chest before putting on the lucky helmet. The answer: "You can have everything. Someday I'll die and I can't take any of this with me. I'm here for the experience, not the loot."
Racing the reset
The compass shows how long until the tower resets: 7 minutes and 28 seconds. They head down to try the second tower. A creeper spawner behind them gets Scoti, and the chat reads "Scoti_Garbidis was blown up by Creeper." Scoti's dropped gear is waiting on the bridge, and Basket is still holding some of Scoti's things, including the better sword with Smite and a book.
With "Mage Tower is respawning in 2 Minutes!" on screen, they make one last grab for a chest in the first room. At 30 seconds they run. The chest doesn't work out. "I'm glad that I didn't rely on that chest."
Encrypted
Back at the academy, one of them hands the other the job of reading the quest text out loud, as story time. Vargos asks whether they found the notes, starts to ask something about Ezariah, then thinks better of it. "Never mind, I don't think I want to know."
The notes are magically encrypted. Ezariah's old office is on the roof, and the right levers plus the button on the desk should cast a translation spell on the book. The clues are in the library on the ground floor. And Vargos still hasn't said whose skull that is.
