Mika is cheerful. "Ahahaha! My hearing's back!"

He claps his hands together. "You've any idea what was in that damn dresser? I thought it was clear of magic except for the bottle you took."

"So did I, and a lead box should have stopped you from hitting anything I didn't see that hard. Even if I missed something, though, I don't see why he would set a trap that exploded like that. Destroying whatever he was trying to hide doesn't make any sense."

"I wouldn't bother trying to guess the mind of a mad wizard like that, it's a fool's errand. Still can't believe he slept next to it, though!"

"Quite. ...And my apologies. I did not mean to mislead you, but it seems I did nonetheless."

"From the stories I'd heard, zombies didn't sound that dangerous. I guess I never heard what they were like at first circle."

"Yeah, I didn't realize my sword wouldn't work. Got the first one's head off but the second just wasn't having it. Horrible creatures."

"Well, now we know for next time."

And on a better-shaded note, there's a festival to get to. They should start heading that way.

As they travel down from North Point through Midland and then west into Citadel Crest, the streets grow ever more crowded.

The Acadamae is a vast complex, almost a town within a city, located in Citadel Crest. Only on this one day a year is it open to outsiders. Within the imposing stone walls and past the open gate lie twelve buildings, their designs varying dramatically.

What must be dozens of large illusions blanket the area. The sky changes colors depending on the angle you look. Strange lights streak through the air and fantastical creatures watch the crowds atop podiums. House drakes dance across the sky in groups of nine... those might be real. Two wizards are "dueling" in a sectioned off arena, but the spells are almost certainly fake.

Every Hall of magic has its own exhibition, its own impressive showcases, and its own great achievers... but every year without fail the Hall of Lies steals the show.

For all that they're mostly human, the Academae is impressively good at magic. This is so many circled spells. Mother told her stories of their rightful place in the Underdark, and of the resources properly at the fingertips of a house of noble drow, but nothing she remembers is as grand as this. Numbers have a value all their own, and even if it takes a hundred humans to produce one wizard, there are more hundreds of humans who come to Korvosa for this than there are drow nearby down below. Inferior as they are, it doesn't do to underestimate them as a whole.

She's not going to say any of that out loud, though. Just think what the two idiots would say if they heard, to say nothing of Mother.

"Illusions are spectacular. If you look at one for long enough, trace exactly how it's moving, try to see everything about it, sometimes it clicks that it's really not there. With everything they're doing here, that just enhances the effect — you can still see it, but you can also see through it. Sometimes I think they plan the show to be prettier that way. One time it actually was there, it was just a cloud of shadows coated with the image, and that was even better."

Mika nods in agreement. "I don't think I've looked at them like that before. They are very pretty."

The Hall of Summoning is the keystone of the Academae. One of the signatures of its graduates is their ability to prepare a basic Summoning tightly enough on their scaffolds that it snaps off as soon as they call to it, not needing the slow and easily disrupted selection time most wizards have to go through. This famed ability has kept the Academae attracting prospective wizards despite its (admittedly substantial) danger. Well, that and the consistency with which it turns them into second-circle casters, as long as they survive.

It's also the hall which would know the most about Acid Splash, and she has a sudden interest in improving hers. The Breaching Festival is focused on the grand displays a high-circle caster can manage, but students with almost nothing but cantrips are also there. Maybe she can see someone showing off in a way which inspires her?

They push through the crowd to the Hall of Summoning's entrance. Emblazoned on the exterior walls are glowing (possibly illusory) magic circles. Large double doors are held wide open.

The Hall of Summoning's foyer is currently host to a crowd cheering as a strange flying snake strangles an imp to death. There's a schedule on the wall for demonstrations of bound outsiders.

There are doors leading to many other rooms, with labels like "mount dueling at 3:00" and "speedy construction in adverse conditions at 2:00".

She should go look for wherever they're showing off target practice, though. That's where cantrips will be.

That's a quite impressive display there, though. Maybe she'll go after this duel.

...Or maybe after the next one. Outsiders can do so many things.

Time passes by. For a while, Mika seems equally entranced by the bizarre creatures, but eventually he wanders off.

A staff member of some sort walks into the foyer and announces a side room is doing... mount dueling in five minutes. It's an exhibition by some fifth-year students.

Is Mount dueling a thing? Aren't Mounts conjured as mounts? They can also fight? That's new.

Sure, she will go see Mount dueling. Maybe there's more to horse-on-horse combat than just trying to kick each other.

There is horse-on-horse combat done with style.

It's a one-on-one tournament, with six contestants. They're normal conjured horses, except each one is an unnatural color, and they all have arcane marks on their skin.

The actual combat is just them trying to kick each other, with the students yelling instructions rapidly. The horses... try. The winner is a red horse named flame strike, apparently.

Style, perhaps, but a distinct lack of substance. Mount is a first-circle spell — maybe some of these students would also be demonstrating cantrips, if there's any of that around, and therefore the rooms could be close to each other.

She looks around hopefully. Any sign of target practice?

If she goes looking, she can find a room with some wooden dummies set up!

There's two students in there. Right now, it looks like they're messing around with objects conjured by prestidigitation.

That's not quite what she was looking for, but understanding Prestidigitation better is important if she's going to be adventuring with wizards. She'll settle back and watch. Maybe eventually they'll get to Acid Splash.