The first installment of the Secrets of Strixhaven story, Off the Record, introduces two Silverquill students: Jilesa, a headstrong reporter for the Strixhaven Star, and her friend Esmun, a “flash artist” (a magic-inclined photographer).
The story begins with the pair heading to an interview with a new Silverquill professor — Ral Zarek. Upon meeting up with the planeswalker, the pair describe him as a “stylish figure in black, white, and gold…”, a stark contrast to his usual Izzet aesthetic.
After introducing themselves, Ral ushers the students to his office to conduct the interview. Jilesa begins with a few surface-level questions, but quickly deduces that the professor has more to share than he is providing and sneakily casts an interrogation spell. Naturally, Ral easily sees through it and shatters the magic, but to Jilesa’s surprise, the planeswalker doesn’t punish her brazen act, and instead praises her tenacity, remarking that she reminds him of himself at that age.
Following up the high praise, Ral then asks for the student’s help with a “special project.” As a reporter always searching for the next big story and tired of puff pieces, Jilesa eagerly agrees, fully intending to turn the project into her magnum opus, and Esmun follows suit. After swearing the pair to secrecy, Ral explains that he is searching for a “Blood Age tome about the birth of the elder dragons…” in hopes that it will provide insight on how to fix the leylines on Ravnica.
Ral goes on to explain that despite his best efforts, he hasn’t been able to find the book, and would ask that the students aid his search. While library work wasn’t quite what the pair were expecting, they agree to help, and Jilesa recommends they start by tracking down Codie, the Codex Vocifera that knows “almost everything” about the Biblioplex.
After asking around campus, it doesn’t take long for the trio to track down Codie. Without delay, Ral asks the sentient book where to find “Accounts of the Dawning Age: Vortex Formations and Egomagical Adaptations, by Scavrana the Oracle…” but to his dismay, Codie explains that it knows where the book is, but cannot tell him.
“The Codex did a nervous dance, metal legs clanking. “The page containing that information is redacted. I can sense what is there, but I cannot show or tell you what it contains. Typically, redaction spells are only used for knowledge deemed especially dangerous to students—”
Frustrated by the blockade, Ral moves to threaten Codie, but Jilesa steps in and tells him that she knows a lumimancy spell that might remove the restriction, but would require an energy boost from both him and Esmun. Ral eagerly agrees, and Jilesa brandishes a grimoire from her backpack before moving to prepare the ritual despite weak protests from her classmate.
“Jilesa clicked her tongue at him. “Nothing good ever came of keeping secrets. I want to be a lumimancer to reveal the hidden. Anyway, we’re helping an instructor.” A smile teased her lips. Unlike Professor Goss, Professor Zarek valued her skills. Perhaps, when this was over, she could request a change in advisors.”
After completing the ritual and successfully removing the restriction, Codie reveals that the book was taken from the “Mystical Archive to the Vaults of Turrau, where many Blood Age artifacts are kept in stasis for safety reasons…” and that the vaults are hidden by a maze, patrolled by constructs, and no one is “permitted inside without the permission of the Founders.” Despite the warning, Ral moves to depart, telling the students they should stay behind, but Jilesa tells the planeswalker that her “lumimancy is useful for finding secrets…” and insists on coming along.
Convinced of their usefulness, Ral agrees to bring the students along, a wastes no time using a transportation spell. A short time later, the trio arrive at the base of a large mountain, and hike forward until they find a large open space “…littered with pairs of tall stone carvings and grass-covered skeletons.”
“At the other end of the space, massive doors led into the sheer side of a cliff, covered in spiraling blue sigils that exuded an eerie mist, as if their surfaces were far colder than the surrounding air.”
Brazenly, Ral and Jilesa attempt to cross the opening while Esmun stays behind to observe, but a short time later, the pair find themselves back where they started, feeling like their energy had been drained. The trio quickly deduce that they had found the maze Codie warned of, and that each failed attempt would send them back to the start while also siphoning more of their energy.
Thinking fast, Jilesa and Esmun form a plan where she uses her Silverquill magic to summons inkling familiars to run the maze in their place while he watches from high ground and makes a map of the correct path. After repeated attempts running the gauntlet, an inkling finally makes to the maze exit, and following Esmun’s map, the trio make their way successfully through the maze.
Approaching the vault, Ral utters the passphrase Codie had provided, and the doors slowly swing open. Once inside, Ral calls on Jilesa to use her lumimancy and the student obliges, using her magic to create a beacon for them to follow to the book.
“Swallowing her nerves, she traced the necessary symbols in the air while speaking the incantation in a precise, firm tone. Each syllable brightened her sigil until it glowed fiercely: the light of truth a beacon to follow. Which she had to, because it darted away, down the length of the room.”
After following the beacon deep into the vault, the trio finally find the desired tome, and Ral eagerly scoops it up and flips through the pages, ignoring the sound of grinding stone in his pursuit of the book’s knowledge. Moments later, two massive stone constructs break away from their posts and approach the perceived intruders, warning them to “return the stolen item or be destroyed.” Ignoring the construct’s warning and Jilesa’s pleas to put the book back, Ral turns to the students and thanks them for their contributions before vanishing in a “swirl of shadow dotted with bursts of light.”
“Your combination of skill and spiteful ambition was invaluable, as I’d expected, though it did take some maneuvering to get that story assigned to you.” The professor’s blue-gray eyes were cold as a winter sky as he smiled at her. “Alas, I have business elsewhere, but with luck perhaps you’ll make it back to Strixhaven. If not, even better. We wouldn’t want all of this to end up in the Star, now, would we?”
With their “professor” gone and no way to reason with the constructs, Jilesa ushers a quick apology to Esmun before the pair summon the last of their strength and flee deeper into the vault.
Read Secrets of Strixhaven | Off the Record in full from Wizards of the Coast.
