May Event and Intro Log

[magicademymods]

May Event and Intro Log DAWN OF THE FIRST DAY May I Have This Dance? Though Diatu Magicademy has its share of social events, few capture the attention of the student body quite like the Twilight Ball -- that magical once-a-year dance that crosses the change of day into night and is given over entirely to the dance itself. The focus is not on political visitors, rival schools, local government, or hitting up alumni for money; it is entirely about the pleasure that comes from accompanying a charming and attractive person onto the dance floor and cutting the proverbial rug. It is entirely possible the Twilight Ball is beloved because the general student body is aggressively amorous, but no one admits that out loud. With the dance on the horizon, the mission of the day becomes finding a partner -- or asking the prettiest or nicest or most tsundere to the ball before anyone else does. The Sundered are particularly popular by virtue of being new, so students may find themselves fending off invitations or even crowds of people interested in being seen on their arms. Even the younger Sundered have a few people in their age group who'd like to pretend they're just as adult as the older students. To avoid the mob, one strategy is to find someone else in dire straits and agree to be their date, thus giving both of you protection now and then. Another, stranger, vastly more unorthodox strategy is to actually ask someone out legitimately... if you've got the guts. (The third strategy is to go with Headmaster Birony, who has been occasionally heard to bemoan loudly and publicly that she has nobody, HINT HINT. But who could possibly be THAT desperate?) Love Is In The Water Love potions are absolutely, positively, one hundred percent forbidden, on the grounds they tread far too close to the supremely black Curriculum of Dictation. This ultimate and unforgiving ban is every bit as effective as Anastara's rules limiting the speed of carts in the street to a horse's walk. So, yes, there's love potion in the water. Someone spilled an entire bucket in the river. These things happen. Luckily, as diluted as it is, the potion doesn't reach the levels of obsessive compulsion that the worst of them can; a person drinking a unfortunate draught instead simply finds themselves attracted in a weird and sharp sort of way to the first person they lay their eyes on, for a period of about thirty minutes. Diatu Magicademy is an inclusive and progressive institution, and consequently these potions affect and can target all manner of beings, from ducks and wolf-shifters to robots and dragons. They are pretty convenient about failing to bring about really skeevy pairings, though, so don't worry about being Hot For Professor. Special Delivery (aka the Least Embarrassing Prompt, which is a sad state of affairs) A quick, easy, profitable way to make some money this time of year is by delivering messages, packages, parcels, and treats to students who've caught the eye of another. Whether anonymous or gloriously identified, small token of esteem or bristling bundles of roses and chocolates, the population of the Magicademy takes particular delight in letting others know their feelings. Not always positive feelings, either -- glitter-bomb rejections have only recently begun to diminish in popularity, being replaced by Pie-To-The-Face spells. An enterprising student who adds their own spin to this hallowed ceremony of delivery can make bank; singing and performance are popular ways to enhance a message among Valhudor students, and a recent trend finds quartets delivering acapella harmonies to the recipients of love notes. But simple note hauling can still be worth your while... so long as you don't find yourself delivering a creepy confession from a weirdo to one of your dear friends. What are the odds of that happening, though? Research On the Sundered With the arrival of the Sundered come those wizards engaged in research on their presence here, now set to investigate what brought them here and how to get them home. All newly-arrived Sundered students are asked to meet with representatives of the research team, to introduce themselves and relate what they will of their homes. In addition, the team requests samples of blood, hair, and skin -- carefully magically collected, and the researchers will sign in the presence of the Sundered a Glyphed contract that forbids them from using the samples for a purpose they know will be harmful. (They quite understand your reasons to be suspicious of this collection! And they will not compel anyone who refuses even given these conditions.) This month, however, the research team informs its applicants that there is no magic being performed. Instead, they ask you to participate in partnered interviews, in which two Sundered compare their worlds and ask each other questions while the researchers take notes. They explain that they wish to find commonalities and differences between worlds, in the hopes that this will help them identify a larger pattern in how the Sundered were brought here. How is this bad enough to merit earning a reward this month? As it happens, the researchers who sit with the pair have an Intimation Crystal, which shines red every time someone speaks to deceive in its presence. Lie or omit information or cover with half-truths and the interviewer will ask you to go back and try again -- and they encourage you to speak on everything you can. You might end up venturing into dark or unpleasant territory in these interviews... DAWN OF THE SECOND DAY Welp, This Happened A quiet weekend morning is abruptly quiet no longer. With a tumultuous shuddering and an eerie, whistling roar, the first tendril of a far mightier being surges out of a wall on campus, venturing into the cloud-shadowed outdoors for the first time in its existence in this plane. Then, like a cloak shrugged off, the outbuilding it emerged from rises up only to crash to the ground as the Sundered creature rises up to claim it glory. It is a nightmare, a horror. A terrible, indescribable thing as large as a small building —a shapeless agglutination of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly self-luminous, and with myriads of temporary eyes forming and un-forming as pustules of light. For some inexplicable reason, it is colored in bands of purple, black, and gold, and several parts of it sprout white feathers. That's the bad news. The bad news is that this existential threat to reality does not go unnoticed, nor unchallenged. Mere moment after the Sundered creature makes it presence known, a cold wind begins to blow. The temperature abruptly drops thirty degrees, leaving those around in a clammy and miserable chill that feels like they've passed their whole body through one of the ghosts of Makerion Keep. This estimation is not too far wrong, for the pale off-white dragon that emerges from the clouds above is translucent and ethereal, save for the shining eyes of coldest blue that fix on the beast like pinpoints of fire. What a ghost dragon is doing here is anyone's guess, but when it opens its jaw to unleash a withering cone of necrotic energy at the Sundered creature, it demonstrates plainly that it will not brook this interloper on its domain. In other words, Diatu Magicademy is now home to a kaiju fight. That's the bad news. The BAD news is that both these creatures are, by their very nature, incredibly resistant to magic. So even as the professors spill out and split duties of getting students to safety and fending them off, the two beasts barely notice the arcane energy flashing through the air as they begin vigorously brawling. Thank goodness this is a weekend, or else you'd all have some serious trouble getting to class on time. Wonders Await? Diatu Magicademy is open to you in all its glory. But maybe you should deal with that mess first? We're just saying.

Comments

[outofyourshadow]

Yeah, when it's not causing just as much damage.

[As much as it was fighting the other thing, it also had little regard for anything else around it.]

I can try to distract it, but I'll need to keep it steady to fire off some shots.

[puzzlers]

Peregrin, you heard that, right? She needs you to do your best to keep steady. [ though if the creatures decides to turn on them, then that's going to be a bit difficult. right now though, while it's engaging with the dragon they should be able to take a couple of pot shots at it. ] If it gets weak, then we should see about chaining it up. Somebody at the school has to know how to put this thing back where it came from.

[outofyourshadow]

One can only hope.

[She doesn't sound too confident in it, though, even as she takes aim with her wand.]

It'd be just our luck that the people who know how to put it back are- n't people who'd be willing to help.

[The spell keeps her from mentioning that they could be the ones directly involved, but it doesn't matter as she fires a shot, though at first it doesn't seem like she did anything. Another shot, though, and a beam of light streams faintly from the tip of the wand towards the monster.]

[puzzlers]

[ if he's not as confident as her then he doesn't show it. he's determined to fix this, especially because they kind of sort of had something to do with it. they might not have wished for this to happen, but they were pretty ineffectual in stopping them. their plan fell apart seconds after they'd tried to enact it and just... he wants to make things right. ]

I'm surprised we don't see any of them around, though they probably look pretty different when they're not acting like crazies.

[outofyourshadow]

[She fires another shot at the monster, the beam of light stronger than the last, though it doesn't seem to be doing anything.]

Even if they did, they're probably pretending to be scared to throw off suspicion. Probably ran off with some of the other students.

[puzzlers]

[ yugi lets the tail end of the chain drop and he uses another spell to anchor it into the cement. he's not sure it'll hold, but attaching it to a building of any kind would certainly spell even more disaster. taking the length into the air he has peregrin fly a circle around it as lena fires the shots, and he's a bit disappointed that this thing really seems impervious to magic. ] There has to be something we're missing...

And, yeah, I guess I wouldn't be too surprised if something like that happened. You get a good look at any of their faces?

[outofyourshadow]

[She fires a few more shots, the beam of light growing stronger each time.]

Not really....or even if I did, a lot of it is a blur. No one really stood-

Look out!

[As they were flying up, a shapeless limb was coming down towards them.]

[puzzlers]

[ he makes a sound in response. she's- she's not wrong. he hadn't gotten a good look because of the hoods, and though he might be able to pick one or two of them out by the sound of their voice, that's not really what he wants to do. he was kind of freaking out, and he wouldn't want to start pointing fingers when he had little to no evidence. ]

Huh?! P- Peregrin! [ peregrin dips out of the way, but another shapeless limb is right behind, and unfortunately it knocks the pegasus right out of the air, lena and yugi going flying towards some of the hedges lining the walkways. ]

oof. [ ... ] L- Lena! Lena, are you okay? Where are you!

[outofyourshadow]

[She gives a cry as they're knocked out of the air, before roughly landing in the hedges.

She lays there for a moment, the world feeling like it's shifting beneath her, but once it settles she groans and pushes herself up.]

I'm here... [Rubbing her head, she then gasps, suddenly very aware that she's missing something.] My wand!

[puzzlers]

[ he also starts looking frantically for his familiar, who is nowhere to be found. when lena chimes in he looks forward her, fighting his way out of the hedges, but he freezes when he hears her say she's lost her want. ] Oh no. It's got to be around here somewhere.

[ peregrin joins them, but he's walking a bit funny, clearly hurt from his own fall, though he seems to think he'll be ok, which is why he pushes yugi away with his snout when he tries to fuss over him. ]

We'll find it Lena, don't worry. [ meanwhile the creature seems to be looking for them, since they only seemed to agitate it with all that zapping. ]

[outofyourshadow]

[Untangling herself from the shrubs, she starts to look for it, but pauses a moment when she looks over at them.]

You guys okay?

[The wand can wait, at least for a little bit.]

[puzzlers]

[ yugi is quick to cast a spell to conceal them while they recover and look for her wand. ]

I'm fine. Peregrin might have gotten a bit hurt though. [ he looks up to the familiar who leans down to give him a nuzzle, as if to say he's alright, but yugi's expression doesn't change from being concerned. ]

I'm sorry, Peregrin. [ time to conjure up a splint for his leg, so it doesn't get worse than it already seems. ] Your wand has to be around here somewhere...

[outofyourshadow]

[With a frown, she hesitates before giving Peregrin a gentle pat.]

Hang in there, bud.

[Then she pulls back some of the shrubs to try and find her missing wand.]

[puzzlers]

[ peregrin helps out for a couple of minutes, but then retreats into the dice to rest. yugi can't blame him, honestly, so he doesn't say anything about it and instead just keeps helping lena look around the shrubbery for it. ]

[outofyourshadow]

[Despite the spell that's keeping them hidden, the monster is coming closer. And Lena makes a split decision.]

...Ugh, we'll have to find it later. We gotta go!

[puzzlers]

[ yugi pockets the dice and nods. ] Let's go. [ it probably has a sixth sense or something, so despite the spell it seems like it knows where they are. he takes her wrist and starts running. ] Where should we go? And what should we do about this thing!

[outofyourshadow]

Anywhere that we're not directly under it is a good start.

[She isn't too fond of the idea of being crushed by either of those things.]

There's gotta be someone who might know how to get rid of summoned monsters.