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

[magicademynpcs]

Stop babbling nonsense. The spirit shifts its attention away from the Summoner and onto the Assailant. Your answer tells me nothing. Explain.

[bearshermark]

Eleven's pulse raced, mouth running dry. "Yes.."

How ancient was this spirit, and just how long had it been sleeping? For the first time since his enrollment, he wished he'd taken History. Yggdrasil above, but what could happen should he explain things so simply as to accidentally insult this being's intelligence?

He sent another brief prayer off to both of his goddesses, as well as a more desperate one to the Spirit of the Land.

"Anastara floats above the Tenscore Kingdoms," he recited, attempting to recall similar words. "And this school was founded to train wizards to better their mastery over magic."

Ascelion, he realized with a jolt, was the name of the island itself. Eleven smiled, relief and gratitude flooding through and dropping his shoulders. Raida would have his every coin when he went to pray this evening.

"Ascelion has grown, Great Spirit, and now supports both wizards and those of us newly arrived as Sundered into this world."

[grim_heaper]

"I'm all for you adding to your intel and all, but he's recently dead, new to the UG. We can go find you one of the zeroes who have been here a whole zetta lot longer, or add ourselves to the library for a while. You'll multiply the information you get."

[magicademynpcs]

He is blatantly not dead, Summoner. The dragon looks at its 'hand' thoughtfully, flexing and unflexing claws in the general shape of fingers. It seems to be thinking. And I think I have learned much, if wizards now believe magic can be taught in school. Much indeed.

It cannot be said that the dragon smiles, for its facial structures are so far from human as to make such a gesture alien. But the cruel mischief in its expression is unmistakable.

You had no idea you were calling upon me, did you.

[grim_heaper]

Great, his Noise was either delusional or unable to sense players as players. Well, he could factor that later. "Something as zetta awesome as you specifically, no. But now that you're here...." He grinned.

[bearshermark]

Reading threat in the shift of claws, Eleven takes a step back, his fingers itching for his sword. The words sound more like a threat to the summoner than himself, but much as he appreciates the dragon spirit affirming that he is indeed alive, neither would he see that change out of carelessness.

Even still, he remains a touch concerned for his fellow student despite their disagreement.

"Proper instruction aids in averting disaster," he adds in quiet defence of Diatu.

[magicademynpcs]

And bastardizes magic in the process. Apropos for you humans. Case in point...

Turning its head to focus entirely on Sho now, the dragon lets out a huff of white fog that chills the air around them even at a distance.

You are no Summoner. You are a misbegotten child tampering with that you do not understand, like all your kind. Perversely, the only thing I owe you is gratitude for awakening me without binding or restriction. That debt... I shall not repay, for gratitude is no trait I possess.

[grim_heaper]

"What? The part that was supposed to enslave you? Yeah, I subtracted that." He smirked.

[magicademynpcs]

The specter stares at Sho a moment, uncertain as to how to proceed.

Are... are you willfully being an idiot? Or are you just...

Tilting his head back to Eleven, he opens his hand to gesture at Minamimoto, indicating his, well, everything. Help him out here.

[grim_heaper]

"I'm the smartest zetta thing around."

[bearshermark]

There probably isn't anything he loves less than the sudden pressure of expectation- particularly by supernatural forces.

Eleven glances to the other Sundered, and really, only one thing comes to mind. "...I think he believes that he possesses more power than he does."

He might also be an idiot, but if this is a test, he prays that he's wise enough to pass it.

[grim_heaper]

"Oh I know what power I have, I just refuse to be limited by it."

[magicademynpcs]

Ah. Suicidal. A component of humankind I cannot comprehend.

A cold breeze whips through the air as the dragon spreads its wings.

If a refusal of limits is your goal, then heed this. Ascelion was, is, and forever shall be my domain. Magic was, is, and forever shall be the domain of dragonkind. Take this message to all who butcher the art here in this so-called school. Both of you. Your service begins here and now, or your lives end here and now. I care not which, the result will be the same. I am watching. I am listening. I am here.

Without waiting for a reply, the dragon turns and stalks off, descending into the ground as if passing down a ramp only solid to it. The temperature becomes normal once more as it vanishes beneath the surface of the earth.

[bearshermark]

Eleven stared at the floor the dragon spirit passed through for several long heartbeats. His body shivered away the chill and when finally he felt as if he could move again, he raised his head to his fellow Sundered.

His fingers curled, half-ready to throw another punch. He breathed, but still his tone betrayed an edge of temper.

"What was that?"

[grim_heaper]

He laughed. "I'm already dead!" he called after it, overjoyed. Then he answered Eleven's question. "That? Was what is going to bring me to the top of this UG, once and for all!" He said. And he was deluded enough that it wasn't even a lie.

[bearshermark]

Eleven stared, disbelieving.

"That spirit won't heed you," he said, incredulous. "You're more its servant!"

And.. so was he, actually. Obey its will or die. He shuddered.

"Are you even aware of yourself?"

[grim_heaper]

"He is welcome to think that. The last Composer thought that too. Didn't expect me to come after him, the zetta moron. Soon everyone will serve me or be erased at my whim!"

[bearshermark]

A chill raced down his arms. Such a dark will- no different from the Lord of Shadows himself.

"Why?" he asked, the word at once soft and desperate. "Why would you want people to serve you?"

[grim_heaper]

"Because it means I'm not serving anyone else." He grinned. Why else try to be the top? The best? No one taking down your art, no one pushing you around, not having to follow anyone else's rules. Life at the top was zetta sweet, and he wanted that.

[bearshermark]

"That isn't true," he said before he could stop himself. He grimaced, but continued.

"A loyal knight might command an army, but still he serves a king. Even gods have a responsibility to watch over their disciples."

[grim_heaper]

"I'm going to be a Composer. They rule over even your so-called-gods."

[bearshermark]

Eleven grit his teeth, fists clenched.

"You don't have that power here-- and you won't, if the gods don't will it. ..I would also stand against you."

[grim_heaper]

"You really want to see the power I have here?" he said with a laugh. "Soh Cah Toa."

[bearshermark]

The foreign words crept down his spine and Eleven resisted the urge to pull his sword from its sheathe to challenge the person before him.

"I only want to prevent you from killing or erasing people."

[grim_heaper]

He laughed. "Then try and erase me. I'll even let you have the first shot. Of course... you can do the math after what happened last time you tried to hit me."