March Event and Intro Log

[magicademymods]

March Event and Intro Log Golem On The Loose The rain never stops. Water and mud track all over campus. Diligent cleaning golems stomp about, mopping and scrubbing and polishing and then going back to do it all over again, and again, and again... One of them seems to have had it. The renegade golem bursts into Kedrigan Hall -- interrupting classes and disrupting labwork to furiously seize students and scrub every last scrap of mud and dirt off of them. All the halls have been locked off with "Under Cleaning" signs, and anyone who enters them meets with the golem's wrath, as it violently plays a pre-recorded message about not interfering with groundskeeping and deploys a giant claw-like tool to grab the interloper and put them back on unforbidden ground. The professors, who are after all completely immune to the golem's attention by its very design, seem to think this is a good learning opportunity for students. Is it? Horrible Spell Doom? "Are you sure you're ready for the test on Advanced Gaseous Discovery?" one upperclassman asks the other. "Of course I'm sure," the second says confidently. Whipping out a wand from a holster on her belt, she sweeps her wand through the air gracefully, pronouncing several Osmarian sigils as she draws them. Probably. "See, that's a blue cloud--" Said blue cloud, which puffs into being as the last syllable left her lips, abruptly doubls in size. Then it doubles in size again. And again. The upperclassmen, who have been in Diatu for several years and know exactly what this sort of thing means, don't hesitate. Not even stopping to share a glance between them, they run like crazy, leaving the growing cloud behind just as classes let out and students begin to enter the halls. But... surely it doesn't have any weird and wacky side effects, right? The Bala-inlota Parade (aka The Non-Horrible Prompt) To celebrate the start of the Bala-inlota season, Anastara spares no expense. The great parade and associated festival stretches the whole weekend, and the whole city puts on their colors and turns out for the fun. Enterprising vendors sell food, drinks, and souvenirs ranging from small and crude figurines to magical constructs that shine field displays onto flat surfaces so you can watch the action up-close! (Good luck affording that, students.) Practically any sort of entertainment you could want appears on the streets and canals of Anastara, and food and drink flow freely. 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, the team has developed a Sundering spell that they warn is crude and unpolished, because the Curriculum is so unpracticed. They hope it will connect to your home worlds and establish a magical link they can build off of to open further passages. No promises! And to those who do undergo this spellwork... it has a certain side effect of confusion, as brief images from your home world flicker across your vision for a few hours afterwards. Wonders Await Diatu Magicademy is open to you in all its glory. Have fun!

A Special Note

If you thread out one or more scenes based on the confusion from "Research on the Sundered", respond to the comment on this post with a link to that thread. The results of this will be revealed next month! (It is, we're afraid, not a regain, lest your participation be based solely on that hope!)

Comments

[pawper]

[A bright smile that's happy, a little relieved, and entirely for Orisa.]

Hey, that's great! I'm glad at least some of my rambling made sense, heh....

[She gestures to the feather still delicately clasped between Orisa's mechanical fingers, leaning forward hopefully.]

Why don't you try casting something now?

[stillnewatthis]

Hmm. Very well.

[Reaching behind her, between her back proper and the supercharger mounted to it, Orisa brings out a large toad. Said toad lets out a loud croak as she sets him on the ground, then traces a series of geometic figures with astonishing precision as she outputs the underlying math verbally.]

[Then, in abrupt silences, she focuses on the spell with the same determination she puts into doing her best, into being a hero, into making Efi proud.]

[The toad suddenly becomes blue.]

[pawper]

[Lys watches quietly, perfectly attentive and genuinely curious, startling only a little at the toad's sudden appearance. When the mildly unlucky creature (there are worse fates to befall a test animal, surely) suddenly turns blue, Lys gasps. And then immediately starts clapping, grinning not a touch stupidly.]

Wow, that's incredible! You did it on the first try and everything!

[That was what Orisa meant to do, right? Sure it was!]

[stillnewatthis]

[It must be, because Orisa seems very delighted! The effect is small and simple, and possibly easier because it is being performed on her familiar, but nonetheless Orisa claps her hand against her fusion driver, delight practically radiating from her.]

I did! Your advice was very helpful!

[pawper]

Hey, it's no problem! I'm happy to help.

[A pause. Then, a little hesitantly, not wanting to bring the mood down but feeling pushed to be honest.]

I know what it feels like, to try really hard and not quite get there. So....I'm glad that the pieces are clicking together for you.

[stillnewatthis]

[Orisa considered that for a second, her eye shutters rotating around with a faint noise.]

I am still very new at everything I do, and I still have a lot to learn. About everything! Magic, my own purpose, life in general. But Efi told me that so long as I keep doing my best, try to learn, and never give up, that I will be the great hero and champion she designed me to be. I think that is true for everyone!

[pawper]

[Something unfurls in her narrow chest as she listens, a warm and tender emotion that felt too delicate to be named. Maybe pride comes closest, secondhand and immature though it surely was. Not for herself, but for the brave person standing before her — because a person she obviously was, despite the metal shell.]

Ha.....this Efi of yours, she's definitely got the right idea.

[That Lys doesn't, can't quite believe that "everyone" included herself, well. To admit it would serve no purpose, only invite questions for which she had no answers, at least none that were both safe and true. It was enough to be happy that Orisa had been told something so kind, and believed it.]

With that attitude, I bet you'll be a great wizard too!

[stillnewatthis]

Well, I certainly will be better than those who just complain about their circumstances all day. [Orisa's eyes narrow, both horizontally and vertically, for a second. Seems there were a fair few of those among the Sundered, weren't there?]

[pawper]

[Was there? Lys wouldn't know, being 1) dumb and 2) dumb. Or really just too ready to believe in the best of perfect strangers and lend a sympathetic ear to petty whining. Complaining was only annoying when she did it, after all.]

Eh? Well....yeah, of course! But that's just common sense, isn't it?

[She gives the now-blue toad familiar a gentle pad on the head.]

We do our best with the cards we're dealt. Or something like that.

[stillnewatthis]

[The effect of the spell is dissipating even as they speak, restoring Lucitoad to his propery toady color. He looks utterly unbothered by any of this.]

Exactly. We cannot change what we cannot change, so we must address what we can instead!

[This is battlefield tactics, but easily generalized to life in general. Provided she stops being so quick to change what she can with her fusion driver.]