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

[tachyonme]

[ A Potential for Golems ]

[Mizael has not actually run into a golem yet (which is probably lucky for them), but he's almost certainly going to. Standing out in the rain until he's soaked is going to result in a whole lot of water dripping onto the floor later, after all.

Not that he really cares. Rain (and water in general, really) that's only cold and doesn't burn is a novelty that hasn't quite worn off yet--despite this seeming to be the only weather this world has--and he couldn't care less how wet he gets in experiencing it. That's something of a novelty too, after all.

Still, it is also cold, and it's almost uncomfortably so. It might be about time to get back under cover soon...]


[ Research on the Sundered ]

[This seems suspicious as hell...but if it means making some progress toward finding a way back home...

(which really shouldn't be nearly as difficult as these humans are making it out to be, but it is a new world with new magic and new rules, which is why he spends almost the entire time asking questions about what exactly they're doing and how this magic is supposed to work)...

He doesn't regret helping, not exactly, but after the third time his surroundings flicker into a red and pink crystalline world in which he is utterly alone, he practically snarls and throws his fist at the nearest wall--and nearly through it.]

You coward--stop playing these games and come out and face me!

[Who he's talking to at this point--Vector, Don Thousand, those idiotic humans and their complicated magic--he doesn't really know, but it doesn't really matter either in the face of the stack reminder of everything he's lost in the last few days.]

[outofyourshadow]

[Just as he might decide to head back in, Lena comes rushing out, and just manages to avoid running into him.]

You uh...probably don't want to go in just yet.

[Just as she says that, the golem comes crashing into the wall as it turns the corner, angrily waving what looks like a giant brush and stomping towards them. She winces.]

Running would be good now.

[tachyonme]

[What's more alarming, having someone nearly run into him and warn him to run all of a sudden, or the thing thundering down the hall toward them--

Well, neither of them are alarming enough to run. Mizael stays right where he is and sizes up the oncoming threat. It'd be a lot easier to deal with it if he still had all his abilities, but it doesn't look that tough...]

Do you know if that thing can use magic?

[outofyourshadow]

...Honestly, I never stuck around long enough to ask.

[The Golem's steps pound the ground as it looms closer, and for a moment Lena considers just ditching the guy and heading off.]

[tachyonme]

[Ah well, it was worth a shot. He'll just have to hope it doesn't have any magical way of stopping him.

He doesn't wait for it to get too much closer before he moves, but it's to dart toward the golem rather than away from it. He jumps at the wall and springboards off it to deliver a kick at the golem's head.

Down it goes....

Mizael hops backward as it hits the ground to land not far from where he started and crosses his arms to watch it flail on the ground. It's not incapacitated, but at least it won't be chasing anyone for a couple minutes.]

[outofyourshadow]

...Okay. Cool.

[She makes a motion for the door.]

We should go before it gets back up, though.

[tachyonme]

[He actually looks disappointed for a moment that it hadn't been more of a challenge, but he does finally turn to walk away from it, leaving a steady trail of water drops behind on the floor.]

Is it really that frightening?

[outofyourshadow]

Well, I don't know about you, but I don't like anything that big chasing and trying to grab me. I don't care what it's for.

Potential for Golems

[logdates]

[It's almost like an out-of-body experience when Peridot comes across Mizael, in awe of the rain. Oh, she's certainly been there before. She smiles a bit at that memory, giving a quiet little "heh" before she approaches him.]

It's nice, isn't it?

[tachyonme]

[Mizael tenses up a little at the comment--not just because he's drawn enough attention to himself for someone to comment on it, but also that she's somehow read his mind and it's not a thought he wanted to have.]

It's...different. [He can't bring himself to say that it's nice right now, not when the loss of his companions still feels so raw and admitting that some human thing is actually not that bad feels like rejecting them--

He finally looks over and ends up just staring at her. Mostly at the stone in her forehead. That's definitely not a trait he was expecting to see again any time soon--and obviously it's wrong, but it's still familiar enough for staring.]

...Who are you?

[logdates]

[She can't help but glance around, not totally realizing he's staring at her at first. But... Well! Why wouldn't he be? She's the great and lovable Peridot, after all.

She still looks pretty confused as she answers, though:]

I'm Peridot. Who are you?

[tachyonme]

[Mizael goes on eyeing her for a few more moments, but it's not like that going to tell him anything else, so there isn't too much more of that before he looks away to watch the rain again.]

My name is Mizael. I'm one of the Seven Emperors of the Barian World.

[logdates]

[Peridot gives Mizael a flat look.]

That means nothing to me. Well... An Emperor, that's a kind of ruler, right? But I don't know what the Barian World is.

golems!

[puzzlers]

I said stop! [ yugi is being chased by a golem, because he had tracked a little bit of water into the hall, which was kind of impossible not to do given the miserable weather they had been experiencing lately. ] Shield-! [ he turns on his heels, casting a shielding spell to prevent the golem from grabbing him, though it still forces him straight out the door and into a puddle when it collides with the magical barrier. ] oof. [ yugi gets to his feet, half expecting the golem to retreat into the school, but it doesn’t. ]

…oh no…

[ it starts going berserk, since there’s just so much to clean out here! ] Peregrin, I need your help! [ he rolls his familiar dice to reveal his first triple ??? – perfect timing! a dragon burst forth with a roar that resounds throughout the entire area. ] Peregrin! [ he looks to mizael, ] Hey, are you okay? We should get back. [ he stumbles back as his familiar grapples the golem to keep it from doing any more damage.]

[tachyonme]

[Who is being so noisy and interrupting his moment...

Mizael turns just in time to see the boy fly through the doorway with the rampaging golem hot on his heels. He automatically flings a hand up to blast the golem back--and then scowls at his hand and drops it again when nothing happens. Of course. Whatever malfunctioning force brought him here took his abilities. he hasn't forgotten that, but in the heat of the moment...

He's just decided that he'll have to use his fists instead (and wouldn't Alit be proud) when the boy summons a dragon to deal with it, and Mizael can't help but just stare at it for a moment, in awe and not a little envy. It's a moment before he even realizes he's being addressed.]

Yes, I'm fine. [And he's right, they probably should get back. Mizael lightly hops backward several feet and out of the way, his gaze still firmly locked on the dragon and its obnoxious prey.] Are you?

[puzzlers]

[ yugi scrambles to get to his feet to get as far away from the golem as humanly possible, because he knows it's not going to let up the moment it gets its hands on him. ] I'm glad and, uh, yeah, at the moment I'm fine, but I get the feeling that's not going to- [ peregrin manages to dismantle the golem, but the other golems in the hall have wandered over to the front and caught sight of just how dirty the outside is. ]

-last. You think you can lend us a hand, because we've got trouble incoming. [ he points his wand towards the front and calls a barrier up, though the amount of golems and their combined strength is enough to break through it in seconds. ] Peregrin, you ready? [ his familiar looks back at yugi and then to the golems, roaring at them and hoping to drive them back with intimidation alone, but the way they're 'programmed' doesn't take silly things like that into consideration. ]

[tachyonme]

[...Why are there so many of them...? Where are they coming from??]

If they want to clean outside so badly, maybe we should let them.

[Not that he has any intention of not helping. It's not going to be pretty or as easy as he'd like, but he is definitely itching for an opportunity to beat up on something, even if this isn't his favorite way of doing it.]

Just try not to hit me. [As soon as the first golem breaks through, Mizael is ready to move--he ducks past that one, leaving it for Peregrin or the boy to deal with, and instead sweeps the legs of the next one, sending it toppling backward into a third. Then he hops away from anything trying to grab at him, already looking for his next target so he can maybe punch it in its equivalent of a face.]

[puzzlers]

I'm not sure how much of a campus we'd have left if we let them clean out here. [ 'clean'. he got the feeling that anything that was even the least bit out of place would be scrubbed right out of existence, and while this isn't his home he's not really too keen on its destruction. ]

I won't, don't worry. [ yugi casts another barrier spell on the doors to keep anymore of them from getting out. their numbers have dwindled, so it doesn't seem like they're be able to get out, but he'll reinforce it just in case. he's mindful of mizael, sicing peregrin on the one that mizael moved past. his familiar grabs a hold of its face and forces it into the ground, the golem eventually beginning to crack ( literally ) under the pressure. ]

[ with another quick flick of his wand a chain appears, one that he uses to bind the third and fourth golems that mizael had knocked into each other. ] You're incredible. [ said while watching mizael beat on one of the golems, peregrin rushing by him to lean a claw and take care of another that's not too far off from the group. ] It looks like that much actually be it...

Research on the Sundered

[stillnewatthis]

Excuse me.

[Orisa leans around the corner, verifying with her eyes that her auditory processors had accurately identified the noise. A quick further scan confirms no structural weakness in the wall or evidence of a portal or egress.]

There is no one in that wall. I do not believe the person you are addressing can emerge from it.

Research

[king_of_egypt]

[Atem was just about to head into one of the examination rooms himself when he heard the aggravated shouting. Concern that this could escalate have him moving to a position to try and mitigate it.]

Stay back- [He motions to the other sundered in the waiting area, since he's not sure what's truly going on here]

[Then to the distressed blond] No one is playing any games here- they're only trying to help us.