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

Horrible Spell Doom?

[stillnewatthis]

[Oooh. Sorry, Yugi. Slamming into Orisa is really not healthy. That kind of impact drives home the fact that she is a robot, made of advanced materials with barely any yield to them and far too stable to even step back from his comparatively tiny impact.]

Oh, hello, Yugi! Is everything all right? You seem troubled!

[puzzlers]

[ ouch. ]

[ now on top of feeling strange his face hurts. he stumbles back at rubs at it. ]

Huh, oh, hi Orisa! I, uhm, yeah, troubled is... one way of putting it. [ he looks over his shoulder to the blue cloud and then tries to get her to go back the way she came. ] But we can talk about it elsewhere, come on.

[stillnewatthis]

Oh, where are we going? [Orisa's retreat is not a swift one, primarily because she is walking backwards, which means she has to take a great deal of care in watching where she goes. There is a lot of her to move, after all!] These halls are not Orisa-friendly...

[puzzlers]

We just need to get out of the hall. It doesn't really matter where. [ he helps her as best he can, telling other students not to go down the hall as well, which seems to help with the traffic. as soon as they move into the adjacent hall yugi looks aside, his cheeks coloring red. ] That blue cloud you saw was some sort of spell gone wrong. I don't think it was cast right and it's had some, uhm, p- pretty unique effects on those that have come into contact with it... [ his voice is higher pitched and he's looking significantly more feminine. ]

[stillnewatthis]

[Orisa does not notice these effects yet. Or rather, she does inasmuch as her visual and auditory receptors have noted the change, but her sensory coordination processors have not forwarded the data as relevant.]

[She finally manages to turn and get into the next hallway after him, looking a bit embarrassed about it all.] Oh dear. If you miscast a spell, we should go put it right. [SORRY YUGI SHE JUST ASSUMED]

[puzzlers]

[ they can both be embarrassed, because yugi can't believe the changes he's going through thanks to that miscast spell. ] H- Huh, what! Nononono. [ he shakes his head profusely. ] It wasn't me. I was just an innocent bystander. I came out of class and walked right into it. Honestly, I'm not sure where it came from, but the professors are working on confining it.

[stillnewatthis]

Oh! I am sorry for misjudging! [Orisa slaps the door shut behind them quickly, the better to ward off that cloud.] Are you all right? Your pulse has increased.

[puzzlers]

[ nervous laughter. ] I, uhm, h- haha, I'm not really sure. I don't think so? [ his voice cracks again, growing higher in pitch, but yugi's quick to cover his mouth. if orisa looks hard enough she'll notice that yugi is significantly curvier and bustier. ]

[stillnewatthis]

Vocal analysis further indicates you are in distress. Are you injured? In pain?

[It can't just be those obvious changes. They do not appear to be causing harm!]

[puzzlers]

I, uhm, n- no. I'm not in pain. I just feel kind of... uh... f- funny. [ he bites his lip and tries to keep from nervously laughing again. ] I had a run in with that miscast spell and [ it doesn't seem like she's noticed, so maybe he should just keep his mouth shut, though she might be able to tell something's up from his higher pitched voice. ] I've suffered a few odd changes because of it.

[stillnewatthis]

But this sudden change in biological sex is not causing you harm? [Oh yes, she's noticed. Luckily, Orisa thinks absolutely nothing of it. It is unfortunate if it is undesirable, but if magic caused it magic can also fix it. What is important is ensuring he does not require immediate intervention!]

[puzzlers]

No, it's not really causing me harm. [ just embarrassment, really, but he'll keep that to himself. ] It's just kind of weird, like a strange feeling, but it definitely doesn't hurt or anything, and I think if it was going to it would have started by now, so I'm probably in the clear.

[stillnewatthis]

Hmm. Setting that aside, do you wish to have it resolved?

[He might want to be a she. Orisa isn't gonna judge or assume.]

[puzzlers]

I'd like to, yeah, but I'm not really sure what I can do to reverse this. I- I might have to wait until it wears off, which is usually after about twenty four hours.

[stillnewatthis]

I see. [Orisa's eyeshields narrow, then abruptly invert with a 180-degree spin.] Then I will provide you aid until such time has passed!

[puzzlers]

Are you sure, Orisa, that's kind of a long time. You don't have anything you want to do today? [ going to clutch his books tightly to his chest to try to hide the transition. ]

[stillnewatthis]

I am capable of multitasking! [She sounds more proud of this basic feat than she should be.]

[puzzlers]

[ he smiles at that. ] Then I found the right person for the job.

[stillnewatthis]

Also, my reaction to you is unlikely to change based on your new circumstances. [Just adding that in. It might be awkward for others to help him, after all.]

[puzzlers]

I appreciate that, Orisa. Do you think we could get out of the building? I think I need some fresh air.

[stillnewatthis]

Of course! I will lead the way.

[Orisa pushes open the door they came through, shifting her entire upper body forward to lean out and appraise the hallway. The cloud has either dissipated or gone elsewhere, so she steps out into it, motioning Yugi as well.]

[puzzlers]

[ he follows orisa closely, glad to be out of change of the cloud in the off chance it makes the chances worse. he expels a breath, running his fingers through his hair. ] Much appreciated. I guess I should have expected something like this to happen at a magical school. I'll have to practice wards to try to keep this from happening again. [ sheepish laughter. ]

[stillnewatthis]

Given the rate of incidences we have already experienced, it may be impossible. [Having lost an arm for a period not long after arriving here, Orisa is completely sanguine about the possibilities.]

[puzzlers]

[ he can't help but laugh at that. ] You're probably not wrong. I can't tell you how much "trouble" I've already gotten into. [ he takes a deep breath and blows it out, trying to calm himself down. ] But it couldn't hurt to try to be prepared. Maybe I could evade even just a little of it.

[stillnewatthis]

You probably have!

[Orisa is an optimist.]