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

[nomoremistergneissguy]

[Right. Not that Cliff wouldn't be curious, but he tries not to be nosey. That's his twin's job, and she's not here. So the guy should be safe.]

Hope you don't mind me hanging out a moment, but I'll stop talking. Unless you want to chat.

[He chuckled a little at that, returning the guy's wave, and suited his words to actions, just crossing his hands over his waist and people watching. Though after a few moments, a large marble sphere rolls up to his feet, sprouts arms, and begins waving at him. He leans forward to address it quietly, brows furrowing.]

You almost got stepped on a couple times? I told you to be careful...but you got drinks for later. Okay. Thanks, Rounder!

[He tried to make it a short exchange, anyway, before going right back to watching the crowds in silence. Though if he's told he's being a nuisance, he'll head out.]

[scattered_rose]

[Daniel does nod at the words, but for the moment elects not to chat, simply on getting himself back to feeling 100%.

...At least, until the strange sight of the... marble? showed up.]

Your... familiar?

[STAB IN THE DARK. Aren't most familiars, uh, squishy organic things?]

[nomoremistergneissguy]

Yeah, that's him. Rounder. He's pretty cool, though he can't really talk. [Though the marble sphere seems to get its point across pretty well, going so far as to punch Cliff sort-of-gently in the knee.]

Ow, yeah, I know you make yourself understood just fine! You didn't have to punch me!

[Daniel would be correct, Cliff's familiar is just special. Therefore, not squishy or organic. But just as temperamental, it seems, as a squishy and organic familiar might be.]

[scattered_rose]

Huh. [He lifted his hood (though didn't push it back over his head) to get a better look.] Haven't exactly seen something like that before.

[A curious half-smile as he watched them, if a tired sort.]

Really interesting, though. Must get you lots of comments.

[nomoremistergneissguy]

When he's not mad at me because he thinks I'm trying to ditch him. [Cliff paused then, and shrugged a little.] I'm not, and a new friend of mine tried to figure him out. She said he had it rough, so we're still feeling each other out.

[Not that Cliff had a problem with Rounder. More the other way around, but if he'd had it rough, he knew he had to treat his familiar with kindness. That, he could do.]

I do get a lot of glances, for sure, though. Definitely must not be common around here to see a marble ball rolling around.

[scattered_rose]

I can understand getting glances...

[It was muttered but audible, with the tone of experience. Rolling over the words and context clues, he glanced up at Cliff.]

So, you must be pretty new like me, huh?

[nomoremistergneissguy]

Yeah, fresh off the airship, so to speak. [He'd been there for a little bit, but not long in the scheme of things.]

And dude, I'm pretty sure you're only getting glances because you're skulking around in a cloak in the middle of the day. It kind of bellows 'suspicious', you know?

[He doesn't really mean anything by it other than an observation, though.] But if it's for like sun sensitivity or something, you do what you can, I know.

[scattered_rose]

Glances at the cloak I'm kinda used to, but yeah I guess you could call it a sun sensitivity. I burn pretty easily, and other methods don't usually help.

[Along with other side effects he's not even going to go into right now.]

[nomoremistergneissguy]

[Not that he'd be sure what other methods would be good. No sunscreen on his world, unless you used magic. Or a parasol of some sort.]

Yeah, a big city like this, you still get glare from the buildings, and it's kind of silly to be a guy with a parasol or sun shield. And I guess neither of us would be advanced enough to use magic to shield.

[He's not particularly sun sensitive, but he's still fair and blonde, so he's got a small target on his back for that, too.]

And this is just spring...it gets cloudy and rains here more right now. I wonder if it'll get worse in summer? I hope not. [He makes a face at that.] For both our sakes.

[scattered_rose]

[He waved a hand, making a face at that.]

Ugh, don't even get me started on summer. I'm cold-blooded- [Beat, snicker] -not literally. But I grew up in the far north and I'm way more tuned to snow than I am heat and humidity.

'Course, snow can be a pain in the ass on its own, but I still prefer chillier weather.

[nomoremistergneissguy]

Yeah, I grew up in...well, it was a little like this, but more forested and we got snow in winter. The mountain passes could get snowed in, that sort of thing. I'm going to want to swim if it gets too hot here.

[Hopefully no one minded a half naked dude frolicking in the rivers, when and if it came to that, because Cliff was not going to balk at that.]

That doesn't help you though. Though they might be able to make a bunch of ice for cold drinks and stuff. They seem to be selling enough cooled stuff here...when they aren't giving it away.

[Cliff just gestured back towards the street, in the direction of the vendors.]