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

[outofyourshadow]

[That got a smile of her own, and she nodded.]

Yeah...that was actually pretty cool.

[darkenedmoon]

You were the brave one! But my spellwork was also not too shoddy.

[She eyes the still-thrashing golem, and frowns.]

Though I wonder what we ought to do about that. I am certain we do not want it to break its bonds.

[outofyourshadow]

Yeah, your spell work was great.

[Though she wouldn't admit it, she knows she wouldn't have been able to create the proper form for the spells in that situation.

Glancing at the Golem as well, she snorts.]

Maybe we can drop it off to the headmaster.

[darkenedmoon]

That might actually be an optimal solution--you think she would know what to do with it--but the problem then is actually getting the oaf there.

[Yotsuyu taps her lower lip with a finger, looking at the golem with some thought.]

If only I had my brute--oh. No, no, that would not do, and it is not as if he is here anyway--ah!

[Clearly a thought has struck her. She taps at one shoulder, and slowly, the head of her (rather large) snake slides out of the neckline of her robes.]

Gosetsu! Please go and get Professor Trammel, if you would? He should recognize you. [That, and she's aware he respects her enough that he might even come to investigate. With no further ado, the snake's head disappears, and reappears with the rest of him, crawling down her leg to slither off and do her bidding, presumably.]

[outofyourshadow]

You'd think, but then again, most of the other teachers didn't seem to think it was a problem.

[Not that Lena really expected them to anyway.

She watches as the snake heads off, then looks around for her own familiar. Not seeing him anywhere, she sighs and glances back at the golem.]

So we just wait, huh?

[darkenedmoon]

Yes. I at least would keep guard over this thing until an authority figure of some sort arrives.

[Not that Yotsuyu is particularly thrilled to do so; she has other things to do, but she does take her responsibility as a student teacher with some seriousness. Even if others do not.]

I would not like it to get loose and go on yet another rampage, until we can figure out why it has done so.

[outofyourshadow]

As far as I've heard, it snapped because it kept having to clean up after people.

[darkenedmoon]

If that was the case, I honestly cannot be too surprised. Or upset, even. If I were forced into a life of drudgery, I would not be happy once freed, either.

[She had been. Once freed, she wasn't. It had a very interesting culmination, and she has to school her face to its usual serenity.]

[outofyourshadow]

I guess, but it doesn't have to take it out on other people.

[She could relate, but she liked to think she was a little better adjusted than that.]

[darkenedmoon]

I am...not certain that the golems have that higher function of reasoning, as we do. They are...designed for the certain tasks that they are set, perhaps. We had such things in the world I am from, and smaller types--though they were more in Eorzea, since they were magic, and where I lived was part of the Garlean Empire, who does not truck with magical forces.

[That sort of thing was for their subjugated realms, and of course Eorzea, flush with it. But Yotsuyu had been sure to know her enemy. Or, rather, the enemies of the Empire.]

[outofyourshadow]

[She frowned, not entirely convinced.]

If that's the case, then why'd this one even freak out to begin with?

[darkenedmoon]

Your guess is as good as mine. There is no aether here to send it astray, to my knowledge, and I am not versed enough in the magic here to say what made it go mad.

[She's not happy about that either, really. Yotsuyu likes to know the why of things. Probably why she ended up in Purifeul like she did.]

[outofyourshadow]

[She'll just chalk it up to "suspicious things that happen at this school".]

Hopefully other ones won't freak out too.

[magicademynpcs]

Ladies. [Professor Trammel's polite greeting is curt today. Not from lack of courtesy, it's just that he had the impression that urgency is of the essence. A flick of his finger tips his hat to the two. Then he appraises the situation properly.]

Well then. Waylaid our berserk friend, I take it?

[darkenedmoon]

Indeed. [Yotsuyu bows politely to Professor Trammel, Eastern-style.]

I am glad to see Gosetsu was able to get your attention. We are...at something of a loss as to what to do with him now, though, I must admit.

[outofyourshadow]

[She glances at Professor Trammel, and greets him with a bob of her head.]

Yeah. Any chance you can make it back to...not crazy?

[magicademynpcs]

Any chance? Yes. A vanishingly small one. [Professor Trammel squeezes two fingers together just short of touching, his left eye closing in a wink and the same corner of his mouth curling up in a smile. Encouragement, for the two to join in on the joke.] But escorting our wayward comrade to one who can is, perhaps, just as good?

[Lifting the cane he carries more for flair than for support, Professor Trammel sketches out an incantation which he matches in Osmarius, letting neither Focus slip in precision. Where the golem lay now sits a sphere of rubber.]

That ought to hold him. Now... [His keen eyes turn back to the two ladies.] Might I hear the story?

[darkenedmoon]

[Yotsuyu arches a brow at that, amusement in her yellow eyes. She inclines her head in a nod, lips curling even as the good Professor turns the golem into...a rubber ball.

There is a part of her that would like to give it a good bounce, but decorum dictates she answers the man, first.]

It accosted a classroom full of children. I decided to get in its way and show it that its notion was no good one, and Lena aided me. After we got the children to safety, we drew the golem out here, and I used a Modification spell in repetition to bind it. However, she was the brave one, she was the one who was being chased by it. I merely followed and cast.

[Yes, that seems fairly accurate. Yotsuyu nods, but glances to Lena, seeing if she'd care to add anything.]

[outofyourshadow]

Yup, that's pretty much it.

[There was the spell that she cast to down the golem, but she decided that one wasn't worth mentioning.]

[magicademynpcs]

Then it seems both of you have earned your House a point for the Colormarch. [A little twiddle of his fingers lifts the ball into the air as the Professor smiles at the girls. Then winks.] Of course, if anyone asks, I told you both you shouldn't risk yourselves and to be careful, and you of course meekly agreed, duly chastised. And I certainly didn't praise you on quick thinking, bravery, and excellent spellwork.

[darkenedmoon]

As true as that may be, sir, I cannot imagine anyone who truly knows me believing for a moment that I could ever be 'meek'. [She is only being honest. Yotsuyu is not sure at all she could pull that off. Then again, she does pride herself on her ability as a spy. Maybe 'demure' is closer.]

Although I do understand your meaning. If there were not children involved, I do have a decent sense of self-preservation. But I cannot accept any young ones coming to harm.

[Though at his praise, she bows once again to Professor Trammel.]

[outofyourshadow]

[Meanwhile, this is not where she expected this to go, so she isn't sure what to say at first.]

Uh...thanks.

[Though at his suggestion, she manages a smile of her own.]

Right. Thoroughly lectured, got it.

[magicademynpcs]

You underestimate my powers of chiding.

[He tips his hat to the pair, needing no hands to do so, and with a merry wave turns to take their prisoner off for reintegration into society.]

I'll look forward to seeing your accomplishments in the future, the pair of you.

[darkenedmoon]

[Yotsuyu watches Professor Trammel go, brows arched slightly, then turns to Lena and shrugs.]

I think that went better than we had any right to expect it to. Would you like to hit the dining hall? I feel a bit peckish after all that.

[And of course now is when Gosetsu comes cheerfully slithering up to her and climbing up to take his place wrapped around her waist. She drops a hand to his head.] Yes, he was here, and thank you, you did well.

[outofyourshadow]

[Staring after the professor, she then glances back at Yotsuyu.]

Hey, I'll take it. Better than actually getting in trouble.

But yeah, I could definitely go for something to eat.