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]

[She listens attentively to everything he says, head tilted toward him even as her gaze lingers on their familiars, nodding in all the right places.]

I guess I'm just not sure if they really need us. Not like a cow or a chicken would, you know? [Leaning back in her chair] I mean, Arthur's only been with me for a little while and he's already gotten me out of trouble a bunch of times.

[Wait, does that make her sound like a delinquent—]

Misunderstandings, accidents, stuff like that. [haha ANYWAY] And Rounder can give himself hands!

[nomoremistergneissguy]

Yeah, I hear you. I mean, they're pretty self-sufficient--if Rounder got away from a bad master, like I think he did, he doesn't need me. It means he's willing to give being a familiar to someone another chance.

[Cliff didn't even realize that she'd been making herself sound that way. Or Cliff didn't think that Lys was capable of real delinquency. But he definitely believes that Arthur and his sheer charisma could get her out of any number of scrapes.]

I believe it. And yeah, he can! And hold stuff too. Like bottles of drinks and stuff. It's like being able to carry a tavern around with me! [Yeah, bottles are not exactly a common thing, where he's from.]

[pawper]

Huh....yeah, I guess that makes sense. I'm glad he ended up with you, then!

[Everyone deserved a second chance, didn't they? (Except stupid skinny werewolves named Lys, but you know.) She watches Arthur sprawl out on his stomach next to Rounder, apparently content with their new acquaintanceship, but glances up when Cliff starts going on about bottles and taverns and hey wait a second—]

You like to drink, Cliff?

[nomoremistergneissguy]

Me too! [Cliff might argue about her deserving a second chance too, if he knew these things. But he doesn't, so.]

Yeah, but not like...really hard stuff. But where I'm from, not everyone knows a hydromancer to tell them their water's pure. Or can purify it themselves like my mom can. So taverns are popular. So is beer. My dad and older sister like whiskey, though.

[And to judge by his expression, he's kind of grossed out by that.] But they're pyromancers, so it's not like they ever get drunk. And they're already rowdy!

[pawper]

[woah there friend you might need to slow down]

Hydromancer? ....pyromancer?

[Wait, there's at least one or two context clues even she's not dense enough to miss completely. Something about water, phrased like a job or trade.]

Where I'm from, just boiling water is enough to purify it. [Except for things like lead, but you know.] Is that what you mean?

[nomoremistergneissguy]

Yeah, but that can be time consuming. With magic, a hydromancer can just...purify your whole well, that sort of thing. It's easier.

[Cliff thinks about this for a few moments.] I might be able to, but it'd take longer. I mean. Back at home, if I had my powers. Here, it probably is easier to just boil it...unless you're a wizard.

[He shrugs.] I guess sometimes magic can overcomplicate things, too...

[pawper]

Ohhh, I get it. [Nodding now as well, though she does fidget when he mentions his "powers" — but only a little. Because wouldn't anyone, if they possessed an ability like that? Useful, valuable, something that wasn't inherently twisted and cursed.] Yeah, that does sound a lot easier.

[She hums, thoughtful.]

It can, but you could say the same about a lot of things. I can definitely think of a few times when my country would've been happy to know a hydromancer.

[nomoremistergneissguy]

Yeah, and geomancers like me are useful, too. Or...you know. [He shrugs, then, offering up a sheepish smile.]

But it's like...if you're having a bad year for your crops, we can try doing something about that, if it's got to do with the soil being a bit thin, or off some other way. If it's too dry, though, that's a hydromancer again, they can call rain. So yeah. We have our uses, but every elementalist does.

I talked way too much, though. What about you? You kind of remind me of my sister Ellyn, just a little. She's got elementalism too, but she inherited our dad's sword and knows how to use it, too.

[pawper]

[Still nodding in all the right places, listening with genuine interest — only to abruptly freeze when he turns the question on her. It's hard to tell if the look on her face is simple surprise or something closer to stage fright.]

About me?

[uhhhHHHH]

I don't have any powers like that. [Which was the truth! None of what Cliff just described exists in her world. That it's an incomplete truth...well, that's not important.] But I'm doing my best to learn magic! My house is, um....Aer et Calculum? I think I said that right.

[She rubs the back of her neck, obscurely pleased to be told she reminded him of a sibling. For so long (too long, Anja liked to sneer), family had come first, before all things.]

I can use a sword too, though I'm sure your sister is better at it. I didn't inherit mine, you know? I just....learned by doing. [A "what can you do" sort of shrug.] Magic's a lot more complicated.

[nomoremistergneissguy]

I'm in Gekronus Maius! [As if the vibrant green of his robes weren't a dead giveaway.] And it sounded right to me.

[He kind of makes a face at that.] Well. Ellyn does try, and Dad has done his best to show her some techniques, but while magic is complicated, for her, swordplay isn't that easy, either. I mean, I usually get a branch to use as a cudgel, because I chose the path of "one or the other, not both". So really, you probably had more training than Ellyn did. But enthusiasm...

[That, he shakes his head ruefully at. No one could say his sisters lacked that. Any of them.]

[pawper]

[A slight tilt of her head, caught between wanting to protest that offhand assumption and not seeing much benefit in drawing attention to it. Calling what her guild had done "training" seemed a little too generous to ring entirely true, but maybe that was splitting hairs.]

She likes using it, then? Half the time I just feel like I'm gonna cut myself on accident.

[As much as indifference and general carelessness counted as an accident, anyway.]

[nomoremistergneissguy]

She doesn't usually get that much of a chance to--then again, she got to go on an adventure with our eldest brother, Eiros.

[Which galls him a bit, but...]

I think Ellyn likes brandishing Trouble like a giant club, more. Between that and the fact that she can basically kind of set herself on fire, I think that's scary enough, you know?