Let The Games Begin

[magicademymods]

February Event and Intro Log Orientation Week/Magic Mayhem The campus of Diatu Magicademy stretches out before you, confused and chaotic and surging with energy. Where are you headed? To your dorm or suite, to get settled? Maybe you need some food now? Wherever you head off to as your first stop, you have to deal with the snow. Helpful or proud students are passing out various magical remedies to get you where you need to be -- umbrellas with a nasty tendency to dump snow directly onto other people nearby, an iron tube that projects fire but appears to have no off switch, snowshoes that keep you slightly too high off the snow and thus provide no friction for stopping... Familiar Follies Familiars do not harass or harm each other as a rule -- but that doesn't mean they have no pecking order, and the week of Orientation finds them all jockeying for status and position as suits them. This can take the form of pranks, displays, competitions, or simple physical assertiveness towards each other. The goal is simply to be seen as superior by the student body. New wizards especially may find themselves surprised at this behavior of their familiars... 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 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.) Furthermore, they request to perform a few spells on you for testing purposes. It is, quite regrettably, possible that if you consent to this testing, you will come away with a temporary side effect -- a slight change of hair color, traveling two steps for every one you take, one hand moving about a second behind the arm it should be attached to, or being ridden by a penguin. No need to worry, these changes won't last more than a day! Wonders Await Diatu Magicademy is open to you in all its glory. Have fun!

Comments

Familiar Follies

[gender_neutral]

Oh for the power to use Bugsby's snow retrieving hand... Curse this utter lack of arcane energies. It was like being depleted of all spell slots and trancing had not helped. V was not a happy camper. So when Willard saw the flaming familiar, V suddenly had a Dragonturtle. Sort of. Instead of a mighty beast of the deep, Willard now resembled a large tortoise with hastily thrown together costume bits to try and make himself look more ferocious.

Mostly what he was trying, however, was V's patience.

However the most disappointingly impressive bit came when Willard tried to use the Dragonturtle's steam breath.... and mostly just spat out gouts of water in the general direction of Cornelius....

[logdates]

Augh!

[A protective instinct Peridot hadn't realized she had kicks in, and she jumps between Willard and Cornelius, resulting in a very wet, very grumpy Gem.]

Can't you control that?

[That's... Not hypocritical at all...]

[gender_neutral]

"Can you not control your own?" V asked, a brow raising. Vaarsuvius was not one to balk at pointing out hypocrisy.

[logdates]

Peridot glared at V, crossing her arms. "If I could, I'd be doing that!"

She took a deep breath, to try and calm herself. "Clearly we need to keep them separated."

[gender_neutral]

"Or I am not the only one who needs to work on their relationship with their familiar."

V admitting that work had to be done is a huge step, okay?

"Willard, that's enough."

The tortoise thing looked back reluctantly.

"Shiny." Something very much learned from Blackwing.

Willard turned into what looked like a robin trying desperately to be a raven. "We are going to find shinies?"

"Apparently so," V said, dryly. "Perhaps there is a gem shop around here somewhere...."

[logdates]

Peridot did gape a little when Willard listened to his master so willingly, but tried to cover it up with a snort. "Well... I just met Cornelius. Of course I don't have a perfect relationship with him yet." A beat, and then - because she couldn't help being curious - "What kind of gems are you shopping for?"

[gender_neutral]

"And I have just met Willard." Hey, a way that V could be smug and superior about FAMILIARS? Maybe there was something to this acknowledgement thing after all! "However I was able to draw on my considerable past experience" the past few days of acknowledging Blackwing before arriving here, if that, "with my actual familiar, Blackwing." And noticing that a familiar was upset was new. As was caring. V sighed slightly. "Or rather, my other actual familiar, Blackwing." Willard calmed down a bit.

"As for the sort of gem for which I shall shop, I am as of yet unaware of what is available for purchase in such a place as this. Were I to have a cleric with us, I perhaps would be beginning to stock up on diamonds for the inevitable occurrence of a death. Failing that, perhaps rubies as they are used as components in a fair number of spells. Whatever I purchase for myself will be in addition to whatever compromise can be found between what Willard wants and what I am both willing and able to pay fiot, however. As I suspect it will be whatever is shiniest, I am hoping to perhaps get away with something that is not actually a gem, but perhaps cheaper, such as pyrite or glass crystal."

[logdates]

"You have another familiar?" Peridot asked, admittedly curious. She hadn't even heard of such a creature-master bond before coming here, after all. She'd still been getting used to the idea of pets.

The highly wordy explanation of what V would be shopping for was interesting - the length of it didn't seem to bother Peridot much, aside from the occasional tapping of her foot. But Peridot wasn't used to thinking of gemstones in the sense of strictly objects, so she had to let go of some preconceived notions. And then, there were some biases that she just couldn't let go of.

"Don't get something that isn't really a gem!" she exclaimed. "It's not worth the savings - especially a glass crystal. Ew. Here, I'll come with you and help!"

[gender_neutral]

"Yes, Blackwing has been with me as a loyal familiar since before I joined the Order Of The Stick. Familiars can be extremely loyal, and must be treated with the respect they are owed." A hard won lesson that, and far easier to say than to do.

"You are welcome to join me on my endeavour, if you wish, but as I shall not be using this as a spell component the primary concerns will be Willard's willingness to accept the bauble and the price. As of yet I have not found any dungeons full of monsters and treasure which I might venture into in order to sek XP and gold."

[logdates]

"Uh..." Peridot blinked, but shrugged. "Yeah, okay. I'm sure I can still help you out. Although... Are we even allowed to leave the schoolgrounds yet?" She didn't like the idea of being restricted to a single place. Peridot tended to get restless. She shifted her weight from foot to foot.

"What's the Order Of The Stick?" she asked, not because she really cared, but because she wanted a distraction.

[gender_neutral]

"Allowed? I would like to see them attempt to stop us. Even without my magic, I am still a high level adventurer, am I not? And between us, we have two capable seeming familiars." V raised a brow. For someone used to telling the laws of physics to sit down and shut up on a regular basis, V was not overly fond of being told to sit down and shut up.

"The Order Of The Stick is the adventuring party I travel with, led by one Sir Roy Greenhilt, a fighter who despite his class seems to have a decent level of intelligence, especially when compared to the halfling and the Bard."

[logdates]

Peridot tapped her chin in thought. "I don't see how your adventuring rank... Or whatever... Would matter here, anyway. And we are here at the school for a reason, right?"

Then again, it wasn't like the Sundered had been asked if they wanted to come. So... Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea. Peridot was a rebel now, too. There was that to consider.

"Alright, I guess we can go."

[gender_neutral]

"It matters in that with my experience I am more than capable of figuring out how to get past a few bafoonish guards should they choose to attempt to stop us. At worst they should have NPC levels, which are a joke, even without the most basic of cantrips I have nothing to fear from someone with NPC levels only."

"Please feel free to lead the way."

[logdates]

Rather than start leading the way, Peridot turned toward V and sighed. This was potentially too frustrating to handle.

"I don't know what an NPC or a cantrip is! Look, you're going to have to make sense if we're spending time together."

I am so sorry!!!!!!!

[gender_neutral]

"I assure you that I am making perfect sense. It is in no way my fault that you seem to lack certain basic knowledge. While I can help you to abate your ignorance where such ignorance is discovered there is no cause at all to imply or even worse, to state outright that what I am saying is in some way flawed. A lack of proper foundations and perspective is at issue here, not my clearly more expansive vocabulary. But as you have asked, I shall provide answers."

"An NPC is a non-player character. NPCs are often cast to fill the roles of non-plot relevant characters, such as guards and shopkeepers. While some might be useful for XP when killed, should you be in an area of proper alignment for such things, or should they attack you first, others might have plot relevant information, or even directly offer plot hooks when encountered. Occasionally some individuals encountered might at first seem to be NPCs, then prove themselves later to be plot relevant, and possibly even in possession of actual player class levels."

"However, for the most part, unless you are in need of XP or are stuck on the current plot, most NPCs can be ignored, and lo, even seem to vanish when one is not.... paying.... attention." Like a certain familiar used to? "Oh. I suppose I need to start paying more attention to irrelevant people now." Well that was an irritating part of character growth and one V would have been happy to do without.

But those were thoughts for later. It would have been nice to have discussed them with Blackwing, however, to get the familiar's take on if he noticed those NPCs more than V did, or if even he ignored them for the most part.

"As to Cantrips, that is a phrase I suspect you will hear often, here, as we are in a place for the education of wizards. Cantrips are the most basic and simple of spells, in some editions not even requiring spell slots. Of course they do still need to be scribed in your spell book and prepared while sleeping or trancing, as per your species particular habits. Some examples of cantrips are as follows. Resistance, which gives a plus one on saving throws; Acid Splash, which does damage, Detect Poison and Detect Magic, which are clear enough as are Read Magic and Daze. Dancing light provides a small amount of illumination for a short period of time, usually not bright enough to read by, though they have been effectively used to signal allies, or so I have been told by Miss Starshine. Flare can dazzle one creature of sufficiently low hit dice. Light provides a more steady light than dancing lights, but is also quite limited in practical applications and duration. Ray of Frost deals 1d3 cold damage, so is actually somewhat useful against monsters that do not have spell resistance. Ghost sound creates illusuary sounds, though the range is somewhat limited. Disrupt Undead damages undead, and would be quite useful if not for the fact that all the undead we have encountered recently have had high levels of spell resistance buffed onto them. One of the perils of an epic Lich as the main villain. Touch of Fatigue is what it sounds like, a touch attack that fatigues the opponent, again, allowing for spell resistance. Mage Hand allows you to lift, push, pull, carry, drag, or apply up to five pounds of force for a limited time and is echoed in more powerful and useful spells at higher levels like Bugsby's Cat Retrieving Hand, which I usually have prepared. Mending makes small repairs on an object and is so simple a spell even a Bard can learn it. Message is like Sendings far less useful inbred half orc half brother. Open Close allows you to, unsurprisingly, open or close something small and light so long as there is no locking mechanism or complex functionality. Arcane Mark serves as a signature, if one so chooses. And then you have PRestidigitation a cantrip so poorly defined originally that whole forums have sprung up about what it can and cannot do. It has since become more limited, which is a shame because it had previously been a rather useful cantrip for those of us who harbored sufficient imaginations."

A breath. "There, now that I have explained and you understand what Cantrips and NPCs are may we please cease wasting time, and progress towards the shops? I would like to see if we are going to have a random encounter. I could use the XP and getting a little extra gold before shopping is often beneficial."

I can't stop laughing.

[logdates]

To her credit, Peridot actually listened to every word V spoke. Of course, she was growing more visibly irritated with each sentence out of the elf's mouth. Cantrips, at least, made sense until she starting talking about dice and... Whatever a 1d3 was. The rest was, as far as the Gem was concerned, utter nonsense, and she brought her hands up into her yellow hair, tugging at it.

"No! No, we can't stop wasting time because it's all you do!" she cried out. "What you're saying doesn't mean anything to me! Where are the dice?!"

YAY

[gender_neutral]

"I was attempting to answer your questions,. If you re putting forth the theorem that speaking to you at all is what is wasting my time... I am starting to think that I might just agree. Your lack of comprehension is hardly my problem, though if we are to continue any form of association I had presumed it would become my concern. Thus I have attempted to answer your questions and educate you. However if you are unable to grasp even these basic concepts, I am unsure that I will be able to aid your further in this regard."

[logdates]

Peridot wanted to shout; to lash out... But she could imagine Steven telling her to be calm. Pearl chiding her if she didn't. Garnet helping her let things pass.

She took a deep breath and said, "Let's just go gemstone shopping, then." Though the annoyance was clear in her tone, she did manage not to yell, or lose her temper.

[gender_neutral]

"Very well."

V is used to that level of frustration from companions with lower intelligence and wisdom scores.

[logdates]

Peridot shook her head, starting off without bothering to gesture for V to follow. Either they would or they wouldn't.

She did, however, pause for a moment to say, "You're infuriating, you know."

[gender_neutral]

V was following. "For some reason, people keep telling me that..."

[logdates]

"It's because you are," Peridot pointed out, bluntly. Were she a little more self-aware, she might wonder if this was what the Crystal Gems had felt like, first dealing with her. But - for the moment, at least - that thought didn't come up, at least not in any part of her consciousness she was paying any mind. "You know, you're - you're annoying."

[gender_neutral]

"Better annoying and intelligent, than annoying and idiotic, at the least."

[logdates]

At that, Peridot stopped in her tracks quite suddenly, and spun around to glare at V.

"Are you talking about me? Ugh! You can't just decide someone's stupid because they don't know about things from your world! It really isn't-"

That was when the awareness hit. She really was - or had been, she had to believe it was a case of had been and not still was - just as bad as V. Wasn't that right? Peridot didn't enjoy having to face that particular reality, but there it was. She sighed.

"Oh my stars."

[gender_neutral]

"Actually I was talking about the bard in my party back home. As well as any number of recurring nuisances. If you wish to see yourself in what I said..." Well that was on you was it not?