Test Drive Reloaded! #1

[magicademymods]

Test Drive #1



Welcome to Diatu (I Like Swords)

The Arrival Hall is all aflurry with activity! No one had expected so many Sundered to suddenly pop up, the staff find themselves desperately scrambling to keep up with the influx, and a bunch of new arrivals find themselves hanging out in the Hall lobby, waiting to be seen, sent home if possible, or counseled and prepared for student life if not. Rumors run like wildfire: some people believe they've been kidnapped by aliens, a worryingly persistent suggestion that this is a setup for a murder-tournament keeps circulating, and one or two nutcases insist that a dragon tinkered with the rules of magic and now they have to study at a magic school to survive. Pie stocks are grievously low, and thought Headmaster Birony herself appeared and began violating the rules of space and time to summon pies from the future, a second Headmaster Birony with an eyepatch, several war scars, and a wild hairdo appeared and promptly yelled at the first Headmaster for stealing her pies. A pie fight erupted. Pie stocks are even more grievously low now.

Still, here's your chance to talk to your fellow arrivals. Or aggressively attack the nearest target in an outrage (they set up a target dummy and labeled it VENT AGGRESSION HERE, and are trusting you guys on the honor system). Staff don't have time to talk, but they promise they'll get to you soon!

A Day In The Life

The sun is bright, the air is warm, a cool breeze blows across Anastara, clouds keep drifting directly through the island and engulfing people... it's summer on Ascelion, and the day is ripe for learning. Or as ripe as Diatu Magicademy ever can be -- though no one would trade the character and charm of the lively campus for some stodgy, regimented school more interested in forcing students into the mold than encouraging them to be their best, sometimes conditions in the Magicademy are a little inconvenient.

A toilet in Kedrigan Hall keeps clamping onto the butts of those who attempt to use it. Thus far, half a dozen students have been freed from its clutches by their friends, while reports of singed buttocks have increased twofold. (Yes, only twofold. Think about that for a minute.) Staff are on the lookout for a prankster rather than a commode, so as of yet the treacherous toilet has gone unpunished...

Not far away, a group of cleaning golems has occupied the promenade as part of an ongoing strike. As they possess only rudimentary intelligence, they believe this involves seizing objects from anyone who passes nearby and hurling them at a set of bowling pins. Meliandre Tomekin, Head of Groundskeeping, has set up shop across the Promenade; any student who wanders too close gets a big block of ice shoved into their hands, along with instructions to hold it still while she shows those reprobates what-for...

In the Great Hall proper, school clubs and activities have, as was inevitable, escalated competition for new students to yet another level which only isn't a war crime because it isn't part of a treaty yet: they've conscripted geese. Horrible geese, to be precise, who dispense flyers for various clubs with less subtlety than a nuclear holocaust. Some of them fight for dominance, others have teamed up to pin down innocent students and stuff leaflets down their throat, and one has a wand and is somehow casting Discovery spells?!

A Forgery!

"I tried a mass-Forging technique," the older student says, showing off the briefcase full of identical wands and a sign that says 'FOR $ALE CHEAP'. "Some of them are exactly what I intended, they self-correct runes, but the rest, well.. . I don't know, I can't tell, and I'm not really interested in finding out one by one, so... you buying?"

All sales final. No refunds. Caveat emptor. As for what the wands do, well... there's a reason he answered with an ellipsis when asked. On the other hand, maybe the effect isn't too terrible? Maybe it's even beneficial! Maybe the wand shoots out rainbows and muffins! Or maybe it just animates and strikes you vigorously about the head and shoulders...

Three Dragon War

Someone, we're not naming names, canons, or the color of eyes and the dragon to which they belong that forms said person's obsession, may or may not be indirectly responsible for the latest game craze sweeping Anastara: Three Dragon War, a collectible card game that features players as dragons, deploying spells, creatures, and Sundered against each other to destroy each and avoid the machinations of the Third Dragon. The awesome thing about the game is that the Third Dragon comes in all different forms: classic bundled-with-the-starter-pack Ire, super-rare Anastara Diatu, suspiciously-rare Cam Birony, ultra-common Large Eagull, and more. The concept of an outside force adding randomness to the battle and being manipulated in turn by cards means Three Dragon War is the hottest card game that's come along since the last card game that was the hottest that had come along came along.

Face-to-face, you find yourself in a duel over these cards and the magical images they summon. Can this untested deck come through if you believe in it? Or are statistics and probability actual things that actually happen? Dragon Battle! Jiao Long Fu!

There's One in Every Test Drive

Not every magical disaster is caused by some wayward student you don't know. Many of them are caused by you instead. To wit: you're on the spot in one of the magical labs, being called on to demonstrate a technique more advanced than others you've mastered so far. Failure is expected, and the wards should prevent any injury to others from a miscast spell. But will the sparks of your magic just sputter out and die? Or will you inadvertently mispronounce, misform, misshape, or miscalculate in a way that brings chaos to you and your lab partner?

(You could also manage to succeed in casting the spell, but that isn't very fun.)

Comments

[therulesaretherules]

I am the Deputy Headmistress at Cackle's Academy, a highly acclaimed school dedicated to the enrichment of young witches.

[ The term witches is said with more emphasis and a touch of an odd accent as she was more accustomed to dealing with the antics of young girls not young boys. ]

Just Atem? From that I can assume you are not from a witching family?

[king_of_egypt]

That explains a lot.

[Not that he was familiar with the school in question, mind you, just the attitude that comes with experience. She would be a stern educator, most likely, so it was a relief that Diatu hadn't put her on regular staff.]

Not if last names are a requirement. [He could have just said more but it was more amusing for him to draw this out] Magic is not foreign to me however.

[therulesaretherules]

[ You should be eternally grateful she is not a regular staff member. No one in this school would be able to get away with anything less than excellent if she were. ]

All the best families have a surname.

[ All the worst... well, apparently this student fell into that category. ]

And what manner of magical experience do you have?

[king_of_egypt]

[Oh, he can tell. Their test scores would be higher, perhaps, but their morale would be much lower. Also the need to attempt playing tricks on such a stodgy professor would lead to such havoc for all involved.

Sucking in a quick intake of breath and waving one hand he acted as though he had been seared by her harsh words, but he was enjoying this other sort of game.]

I'm afraid it just wasn't in practice in my era.

[.. but he mentally gave her a metaphorical point. A look flashed in his eyes that would have been recognized by one of his dearest friends and that always meant trouble. Mahad had a tendency to be very "by the scroll" himself, and Atem always took this to be a challenge to try and crack that stoic behavior.]

[He actually stumbled at her question, since it wasn't the easiest to navigate.]

Magicians and sorcerers were common in my court, as well as everyone in my counsel possessed some mastery of the arts.

[Artfully neglecting to mention this power was bestowed on most via the Millennium items]

I personally have used illusionary art and summoning- though here I have focused more on discovery and glyphs- based magic.

[therulesaretherules]

[ But you would be safe and well looked after despite your ineptitude with magic. Miss Hardbroom would never allow anything to harm one of her students. ]

Court magicians. I see. How quaint.

[ She paused long enough to scrawl something beside Atem's name on the clipboard she was holding. It was difficult to make out and she wouldn't have given him the chance at a second glance at the page but it was probably something about his not having a last name and certainly nothing about the look he had just given her. ]

If you have studied here before then your classes will be much the same as you remember them. You are to attend each of your assigned classes daily. Magic is to be practiced in the laboratories with an instructor present at all times and under no circumstances are you to leave the grounds during school hours.

[king_of_egypt]

[Ineptitude!? You're not making it any easier to resist unleashing the power of the Millennium Puzzle on you. J/King since he would actually find the humor in this]

Somehow, when you say it the position sounds infinitely more trivial, but I assure you they were the best in their craft.

[Leaning to one side, he tried to peer at what she was writing but alas the height difference placed him at a firm disadvantage]

Sounds reasonable so far. [A pause] Do we really have to attend classes daily? I was thinking more along the lines of every other day, or maybe three in a row and with the occasional four day weekend.