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

[whose_son_am_i]

Well that took an unexpected turn. Fortunately the geese seem to be leaving her be as they rush to escape. A few letting out indignant and panicked honks, getting swat and feathers flying.

"There are easier ways to be bigger and scarier, but that was effective just the same."

[travelpants]

"Um, thank you, sir," Lena sheepishly accepts the Norse god's comment as she tries to ignore the flying feathers surrounding her from her goose tray swatting, "I am currently getting used to magic at the moment."

She knows that she is having a hard time trying to get her magical foothold well, the young lady is hoping that being in Diatu would help her out.

[whose_son_am_i]

"For centuries, mortals have been scaring and herding geese, without magic, effectively. Often without it being quite as violent as being hit with a tray." Despite the correction, there was amusement in his voice. Mischief in blue-green eyes.

[travelpants]

"That's understandable, I've never heard of people chasing animals around with trays or other flat objects in my world before," she admits, "Although I might be the first one in this school's history to hit rude geese with a food tray."

She kinda finds it so weird that she did actually trust an actual real deity's advice and follow through with it, how ironic for someone who couldn't seem to make up her own mind in some decisions.

"So um, what's your name and where you do come from?" she shyly asks him for his name and his original homeworld, "My name is Lena Kaligaris, first generation Greek American from Bethesda, Maryland."

[whose_son_am_i]

Loki listens, an amused smile curling on his mouth. "I am Loki of Asgard." Was Maryland a country? Honestly things had gotten so complicated on Midgard the last few years. Not that he had helped much, what with his invasion of New York City.

[travelpants]

"Well, it's really nice to meet, Loki of Asgard. I do apologize if the hall is not in a great shape right now," Lena tells him before she then asks him one question, "Say, is Asgard a country or something similar?"

She could've recognize the name and the place he comes from, though she couldn't put her finger on it just yet.

[whose_son_am_i]

"Asgard is one of the nine realms, on the branches of the tree Yggdrasil." Which was and was not an answer, and he knew it. "Try thinking of your--Oh what did they call themselves--Norse legends."

[travelpants]

Oh crap, how could she not remember about mythology and legends in her classes when Loki told her about the existence of the nine realms and Yggdrasil? Maybe she wasn't paying to all of that at the time, but she retained some of the knowledge, though she wasn't sure if it is good enough.

"Um, yes, I think I once read about those legends for school," she confesses to him while scratching the back of her head, "So that means the Earth I live in is also a realm and a part of a large universe tree too?"

[whose_son_am_i]

"Midgard, as I would know it. Yes." She was young...how young? Tilting his head, studying her a bit more closely. Not yet an adult, by Midgard standards, he guessed.

[travelpants]

"Oh, I didn't know that Earth can be called in different names by different worlds too," Lena gasps in amazement, "So are you like an alien or a deity or maybe something different? Please pardon me if I mistake you for the first guess: some aliens in some stories from my world would look human to some degree."

[whose_son_am_i]

"Deity." His smile was amused, smug, and slightly arrogant. "I am the God of Mischief." Technically he probably qualified as 'alien', given he was a frost giant raised in Asgard. But from how she spoke, that would likely give her a different impression than what he wanted.