Mod Account for Diatu Magicademy ([personal profile] magicademymods) wrote in [community profile] diatuooc2021-07-23 03:56 pm
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Test Drive Reloaded! #1


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.)
whose_son_am_i: (Do you hear how you sound?)

[personal profile] whose_son_am_i 2021-07-29 08:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Having a decoy likely would be the best route at this point. Loki had already studied the reports of the known problem-toilets and not found any particular pattern. At least none relating to the prankster that pointed to finding them.

"You're certain you're volunteering to be a decoy." Really, was the man a fool? Not that Loki couldn't use this to his advantage...
ronstadt: (911 - what's your freaky?)

[personal profile] ronstadt 2021-07-29 10:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Ronstadt nodded. "I have this power... it isn't as strong here, unfortunately, but... it protects me from harmful spells. So I don't get the full effect."

He lowered his voice in case the culprit was near. "Plus there's no saying I can't just walk in a stall, drop trou, never even sit down, and just fake howl." He winked.
whose_son_am_i: (Thor--smiles "let me handle this")

[personal profile] whose_son_am_i 2021-07-29 10:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Charmingly put. "Would your protections activate with a spell designed to conceal you cast upon you?" It would be simple, if tedious. Loki believed he could detect which toilets were enchanted, but it wouldn't do for their potential quarry to see them scouting.

"If not, here's what we do. I can conceal us, and while not from a great distance, detect which are the pranked stalls. We find one, scout it, then move away. You then enter normally." Hmm. "I may also have to place an illusion over you, so it's not obviously always 'you'."

This was going to take some serious magic casting, but Loki was confident he could do this.
Edited 2021-07-29 23:02 (UTC)
ronstadt: (disco mystic)

[personal profile] ronstadt 2021-07-29 11:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Hey, they can't all be cunning linguists. He consults for a moment with himself: or rather, the voice in his head that mysteriously exists and seems to occasionally know things he doesn't.

"Long as I expect it and I'm willing to let it happen, we should be good. Besides, that's a protection thing, and I haven't had a problem with those yet. ... That plan's gonna take a lot of juice. You good for it? I don't want you to, you know, pass out. Even if I probably could drag you to the infirmary..."

Ronstadt was scrawny, too, but he could manage. Probably.
whose_son_am_i: (Thor--smiles "let me handle this")

[personal profile] whose_son_am_i 2021-07-29 11:13 pm (UTC)(link)
"I am." Loki said easily, smiling confidently. His own magic was weaker than the native magic of this world. But he was a master of magic, and a God; he could do this. It might've been simpler to do so himself, but here was also a willing volunteer...

"Both spells would overlay your own, and be of the protective variety yes."
ronstadt: (saturday night ate our lives)

[personal profile] ronstadt 2021-07-29 11:18 pm (UTC)(link)
"Okay, then!" Ronstadt snapped and pointed a finger-gun his way with a cocky smirk. "Let's do this. Operation Catch the Commode Culprit."
whose_son_am_i: (Default)

[personal profile] whose_son_am_i 2021-07-29 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Loki reached out, as touch would make the concealment spell easier to cast. Laying a hand on the other's shoulder, veiling them both from passerby, making it so they wouldn't be seen or noticed. Eyes would simply slide over them as though nothing was there. It was a faint shimmer of green over Ronstadt, though nothing could be seen on Loki himself.

"We will want to be relatively quiet, as well as aware of our movement. We're invisible to the eyes and concealed from presence, but physical objects are still physical objects." Hence why they would have to scout.
Edited 2021-07-29 23:58 (UTC)