Test Drive #1

[magicademymods]

Test Drive #1



The Airship There

By carriage or coach, spellwagon or ship, perhaps even on the wings of magic, the Sundered heed the call to gather at the Tenzin High Dock of Vulbaria. On this, the appointed day, a great passenger airship sits in the dock, the seals of the six Houses fluttering from flagpoles along her length and her wooden planks atremble as if it is eager to be off. At last, the gangplank descends, and the Hand of Diatu opens her doors to the Sundered so they can take their first step on the path towards protection and salvation.

Inside, you may choose from long comfortable couches, broad circular tables surrounded by straight-backed, cushioned chairs, or viewing seats at the glass front of the ship. Sundered who need special accommodations are quickly provided for, ensuring everyone travels in comfort. Trays drift through the air periodically, offering snacks and drinks to the passengers.

This may be the first chance you've had to truly relax since being swept to this strange world. Certainly it is the first chance you've had to meet your fellow Sundered. As the airship lifts gracefully off from the High Dock, your journey to Diatu begins. Excited? Nervous? Simply angry? Or perhaps searching among the crowd here for a familiar face or some sign of hope?

Rain, Rain...

Welcome to Diatu Magicademy. It's raining.

Seriously raining. One of those downpours that feels like a curtain has dropped on you, that soaks to the bone within a second of stepping into it. Obviously, this won't do, and a civic-minded cluster of Purifeul students has taken it upon themselves to solve this problem. No sooner do you step through the gates then you practically run into a giant and complex runic diagram being drawn out with long staffs by several students, all of them speaking seeming nonsense about derivatives, limits, and equations. Magic! In action right before your eyes!

And yet, just as their mathemagics wind towards the center of the diagram and they all make their final stroke -- one student slashes his line off on a weird tangent, speaking an equation that sounds nothing at all like what his fellows utter. The spell completes... weirdly, as the students look in horror at each other. The temperature abruptly drops seventy degrees, and a cold wind begins to blow.

Welcome to Diatu Magicademy. Please get out of the blizzard before you freeze.

Thaumaturgy 101

After some fifteen minutes of grumbling from Professor Loshakle, followed by half an hour of theory and basics, the grouchy old man finally gets to drawing a magical symbol on the board. "This is straight out of Fundamental Principles of Wizarding," he says, writing Sense Magic next to the symbol. "As is everything you'll learn here. I'll emphasize yet again, you MUST know the name of the spell and the proper gestures. You can't simply wave your wand in any old pattern and say any old words. That isn't how it works," he says, glaring around the class as if daring someone to question him.

But he gives no one the opportunity, instead producing a wand and making the gesture to trace the symbol he'd drawn in midair. "Sense Magic," he intones, and the air and his wand both shimmer.

"Now. You all try." Just like that. What the Professor doesn't mention is that this spell can produce some very interesting results if the symbol is off, or the timing...

Bala-inlota Practice

Bala-inlota is the main interaction the Magicademies have with each other -- the sport of wizards! Two teams take the field, with the goal of heaving a ball through their opponent's hoop. The rules primarily revolve around not inflicting lethal injury, because bala-inlota is a free-for-all at best, where each team relies on both physical and magical might to win the day.

You kind of wish someone had told you this BEFORE you got hauled onto the field so the coach could see if you've got what it takes.

Now half a dozen players are charging down the field at your ragtag group of semi-willing recruits, while another half-dozen are preparing spells that you've been absolutely assured aren't as nasty as the ones deployed in actual play. On your side: the ball, your wits, your physical ability, and maybe three classes's worth of magical education.

On the upside, magic is pretty good at healing.

Comments

[burningbrighter]

"Yeah, hey!"

Sunset surges forward to give her friend a hug. She's not going to let any wobbling stop her now.

"I'm so glad to see you. This is a pretty crazy place, even with where we've been."

[shiningkindness]

She was more than happy to accept that hug, feeling much better now that she was with someone she recognized.

“I’m really glad to see you too! I was scared that I was alone here.”

She held the hug for a good while before pulling back, just enough to look at Sunset.

“I know, this whole thing is really strange. The worst part is I don’t think our geodes work here either.”

She had seen plenty of animals on her way to dock, but hadn’t been able to communicate with any of them.

[burningbrighter]

Sunset gripped her geode when she pulled back, nodding. "You're right. We're too far from the magic, I guess..."

She shook her head and flashed a lopsided smile. "But hey. We're going to learn some new magic, right? It'll probably be pretty tough, but I know we can do it."

[shiningkindness]

Fluttershy didn’t seem so sure. “Maybe...it’s different than the magic we use back home though, isn’t it?”

[burningbrighter]

"Yeah, but every kind of magic has rules! If you follow the rules, you can do it. Princess Twilight would probably be better at explaining it than me, but...I'll do my best. We'll do our best," she promised.

[shiningkindness]

Despite her apprehension, she did feel a lot better with Sunset there. After all, aside from Princess Twilight, Sunset knew the most about magic.

So, with a small smile, she nodded. “Right....Thanks, Sunset.”

[burningbrighter]

"No reason to worry about it until we get to class, right? Come on, let's eat."

She snatched some snacks from the tray and offered them.

[shiningkindness]

“I guess that’s true.” Fluttershy was definitely more of a ‘worse case scenario’ person, but she could at least try to relax a bit.

Eyeing the food a moment, she took something that looked vegetarian. “Are there any kind of magic schools like this in Equestria?”

[burningbrighter]

"Princess Celestia has a school for gifted unicorns. Twilight and I were both students, but we weren't in the same class, so we never met before I stole her crown. And she also tutored us personally, so that was different."

She's still bitter about the path she went down, but can set that aside. Everyone involved has forgiven her now, and she's mostly even forgiven herself.

"But we're all new to this kind of magic, Fluttershy. We're all equals. So don't let anybody tell you differently, okay?"

She's determined to do the school thing right this time. And that means standing up for her friends.

[shiningkindness]

With a small smile, she nodded. “Okay. It does sound kind of fun.” At least after the first wave of panic had passed. “It kind of reminds me of this book series back home about witches and wizards learning magic.”

[burningbrighter]

"Oh, I read that one, didn't I? About the students who kept sneaking out of the dorms and all the weird teachers they had? Maybe...maybe we shouldn't try to get into any trouble," she laughed. "But it tends to find us first."

[shiningkindness]

She giggled softly. "Yeah...I don't suppose it'd be too much to hope that this would be the strangest thing that happens to us at this school?"

[burningbrighter]

"Given that everybody's magical at this school, and not just us? I think we'll have our hands full."

She grinned, leaning back to stretch. "Maybe we could start another band. I don't know if that's a thing they do here, but...it'd be fun."

[shiningkindness]

She seemed to brighten up a bit at the suggestion. "Oh, that might be fun. I did come with my tambourine, apparently."

[burningbrighter]

"Great! I didn't have my guitar, unfortunately, but I'm sure I can pick something up along the way."

There might be an instrument better suited to this school, anyway. "Maybe we can even write something new together."

[shiningkindness]

"Oh, that'd be a wonderful idea! Maybe we can include something about learning new magic in the song."

Talking about writing music was always a good way to cheer her up.

[burningbrighter]

"Yeah! We'll get through our first classes and I'll take great notes. I can't wait to see what the magic of music can do here."

They already had experience using it...that should help, right?

[shiningkindness]

"Do you think we can use magic through music the way we do at home?"