School of Sorcery

CoreBrute said:

Any chance we could get a recap @Chandagnac ? It's been a while since the last post, so I'm a little lost.

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Fair enough. I did post a brief summary, but I suppose I could go into more detail.

Here's a summary of each of the story updates so far:

1. Introduction
Headmaster Prentigold welcomes the new students to the academy. He gives a brief explanation of how the magic system in this setting works, as well as his own pseudo-Objectivist philosophy. He warns the new students that the school is a "hungry monster" which "consumes the careless, feeds upon the foolish, and ingurgitates the incompetent."

2. Meeting with Your Group Tutor
This is the post which introduces the protagonist, Dorian Valens. He meets the other members of the mage cadre he will be working with during his time at the academy: Philander Boole, a roguish lad who keeps making silly jokes; Venta Durgensis, a feisty half-goblin girl; and Isolia of the Sprawl, a shy girl from an impoverished background; as well as the teacher who has been assigned to look after them, an elf named Green Flame.

3. Tour of the School
Green Flame gives Dorian and the others a tour of the school. At the same time, she answers some questions about discipline, punishments, extracurricular activities, and sundry other things. Also, Philander and Venta have their first argument.

4. Year One, Week One, Day One (Part One)
All the first year pupils go to their first Ritual Magic lesson, taught by Professor Glossoloria. She teaches them a simple spell which enables them to conjure glowing lights. As homework, she gives each of them an illusory textbook and tells them that the illusion will soon fizzle out unless they can find a way to maintain it. After lunch, Dorian reads through the textbook and tries to figure out what he needs to do. Also, he meets with Venta, Isolia, and Philander and has a brief chat with them.

5. Year One, Week One, Day One (Part Two)
Dorian and Isolia go to the Gardening Club. There, they meet the club president, Fenella Ortens. She gives them a tour of the gardens and the greenhouses and explains some of the club rules.

6. Year One, Week One, Day One (Part Three)
Dorian and Isolia agree to join the Gardening Club. They are each given their own little plot of land. Dorian starts turning the soil and getting rid of some weeds. Later, he goes to bed exhausted.

7. Year One, Week One, Day Two (Part One)
All the first year pupils go to their first Literacy lesson, taught by Professor Witt. First, he gives them a task designed to test how well each of them can read and write. Some of the other pupils do very well, proving that they have no need for this lesson. Dorian, Philander, and Venta all perform adequately. It turns out that Isolia is completely illiterate. For her, this lesson is a special hell. Later on, Professor Witt loses his temper and canes one of the other students for breaking a piece of slate.

8. Year One, Week One, Day Two (Part Two)
Dorian and the others need a place where they can work together on their Ritual Magic homework. Green Flame agrees to let them use her office while she is elsewhere. It takes several hours, but they manage to find a way to maintain the illusion for at least a while longer.

9. Blades of Grass (A Dream)
That night, Dorian dreams about a woman clad in plate armour. She poses a mathematical riddle which he solves without much difficulty. He is not very enthusiastic about the prize she gives him as a reward: a poppy flower which only seems to manifest in dreams.

10. Year One, Week One, Day Three (Part One)
The first year pupils go to their first Alchemy lesson, taught by the genial Professor Kunrath. He explains the basic principles of how alchemy is supposed to work: in this setting, transmuting an object into something else requires a careful balance of physical, magical, and spiritual properties. Also, he wants the pupils to take part in a practical experiment: given a range of ingredients and a description of what each one is supposed to do, they must attempt to brew a healing potion to relieve the symptoms of colds and flu.

That's as far as we've got. There was a slight majority in favour of partnering with Philander, so I've asked people to vote on what Dorian should say to him while they're working together. See here.

EDIT: I'm assuming that no one else would like to vote, so I'm going to count up the vote tally here. Also, I'm gonna roll some dice.

Chandagnac said:

The professor glances around the room, scratches his chin, and says, 'I think I've lectured you for long enough. It's time to do something practical. In your pairs, I want you to have a go at making your own healing potions, using the ingredients and equipment I've provided. I've already measured out the ingredients, you just need to decide how you're going to mix them together. Bear in mind that you don't need to use all of them. It's probably better if you don't. And please remember that you need to use magic to enhance the desirable qualities of your ingredients; almost every year, someone misses that part out and ends up with a healthy herbal drink, but no magic potion. Let's see if we can avoid doing that this year, shall we? Apart from that, don't worry about getting things wrong. Being willing to experiment, learning from your mistakes and getting ready to do better next time: these are attitudes I like to see in my young alchemists.'

He gives a nod. 'Good luck, all of you. I look forward to seeing what you'll come up with.'

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After a brief consultation with the other members of your mage cadre, it is decided that the two girls will pair up: Venta will assist Isolia with reading about the properties of the different ingredients, then they will work together to brew their own healing potion. Meanwhile, you will partner Philander.

He puts an arm around your shoulder. 'Yeah, Dorian. Time for some male bonding. Y'know, arm-wrestling, fly fishing, cooking big lumps of meat on an open fire, all that good stuff. Let's leave these girls to their girl stuff.'

You see Venta shoot a venomous glare at the back of Phil's head. 'What do you mean by that?' she snaps at him.

'Oh, y'know. Giggling, braiding each other's hair, talking about cute boys. Of course, I expect to feel my ears burning fairly soonish,' he says with a saucy wink. 'Sorry about that, Dorian. I know, it's unfair that I get all the attention, but that's life. We can't all be as tall and handsome as I am.'

Since you're nearly a head taller than him, you assume that he's joking. Mind you, that's usually a good bet whenever Phil's lips are moving.

'You arrogant ass!' Venta explodes at him, stamping her feet as she rushes around collecting the lab equipment she will need for today's experiment. En route, she nearly collides with Professor Kunrath as he wanders around the room inspecting what the other pupils have done so far.

'Be careful in the laboratory, please,' he says, putting a hand on her shoulder to steady her before she can fall over. 'Is there a problem over here?'

'Oh no, Professor,' says Phil. 'Ven was just expressing her affection for me. She does that with alliterative insults. It's nothing to worry about.'

Kunrath glances over to where Venta has meekly returned to her workbench, hunched over it as though trying to make herself very small, and is relaying instructions to Isolia in a whisper almost too faint to be heard.

'Philander, was it?' he says, looking unamused at your lab partner. 'I'll speak to you at the end of the lesson, before you go to lunch.' His gaze flickers over to you. 'You too. Stay at the end.'

'What did I do?' you want to ask him, but you don't dare. 'I didn't even say anything!'

But Kunrath is already gone, over to the workspace shared by the boys of Cadre 1A, showing every sign of being impressed by the plans they've made so far.

'Well, thank you, Phil,' you say frustratedly. 'You got me in trouble.'

'Hey, no worries. What are friends for?' he replies.

He's still got his arm wrapped around your shoulder. You push him off. 'This isn't a joke. I wanted to make a good first impression.'

'Relax. He's not Appalling-us Witt. I very much doubt he's going to cane either of us.' Phil gives a careless shrug. 'You've got plenty of time to impress him, if that means so much to you. Don't worry about it.'

'Yes. Well. I think you should worry a little bit more,' you say, steering him over to your shared workbench. 'We haven't even started on this potion yet. We're running out of time.'

'Got more than an hour left,' he says, glancing at the clock. 'But… yeah, all right. Let's get started.'

After consulting the list of ingredients, you decide to create a fairly simple potion using only three herbs: lavender, peppermint, and sage. Lavender for its soothing and anti-inflammatory properties, peppermint because it is supposed to have a wide range of useful properties, and sage because of the folk belief that it is a cure-all. Philander starts chopping up the leaves, you use a pestle and mortar to grind them into a paste, and then you mix them together with water taken from a sacred spring. Then, after you pour the liquid into a glass beaker, there is one final stage: you need to imbue the potion with magic, otherwise it will be nothing more than a healthy herbal drink.

'You want me to do this?' asks Phil.

'No, I can do it,' you reply, shaking your head.


Professor Kunrath stops by to watch as you attempt to magically enhance the health-giving properties of the herbs you've used. In particular, you focus on how lavender can be used as an anti-inflammatory and peppermint can be used to relieve some of the symptoms of a bad cold: these are the qualities you want to enhance most of all. You're not sure how to balance the magic you're using against the spiritual effects of sage or the holy spring water, so you try to remember the last time you did something like this: pouring magical energy into the ritual circle which sustains your illusory textbook. Not too much, or too little: you got it just right, that time.

Remembering how much you used, thinking it seems like a good starting point, you try to do it again. Gathering the same amount of magical energy, you channel it into your potion, thinking intently about what you want it to do.

The murky liquid changes colour to a soothing pale green, glittering with golden specks of light.

'Oh, bravo!' Kunrath cheers, clapping his hands together. 'An excellent first attempt!'

He fetches two smaller bottles and splits your finished potion between them, handing one to you and one to Philander. 'Good medicine. May it serve you well.'


'Gathering magic and pouring it into the potion directly is a good method, if you can do it,' says Kunrath. 'I can't argue with results. But there's a simpler and easier way, which most of your classmates might prefer to use. Wait a few minutes, give everyone else time to finish, and then I'll demonstrate.'

While you're waiting, you spend some time talking quietly with Philander. 'Why do you keep annoying Venta?' you ask him. 'It seems like you're doing it deliberately.'

'I do it to everyone,' he says carelessly. 'Haven't you noticed?'

'Yes, but she really doesn't seem to like it. Can't you just leave her alone?'

'Trust me, Dory. I know about these things. When you see a man and a woman fighting like two cats in a sack, it's not because they don't like each other. Oftentimes it's their way of showing affection.'

'I… don't think that's how it works,' you say.

'Oh, when you're an experienced man of the world like me, you'll know about these things.'

'So… you deliberately annoy Venta because you want her to like you?'

'Yep! She loves it.'

'No, she doesn't. Really, she doesn't.'

He lightly punches your arm. 'Hah! You've got a lot to learn about women, Dory.'

'You're delusional.'

'I'm amazing,' he says modestly. 'You'll never meet anyone else like me.'

'Don't you have four brothers and sisters?'

'Six, actually. Ferocity and Indulgence are both younger than me,' he says. 'What's your point?'

'Oh, nothing.' You quickly change the subject. 'You said that I could earn some extra spending money by doing a job for your brother, Simony, at the weekend. Tell me more about that.'

'You'd just need to watch his stall for a few hours. Sell things to people who want them. He'll pay you a silver shard when you're finished.'

'Or I could sell things to people, take their money and run,' you point out.

Philander nods, acknowledging that you have a point. 'Yeah, but then he'd need to send someone to break your legs. So, don't do that.'

'I'm only a first-year student! What if I get robbed?'

'In that case, I expect he'd need to find out who did it. That kind of divination is tricky, but doable. And then he'd send someone to break their legs.'

'But that will be no comfort to me if I've been robbed and murdered beforehand.'

'No one's going to murder you over a few school supplies,' Philander scoffs. 'The worst they'll do is rough you up a bit.'

'Oh, that's fine then,' you sarcastically reply. 'Thanks, but no thanks. I don't think it's the job for me.'

'Suit yourself. Hey, maybe you'd prefer being a leg-breaker instead! Long hours, but the pay's good.'

'Long hours?' you ask, frowning. 'Why do they need to work long hours?'

'Oh, it's busy work, being a leg-breaker. They're always rushed off their feet.'

You groan. 'Look… what do you want to accomplish at this school?'

'The same as anyone else, near enough. I want to live a good life, be able to pay for anything I need, and be powerful enough to protect what's mine.'

'Are there any school clubs you're interested in joining?"

'Bladderwrack! The sport of mage kings!' he declares.

'Apart from that, I mean. You made your enthusiasm for that game very clear.'

'I expect I'll join the Apathy Society. It's something I feel passionate about,' he says, sniggering at his own joke.

'Right. Uh, it's been fun talking to you, Phil. But I think the Professor is ready now,' you say, turning away.

By this time, all of your classmates have attempted to make an effective healing potion at least once. Some of them have made multiple attempts. Professor Kunrath stands where everyone can see him, holding an unfinished potion which he prepared earlier. He proceeds to demonstrate how to use a ritual to imbue it with magic. 'Of course, you'll need to adapt the ritual to fit the potion you're trying to make,' he says, drawing a circle and edging it with runes. 'But this is a much easier method than I've seen some of you attempt today.'

'Why didn't you teach us this at the beginning of the lesson?' asks one of the other pupils you don't know: a thin, rangy lad, tall for his age.

'What would that have accomplished? Experimentation is a very important part of Alchemy. If you're not willing to experiment, to try new things and put your theories to the test, then you'll never learn anything new,' Kunrath replies. 'Anyone can follow a set of instructions they've read or been told, but it's more important to me that you learn how to be creative and think for yourselves. Even if you don't always get it right. Even if you sometimes make mistakes. It's all part of the learning process.'

You look at him with a new respect. He's a fubsy little man with a ridiculous moustache and haircut, but he seems to have genuine passion for his subject and a desire to teach his students how to be successful in their own right.


After that, it's nearly the end of the lesson. You are instructed to clean up your lab equipment and put things away afterwards. For a few minutes, you and the rest of the class busy yourselves with that.

'I'm not going to give you any homework today. I know that some of you – perhaps most of you – will drop this subject at the first possible opportunity,' says Kunrath with a rueful grin. 'But I want you to go away and think about what you've learned today. I don't have a textbook to give you, but I have some pamphlets you may read and take away with you, if you're interested – on my desk, over there.' There is a sudden ripple of movement around the room, as most of the other pupils decide that they should at least show willing, but they don't get up and walk over to the professor's desk until after he has finished speaking.

'Think hard and seriously on this: is this subject something which might be useful to you? If so, what do you hope to gain from it? If not, well… why do you think first-year students are forced to learn at least a little Alchemy before they can move on to what they're really interested in?' Kunrath glances around the room, one last time. 'Philander and Dorian, stay behind, please. Everyone else, you may go.'


As everyone else rushes for the exit, you feel like you're waiting for your execution. You have no idea what the professor is going to say to you. Is he going to punish you? For what?

Kunrath sits down behind his desk. 'Come over here, please.'

After a moment's hesitation, you and Philander do as you've been told.

'I'm sure that you've heard that intent matters. It's one of the most important things for a wizard to consider when casting a spell. But it's not the only thing that matters,' says Kunrath. 'Results matter. Consequences matter. If you cast a spell which starts a fire that burns down half of the neighbourhood, or unleashes a horde of dangerous beasts, or causes hundreds of people to sicken and die, they won't care about your good intentions.'

'I have no idea what you're talking about, sir,' says Philander brazenly.

'I'm referring to how you've been treating one of your teammates, Venta. Of course, you didn't mean any harm by it, you were only joking, and so on. But that doesn't matter. What matters is how she feels about it. If she feels angry, or ashamed, or belittled, or frustrated, or intimidated, it's not just because she "can't take a joke". She has a right to her own thoughts and feelings. Do you understand?'

Philander shuffles his feet and mumbles incoherently.

'I would hope that you're not treating her differently because she's half-goblin,' Kunrath says disapprovingly. 'I'm half-Wranni, your friend here is half-elf: you don't think we're inferior, do you?'

'Never crossed my mind,' Phil assures both of you.

'Think about what you are doing. For as long as you are at this school, your teammates will be like a second family. You need to look out for each other.'

Phil is fixed in place by Kunrath's piercing gaze. 'Yes, sir. I understand,' he mutters, staring at the floor.

'Good. You may go,' says Kunrath. He turns to you. 'Dorian, I'd like to speak to you alone, for a moment.'

'All right,' you say.

Kunrath waits for a moment while Phil trudges dejectedly out of the room, leaving you behind. 'Don't worry, you're not in any trouble,' he says. 'There are a few things I want you to consider. You saw your teammates bickering, you saw the effects Philander's "jokes" had on Venta, and I think you disapproved, but you did nothing. Why was that?'

'Don't know,' you mumble. 'I…. don't think he'd listen to me.'

'Don't be so sure of that. Philander plays the fool because he wants to amuse an audience. You're his main audience. That means you can influence him. He will adjust his performance to meet your approval.'

'I don't think it's as simple as that.'

'You'll get no success unless you're at least willing to make the attempt,' says Kunrath. 'This is only the first of many challenges you must overcome. You can't be passive. Are you a wizard or not?'

'I'm a wizard. At least, I want to be,' you say without much confidence.

'Good enough,' says Kunrath. 'For now. You did well today, by the way. Excellent potion. I hope you'll consider staying in this class.'

Is there anything you want to say to him?
[] "Thank you."
[] Apologize for not doing anything to stop Philander from making Venta feel bad.

[] Ask what you need to do to test out of this subject.
-[] "If I pass the test and choose to continue with Alchemy lessons, what will happen then?"

[] Ask him if he can spare any plants or seeds which you could grow in your garden plot.

[] "I have a theory about why Alchemy is a required subject for first-year students…"
-[] Write in: what is your theory?

[] Say something else. (Write in: what do you want to say?)
[] No, nothing else.