World's End Academy

Magister class is at the same location as last time, though at a wildly different time. You suppose that as a special class, it might be trying to squeeze in around other schedules, or perhaps the teacher is just a bit inconsistent. Either way, you show up, sit down, and the lecture begins.

"The primary thing associated with the Magister is Secrets," the professor begins, as unusually young looking as ever, now wearing a hooded robe.

"This is technically accurate, in that we gave up and decided to call our arts Arcane Secrets after everybody else was doing that anyway. In truth, the arts of magisters are rarely hidden. Simply very difficult. Even the most basic of Secrets requires a complex understanding of the rules and mechanics of the spell, as well as innate magic thoroughly attuned to the ability you wish to use. Other peasants and magic users have it explained to them, try to do it, fail, and decide there must be some secret."

The professor smiles at you directly, "I can tell that four of those in this class have already gained an Arcane Secret of their own, and I daresay they'd be more than happy to show off to their peers!"

Your eyes widen in existential horror only to be saved by one of the others, a bespectacled boy with a single horn in his scruffy black hair who practically jumps up and shows off his ability to shoot a small jolt of lightning without an incantation.

The professor looks almost disappointed, "Ah, thank you, Mr. Blackpoint, although I would caution all of you in the future that spells tend to be quite a bit superior for inflicting harm upon others, and the best Secrets are utilitarian and do things that nobody else thinks can be done at all... which is actually quite a good segue to our next lesson!"

"For the next few weeks, I will be teaching you the most basic of all arcane secrets. Overcharge: the art of spending more mana on a spell than you can actually spend on a spell. Specifically, Overcharge will allow you to double the amount of total mana you spend from your ocean even if you are already at the limits of how much you can spend in a single wave, gaining the benefits of using a slightly larger wave as you do so. It's not 1 to 1, but I shouldn't have to tell you the benefits of being able to cast spells like a fundamentally stronger mage."

You think you understood that sentence, picking up terminology by osmosis enough to remember wave and ocean, although the difference between mage and wizard is taking you a bit longer. Still, the gist of 'spend more mana to get around the limits of how much you can channel at once' is clear.

"But before I can teach you that," the teacher continues, "I have to make sure all of you know at least one spell that CAN be overcharged. Many spells don't scale sufficiently well. I recommend attempting it with Force Bolt, which those of you taking the Verity class should already be learning. Those of you who have already learned that spell, please split off to the door side of the classroom."

There's a shuffling of students, including you getting a bit displaced. Surprisingly many students already know the spell. You guess that makes sense if this is the overachiever discipline.

"Those of you who already know Force Bolt, I am going to teach something special. Those of you who don't... well, I have a second teacher with me today who can help."

The professor reaches behind his head, putting a hand in his hood...

And pulls out a tiny, cream-colored bunny. As fuzzy as a cloud and almost perfectly round. He puts the bunny on the desk before stepping to the other side of the classroom... and the bunny speaks.

"Hello class!" its voice is soft and light, but not terribly high or squeaky, "I'm Shimmer, the professor's familiar, and my favorite arcane secret is the one that lets your familiar cast your spells because today I'm going to use it to teach you force bolt."

What.

"The gesture for the spell is very simple, just point at what you want to hit, a finger will work, or even an ear," the rabbit's ear twitches, before carefully pointing at a target dummy on the far side of the room, flicking back and forth a few times before launching a small sphere of magic energy that zips at high speed to the dummy and hits it with a loud bang, "It's best to train for a smooth gesture that raises your point quickly, but for now we can just focus on getting any result..."

[Studiousness Check: Learning Force Bolt 1d100+13 Breakpoints: 30/60/90
Result: 4+13=17 Total Failure]
[Spell Progress: Force Bolt 0 of 3]

You don't -think- the bunny is a terrible teacher, but a combination of its aggressive cuteness, the surprise of the situation, the distraction of the much more interesting explosions on the other side of the classroom, and your own pounding head cause the rest of the class to pass in a blur of which you retain very little.

It'd probably be rude to ask to pet the professor after failing to learn anything.




[Searching for a job: Charisma 1d100 + 20 (Charisma) + 10 (Friendly with the Merchants) Breakpoints 20/40/60/80/100/120
91+30... 121 Maximal Success]

It actually started when you were getting lunch. You'd had a hankering for redbird - or at least something different, Ada's seemingly limitless access to pigs in tubes was making you consider vegetarianism - so you'd decided to check down some of the alleys that had the less popular stalls. You didn't find anybody selling, but you did find a frustrated elf pounding his fists on the side of a carriage.

You'd have been more suspicious if the carriage was attended by anybody else, but as it was him turning around to look at you and -not- setting off your spell was enough to consider him harmless, and you walked up to ask what had happened.

Apparently, the lock had jammed, fused, or something of the sort, and he couldn't get his shipment open. An especially big problem since his product comes from very far away and in order to maintain freshness he needs this carriage specifically. A quick poke with your mana sight does show that inside the carriage there are large chunks of magic, although identifying about the magic beyond the fact that it is not covering the whole carriage is difficult.

You briefly ponder what to do... before coming up with a request that is not even a lie.

"I... think I can help," you offer. "I'm actually pretty good at getting through non-magical locked areas, I thought I might need it in a hostile area like a dungeon, but, uhhh, students aren't really allowed to do that. So, since we both want to say I didn't break anything, could you look away for a second?"

He looks at you suspiciously, eyes twinkling... before sighing and turning around, arms crossed and ears twitching.

You put your face to the door, not ENTIRELY incautious as you first phase through just enough to see the inside... and find a perfectly normal carriage with the walls and ceiling lined with many magic cabinets. You push through entirely and find a wrench jamming the door. One quick pull from the other side and you phase back out, opening the door from the outside with an "Aha!"

The elf's stiff posture immediately deflates with relief. "OH! You got it... amazing... thank you so much. Sorry, I... well never mind." He babbles. "Heh, you never expect a nice meeting in a dark alley, but I guess this is a pretty nice town. What were you doing around here anyway?"

On a whim, you discard the honest, obvious answer of "looking for snacks" for the still honest answer that you've been looking around the district for job opportunities all week, and the elf's eyes narrow.

"In an alley?" he asks.

"Well, no, here specifically I was looking for obscure foodstuffs," you admit, and he laughs at that.

"Hmmm... well, why not? Fateful meeting in need, extremely pretty, likes obscure food, tell you what, if you want a job with me, I can give you a trial period of a few weeks, can't commit to more than that, though, the position I have is pretty... competitive. I'm Cervus."

He offers his hand for you to shake it and you look him over carefully. His blood-colored skin and long black hair combined with the downward tilt of his ears remind you of a peat mound, or at least something impenetrably dank, but his bright red eyes look amused and thoughtful rather than conspiratorial.

[Intuition Check: 1d100+30 Breakpoints: ???
Result 39+30= 69]

Seems legit. "Macabre," you introduce yourself back as you shake his hand and he tells you where to meet him for work.

[For the next three weeks, you have access to the 'Work at ???' action and may unlock it permanently if you do it all three weeks. Although it will only be ??? for the first week. It's PROBABLY not human trafficking. If you wish, you may spend part of a homework action researching the job before taking it.]

You roll up your sleeves for some proper intrigue. That's ultimately why you're here, after all, and this is where it starts. With one saved life probably? Probably in danger at least. You'll begin your legacy, fighting back at the futures haunting you.

Also if you're really lucky, Constance will be the one in your other vision and you can get two birds with one frustratingly boring social climber.

But that's in the future. For now, you'll start with the basics. Research. Finding anybody's secrets begins with finding the things that aren't secret. You spend most of your week keeping an eye out for anybody you saw at the meeting, just watching for your opportunity...

[Intuition Roll: Finding a Lead. 1d100+30 Breakpoints: 30/60/90/120
Result: 98+30= 128, and make the QM consider if Bree is somehow loading her dice]

You find it Ariday afternoon. You catch up to one of the girls whose face you recognize from the tea party and re-introduce yourself as politely as possible. You start with a humble apology, telling her you need to practice your high society manners and would like a friendly face. She actually gets a lot -less- stiff as soon as you introduce yourself as a friendly and potential inferior, previously having looked a little stressed, and you casually start a conversation of exchanging as little information as possible.

You do manage to catch that her name is Rose Ferrier and she's a noble, but juuuust barely, being rather used to the status of being the smallest toad on the stack. You're a little worried that bringing up a potential rival will actually make her upset... but there's nothing to do but turn up the charm and bite the bullet.

[Charisma Roll: Rose's Help 1d100+20 Breakpoints: 40/80
Result: 119 CRITICAL SUCCESS. I... facedesk]

Oh. That's -exactly- what was bothering her. Apparently, your target's name is Laurel Lender, the daughter of another recently elevated noble, but one whose star is still rising, and they're absolute besties. Rose has been worried about Laurel since they arrived at school and is super happy to have a chance to dish.

Your status as charming lady extraordinaire quickly gets steamrolled as an eager Rose shares with you Laurel's name, class schedule, a good time for you to meet, her problems with socialization, her need to make commoner friends; and then once she stops venting about her problems and starts sharing fun stories of what she considers a happier time; their shared secret love of caju butter, disastrous baking skills, childhood crush on Prince Jared, even more secret hatred of the color purple, and what makes a good cheese.

You do know that cheese is supposed to be smooth and sweet, but it's a real surprise that tracking down a noble and getting an introduction was the same.

[Relationship Added:
Rose Ferrier: 3/10
Trait Discovered: Gossip - Perhaps due to not being accepted by most of high society, Rose is always looking for something juicy happening within it to talk about... or something juicy to talk about within it.

Information Gained: Way Too Much About Mystery Target
You know Laurel's entire class schedule to easily arrange a 'coincidental' meeting next schedule planning and have both a mutual friend and sufficient understanding of her likes for a hefty +20 to your first impressions.]




"Fire!"

You stagger into the Pyromancers meeting just a minute or so late, your fever leaving you tired enough that without two noisy roommates, you wouldn't even be out of bed. The path to the rotunda they're using is one you follow half asleep... only to get a faceful of loud sermons delivered on a shadowed stage lit by flames as soon as you enter. The underlit face of a gold-hooded figure is the only sight you see beyond the pinprick of light from the door that is hastily shut behind you, flames of every color of the rainbow flickering in distant spots around a massive room.

"Fire is the impetus of mankind. The elves believe human nature to be that of the flame. The dwarves believe the nature of KNOWLEDGE to be that of the flame. Kharian believes the nature of TIME to be that of the flame, and claims it for their highest goddess." Hands lit aflame rise to the heavens, gesturing in religious fervor... or just public speaking.

"You have been chosen by that sacred trust. Chosen to be the movers of the world, the living flame, the-" The preacher is stopped mid-sentence as she is unceremoniously pushed from the stage.

The lights go up, or at least the magical darkness fog gets turned down, revealing a semicircle of cloaked figures in varying shades, several of whom clutch their knees as they visibly struggle to hold in laughter even as they fine-tune the brightness of the various flames around the room.

"THANK you Tiffany that concludes the amount of time alotted for introductions this session. The current meeting of the Pyromancy Society is now called to order," a smaller figure in red robes, the one who pushed the preacher aside, begins his own spiel. "The current business of today is as follows: our quarterly dungeon delve next begins in four weeks, with signup available for the next two. Those who wish to sign up may join the group-casting workshop being run by Mr. Banner until that time, queued around the blue sconces." He points out a group of black robes in the back, led by a human with a massive staff and a charming smile who pulls his hood down.

"Catering today is being provided by... did he put stage directions in his business name? O flame... Ahem, provided by TARGOK OF HOLLOWED GOLD, MASTER OF FONDUE, and those who wish to learn the Motivate! or Melt! spells are advised to consult with him after helping with the food service and cleanup today, otherwise, food will be delivered to your subgroup at such time as it becomes available," a point to a white-robed dwarf with his hood down trying to give a wide smile next to a table stacked with brown and yellow cubes.

"Aaaand the Scrolls of Ashen Writ are still on loan from the local Cross Cathedral until such time as they remember to ask for them back, those interested in divine interpretations of fire magic and/or clerical appointment may consult with Tiffany around the yellow sconces."

"That concludes all official business, though the..." the secretary sighs deeply, "Flame Gamers have asked me to inform you that the area cordoned off by green sconces is today holding a tournament of the board game Hotheads with a True Ruby Wand as the prize for first place and... a year's supply of fondue for places 2 and 3. Those just joining us today may wander at their leisure, I will take membership applications and the day's minutes at the end of the day. Flame guide us. I'm gonna get some cheese. Bye."

The secretary steps down hurriedly and the circle of robed figures disperses, some getting immediately in lines while others naturally gravitate to small subgroups, talking animatedly with each other and occasionally eyeing the treats. A few low men on the totem pole already holding trays of drinks at the end of their robed hands and delivering various colorful concoctions in managlass decanters.

The lack of faces makes it difficult to tell if you even know anybody here, but a few friendly waves show that at least nobody considers you out of place.


[How would you like to spend your time at the Society Meeting? Pick Two. All have roughly equal mechanical benefits.]

[ ] Dungeon Sign-Up and Training
Could be good to learn an actual fire spell, and some teamwork, even if it means committing to a dungeon delve soonish. Unless you're into that kinda thing.

[ ] Catering
Pays in either silver or the privilege of learning recently invented lesser fire magics developed by... the apparent MASTER OF FONDUE. Probably less fun, but good for spying on people.

[ ] Gaming
Join the Hotheads tournament. You have no idea how the game even works, but with a combination of beginner's luck and you not exactly being human, you might win a shiny! And even if you don't, is learning a game and meeting gamers any more of a timewaster than any other social action?

[ ] GLORIOUS FLAME
If they're the kind of zealot that likes you, poking a zealot might be hilarious. If nothing else, learning the divine perspective on fire magic seems like the kind of study a magister should take and might provide some worthwhile insights into your own nature and or how to control other people, those are, like, the two main things religion does.

[ ] Just Chill
Mill around, hang out, maybe eavesdrop a little. Eat excessive amounts of cheese and an expensive demihuman bean thing. You've had a long week and forcing yourself to be productive on the weekend sounds painful.