Vorstallen Magic Preparatory - The Third-Best School for Young Mages in the Nation! Enrol Today!

Saint, what a day!

Ulos spent the rest of the day hiding in his room, too embarrassed to come out and risk humiliating himself further. Madavian said a few kind words, and was then gone until dusk. He came back and brought Ulos down to dinner, where he ate, sitting far away from the Narubite girl with the blue streak in her hair.

They climbed back to the Perch to go to bed. Lying there in the dark, Ulos worried. What if everyone else hated him? What if Madavian was only nice to him because he was his roommate? He shook his head, trying to get rid of the thoughts.

"Madavian."

"Hmmm... yeah?"

"What classes are you taking? I mean, I know you said your dad picked them, but what did he pick, and why?"

"Hah. He's got me doing Runic Theory and Artifacts. I mean, obviously my father is important in Junotrin, and we're involved in the artifact trade. Haven't quite cornered it, but he wants me to learn more so when I come out I can make sure we capture the market completely. I mean, it makes sense. I hope Runic Theory is better than Theory and Practice of Runes when we snuck in, but... well, let's just say I doubt it. How about you?"

"History and Souls."

"Really? I mean, I get history. No offense, but you're a flit, and I know the Empire doesn't bother teaching you to read mostly, let alone history. Why Souls, though?"

Ulos hesitated. No, it didn't feel like the right moment to tell Madavian. Not when he barely knew him.

"Well, I was only really interested in those two along with Alchemy."

"Why not Alchemy?"

"Well, it just... it just didn't feel important, you know? You never hear of a great mage being an alchemist."

Madavian chuckled.

"My father employs an alchemist. She sets up in her laboratory and does things for days, and if anyone bothers her, wow, she snaps at them. Of course, she mixes up his gout cure, so he doesn't care. I think maybe alchemists are too busy chasing after eternal youth to care about what other people think of them, maybe."

'Maybe. Anyway, we better sleep. Orientation tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah. Night."

The two fell asleep quickly after that.

Waking up at dawn the next day, Madavian jumped out of bed and quickly returned with an outraged look on his face.

"Ulos, Ulos, get up."

"Wha-"

"The hot water is out. I bet whoever charges the rune didn't want to climb the stairs last night. We better head downstairs and find one if we want to get clean before we go."

They scrambled downstairs to Building A, and entered the shower rooms. Each shower was enclosed by tiled walls, and it looked like there were three left unused. As they headed towards them, a familiar voice rang out.

"Imperial. I see you couldn't get enough of stealing our land, so you came to steal our hot water, as well. I didn't even know they washed in the Empire."

Ulos looked up. It was the girl from yesterday, though she looked smug now, more than angry.

(Roll Diplomacy: Retort. 66 + 10 Cha + 25 Madavian Assist (high enough Relationship value for Madavian to step in) = 101 vs DC 80 [Base DC 50, +10 for unfamiliar territory, +20 for surprised]. Failure without Madavian assist. Solid success.)

"We do wash in the Empire."

The retort sounded weak, even to his ears. Suddenly Madavian spoke up.

"I didn't know they ambushed young men in the showers in Narubar."

Madavian winked at the girl exaggeratedly.

"Maybe I should come visit."

Suddenly she blushed, and looked away.

"Are you with him?"

Madavian smiled.

"Well, we haven't been together for long if you know what I mean, but I think we were always fated to end up together. I mean, that's how soulmates work, right? I can't say I'm unhappy, either. I mean, look at him!"

Ulos spluttered but couldn't think of a thing to say.

The girl stared at them both for a few moments longer, and looking angry and utterly confused, stormed out of the showers.

"Did I say soulmates? I meant roommates. Ah well, more or less the same thing, right Ulos?"

Ulos suddenly laughed.

"I can't believe you said that to her!"

"I can. Who was she, by the way?"

"Um, well..."

The two hopped into their respective showers, and continued their conversation through the wall. Ulos told Madavian all about his encounter yesterday, and Madavian laughed.

"I'm glad I got you as my roommate. Everyone else would know how to suck up to a Scion, you know? But you're a flitter and you have no idea, and it's great. The only people who don't suck up to me usually can boss me around, so it's a nice change of pace. My father said I'd make friends here, but I figured he meant friends I'd do business with."

The two quickly finished up and hopped out, getting dressed and heading downstairs.

Ulos looked at Madavian and spoke. His roommate had just saved him from looking like a complete idiot, so he felt pretty good towards him.

"So, I'm going to go enroll today. Want to come with me?"

"Yeah, I'd better come as well. If we get down first thing we can enroll before they start Orientation. Father would be pretty angry if I didn't enrol in what he wanted."

They strolled down to Orientation, carrying completed forms with them. In front of them sat only two people, both checking out the class lists. It seemed nobody else had bothered getting in that early. The two walked up to the counter. Madavian spoke.

"Can we hand in our enrolments yet?"

The woman at the counter raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't it a little early?"

"Sure, but early bird gets their pick of classes, right?"

She sighed, looking very unenthusiastic about the prospect of doing paperwork this early in the morning.

"Hand them over."

"Thanks so much. Sorry to impose on you like that, but my father - he's a Junotrin, he's really picky about what I'm doing and when I enrol in it. If I screwed it up, wow would he be angry. Thanks for helping us out!"

As they walked away, Ulos looked at Madavian quizzically. That had been a little bit unlike him. Sure, Madavian namedropped all the time, but what he had said had seemed a little... pointed.

"Why did you tell her you were a Junotrin? Wasn't it on your enrolment form."

"Sure, but now she'll treat it seriously from the get-go. I don't want it to get put on a pile of paper, lost, and then have someone tell us we don't get our class choices."

"That makes sense."

They walked on for awhile longer in silence. They were to gather at the base of the Tower for Orientation. The Tower could be seen for miles around on a clear day, and it was easy enough to get there in a matter of a few minutes. The students were already lining up at the Tower base, almost a hundred of them grouping around a single woman. She looked like a mage out of fairytales, well over six feet tall, wearing a shimmering cloak and a broad-brimmed hat that seemed to both shadow and illuminate her face at the same time. Her hair was short, reaching down a little below her ears, and was a pure snow white. In one hand she held a metal wand, in the other, an open book.

"Gather 'round, gather 'round!"

Her voice carried easily and far, and she inscribed something in the air with her wand, a symbol flaring for a moment and disappearing. Suddenly Madavian couldn't even hear his own breathing - the entire world apart from her voice had gone silent.

"Students. I am Senior Mage Tilbut, you may refer to me as Mage Tilbut or Senior Mage. I will be leading your basic Orientation today, which will cover the Library, the Smokestacks, the Runic Forge, and the Maze. Follow me."

She lead them into the tower, walking up several winding flights of stairs.

"The Library is the central part of the Tower. The upper Tower is teacher's accomodations and accomodations for the upperclassmen. The lower tower is accommodation for the upperclassmen as well. The remainder of the tower is the Preparatory Library. While the Libraries will remind you of these rules, I will tell them to you now. Books in the Open Section are permitted to be borrowed. A first-year student may borrow one book at a time for a week at a time, at which point the loan must be renewed. If a student from a higher year or a teacher requests the book, you must return it. You will all be issued with one Borrowing Chit, which entitles you to borrow one book. When you borrow the book, you pay with the Chit. When you return the book, a new Chit is issued to you. Needless to say, do not lose your Chit."

As they entered, Ulos's eyes widened. The Library wasn't just big, it was huge. Concentric circles of bookshelves sat in front of them, each shelf twice as high as he was tall, packed to the brim with books. As he looked up, he saw more stairs, leading up to another floor. This floor along dwarfed any collection of books he had seen, and would have been sufficient to fit the entirety of Dorms into with room to spare.

"There are ten floors in the Tower. The top floor is teacher accommodation, the second-to-top floor is student accommodation, the dungeon is student accommodation. The remaining seven floors constitute our Library. We bring new students here at first for two reasons. First, to tell you the rules. Second, to reassure you of the quality of the institution of learning you have enrolled in. It is our estimation that the Imperial Collegium has one-third the number of books we do, and Greystone merely an eighth. The Preparatory is well-known for its links to the Five Families, and the generous aid they give to our mission of magical education. Rest assured - for those of you who hail from one of the Families - this money is not wasted. The Librarium Arcanum itself has less books than we do, though admittedly more esoteric and rare texts."

She took a breath.

"Each class you enroll in will give you a Textbook Chit, entitling you to the use of the textbook for the term. This will not count against your ordinary borrowing limit. Unlike the Collegium, where you are expected to source your own copies of - often very rare and difficult to find - prescribed texts, here at Vorstallen we have systemised the books students use. There are no differences in texts, no superior version of a book given to a richer or more influential student. Here at Vorstallen, there is only talent and hard work."

"Lastly for Chits, you may purchase a new Borrowing Chit for ten numismata if you happen to lose yours. If you are especially needy in terms of borrowing you may purchase another, though the second Chit will cost twenty numismata, the third thirty, and so on."

"Secondly, there is the Closed Section. It is named Closed as books may not be taken in or out. You may study books there, however. Lastly, there are the Restricted Sections. There are a number of sections of the library behind locked and runed doors, that you are not permitted to access. If you require access to one section, a teacher may grant permission, provided that Section is related to their field of interest. Teachers may borrow books from the Restricted Sections. If you need to borrow a book from one of these sections a teacher may do so for you."

She sighed.

"Do not, for obvious reasons, bring a flame into the library, cast a flame spell, cast a water spell, cast a ink spell, or cast any magic whatsoever unless you are utterly certain it will have no physical impact on the books. Once you are utterly certain of this, confirm this with one of the librarians. If they permit it, you may then cast the spell under their supervision. If you cast a spell and damage the books here, you will be expelled."

Tilbut clapped.

"Follow me. We'll see the rest of the Library before we climb down."

Seven floors. Seven floors of massive stairs upwards, each containing rooms and rooms of books. Ulos looked over. Yes, he'd be spending a lot of time here. Still, he didn't see why Tilbut needed to drag him up and down seven flights of stairs.

Once they'd made it to the bottom of the Tower, she clapped her hands again. Something... when she did that, suddenly her voice cut through all the murmurs of his classmates and he could focus only on what she was saying.

"Next is the Smokestack."

She led them to a ramshackle building, with boards over windows and smoke billowing from a crack in one set of boards. It was large, though more sprawling than tall. While other buildings were squat and ugly, the Smokestack was not ugly in the same way. Rather, some of the bricks were cracked and falling out, the roof had tiles fallen off, the door had been taken off its hinges and was sitting propped-up next to the doorway, and now the smoke from the window was rapidly turning pink.

"We will not be going inside. Unlike other buildings, the Smokestack is not enchanted for things like structural soundness. Alchemical experiments and runes do not always play well together in close proximity."

(Roll Orientation Event - 12. Below 20 is negative event!)

As he was listening, the smoke was getting closer and closer to him...

(Roll Dodge! - 36 + 10 Physical vs DC 50. Fail!)

(Roll Madavian Assist - 77 + 5 = 82 vs DC 70 (base DC 50, + 20 from Tilbut's Clap. Regular success, add +10 to associated roll)

(Recalculate Dodge - 36 + 10 Physical + 10 Madavian Assist = 56 vs DC 50. Pass!)

The wind took up, and blew the smoke right towards Ulos, standing a little away from the group. Pink smoke raced towards him. Madavian looked over and quickly grabbed him, pulling him out of the way.

"What-"

Madavian pointed.

"Don't get with some residue from an experiment. Who knows what it could do?"

"It's just smoke."

"My father's alchemist had 'just smoke' coming out of her laboratory once. Lit all the tapestries on the wall outside on fire. That's when father moved her to somewhere less flammable."

Tilbut clapped again.

"If you have no reason to enter the Smokestack, we generally advise you do not. Alchemists can be peculiar. Never drink anything an upperclassman gives you without clearing it with a teacher first, even if they assure you it is safe. Even if they drink it as well."

She strode on.

Next was the Runic Forge. Rather than some grand impressive open fire, it was a large stone door built into a descending set of stairs.

"This leads to the Runic Forge. You are forbidden to enter without explicit permission from a teacher. Any student found doing so will be punished."

She quickly led them to their last destination.

"This is the Maze."

Ulos looked. It was a set of stone doors, not unlike those going to the Forge, built into a massive field. There were hedges growing all around, though it seemed more like a battlefield than a maze.

"Most practical exams will be held here. Students wanting to practice combat magic in their own time are advised to use the above-ground segments of the Maze, though before you do, let your combat instructor know which spells you will be using, both defensively and offensively. We have not lost a single arm or leg in twenty-two years, and you should not be the class to reset that counter. Below is the Maze itself. You may not enter the Lower Maze without permission, just as you may not enter the Forge."

They had been walking around for hours. Ulos just wanted to go eat. Sure, don't go to the maze, don't go to the Forge, whatever. Man, he was hungry all of a sudden.

"That is all for Orientation. Lastly, for those of you taking Artifact Use this term, I will see you next week. Dismissed."

The two made it back to the dinner hall, eating and heading upstairs. Ulos didn't want to risk another confrontation with the blue-haired girl right now, not when she might be able to embarrass him with Madavian heading to bed. They both went to sleep, tired from the long day and the endless stairs.

Voting post will be up in a bit. Much simpler and quicker this time - what do we do tomorrow and the day after. There are four more days of Orientation, divided into two turns. Each turn will have two Free Actions and two locked Orientation Actions.

Day Two: (can only take 1 of these)

[ ] Meet and Greet (Madavian) - Madavian thinks you're too shy. He'll use his charm to help you meet people. Offers two Diplomacy rolls for meeting people. In the event of a Failure, Madavian will step in and assist you. In the event of a Critical Failure, well... you're on your own. Still, having more than one friend would be nice. (DC: Variable. Depends on who you meet)

[ ] Prank (Madavian) - That girl tried to embarrass you in the showers. What a dick move! Well, Madavian has some cool ideas for a prank... Increases relationship with Madavian. On success, increases relationship two steps. (DC ??? - opposed roll versus rival)



Day Three: (can only take 1 of these)

[ ] Watch the Duels - Magical duels are essentially magical combat sans death. They start up on Wednesday, with the Second-Years from the high-powered combat class facing off against each other, and the Second-Years from the low-powered combat class facing off against each other. The top low-powered mages are then sent up against the losers from the high-powered class. Gain a Learning Roll for Combat Skill: Magical Defense (DC: medium), gain a Learning Roll for Combat Skill: Inferior Magic Fighting (DC: very high).

[ ] Watch the Combat - The third-years still in the magical combat stream divide into two teams and face off against each other once a week in Magical Combat. Rather than one-versus-one combat, you gain an idea of how entire teams of mages work against each other. Gain Learning Roll for Combat Skill: Awareness, (DC: high), gain Learning Roll for Combat Skill: Tactics (DC: very high)



Generic Actions: (can take up to 2 of these)

[ ] Start Studying (Write-In Subject) - You have Textbook Chits now. You can go borrow the books and start hitting them. Sort of nerdy, but hey, aren't you here to learn? Gain a Training Roll associated with the subject you choose. (DC: Low. You're smart, dedicated, and this is all basic theory).

[ ] Scout out the Library - Go figure out where the books that might help with your Curse are. I mean, they're almost certainly in the Restricted Sections, but if you can get a good idea of how the Library works and what sort of filing system it uses, you might be able to track down the knowledge a bit easier. No stat improvements. May gain a better idea of what books are helpful for your subjects, and which sorts of books might help with your curse. If you failed this roll the first time, the roll from the first time will be added to your second roll. (DC: Very High)

[ ] Go Exploring - It's a big campus, and you haven't seen the half of it. Who knows what you could find? Roll 1D100 vs ???. Success offers ???, failure offers ???.

[ ] Meet and Greet - Madavian might not be there to help you, but you can still meet people, right? Right? Offers two Diplomacy rolls for meeting people. No help from Madavian. (DC: Variable. Depends on who you meet)

Feel free to vote for as many options as you like from this point on - I strongly prefer people being able to vote for more options as it lessens strategic voting and allows people to vote their true preferences.