Magical (A Quest of Vacations, or Starsigns, or Something Else)

[SeekerofDreams]

It doesn't take much thinking to realize that, if the rumors about monsters in the basement are true, having a method of healing on hand would probably be useful. And if the rumors aren't true... Well, you'll have a snack for later.

"Do you think we could get some gummy frogs from the cafeteria?" You suggest. "They don't come in very large packages, so maybe they won't notice a few of them going missing."

"...It'd be safer than getting them from the infirmary," Bel admits. "You have to jump through a lot of hoops to get so much as a bandage without already being injured yourself. And with five healers working there, they can probably afford to have someone on watch at all times. I'm not sure why. Medical supplies aren't that expensive... maybe it's to keep students from doing anything reckless."

"Maybe," Caramel agrees. "But gummies would be nice to have, just in case, unless one of you has started learning healing magic." You both shake your heads, following him down the staircase. "Besides, they taste good, even if we probably won't be able to identify the flavors beforehand."

Right. To properly identify a gummy flavor requires both sight and scent. Blue frogs could be blueberry or raspberry flavor, green ones could be lime, apple, or watermelon, and red ones can be raspberry, apple, or cherry-flavored. Apple frogs smell the same whether they're red or green, but taste different, and you assume raspberry ones are similar. Blindly picking up packages of gummies is like if someone removed the color from a frog and marketed it as a mystery flavor.

Not that anyone would do that. Messing around with the composition of gummies meant for eating has been illegal for millennia.

"I'll trade for any limes you get," You offer. "One of you has to like red apples, right?"

Bel pauses. "You don't?"

Caramel just sighs. "Come on, let's just... get to the cafeteria before someone else comes along."

---

Breaking in to the cafeteria is easier than it strictly should be. The place is completely deserted, and the packs of gummy frogs are just sitting there out in the open.

"We shouldn't take too many of them," Bel advises. "Even if no one catches us, they'll notice if we take too many, and there'll be more of a guard at night."

Caramel grins, slightly. "You know, for someone who doesn't like getting in trouble, you sure know a lot about it."

"You've clearly never met my cousins." He doesn't say anything more than that.

Caramel and Bel are going to be following their own judgement when it comes to how much food to grab. You, however, will be taking...


[ ] One pack.

[ ] Two packs.

[ ] Three packs.

[ ] Four packs.

[ ] Five packs.

 

[SeekerofDreams]

You aren't sure how many frogs you'll need- you're thinking you'll turn back if any particularly dangerous monsters show up, but you aren't sure how much common sense Caramel has. You remember how his reaction to being locked out of the music room was to ask Nutmeg to break down a wall in the library.

So, while you shouldn't need more than a couple frogs, you grab three packs just to be safe. Also, there's probably Dark Spirits down there, if they haven't taken to roaming the halls of the academy at night, and you want to have a buffer in case you offend them. You don't think you're powerful enough to face them in battle just yet.

"Going a bit far, aren't you?" Bel asks, taking a singular pack for himself. "...Cara."

Caramel looks up from where he's grabbed as many frogs as he possibly can. "Look, I promised Rasp I'd pay her back for giving me that key somehow, may as well get it out of the way."

You blink. "Can you even carry that many frogs? You've already got your lyre..."

"Look, Rye, don't worry about it. I've got pockets, see?" He stuffs a pack of frogs out of sight. "They haven't got unlimited space, but they're expanded enough I could probably fit a textbook in here, if I needed to."

Somehow, you don't think space-expansion enchantments are meant for things like smuggling stolen frogs, but you're just going to go along with it for now. "If you say so..."

On the bright side, if you've ended up with any red apple-flavored frogs, there's probably going to be something a bit less sweet to swap them for. So there's that, at least.

---

With how many gummies Caramel took, Bel doesn't think it's safe to stick around the first floor for too much longer. After all, if you get caught out of bed, you're carrying far too many frogs not to be the first suspects if your theft is discovered.

All you need to do to reach the basement is to cross the first floor and hope you're fortunate enough not to run across anyone. That sounds fairly simple, though Bel's worried enough to give you concerns about that.

Caramel just says that Bel worries about everything, and that you shouldn't bother with it, because he stresses out enough for all three of you. And that he knows a pathway through the school that doesn't take you back by the front entrance, so you have options, sort of.

Honestly, the fact that you have yet to see anyone is a bit unnerving...


[ ] Take Caramel's path. It'll be darker, so you'll have more opportunities to hide if someone comes along, but it'll take longer, so there's more chances of running across someone.

[ ] Go by the front entrance. You aren't sure how often people pass by there, but at least you'll be able to see where you're going.
-[ ] Stop by the meditation room for candles.
-[ ] Go straight to the basement.

 

[SeekerofDreams]

The hallways of the school are laid out simply enough, for the most part, but if you get separated from Caramel and Bel in the parts of the school you've yet to really visit, you'll either have to turn back, or wander around lost until you get caught, depending on where it happens. "If we pass by the meditation room, though, we could stop for candles," You point out. Sure, if anyone thinks to ask the spirits about you, you don't have any way to convince them not to tell, but you don't want to end up tripping on the basement steps due to a lack of light.

"...It would be nice to be able to see where we're going," Bel admitted. "Also, if Caramel's looking for anything in particular, I don't want to have to come back later."

"If I go back later, it'll be with Nutmeg and Raspberry." Caramel sounds very unimpressed by the whole thing. "...But, yeah, candles would be nice." And with that, you set out back the way you came, stolen frogs stuffed into your pockets.

---

If the rest of the school is unnerving to see at night, when it's quiet, the meditation room is still as peaceful as ever. The Magic Dolls are slumped over in the corner, unmoving.

"Careful not to disturb them," Bel hisses. "I don't know if they're programmed to act differently at night, but..."

Caramel crosses his arms. "Has anyone ever told you you're a bit paranoid?"

"Nutmeg, right before she refuses to budge from something really dangerous. Earth wizards..." You feel almost like you should be offended on Nutmeg's behalf.

"I-I wouldn't want to bother the dolls, either, though," You admit. "If they were somehow programmed to attack us, I don't think that's a fight we could win." They've been trained against generations of students, after all.

Caramel sighs. "Fine. But they're right by the supplies of fresh candles, so the alternative is taking the ones from by the door. And if we take those, we'll probably have to come back to return them." You suppose people would notice if the place where candles are meant to be displayed doesn't actually have candles. "We can't just throw them away in the basement and forget about them."


[ ] One of you should try and sneak past the dolls.
-[ ] You.
-[ ] Caramel.
-[ ] Bel.

[ ] You'll just take the ones from by the door.

 

[SeekerofDreams]

You aren't... massively thrilled by the idea of slipping past the dolls, but... it can't be worse than coming back here later at night when you're all exhausted from exploring.

"...Then I'll try and get past them." You aren't sure how well it'll work, being sneaky is something you've never had to be before this year, but... "Just, if there's a problem..."

"I'll back you up," Caramel promises, his orange eyes almost flashing despite how none of the candles are lit. "And so will Bel. Right, Bel?"

Bel flicks his tail. "It feels a bit late to be backing out now." He sounds more annoyed by this than anything. "Just... don't let there be trouble."

"I'll try not to." You can't really make any better promises than that, but you can still make an attempt at stealth, and maybe it'll even work out.

You step into the room. All is still. All is silent. There's not even any crackles of firelight, because the candles have long been extinguished for the evening.

If you listen closely, you think there might be some muffled snoring coming from the pond, but this really isn't the time to check that. So maybe spirits snore. That's not the most important thing about this situation.

The floor of the meditation room is creaky, but you don't worry about that too much. Trees creak in the wind, doors creak when they open. You're used to the sound, and there's nothing about it that means you are inherently forced to blow your cover. Not when there's no one around.

...Besides, no one would be paranoid enough to program their dolls like that.

You manage to make it across the room. Scoop up a small bag of candles that you'll probably hand over to a wizard who uses Fire Magic at some point. Toss it across the room, to where Bel catches it. Try and hurry back.

Trip over Tang's outstretched arm and tumble to the floor.

The doll you tripped over starts to stir. None of the others do.

...This doesn't seem like the best situation to be in.


[ ] ...The dolls are supposed to respond to student commands, right? Order Tang to deactivate.

[ ] There's three of you and one of it. You should be able to fight back.

[ ] Run. It can't chase you forever!

 

[SeekerofDreams]

For a moment, you freeze up. Tang pushes itself up to a standing position, which should not be as intimidating as it is for such a small doll. It looks at you, and as your mind races, it seizes upon an idea.

You aren't sure to what extent the dolls are supposed to respond to student commands, but there's one thing you're sure should work every time. "Tang, deactivate."

The doll stares at you. You wonder if it's programmed to respond to different words. "Um... stand down? Turn off? Power down?" It tilts its head to the side and crosses its arms. "...Go back to sleep?"

Tang nods and flops over on top of the other dolls, directly in a beam of moonlight. You can't see the magic brimming behind its eyes anymore, but given your order, to have to assume that it has, in fact, entered sleep mode or something.

Whether it has or not, you don't intend on sticking around long enough to find out. "We should-"

"We should hurry," Caramel agrees. "...Bel? You staying with us?"

"At this point, I kind of feel like I have to." He doesn't sound very happy about this, though. "Let's... not make any more stops on the way. We'll get caught."

Caramel opens his mouth, you think to protest, but then seemingly thinks better of it and closes it, mutely nodding, his eyes flickering over to the pile of dolls as he does so.

You guess you're not going to go look for anything else.

---

"Go back to sleep..." Bel mutters to himself. You glance at him.

"What did you say?"

"When you asked that doll to stand down. What worked was telling it to go back to sleep. That's... not the command phrase the others use."

Caramel absently plucks at the strings of his lyre. Not with enough power to make a sound, but enough that you notice he's doing it. "Maybe it was programmed by someone different. It's... not exactly the same model as the others."

None of the dolls are the same model as each other. They're all built in different ways, each of them specialized in a certain way. But there's definitely something different about Tang's construction in comparison to the others, though you aren't sure what it is. You don't know a lot about dolls. Coming to this school is your first time seeing any in person. They get even less out of visiting hot springs than robots.

...You decide that it doesn't matter, and that if you ever think it does, you can always look through the library for information on magic dolls.

"But who'd program a doll to only respond to 'go to sleep?'" Bel keeps quietly complaining. "Is anyone really that lonely?"

You don't think you could ever have a good answer to that.

---

The door to the basement is unlocked. It swings open without even a creak, and leads down into such deep darkness you can barely make out any shapes.

Suddenly, you're really, really glad that you got some candles. Caramel fumbles with them for a bit, as well as a matchbox. You aren't sure where he got it from, but you suppose it's better than having candles and no way to light them.

"Okay, we're going down, and then I should be able to find what I need to complete my piece." ...You'd almost forgotten that the whole reason you're doing this is so that Caramel can write some music. Still, you peer down into the depths of the school basement, and decide that you will enter it...


[ ] At the head of the group.

[ ] At the back of the group.

[ ] Between Caramel and Bel.

 

[SeekerofDreams]

Caramel, the one who wanted to be here in the first place, leads the way, and you follow him. Bel is at your heels, but just a bit farther back, and though you can't see him, you can feel his fidgeting. He clearly doesn't want to be here.

In all honesty, you aren't entirely sure about this, either, but you're sure Caramel would do this with or without help, or just rope the girls into this instead. So it's really for the best that you're doing this and not giving Nutmeg the chance to break the school's foundations, or something.

The staircase is a bit longer than the ones to higher levels of the school, and evens out on cold, damp stone. You aren't sure there's enough moisture in it to use your magic, but you suppose it's something that you can try, if you absolutely have to. If it were up to you, you'd try and get in just a bit more practice, first.

"Where do we go from here?" The only light comes from the candle that Caramel has lit, and it's just enough to illuminate his face and a nearby box. The glow of the candle complements his orange eyes perfectly as he turns to face you.

"In. We go as far as possible."

Bel groans behind you. "If we get lost in here, this is your fault."

"You can always leave," He replies. Bel backs up, a little, but he doesn't leave up the stairs. "I'll know what I'm looking for when I find it. Just... make sure nothing shows up that we aren't ready for."

"Do you really think they'd keep monsters in the-" Bel pauses, before admitting, "Okay, they'd absolutely do that. And darkness spirits, but even I can't really do anything about that. They're only afraid of light." And in darkness this intense, the spirits would be incredibly powerful.

"And I guess it can't be candlelight?" You ask, just to make sure. This isn't something you've ever really had to know before.

"No, they're not scared of fire," Caramel confirms, stepping forward. You follow after him. "If we get split up, we should figure out a place to meet."

"How about outside the basement?" Bel suggests. "We might not get in as much trouble if we're found there."

This is an excellent point... but where to meet, if that were to happen?


[ ] At the basement entrance, because it's closest and hopefully nobody would be nearby.

[ ] In one of the residential lounges. Students are always dozing off on those, no one would even bat an eye.

[ ] ...Actually, if it goes that wrong, you may as well just go to bed for the night and meet up in the classroom tomorrow. Less risk of getting caught or being dragged back.

 

[SeekerofDreams]

"We could meet up in a residential lounge, if anything happens," You suggest. "If we pretend to be asleep, would anyone really notice?"

"...Probably not," Bel admits. He sounds sort of relieved about it. You're sort of glad. He's been tense all night. "The worst that'd happen is you get woken up and sent to your room. And if that happens, we could always just meet up in the morning."

"We could go to the same one as last time," Caramel decides. "Rye, do you remember where it is?"

Of course you do. It's not like the meeting was all that long ago. "I think I can manage it." The school is big, but it's not that big, at least when there's a set of paths you tend to follow, more often than not, and most of the doors are labeled.

The unlabeled ones you've decided not to poke at without pockets full of metal and other spirit-appeasing items, just in case. You don't think the school would intentionally hide anything dangerous, but there's always a risk, when bringing a large number of people and spirits together in one place. After all, while spirits are predictable, there's so many kinds it's easy to forget.

It kind of makes you wonder how the residents of other planets, wizards included, can get away with not believing in them.

"You'd better be right," Bel says, the tension back. "We're not going to ask you again."

...Just what is he so scared of?

---

The basement of Will-o-Wisp Academy... actually isn't all that different from the classroom hallways above. You have to admit, with the fuss Caramel was making, you'd kind of expected something different. The main change is that the walls between the doors are covered in boxes, as if they allocated so much room to classes that they forgot to leave anywhere for storage.

...Maybe they did. You're not going to ask- you think that'd be a good way to tell people you've been poking around where you're not supposed to.

"Are you sure you know what you're looking for?" Bel asks. You feel like this is the sort of thing that should have been asked before you all came down here.

"I'll know it when we get there," Caramel insists, reaching a crossroads. "And... I know that we need to go this way." He turns to the right, which is the hallway most choked with clutter.

Bel sighs. "...I think I see why you wanted me to come along."

"I didn't know this was there!" Caramel protests, but what he doesn't protest is Bel squeezing past you and jumping up onto a large crate accompanied by a gust of wind, landing without a sound.

"...You know, we probably should have lit multiple candles," He says. "I can pick out a safe path for the two of you, but it won't be easy."

"I think lighting more candles would just be a fire hazard," You point out. Not that you doubt there'd somehow be a fire extinguisher buried around here somewhere. "And... I'm not good enough to put out fires yet." Sure, the ground's sort of damp, but it's nowhere near enough to help if someone drops an open flame in a giant pile of clutter.

"...All right." Bel sighs, and you can just make out him sitting down with his legs hanging over the edge of the box. "Do you want a mostly ground path, or are you fine with going higher up? Because that one's safer, so long as you don't fall off." Left unsaid is that, if Caramel falls, lots of things are going to be set on fire and you'll all get into a lot of trouble if you're caught.

...Okay, so you'd always get in trouble for that, but you think there might be a few more problems if it involves arson.

And you can't exactly put out the candle. It's what you use to see.

Sadly, you can't decide what path Caramel takes. But at least you can choose your own.


[ ] You'd rather take a higher path.

[ ] You think it'd be better if you stayed lower down.

 

[SeekerofDreams]

"...I think I'd rather go higher up," You declare. Sure, agility isn't something you've ever particularly tried to get better at, but... looking down at what you can see of the floor, that's a lot of stuff to potentially trip over.

Caramel looks at you, and you can't help but get the feeling that he's judging you, just a bit. "...I think I'll stay on the floor," He decides, holding onto the candle he carries tightly. "I don't think I should be climbing with this."

"Probably not," Bel agrees. "Okay, Rye, you should be able to get up onto that box on your left. Caramel, you see that open space just there? If you move to your right a bit, you should be able to avoid anything getting in your way."

The two of you nod, and both move to do as you're told. The box you've been pointed to has some sort of soft covering on top of it, though patting it is enough to confirm that there is in fact a lid on it. It takes a fair bit of scrabbling to get to the top of it, though, and you think you might be causing the covering to fall off, just a little.

But it doesn't fall while you're here, and that's just going to have to be good enough.

Caramel moves to his destination a bit more easily, you think, stepping around a discarded lampshade without a care in the world. "Now what?" He asks.

Bel sighs and jumps to a higher point. You can't actually see more than his outline right now. "Now you need to keep moving to the right unless you want to trip over a bunch of worm holes. Why does the basement even have worm holes?"

That's a good question. The sheer number of monsters that could be hiding inside those... "What about me?" You ask, glad that you're presumably not at risk of triggering the attack of a Mud Jam or something.

"There's a ladder a bit to the side- it looks stable, but you mostly want to use it to get on top of those boxes." You get the feeling you're going to be clambering onto a lot of boxes tonight.

---

...Which is probably how you end up on top of a box surrounded by worm holes in front of a door that Caramel wants to go through.

"What I need's on the other side," He says. "I just know it."

"Great," Bel sighs, from his spot on top of what looks like an abandoned teacher's desk. "So what will we do about everything around it?"


[ ] The first step should be getting Caramel and Bel safely past the worm holes.

[ ] ...Could there be another way around?

[ ] Will anyone care about property damage in an area that's clearly lack of storage space gone mad?

[ ] It's probably a bad idea to try and cover worm holes with a crate, but it would make a relatively safe way through if it works...

 

[SeekerofDreams]

Worm holes are always a tricky thing to work with. Worms are tasty enough, you suppose, and packed with enough magic to make hunting them a worthwhile endeavor, but their holes...

You aren't sure what sort of monsters lurk in the depths of the academy, and you'd really prefer not to find out.

"If the two of you can get past the holes, we might be able to focus on getting the door open somehow." Even if it's behind the box you're on top of. Even if, for all you know, there's just more holes underneath the box, since tunneling is a thing that exists, though no one has any proof that gummy worms actually do so and their holes aren't just hotspots of Warp Magic.

Maybe a magical analyst has discovered the answer at some point, but if that's a thing that's happened, you have no knowledge of it.

"I could probably get across pretty easily," Bel admits. "Caramel... that'd be trickier. He doesn't jump."

You can tell without looking at him that Caramel is incredibly unimpressed with that statement. "I can jump," He says. "Just... maybe not that distance. I don't know what you'd even want me to climb."

"At this point, I'd be happy if you don't bring out a monster that sends the entire hallway crumbling down around us." Bel leaps from the top of the desk, and lands nimbly next to you on the box, accompanied by a strong breeze. "Okay, I can kind of see the holes better from here, but they look kind of..." One of the holes vanishes, and a yellow worm appears, slithering across the floor. "...I'd hunt it if I didn't know it'll burrow the second I move." It sounds like he's speaking from painful experience here. "I don't suppose you're interested in worm charming, Caramel?"

"That... is part of the group project we're working on..." Caramel admits. "But I don't know it'd work without Paprika here."

"It can't be worse than not trying," You point out. "...Unless the noise attracts some kind of monster, but I'm starting to think those just aren't around."

Which makes sense. This is a school. There's no reason for monsters to be hanging about, when even combat lessons can be more safely taught with the use of Magic Dolls.

There's still a faint worry in the back of your mind about awakening and offending some sort of spirit, but that's what the pocketful of frogs is for. The spirits of darkness are the most likely to make this place their home, along with the spirits of stone, and while you know surprisingly little about the latter, the former are very well known, and usually not for a good reason.

"I don't even know what kind of song I should play." Admittedly, that does seem like something that'd be useful to know, for someone whose power comes from sound. "Any suggestions?"


[ ] Have he and Paprika gotten around to choosing a song for their own endeavors yet?

[ ] If he's trying to get the worms to leave their holes... how about something nice and exciting?

[ ] Maybe, if he plays something soothing, all of the monsters in the holes will just... sleep through someone walking above.

[ ] What about the song he's trying to complete?

 

[SeekerofDreams]

While the solar system has an incredible biodiversity, most of the species not known to be sapient- and a few that genuinely might be!- are classified as monsters, as they are uniformly hostile to civilized life, the only beings they will not attack outright being spirits and other monsters, depending on their ecological niches.

There are, however, a few species which will not attack any other being, whatever the threat to themselves might be. The most well-known of these are the gummies.

Gummy creatures, though growing rarer, are still fairly easy to find. They are very mysterious creatures, as it's impossible to tell what their main source of energy is. They are capable of photosynthesis, though that can only be the main energy source for those who spend a regular amount of time on the surface- and due to overhunting, the population of surface gummies is quickly dwindling. They have digestive systems, but the only time they will eat in front of another living being is if they are domesticated frogs, and the only person in the room is their owner, or with extreme coaxing from users of Beast magic.

The origins of the gummies are also unknown, as they are among the oldest creatures known to currently exist, having been a recorded part of the world long before most monsters and magicless species are known to have evolved. It was a time long out of the memory of any living wizards, with the possible exception of the ancient robots of Erd, and they certainly aren't telling anyone.

Gummy creatures have a surprisingly wide variety of flavors, colors, and behaviors, but for the most part they can be split up into two groups- frogs and worms.

---

Gummy Frogs​

Gummy frogs are among the safest creatures to walk the solar system- or hop, as the case may be. They are extraordinarily timid, due to their incredibly low rung on the food chain, and will flee at the slightest sign of danger. While they have been domesticated, even the boldest of pet frogs will not hesitate to flee any situation which they find to be uncomfortable in the slightest.

While gummy frogs can appear in all colors, they are most commonly seen to be cool colors, and in darker shades. They prefer cool, damp areas with lush vegetation, though they will happily live anywhere if that is unavailable.

The most common flavors of frog are berry-based, though there are apple flavors that are not overly difficult to come by. Eating gummy frogs restores vitality, though the amount varies depending on the color and flavor of the frog.

It should be noted, however, that blue raspberry-flavored frogs are particularly dangerous to hunt, as the growths on their back are highly explosive and will not just kill most predators, but also a number of the magicless and even wizards. The growths can be removed, though that still leaves the question of how to catch them without letting them explode.

---

Gummy Worms​

Gummy worms are even more mysterious, and much more dangerous, than their amphibious counterparts. At the slightest sign of danger, the worm will vanish, and the ground beneath where they were will be replaced with a worm hole. If any being carrying magic, even just an enchanted item, walks within a certain distance of the hole, it will start to release monsters. It is unknown how this function works.

While gummy worms can appear in all colors, they are most commonly seen to be warm colors, and in paler shades. While they are capable of living anywhere, they prefer terrain that matches their color, and are usually found in caves or basking on exposed stone.

The most common flavors of worm are citrus-based, though apple and strawberry flavors are known to exist, though they are most often found in captivity, being selectively bred by magicless food suppliers. Eating gummy worms provides a boost of magic, and they are often used to power Magic Dolls for this very reason, though the effectiveness varies depending on the color and flavor of the worm.

It should be noted, however, that while in the wider solar system, defeating the monsters which emerge from a hole will often lead to the disappearance of the hole and the appearance of a dead worm ready to eat, worm holes on Kovomaka will simply continue producing monsters until the worm reemerges, ready to continue going about their day and potentially creating another hole.