Turn two, Magister class and opportunity.
- Location
- Pittsburgh PA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
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.]
"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.]
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