if you say it's magic, then you're my wizard

[promittere]

WANING GIBBOUS OVERTURE

The seconds tick by, the elevator rattles. There's a soft, musical chime announcing your arrival before the elevator doors creak open, leaving you and a number of others in the courtyard of a stone manor. The manor is large, looming over the trees surrounding it, and the gardens are well maintained, rows of hedges and beds of blooming flowers as far as you can see. The doors linger open until you clear the threshold, as if waiting patiently for you. Dawdle too long and you’ll feel a gentle push, nudging you out into the yard. The doors shut with more rattles and a cheerful ding!, and if you turn to look at it there's nothing to be seen behind you but the milling strangers.

Then there's a sting, mild at first. But soon, the spot where your sage's crest is starts to burn. It's as though you have been branded, and the searing heat clings to your skin. Should you look at your crest, you'll find it glows a faint red, like the dying embers of a fire, but given enough time it will cool to black and no longer hurt.

Once the pain fades, you notice is that the air around you feels distinctly different. It's hard to say exactly what makes it different, or how. It feels brittle, but malleable. That perhaps if you said or did the right thing, you could command reality to your liking—

The wind blows, stirring leaves and flowers, and that's when you notice there are two people in the courtyard that did not emerge from the elevator like everyone else. The taller of the two looks briefly shocked, before a warm smile blots it out, while the shorter of the two looks remarkably unimpressed—for as much as you can make out his expression under the large hat he wears. He glances at the taller man, the charms that hang from his hat clinking, and crosses his arm over his chest.

The taller man nods, turns to the group, and says, "Sorry. I know you were probably in the middle of something important. But...I need you. My name is Tatara Totsuka. I'm your sage, and you are my witches and wizards."

He looks up to the moon hanging in the sky, still pale and visible despite the light of day, and lays it all out for you: a wizard under the sage's guidance is supposed to fight off the Great Calamity—the moon—when it nears. But you are not meant to carry out this task. The original sage and twenty-one wizards suddenly vanished not long ago. No one knows what happened to them, or where they are. They aren't dead. They are gone.

That you are here, that there are so many of you, that you came from different worlds, means that this is a mistake. Something, somewhere, isn't right. Yet the world has decided to claim you in a frantic attempt to keep itself together.

This world is breaking. If you don't fix this, then you'll be stuck here fighting the Calamity yourselves.

When Tatara looks back down to the rest of you, there's a smile on his face, tinged with apology. "But I think it'll be okay. We'll figure this out... Right?"

The golden light of sunset is oddly cold. It settles over you not in a welcoming embrace, but in a possessive hold. There is a sinking feeling in your gut: whatever your home was before matters no longer. Welcome to a world on the brink of destruction—let's hope it's not for good.

The day begins to draw to a close. You're given the rest of the day to process Tatara's words and to familiarize yourselves with the manor. There are plenty of empty spaces in the manor with sparse furniture where you can rest and try to unwind, and hopefully get some sleep. Everything about today might be a lot to unpack, but surely you can at least relax and prepare for the next day.

The morning starts with the sound of bells. A cacophonous racket of them, ringing in your rooms, in your head, jolting you from whatever slumber you can grasp. The source seems to be a note, unassuming if not for the way it shakes with each toll of the bells, and the noise only stops when you read it.

"Go to the courtyard," it says, and if you try to ignore it the noise returns, growing louder and louder until your vision swims and you find yourself standing in the courtyard with everyone else—and the shorter of the two men from yesterday.

"Practice starts right now," he says, looking bored and just as unimpressed as he did yesterday. The sun has barely started over the horizon—it's early, almost absurdly so. "You need to learn magic sooner instead of later, unless you want to die like miserable worms. If you do, just quit now so we can replace you with someone useful."

His explanation on magic is brief—he explains that magic is a deal struck between caster and the spirits of the world, using a meaningful word or phrase to communicate your will to the as-of-yet unseen spirits of the world, who will respond to your desires and power your magic. A focus, an object of significant meaning, will help strengthen your ties to the land and direct the magic for your spells. If you have nothing that would work as a focus right now, he says, chances are the perfect thing will find you anyways.

While he looks unhappy to do so, he emphasizes that magic—as it works here—is all tied to your emotions and your convictions, and then he assigns you a challenge for the week. He wants you to come up with your incantation—the words you'll use to cast all of your magic—as well as find or draw forward your focus, with the final task being summoning a magic broom you'll use for transportation.

Threading out magic practice and ICly discovering your characters' magic words, manifesting their foci, and summoning their broom will count as three different jobs, and will be eligible for a set of rewards each. While not technically classified as a job this time around, this is a special circumstance. When you've accomplished any of these things, please submit them to the rewards page as a job submission.

If you're having trouble coming up with a focus or incantation, think about your answers for the first and third mandatory questions on your app! Your focus of choice does not have to be in your character's inventory—if what works best for them as a focus did not come with them, then they can focus and reach across universes to bring it here with them.

JOB BOARD

You may have just gotten here, but people across the continent still need the sage's wizards to do things for them. The job board will typically have 2 - 3 requests each event that can be turned in for rewards when completed.

Sugar delivery. Confectionery shops and pharmacies put in regular orders for wizard sugar to the manor, and despite the unusual circumstances, now is no different. Wizard sugar—sugar spontaneously created through a wizard's magic—is said to have restorative properties and said to bless those that consume it, so it's no wonder it's in high demand. It also happens to be one of the first things young wizards learn to do. So once you've perfected your sugar, go deliver it to the shops in Central capital and to the Southern merchants waiting for shipment near the Central tower.

The Southern merchants, in particular, seem rather anxious to receive as much sugar as possible, as soon as possible.

WANDERER TASKS

The wizards' new mentor knows that this must be an incredibly overwhelming experience, so he has a list of things that should help break down the process of learning and understanding magic. Or that's what he says, at least, but it feels like he's trying to make things more difficult...

Nobody is going to hold your hands for you, and the best way to learn is to understand the root cause of an issue. Use that paper being left around for something actually useful and do some research on the spirits of the countries you've been tasked to represent. I'll be expecting some actual thought out papers within the week.

For the idiots who can't research to save their lives, prove you can actually manage the bare minimum. There's a spot you can't reach without magic within the manor grounds—bring me one of the trinkets you find there.

For the even bigger idiots who are overconfident, come find me and we can spar. I won't go easy on you.

TATARA ACTIVITIES

Tatara knows things are tense and uncomfortable for his new wizards, so he'll offer up a few activities each event post to help them relax if things get too tough.

We're all new here, but we'll be friends before long, I know it! There's a table in the dining room with paper, pens, markers, glitter, and pins so we can all make name tags and get to know each other better. We'll go from strangers to neighbors to besties before you know it!

Oh, you should probably get a feel of the manor, too. This IS your new home, after all! And what better way than...hide and seek?! Sounds fun, right? I'd tell you MY favorite spot to hide, but then that wouldn't be fair!

I don't know how long we're going to be here, so it probably wouldn't hurt to settle in. Grab a friend or two and head to the market in the Central capital to stock up on whatever food you like and stuff for your room. May as well get comfortable!

OOC NOTES

🌙 Welcome to Lunae Calamitas's first event post! Yer a wizard, whether you like it or not.
🌙 While not technically jobs, ICly working out your character's focus, incantation, and broom are all separately eligible for rewards. Good luck on your basics, little wizards! You'll need them...
🌙 Your OOC plotting post is here! Please keep all your plotting on the plotting post, since not everyone uses discord or plurk.
🌙 The South will be going on their mission next week to get this party started. Keep an eye out, Southies!

» NAVIGATION

Comments

[annihilator]

arrival

[Well. This is all very new. Better than his current situation back home, anyway, so Malice will take it without complaint, but saving the world? With magic? He's a vampire, he can't use magic. They have definitely got the wrong guy for this. They could've just grabbed Marie and she probably would've helped (while complaining the whole time)... but instead they've got him, and it seems there's no way home right now, so he might as well play along.

So, first things first! Might as well get to know everyone else here, right? After all the explanations are in order and everyone's left to sort themselves out, Malice approaches you and raises a hand in greeting. He's only got his left one right now - his right arm is missing from just above his elbow, with an odd port capping it off. It looks like something is supposed to attach to that port, but he doesn't have whatever it is right now.]

Seems like we're gonna be stuck here for awhile, huh? Name's Malice, nice to meetcha.

[He speaks with a thick Southern US accent and sounds remarkably chill with the situation despite. You know. Everything.]

magic practice

[After confirming that he is indeed a wizard, Malice is eager to actually use some magic. This isn't possible for him where he's from, so he's very eager to learn... but unfortunately, he's starting from zero and has no idea how to actually do... anything. This might be a bit easier if he were the sort to want to do research - maybe he could find some books to help or something - but instead he's the sort to learn through practice, so he's doing just that.

Malice has moved out of the courtyard proper because he is a vampire and doesn't like sunlight. Thankfully he didn't burst into flame the moment he stepped outside, but it does greatly weaken him and he sort of needs some sort of power to use magic, right? Right. So you can find him in one of the larger rooms inside, holding his hand out in front of him and focusing like this will do something...]

This sucks. I was kinda hopin' magic would be easier to learn... Should I start with the focus? Or the words...?

[He's talking to himself, but he'll turn the moment he notices your presence.]

Oh, hey. You managed anythin' yet?

activities

[Malice doesn't have much of an interest in most of the jobs, but Tatara's offered something Malice is interested in - shopping! Obviously he has no need to get any actual food, which means his money can go towards Stuff. Malice really, really likes Stuff.

So it seems like you're his unfortunate victim today, given he is now suddenly in your space, and gesturing toward the door.]

C'mon, come with me to go shoppin'! I wanna see what kinda stuff they've got; a world like this has gotta have some interestin' things for sale, don'tcha think?

[If you do not stop him, he will indeed usher you out the door and off in the direction of the capital to go shopping!!]

no nice things for malice

[If you're wandering around near the rooms late at night, you might hear some kind of commotion coming from room six on the first floor. If you approach, you'll find the door is open and Malice is struggling with... is that a metal arm with gigantic claws?? Yeah. He's got it attached to the port just above his elbow, so it's clearly supposed to function as an arm but...]

It doesn't work!? The hell, this is a brand-new soulstone! It was workin' before I showed up here!

[Indeed, the arm is just sort of limp and his attempts to move it prove fruitless. Malice groans and unhooks the arm, tossing it back on the table.]

activities;

[foresightis2020]

[ Shopping...a wonderful time for everyone involved. Jing Yuan has been just absorbing the information and gradually getting acquainted to everything. So, perhaps a bit of whirlwind surprise change in direction isn't too bad.

He will chuckle as he is just suddenly ushered off with such immediacy it's hard to give much protest. ]

Aren't you excited? Have you already imagined what might be for sale?

[annihilator]

'Course I have!

[Good thing you're just going along with it!! Off we go!]

A world like this's gotta have a lot of magical knick-knacks, right? So there's bound to be a ton of really interestin' things to pick up!

[He really likes Stuff, okay.]

Activities

[dyingtohealyou]

[Honestly he's just been bumming around harassing meeting others so you know what? Sure. This guy's a little too in his space for his liking, but that can be rectified by simply moving towards the door, maybe.]

Guess they did give us some money...

Sure, let's go.

[annihilator]

[Now that you've agreed, don't worry, Malice will allow you your space!!]

Yeah! I wonder what kinda stuff they've got for sale... A world like this's gotta have a lot of interestin' magical crap, right?

[Magic exists where he's from, sure, but vampires don't have much use for it - aside from avoiding it, but Malice is a weirdo, so whatever. Anyway, off we go! It probably won't take us too long to reach the shops.]

magic practice

[divineth]

[Having learned the basics a bit faster than others, Urianger has found himself helping some of his fellow wizards and witches get up to speed. Seems like Malice might be another potential practice partner!]

I have, yes.

[He lifts his hands and utters an incantation:]

Divinatio.

[The device strapped to his back comes to life and floats between the two men.]

Verily, I began this journey of learning with something of an advantage: prior experience with various magicks.

[annihilator]

...Whoa.

[That is in response to quite a few things here. Partially because this guy is taller than he is, and Malice is quite tall already, but it's mostly because this guy really has got it down already. Look at that, that's so cool!!]

So you're a wizard or somethin' back home? My kind can't use magic at all, so all'a this is new to me. I don't even know where to start, really.

magic practice

[discomposer]

Huh? Well, I have options for words! But I dunno which are best! Or how to do the focus thingy.

[ If he can mentally link it to music it might work out better. ]

[annihilator]

Yeah. Wish I knew what exactly we were supposed to be usin' for focusin'...

[But at least you've made some progress!]

What words are ya thinkin' of?

disarmed & deniced

[shadowkin]

[Oh, it's the inexplicably American dude who looks like he'd be the rogue in a JRPG party. And that's not just because of his missing arm or the extremely purple hair. Cid isn't that good at remembering people but it's kind of hard to forget this one!

(Actually everybody here is fairly memorable, it's kind of off-putting. He does not like this party business. But that's neither here nor there.)

It looks like purple fellow is about to get more memorable because now he has a disembodied arm flopping about. Cid pokes his head in, raises his eyebrows, and then narrows his eyes.]

Huh? How'd you get an arm so fast?

[annihilator]

[Wow, called out immediately.......]

Huh? It's mine. From back home.

[He gestures with his good arm - there's actually a second metal arm on the table there too! This one has a proper hand unlike the other one. So he technically has three arms, I guess.]

But it ain't workin', so it's totally useless here.

activities

[revengier]

[ Give him just a second to take a step back. ]

I'd hope so.

[ He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a list. ]

I wrote a few things that I thought I might need earlier, should we get the chance to go into town.

[ Unfortunately, he is Prepared. ]

[annihilator]

[Gosh, fine, if you really want your space that badly!!]

Yeah? Then this works out perfectly! C'mon, let's go!

[And as we're walking, because Malice is already leaving—]

What's on your list?

magic practice

[shortleash]

( Mika frowns as he's addressed, likewise inside given the sun very much repels him, but not exactly happy he has to actually deal with the people inside. Still, he doesn't seem prickly; just generally unhappy.

There's a pause before he answers. )

... In terms of magic? ( He assumes, since that's the topic on most people's minds. ) I've figured out a phrase. But I'm still figuring out how to call a focus.

( He glances at Malice's empty hand that is (was?) in front of him. )

I'm guessing you haven't had much luck on that front.

[annihilator]

[He rests that hand on his hip at that, expression going wry.]

Yep. I guess it could be goin' worse, since I haven't managed to blow myself up yet or anythin'. But it still ain't goin' well. Kinda difficult when you ain't supposed to be able to use magic to begin with, I guess.

Activities

[themanwhoerasedhisname]

Hm? Should you really be messing with something you bought in a world with magic?

[He says, tacitly joining to come along because yeah, when isn't Kiryu doing one silly thing or another with a random person who dragged him into their shenanigans?

In his opinion, chances are anything that truly catches Malice's attention will be more than it meets the eye. Kiryu knows zero about magic but that's just...a little logical, he's sure. For all he knows it'll mean somebody near Malice will get turned into a frog. That's how magic goes, isn't it...?]

[annihilator]

C'mon, I'm just gonna use it for decoration... Yeah, okay I'm gonna wanna get a good look at it, so that's a fair concern.

[Magical items may have some kind of backlash that could indeed turn someone into a frog, but Malice will take no responsibility for his own actions, thanks.]

But that's part of the fun, right? No risk, no reward or whatever!

[no]

Magic Practice

[chronosynthesis]

I did, yes. [Since he's been noticed, Syrlya approaches.] But I have prior experience with magic. Is this entirely new for you?

[annihilator]

[Whoa, now that is a cool-looking treeguy! Neat.]

Yep. Can't use magic at all back home, an' my kind aren't even supposed to be able to learn, so.

[Starting from zero...]

no nice things for malice... :(

[lighthaus]

[ khun is certainly a night owl, and the commotion does draw his attention given he was coming in from the outside. he stops and pops his head in before just waltzing right in with a bit of a sigh. ]

You too, huh? Anything that seems to rely on any level of tech doesn't work here.

rip in rest

[annihilator]

[Malice starts a bit, but settles easily enough when he recognizes that it's one of his fellow wizards(?).]

Wish I'd known that was gonna be a problem... Though I guess I couldn't've done anythin' 'bout it anyway.

[SIGH!!!]

So what's not workin' for you?

activities

[positivize]

Whoa!

[Kind of hard to miss Malice considering all 6 foot plus of him, but what she was not expecting was for him to get into her personal space like that. Maya reflexively steps away so there's a more reasonable distance between them, but she's not running for the hills or anything, even if she is still a little startled at the sudden approach.]

S-Sure, I guess. What sort of things are you hoping to find? Decorations for your room?

[annihilator]

[Don't worry, he'll let her have her space! Malice grins at that, nodding eagerly.]

Yeah! Haven't really had a place to be my own, y'know? So I wanna make sure it's interestin'. An' shows off my personality an' all!

[Considering he is wearing a nametag that is decorated in the edgiest aesthetic he could draw (complete with his name "MALICE" in a pool of drawn blood??) is this really a good thing...?]

magic practice

[leewards]

Hm hm hmm~

[For someone who's been interrupted while reading a book he's taken from the library, Ithaqua isn't actually bothered by said interruption. He's still as cordial as can be.]

Well, I've something already for a focus. [He's just not saying what it is though.] But an incantation? Mm, perhaps I do have it.

A broom? [That's when he shrugs.]

Magic practice

[mirristry]

[Phil has also wandered back inside to avoid the sun for a different reason-- namely, the sunburn sort. He too keeps extending a hand as though trying to cast a spell, occasionally raising his right hand up to touch his monocle lightly, and then frowning when nothing seems to happen.]

The focus, yes, but the words... I'm used to each arte having its own particular incantation. It seems as though things are different here...