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The Letters of Kayley Halloran


Mikka

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The first character I made, back when the game literally first came out (certainly before the first DLC, and quite possibly before anything but the second patch), was the lovely Kayla Shalstorm, based on a bard I once played in a D&D game. She didn't have much of a personality, being simply a vessel for exploring the game- and indeed, a fine vessel she was (back when Glory piled up, she was remarkable for her nine person clique that never broke up). Now that so much DLC and so many changes have come out, though, I wanted to try playing her again- if a bit differently. Roleplaying, this time.

 

I made two rules for myself: first, Kayla- now known as Kayley Halloran (sadly, I couldn't get a proper Storm last name, though the sea connection works)- has to correspond each week, creating the letters that I’ll be writing. Second, she gets one reload a week (they don’t carry over- if I don’t use it by the last day of the week, it’s gone). I know, I know- reloads are evil! But when it comes down to it, I don’t use any guides or mod-tools and I'm staying away from the wiki this time, so these reloads are somewhat necessary when I go ‘hm, fifty purple adventures, what skills should I raise to do them?’ or even 'Wait, I want to do my cliquemate's adventure, which of these twenty-five adventures belongs to her?'

 

This will likely be a quick thread that will fill up with posts pretty quickly, as I play quickly (heck, this could be over in three days, knowing me…). Because of that, I’m going to try and put two letters a post to cut down slightly on the amount of spam (save for this), and I also intend on hiding the very long letters behind spoiler blocks so you can find what you're looking for easier if you are reading this. Anyway, I really like comments, so feel free to respond or make little notes (and critique!- I humbly ask for it, and you don't even have to give a good comment-critique-generic good comment like they tell you to in schools: it can be all pointers, it's fine! :)).

 

As for Kayley? A Godina Student, taking the required courses of Athletics, Incantation, and Music, as well as Calligraphy, Glamour, and Rhetoric (because needing three prime abilities wasn't enough when you could need four!). She starts out with Fitness 2, Finesse 3, Charm 4, Strength 1, Intelligence 1 (…not that bright, this girl), Insight 3, and Luck 2; that’s Stress and Vitalty maximums of 4 (however, her vitality started off as 22, which... I have no idea how it happened, so I'll rest it off), Encumbrance max 2 (her Lyre already using one point), and Concealment max 6. Her only real skills of note are Incantation Spells 2, Lyre 2, Theory of Negation 2, though she has the Eyes in the Back of her Head danger-sense bonus. Her familiar is a cat named Suaird, and her background picks were pretty usual- ability boosting, bad luck and bitter rival, and then Vihuela school.

 

 

Now, the first letter.

 

 

Juvenalia Athonos 01, 1657

Dearest father,

 

I’m so, so, so overwhelmed! I’m trying to write carefully, because I know you say my handwriting is so difficult to read, but there’s so much to say and I tell have much time at all! I just got back from a walk from with Oan but then I got lost on the way back to the dorm and I really think the Godiva tower (which looks more like a fortress then a tower to me, but I guess it’s just the terminology) is the furthest away which doesn’t seem very fair and then us girls had to decide how we were going to do the room assignments because Professor Massioti thought that we should decide amongst ourselves as he was here to coach us rather then make decisions for us which I think is really cool because he thinks we’re really mature, which we are, but it took us a while and then there was the whole jumping contest and the long letter and-

 

Well, maybe I should start from the beginning! As I forgot to tell you about this huge jerk I met. He’s from Morvidus, which I’m pretty sure is the collage of jerks who get the campus right next to the Great Gate. He kept looking at Suaird like there was something wrong, but when I asked him what he thought he was doing, he told me I shouldn’t have Suaird around, so I told him how Suarid got his name protecting me, and he just got more and more angry and weirder. Also, he ate my lunch, then had the nerve to throw it up and talk about how awful it was and how he was so traumatized and it was so weird. I'm the better person, though. I've already forgotten his name; I'm sure it was dumb. I hope I never see him again.

 

(I only underlined 'weird' once, so see, I’m getting better! And I haven’t even had my first Calligraphy class yet!)

 

I chose Godiva as my collage, as I thought I would. The robes are light green, with a bit of blue and yellow, but as long as I keep my hair up, I don’t think it looks too badh. Silke- she’s one of my roommates, she’s really mature and pretty- says the robes bring out my eyes. She has the neatest jewelry, and her dad lets her wear dangly earrings rather then just studs. She said she’d let me borrow them sometime. Of course, I would never do it without permission, but you know, I’m a real wizard now. I even know a spell! I… can’t cast it yet, but it’s really great, don’t you think? Really great wizards should look really elegant, I think.

 

Oh, my other roommate is really cool, too! Her name is Katja, and she plays the violin- tucks it under her chin, bows and knows. I wonder if the lyre and violin would sound nice together? We’re supposed to have four to a room, but because there’s only six of us in the first year at Godivia, we decided to do three to a room each. The rooms are right next to each other, so we can hang out whenever we want- er, except when we’re supposed to be asleep and stuff. The first year boys are down a few floors, I think- I don’t really remember. I just know it’s a long walk from the Grand Gate to the Campus Godivia, and then a long walk through the campus to my room. Which is actually pretty boring, roommates aside, though I did get the bed right next to the window.

 

I guess the long walk is for Athletics practice. That’s what Professor Massioti teaches. He’s the collage head, too! And these letters are sort of like Calligraphy practice… my hand is cramping up. I hope they teach us a spell to write letters magicly. That’s the second spell I want to learn!

 

Did I tell you that I know how to cast a spell? It’s hard to read what I wrote earlier... I hope you can read this! I don’t want to have to write it again. I mean, I can’t cast it, but I know how to cast it. Spells are two parts, you know. The spell, and the phemes. You need the phemes to cast a spell! I already knew that, but the letter from Gera mentioned it a bit, too. Gera left a long letter: apparently, she had this room last year. It was really helpful but really long. Sort of like this one…

 

…at least, I think Gera is a she. They wouldn’t put girls in a room that guys once stayed in, right? That would be so, so, so icky!

 

After that, I met Oan. She’s a third year, but she's still going to be my mentor for this year. She’s from Sae'on, can you believe it? Can you tell everyone back home that I actually met someone from Sae'on? She doesn’t seem, well, you know- but it’s still, well. Wow. I’m still sort of shocked. She says I can talk to her whenever and she’ll teach me all sorts of stuff, which is pretty cool. After that, we had a jumping contest. We being the students, not Oan (though she's a student too, of course). You see, when we compete with other students from other collages, the Professor’s get impressed, and then they give us stuff. I think that's how it works. Oan said she’d tell me more about that later. It was a bit confusing, but you know how I am, I like contests. I met someone from another collage, too. His name is Tabin, and he wears blue robes which means he’s from, um Dur Avi Ar Hedi?, that one collage that isn't Godina or jerk-Morvidus. I don’t think jumping around was really his thing. though. He mostly just watched.

 

Now… now I think I’m going to figure out how to send a letter here. Who do I give it to, I wonder? And then take a nap! It’s been a super long day. And I still don’t know where the kitchens are…

 

Give my love to mam! I’ll write my next letter to her, but you can read it, too. Oh, and you can show her this one.

 

The future best wizard in the world,

Kayley

 

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Thank you, Legate and Schwarzbart! I too hope that more people do RPGs: they're a lot of fun to read. I plan to go reading everyone else's once I'm done with this playthrough... and to finish my two adventures. Then I'll probably go and start another playthrough and RPG thread. This can get sort of addicting!

 

 

Anyway, the letters are sent on the first day of the week, which means they mostly describe the week that came before. Because of that, this second letter is actually the letter for...

 

Week One

Progress:

Random Event Patrol 02 triggers, miserable failure (pure luck)

Random Event Shop 11 triggers, miserable failure (brute strength)

Random Event Prank 9 triggers, miserable failure (flattery/lie)

Random Event Student – Noemia triggers, actually succeeds (…storytelling is increased… don’t remember what skill was used)

Merit Prize I on the 4th

Reload used for a second chance on a Befriending roll

Prudence apparently did something nice for Kay that didn't trigger a notification, as she went from -1 to 2 relationship level

A boost in Conversation won an extra point with Girars (moving him to -4), but if he thinks that gets him forgiveness, he's a very silly boy

Two new Cliques - Bessa Mob (Ana and Avgust) and the Duelist Corps (Vincent and Gramine)

 

 

8 Athonos 1657

 

Mam! Mam! Mam!

 

I wish I could talk to you face to face, as this is so exciting! I am the proud creator of the Fortuitous Fellowship! I came up with the name and everything. It's what me and my friends calls ourselves. Just like at home, friends gather in groups, but now we have official names for it: the teachers call them Cliques. We choose a name for ourselves, and a place where we hang out (that's our room, right now). Then we patrol it to make sure no one tries to play any pranks or take it from us (not that anyone could take our room, that would be really weird). We look out for each other, too! If something's really difficult, a friend can do it for me. And, like, if someone picks on Katja, I tell them to stop. And if they don't stop, I can duel them. Don't worry, though! I won't duel unless someone's really mean. I’d rather play them at Rimbal, anyway.

 

Katja and I formed the Fortuitous Fellowship, but we quickly invited Silke, too, as it would be no fair to leave her out and she's great. I feel like I know them a lot better now. Like, Katja really likes the outdoors, and takes Botony and Zoology, and Silke's really good at sewing, and is in all my classes but Calligraphy. They're both really neat! I think I can handle more scary and annoying things, now. It's funny- Katja makes me feel calm, and Silke makes me feel encouraged. So even when scary stuff happens, it's not a trouble.

 

Even when we're afraid that we managed to loose Katja's familar! He was just scared and hiding. He's really shy so he often hides, but I think Suaird and Prettyboy pick on him a bit, too, although Suaird just put his butt in my face when I asked him. I don't think cats eat toads, but I don't think the toad believes that. Oh, Prettyboy is Silke's ferret. He can do Glamours! Sort of. I didn't know that animals could do Glamours, but Katja says lots of animals can do magic in a way. I wonder if cats can?

 

We talked about letting others in to the clique, but there’s no one all three of us are friends with at the moment. Fellowships are supposed to be five, but who the other two will be we're deliberating over. Maybe Nomeia, who’s in the room next door- I told her that story about the ghost and the bed-wetting to cheer her up, and she was really sweet, but she can be really annoying sometimes, too. I thought about watcher-boy Tabin, and there’s these two guys in Godiva who really like Rimbal, but I don’t know about inviting guys.

 

(Tell Dad he can’t read this anymore!)

 

Neither of them are really cute, either. Actually, none of the guys in Godiva are cute! Well, there's one third year, but the third year's are always mean to first years, save for Oan. But the guy's in this year are all sort of funny looking... Zorzi's sort of sqooshy and he's shorter then me, Neso has this wide-eyed thing and he's just weird, Luti's hair is always messy and he looks dumb, Cirillo walks too loudly and his hair is dumb, too, and Alan's just sort of- well, okay, I guess he's just plain, not funny looking. Though at least none of them are ugly as Giars de Jerkface.

 

I ran in to him again (almost literally), the very day I sent that letter to dad- so unfair. I was very civil, though! You’d be really proud. Apparently, he’s a vegetarian, so that’s why he had such a bad reaction to my food. Though considering he STOLE my lunch and ate it on his own, I’m not too sympathetic. So, from now on, I'm going to eat a lot of meat at every meal. Food and me aren't getting along, though. I ate a piece of candy that made me really sick. It was just sitting about, so I thought it might be sort of a gift to be shared- but I learned my lesson. No taking candy from strangers, and no eating candy sitting out in the open, either! I promise!

 

I also saw a shoplifter! I tried to stop him, but he just ran me down, and then the shopkeeper did it too. I guess I need to become stronger before I can do something like that sucessfully. Don’t worry: I got a few scrapes on my knees and palms, but I cleaned them and then rested for a bit so they're all scabbed or healed.

 

I guess I should write about my classes… they’re harsh! Oh, dad can read this again now. I have Calligraphy, Glamour, and Incantation, then lunch, then right after lunch Athletics, Rhetoric, and Music. I wish I could switch the order. Calligraphy right after I wake up and Athletics right after I eat is way too much! It should be illegal! Glamour and Incantation back-to-back isn’t fun, either. Athletics first thing in the morning to help wake me up would be better… a good order would be Athletics, Incantation, Calligraphy, lunch, Rhetoric, Glamour, then Music. I asked around a bit, but no one ever heard of anyone successfully getting their schedule changed in their first year. Maybe if I sucked up befriended sucked up to the Legate, he'd let me change.

 

When I’m not in classes, I spend a lot of time competing. It’s not just sports stuff; it can be studying, or eating, or telling jokes, or, actually, really anything that's permitted. You just put a lot of extra effort and make sure the Professor’s see you, and you get merits! I understand it better now, because we won! Our collage has the most dedication and spirit, so the Legate gave everyone in house Godiva twenty pims. Which is nice, as money is something I don’t have. When do I get my allowance again? It would be nice to be able to buy a new wand, or some jewelry.

 

Can you tell dad that you think I’m old enough to wear dangly earrings? I promise I’ll buy my own rather then use Silke’s so I don’t lose one and make her sad and have to pay her back. And I’ll clean my ears four times a day just like Suaird does, so pleaseeeee?

 

Oh, and I’ve been keeping up with the lyre. I promise! There's just so much happening that I don't have too much time, but I practiced twice this week.

 

Anyway, it’s almost bed time. I’ll write again soon!

 

Love love love,

Kayley

 

 

 

Week Two

Progress:

Random Event Docks 4 triggers, failure but not miserable (persuasion)

Random Event Town Shop 3 triggers, miserable failure (Perception/Animal Husbandry)

Random Event Research 3 triggers, miserable failure (Dedication)

Random Event Godina Common Room 2, miserable failure (Courage) (three vit hit, owch!)

Random Event Research 10, success (Observation fail/Beguile suc)

Merit Prize II on the 14th

Reload used on a failure in the public practice room

Zorzi must know how often Kay talks about Rimbal, as he also moved to +3 with no notification

Rikildis decreases Kay’s relationship with Luti (-1), boo on her- another to the list of jerks!

Three new Cliques- the Farstriders (Ausdauer and Beatrix), the Mockery Commune (Jere and Vettor) and the Glorious Hedgebird Society (Carmine and Isabeau)

Gained Long Strides (+1 Running)

 

 

15 Athonos 1657

Dear Dad and Mam,

 

I have a job! Well, sort of. Professor von Ruppercht is the calligraphy instructor and the leader of the blue robes like Tabin… that’s collage Aranaz, the one’s with the creepy motto about how you should be rude because etiquette is bad. He offered the whole class, actually, but it was still great! In the Academagia main building is the Illumination Cubical, where they make papers to send to graduates for donations so we can fight pirates better. If I want to, I can go there after classes and draw out some papers which gets me 20 pims and will help me get better at art. We’re allowed to go there too and just draw too if we want, but I think the job sounds like a nice deal; it would even be fun. The only problem is that… I’m not good enough to do it yet. At ALL. I need to practice sketching more. Thankfully, I have a lot of textbooks with open margins!

 

I’m kidding! Mostly!

 

While I was practicing on my lyre, I heard rumors about Esteban Contu’s School of Incantation. Okay, I know you’re making faces at this letter, but it’s not what you’re thinking! Academagia is awesome and wasn't a waste at ALL! Esteban Contu's School isn't a full-time school, like Academagia: it’s somewhere you can study at on the side. Like, on Saturday afternoon, I could go down there to learn even more about Incantation and supplement the studies I get here! It’s great, and it’s really respectable! The only problem is that it costs, um, a bit of money to get in. The tuition fee. Once you paid it, you’re in, though!

 

So could I maybe have a bit of advance on my allowance? Please? I only need 900 pims! I have twenty so far!

 

I got five pim helping the weighmaster at the docks! There were smugglers, but we didn’t catch them. First shoplifters, now smugglers… but don’t worry! The Academagia is perfectly safe! Except for when a vial of potions blew up in my face and the nurses had to tell me I'd live and I totally didn't believe them and I'm not sure if I do now. And then there was that time with the rampaging horses, but more important then the horses, I tried to help and then a shopowner charged me five pims for asparagus that was going to be crushed anyway! (It's kinda a long story.) I think my bad luck followed me here to Academagia… I hoped I could leave it at home.

 

On the bright side, I found a kitchen! But the cookies there were really, really gross. So the food bad luck is still there, too.

 

I spent most of the week practicing music and studying it. There’s a nice cubicle off the main library that’s good for studying, but I start to feel cooped up if I stay in there too long. So I headed out to see the botany fields. I think I learned a bit about flowers and stuff. I’m don’t think that stuff is really useful, but it’s probably better to learn about it then not. I guess I can talk with Katja about them, though when we talk it's almost always about music.

 

Also, Godina won the second merit prize, too! The Legate says it makes it easier to make friends, but I would rather more pims, personally.

 

Only 880 to go, although I get my allowance this week, right? So… 874? Please send me an advance!

 

Love,

Kayley

 

PS: Notice I didn't mention anything about it this letter? I think that's really mature and great of me, and really shows that I'm really really mature and great so can I wear dangly earrings pleaseeee!!!!

 

 

 

(Actually, she got her allowance before the letter sent, but, uh, maybe the staff was holding it for her. I got nothin. It sounded cuter this way. Also, writing 'me and my friends' made me cringe so much. Get ye to Grammar, Kayley!)

 

 

(Also, 100 posts! Huzzah!)

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Thanks, Adrian! I really appreciate it! Sadly, these two letters take a (more than) slight turn from the sweet, but she'll bounce back by the next week. I certainly hope so, anyway... this much melodrama is a bit too much for me!

 

Week Three

Progress:

Random Event Student – Zoe triggers, success (Befriend)

Random Event Physical Activity 9 triggers, miserable failure (Character Study/Leadership)

Random Event Awesome Community 27 triggers, miserable failure (Character)

Random Event 3 triggers, miserable failure (Voice)

Random Event Potions 11, miserable failure (Concentration)

Reload not used this week!

Phillipe and Professor Alazzo both down to -2, the first likely to be a lot of trouble

Zoe, on the other hand, at +3

Four new Cliques- the Academagia Guides (Eduard, Herbert), the Amateur Botanical Society (Eliana and Uliva), the Hunting Party (Alan and Gwendy), the Professionals (Cinzia and Cosetta)

 

 

 

22 Athonos 1657

To my lovely, wonderful, precious family,

 

I miss you so much! I hate it here. This place is stupid and everything is in my way and I can’t stand it and this is the worst week of my life and I never ever want to come back here and I swear I want to come home, please let me come home. Everything here is horrible. They don't even teach me anything; I can only cast two spells, and one just lets you cheat at music which is an awful thing to do and the other makes me better at putting on makeup which I'm not allowed to wear save for lip stuff anyway, so it's pointless, too, and I just don't want to be here anymore!

 

This was the worst week of my life. I hate it!

 

There’s this stupid- you know all the words I’m not supposed to say? I know you don’t like when I use them, so I won’t, because I love you so much and would do everything for you, but this guy is all of them. He’s a member of jerk-collage, and I bet he’s a friend of that jerk Giars. They'd deserve each other!

 

So there was the holiday last week, right? And I’m at the festival and I see Zorzi- I mentioned him, right? He really likes Rimball. Anyway, there were these silly stage magicians hanging around saying horrible things about wizards and being mean to Zorzi. This horrible person- Fillip Merchant- was there, too, and I thought he must be a nice guy, helping Zorzi, but I know now he probably set the stupid situation up by starting the fight. We tried to show them a few spells, you know, so they would stop being so mean, but they started attacking us and throwing sharp things and it was pretty scary, actually. It totally ruined the festival, and the Professor's yelled at all three of us.

 

Then I was hanging around on the grounds, and Fillip and some other kid from jerk-collage suddenly started fighting, real fighting, almost right on top of me! It was as if I wasn't even there! I told them to stop, and Fillip just turned and punched me in the face! And he didn’t even lose any merits for it! He and his jerk-fist-fighting-jerk-buddy both hit me more then they hit each other and I got bruises all over my chest and back and arms and even my neck. Not to mention this huge one on my face...

 

As if he hadn't ruined things enough yet, then, there was this nice girl walking around with some stuff she baked and Fillip stuck out his leg to trip her. I warned her, so seeing that he didn't get his way, he turned and shoved her on to me! That hurt enough, then all the yummy stuff fell on us- a muffin even hit me right in the head. Where the bruise from his punching me was.

 

Also, I screwed up a potion I was making so badly that nothing could come of it, someone blew a hole in the wall and then left me to take the blame and the Professor got really angry at me even though I had nothing to do with it (yet Fillip punching me gets no merits removed!), and I saw two girls cheating and I couldn’t even work up the nerve to tell them it was wrong or go to a professor, instead I just told the one that it was okay and I would co ver for her. I bet you’re really disappointed. I am too. It was wrong.

 

I thought I would talk to Oan to try and cheer up, and she was really nice. She wanted to teach me about Cliques, and was really impressed that I had already formed one- she said it was really bold and neat!- so I felt better, and then I helped a classmate. But then I realized I only was able to help them because Oan told me exactly how, and everyone has a clique these days. It’s not anything special. Even if we were first and the only three-person clique, it doesn't seem to mean much.

 

The week started off real well, too. I worked for the nurses by helping with potions because after the face explosion my earlier experiences I was trying to learn how to deal with them better- and I made 10 pims! It was stressful work, though, so I went and helped out on the fields, which was actually really relaxing, and I earned 20 pims. I thought it was funny, to earn more money doing calming stuff then the stressful detail-oriented stuff, but it does give me an idea.

 

If you don’t let me come home, I’m going to quit being a mage and become a farmer! They say plants grow better with music, and I’m good at that. And apparently the money is good. I get 10 pims a week from you guys, but 20 pims for five hours of work. That isn’t bad.

 

Silke kept trying to cheer me up, but it won’t work. Everything is ruined. Katja thinks maybe I should go to a temple, but I don’t know of one, and the stupid Professor’s haven’t told me one, so that’s not possible, either.

 

Please just let me come home. This place is wretched!

 

Oh, and stupid Suaird won’t let me pet him, even though I’m upset and crying. What use is a stupid familiar if it’s just as temperamental as a real cat? Why won't anything work out how I want it to? It's just not fair!

 

Please please please,

Kaylee

 

 

 

Week Four

Progress:

Random Event Theatre 1 triggers, miserable failure (Running)

Random Event Disguise/Infiltration 3, default/‘success’ (Why Bother?- Study Habits)

Random Event Botany 8, default/'success' (Insects fail/Are you kidding? Run!- no idea if a skill increased)

Merit Prize III won on 23rd

Godiva deframed by Aveline, darn it!

No Reload once again!

Two New Cliques- The Night Fliers (Giars (grr!) and Hector) and the Gentle League (Els and Sima). Also, Irene has been added to the Bessa Mob.

Gained Botanical Orientation (Navigation and Explore +1)

Gained Study Mastery: Music (+1 Intelligence and +1 bonus to Music Skill rolls)

 

 

 

2 Pramidi 1657

Father,

 

I’m really, really, really angry with you! I'm most certainly not being over-dramatic and childish! I'm being really, really, really mature, in fact! So I did take a break from classes for two days to just play in my room and rest off my many bruises, but once I realized that no one was going to let me come home, I went right back to work. I attended all my classes on Thursday, Friday and then Monday and Tuesday, and I even studied on Saturday!

 

In fact, I've done a hugggggeee amount of studying! I’ve become a master at knowing music... or maybe just a master at taking tests about music. I think that’s pretty impressive for my second month at the school. I even left a party we were having in the Main Hall for someone's birthday just so I could do homework even though I actually wanted to play and relax.

 

I didn't whine at all in my last letter, and it's really mean to say I was! It's also mean to say I was tormenting Suaird by trying to get him to comfort me when I’m sad! Everyone wants to have their pet comfort them when they’re sad, and as Suaird understands me, it’s not a big deal. How did you know he scratched me when I tried to cuddle him, anyway? He didn't mean it, he was just being himself. You just don't get how familar bonds work, as you're not a mage. I'm not being mean: it's true!

 

I totally don't see how my last letter proves I'm not ready to wear nice jewelry and put on cosmetics and date a boy and have money to go to the Incantation school and have a pet horse and fight pirates, anyway. That was a complete- I don't remember what they call it. But when you turn your argument in to something completely different that has no connection to anything, it's bad, and that's what you did! I learned it in Rhetoric! Also, Silke's parents let her wear nice jewelry and put on cosmetics, so there!

 

Everything's been FINE, anyway. I ran in to giant beetles who wanted to eat me and had a perfume bottle thrown at my head, but I wouldn't want to whine about it. I also learned a lot about flowers which means I'm better at finding my way around, but I bet you'll just say I'm whining about that, too. Or how about when this stupid Aranaz girl said our collage were the ones who left some pens at the Bestiary unlocked, and all the Professor’s believed her and everyone in Godina (even the fifth years!) got in huge trouble. We lost a lot of merit, not that I'm WHINING about it.

 

It was really stupid of her, too. It's not like her collage is anywhere close to catching up to us with Merit points. Vernin (the turquoise robes) is the one to worry about, but I helped by competing a lot- everyone did. Villaume especially: she’s one of the other girls in my year. I don’t like her because her potion blew up in my face and started everything going bad.

 

I don’t know her that well. I guess she seems nice.

 

Nothing else happened this week, and I'm still really, really angry! I’m sorry the letter is a day late, though. Silke thought it might be good if I took a break before writing it. And Katja did help me find a temple! It was relaxing but… I had to donate 10 pims just to get in. I make 10 pims brewing potions for five hours and then spend them for thirty minutes (or less) or prayer? It seems a bit shifty to me, but they used to ask for blood sacrifices instead! Scary!

 

I guess I could say I’d sacrifice Fillip, but you’d get angry even though it’s a joke. I don’t want any real harm to come to him, anyway. I promise. See, I AM mature.

 

But if Giars stole all his food leaving him only with sickening candy that he had to eat while he was being chased by giant beetles and rampaging horses while people dropped potion and perfume bottles on him and threw muffins and playing cards at him while a bunch of smugglers and shoplifters got in a brawl right on top of him and all the Professor’s- every single one!- yelled at him and took away all of stupid jerk-collage's merit points, I think it would be really funny.

 

Give Mam my love and tell her I’m sorry for worrying her so much. I'm sorry for worrying you, too. But I'll be okay.

 

- Kayley

 

 

 

(As a dumb little story on melodrama, when I was in my preteens, I attended girlscout camp. After a bad day (including the friend I had went with completely ignoring me and choosing another girl she had met for her partner in everything) I remember writing a dramatic letter that would put Kayley's to shame back home, complete with charming phrases as 'If you really loved me, you'd pick me up right now!'. Despite being fairly bright, the fact that they didn't suddenly do that the immediate next day was of huge disappointment to me. Amusingly, things calmed down and by the time I talked to them on the phone, I was bright and cheery and had totally forgotten about the horribleness and was enjoying camp. It was only after that phone call that they received the letter... and were totally confused. Good thing even back then I always dated my letters. :))

 

(Why is Phillipe Fillip? I... really don't know.)

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I'm incredibly unhappy with the second letter. It's a bit of a cop-out: a way to get the character back on track after the explosion of Week Three, as I miss her random strikeouts and good cheer. Still, it's an awkward transition. However, I want to keep playing, not prodding the letter repeatedly, so it goes as it is.

 

 

Week Five

Random Event Theatre 9 triggers, miserable failure (Patience/History)

Reload used on the Public Practice Room, but failed it again on reload anyway- bah!

...seriously, nothing happened, couldn't some cliques have formed this week rather then next?

 

 

8 Pramidi 1657

Dear Mam,

 

I’m really sorry for worrying you so much. And for upsetting you and making you sad and confusing you and making you fight with dad and everything that’s happened.

 

Not much has happened this week, which is actually really, really great. I met up with Oan again and she talked about familiars, and how every mage gets one and how as we grow in power we gain more then one familar. I hope my next is a Horse Familiar. Dad would have to let me keep it then.

 

I promise I’ll send a letter to him next week. And you can show him this one. It’s… complicated, Mam. Things are sort of overwhelming here. I mentioned that in my first letter, right? It’s really overwhelming! Even with nothing happening.

 

Oh, and Oan taught Suariad about competition. It didn’t take him long to grasp it: I guess that’s a cat for you. I wonder if he’ll now help me when I compete for merits… that would be helpful!

 

I explored the Calomantia Gym a bit more. They have wrestling contests there, although I’m not good enough to even try yet. There’s also an area where you can just train, as well as a boxing ring- that could be fun, I’ve never boxed before! There’s also a fencing room, but they don’t allow the first year’s to fence. Or so I’ve heard, anyway. I don’t really see why not- we’re allowed to carry swords, and I know people use them in duels sometimes, so why not teach us how to use them safely? They don’t teach first-years any sort of contact-combat skills besides wrestling, actually, and they’re sort of stingy on teaching Archery, too. Maybe I’ll write a letter to the Legate about that. Or whoever instructs older students in Fencing and other such things … I don’t think it’s Professor Massioti, but I guess I could ask him. He’s actually pretty cool. My favorite teacher is Professor Chastellain, though… if dad thinks I’m being dramatic, he should meet Professor Chastellian!

 

As for drama, I tried to help a classmate come up with an idea for a play, but he declared me a fountain of anti-inspiration. He was teasing, though, so I’m not too mad. (Besides, he’s really cute! He has this flowy blond hair) It’s funny how ideas for songs come so easily but ideas for everything else are so hard!

 

As for the Fortuitous Fellowship… we talked about it and decided we could add boys, but they’d have to be from Godina. As long as we’re using our room as our headquarters, we need someone who can get there easy. It’s already going to be a bit difficult to get a boy on the floor: to get one from outside the collage that far in the dorms would be even harder! Um, don’t worry Mum- we’ll be really careful and everything. I don’t think Zorzi really knows there’s much of a difference between girls and boys, anyway: it’s just those who play Rimbal and those who don’t. The Professors are more concerned about the no mingling in privacy rules for the upperclassmen, not the first years.

 

Oh gosh, dad’s not still reading this, right? Please tell me you didn’t let him read this part! That would be so, so embarrassing.

 

We haven’t figured out how to approach Zorzi yet, though. I’m the closest to him, so Katja and Silke say I should do it, but gathering in a Clique with your two roommates and best friends is way different then approaching someone alone and asking them to join in. Maybe I should tell him it’s in preparation for Godiva’s future Rimbal team, but then we’d have to bring in Luti, too. I know Katja and Silke and Zorzi are all friends with him, but there’s this weird thing between us. Way back in the first two weeks, we really seemed like we would be good friends, but now he glares at me a lot. He’s really tall and big, too. I’m not intimidated at all, of course! Just… he doesn’t seem right.

 

And I tried your advice. I volunteered! At the Beggar’s Corner, there’s a food line- no questions asked, everyone gets fed, but it’s well supervised. Academagia even helps with it, as do the Temples. So it’s not dangerous at all. I’m learning about how to find good food, too. Well, they call it ‘Greengrocery’, but it seems to me the skill of being able to find good apples versus rotten apples. That’s what I’ve used it for so far, anyway…

 

Now I’m hungry! I think I’ll see if I can find my way to the kitchens again, and hope I don’t get attacked along the way.

 

Still going to be the best wizard-farmer EVER,

Kayley

 

 

Week Six

Random Event Forest 13 triggers, success (Botany fail/Persuasion suc)

Random Event Awesome Community 13 triggers, miserable failure (Clockwork)

Random Event Professor Chastellain 1, success (Glamour Spells)

Random Event Awesome Community 15 triggers, failure? (Incantation Spells)

Random Event Rampart Creature 4, awesome success on a red! (Glamour Methods)

Merit Prize IV earned on 13th

Reload on the practice room, with a success this time

Four new Cliques - Hennings Heroes (Kurt and Tulia), the Beautiful People (Marigrete and Olivia), the Challengers (Sheary and Vincent), and last but certainly not least, the Good Graces (Emilia and Philippe... yes, seriously, and no, I don't want to know).

 

 

 

15 Pramadi 1657

Hello, Dad!

 

I cast my first spell this week! It was a funny little luck ‘charm’. I thought my favorite vegetarian might appreciate it.

 

I heard they told you I was doing well in Rhetoric, so you increased my allowance! Thank you! I now have 86 pims!

 

I found a plant in the forest. I got a friend to help me uproot it. It has ‘fortitude increasing properties’, so it’s magical! The problem is it’s too big for me to carry around without getting in to trouble, so I keep it in my room for now. I hope Prettyboy doesn’t eat it.

 

Professor Chastellain was charming a snake with a flute. It was really pretty to hear and cool to watch, but I distracted him- I thought quick and distracted the snake, though, and he said ‘Capital job with that Glamour!’ He was really impressed, so I’m proud. It’s kinda strange that then, five days later, I came across a huge lizard about to attack a dog, and distracted them both with a glamour spell. The Zoology professor- I don’t know him well, so I don’t remember his name- said that was impressive and I was a huge help!

 

On the downside, I went to an inn for MILK (they don’t serve students alcoholic beverages usually) and got beaten up by some strange… I don’t even know. ‘People’. They wanted me to make a clockwork orange- isn’t that weird? I sort of feel like I shamed our reputation when I couldn’t do it. Your humble daughter is apparently incapable of fiddling with little pieces. If only they had asked for something I could make on the forge…

 

Then I was in a different inn (though they called it a ‘café’), and a woman came in screaming and throwing things. I knocked her out with a quick spell- no damage- but I got yelled at and kicked out. Apparently, that was normal and appropriate. The innkeeper complained about wizards who are just like children, but I think wives who scream and throw things are just like children, too.

 

I don’t think I’ll go to inns anymore.

 

I sort of acquired a book! And I mean sort of. I really don’t know how I acquired it! I was studying filing, and then there was a book- not a library book, though. It doesn’t belong to the school. It’s mine, and I know that, but I’m not sure why. Apparently, it’s a rare. Reading it is supposed to make you a faster runner (it's not magic- it just gives you tips, I think), but I’m already pretty fast. I’m thinking about selling it- and maybe the plant, as I can’t really do anything with it and it’s a Ferret risk. Both are neat, but I bet if I sold them, I could make enough pims to pay the tuition to the Incantation school. You already said what you feel about that, but I think it would be worth it.

 

I guess we should talk about that, though I don’t know what to say. That’s why I haven’t really been saying much in this letter! I’m sorry for saying all those mean things, though. I was really upset. Um, but I know that’s no excuse! When I was helping out at the foodline, there were a lot of volunteers and supervisors from the temples, and they would talk about how we’re always responsible for the choices and decisions we make, and they can’t be excused or waved away. So- I won’t do that anymore.

 

I think I’m more mature then you think I am, but I won’t argue about it anymore. I’ll just prove it! And I’ll hold my head high, just like you always taught me. And if Fillip or the rest of his jerk-collage comes back again, I’ll take your advice and punch him right in the face! Just not in front of the Professors.

 

I love you!

- Kayley

 

PS: My collage won another Merit prize. It’ll supposedly make us better at 'social skills'. I really think I preferred the pims!

 

 

(How many times I have typed Godiva rather then Godina: probably somewhere around twenty.)

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Wow, you are writing really fast and your letter is full of goodness!

Keep it up!

 

(You probably typed Godiva because you want chocolate, right?)

 

(Wait, Emilia and Philippe? Uh...maybe Emilia tried to stop a punch by spraying a whole serving of her gift into Philippe's face.)

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Thanks, CremePudding! That means a ton, as you've done a lot of great writing here. :) (And I could definitely use some chocolate.)

 

As for Em and Phillipe, I assume her crazy charm is the culprit, but I have to wonder what they talk about. And what Phillipe thinks about being one of the 'Good Graces'. There almost has to be a story there. Maybe she gives him 'perfumes' for pranks and helps talk to teachers when he gets in trouble, and in return he bully's people to get her incredients and make sure no one bullies her but him? It just seems like the oddest combination: the school's charming butterfly and the school's cruelest bully. Or maybe they're in loooooooooove.

 

(Poor Emilia is so, so doomed, then, by the strong hand of Joana.)

 

 

Week Seven

Random Event Daytime Hallway 1 Triggers, miserable failure (Observation/Acrobatics)

Random Event Physical Activity 12 triggers, success (athletics)

Random Event Theft 2 triggers, success (Voice)

Random Event Locked Door 2 triggers, success (Library Knowledge suc/Confidnece suc)

Random Event Theatre 4 triggers, miserable failure (Diplomacy fail/History fail)

Random Event – Laundry triggers, default ‘success’ (Do it the old fashioned way!- Dedication)

Merit Prize V on 21st, in which three students decided to compete on the same day I did it three times, heh

Reload used on Befriend, which failed again, but after three days it worked (making Z the highest relationship by far)

Reitz is at 4 relationship, though Kayley’s never spoken to him

 

 

22 Pramidi 1657

 

Dear Mam and Dad,

 

I invited Z in to the Fellowship! He says I need to call him Z, now- we all do. It’s his cool name, like how all Rimbal players have cool names. Silke’s is good enough to keep, but Katja and I were trying to figure out what ours would be. She said I could riff off my last name for ‘Hollar’, and Z says I could just use Kay or Key, but all those seem uninspired. Katja is even harder, though. Her last name is Quinnecht. She could just be K or KQ, but she doesn’t want to copy Z. I don’t think she’s really in to it, though. She doesn’t play Rimbal- neither does Silke, actually, but I think both will give it a try. You don’t get to be in Godina without liking competition… or getting good at faking it, I guess.

 

Oh, Z told me something- he can help me whenever I need to cast a spell that includes the Air Pheme. The Air Pheme increases my dexterity, so it’s useful for almost everything. Of course, it would be most useful at home when I’m helping at the forge, I think. Could Z maybe visit during the school break? I think you guys would really like him, and he thought it would be fun, too! He’s really helpful and he’s even better then me at sports. He’s really cool.

 

He has a cute owl familiar. Suarid wants to ‘play’ with him, but I really don’t think that’s a good idea. Silke says Nonelli makes Prettyboy nervous, and poor Ignaz is still shy around the ferret, not to mention my cat, so the owl’s pretty bad… but that’s Ignaz for you. Still, they’re familiars, so they’re stronger then their instincts.

 

Right? Well. Maybe I should spend more time with Suarid...

 

It’s been a really good week, actually, even beyond getting another really close friend!

 

One night, you see, I couldn’t sleep… all I could hear was banging and clanging. And it was really late. I wasn’t afraid, though. Me and Suarid crept downstairs and what did I see? Three students from the collage of jerks, trying to steal all the great stuff we have in our common room! So I screamed “THIEF” really loud, and even though the jerks ran at me- probably to punch me until I couldn’t scream anymore or try and eat my poor cat or something horrible- I kept yelling and everyone appeared! Even the professor’s and the fifth-years! And no one was mad at me- they said it was great, and they’re glad that we caught the thieves! Take that, jerks! I hope they get detention for life!

 

Then I challenged a rock and won, and found fifteen pims. I tripped over a rock and told it I was sick of rocks getting in my way, so it lead me to fifteen pims. I made a line in the sand and made my stand, and got fifteen pims for my effort. I decided not to let rocks get me down and leaped to a reward of fifteen pims. Something kind of silly happened, but it was neat, and I found fifteen pims!

 

Then I found a magic door that wanted to ask me a riddle, but I knew the answer before it gave the question due to all the studying I’ve been doing. Have I said I’ve been studying a lot? I think I spend every day in the library, ugh! Ah, but the door opened and I got a necklace: it’s said that the fang on it comes straight from the mouth of the famous Grit, and by wearing it I’ll gain Grit’s luck. It’s… not really elegant, not like the pretty pendants and pearls Silke wears, but it’s sort of fierce.

 

Oh, and that girl who threw some perfume at me a few weeks ago? She got a cold and can’t perform lead in some little play the theater kids are putting on. I’m pretty sure there’s a emotion for how I feel about that in another language, but I can’t even stumble through much Empire Elumian, so I can’t quite remember what it is. I guess it’s sad for the other actors, though…

 

I guess the only really bad thing is that I fell down the stairs early in the week. Only a few bumps and bruises, though, and no one was watching!

 

Oh, and I had to do the wash. But I know Mam does it all the time, so I just remembered that and kept to it! …That sounds a bit corny, huh. Okay, I’ll be honest: it was a ton of work. Can I just send clothes back home, have you wash it, and then send it back? Or would it cost too much money? Maybe if I learn more about transporting from the fields… what if I sent other students laundry, too, and we charged them? Mam gets half and I get half! Or… okay, she can have three-quarters, but my laundry is free!

 

I think it’s a good idea!

 

Venin Collage overcame our lead in the Merit points, but with some hard work, we quickly retook it. Everyone’s proud. I didn’t hear what the official reward for it is, but as they’ve been really, really lame, that’s probably for the best. Now, this will sound really corny, but it feels like it’s more about us working together then the rewards that aren’t pims (or candy!). We’ve all been talking about how awesome we did, and we’re all talking together more, too.

 

I usually just hang out with Katja, Silke, Z, and others from out of the collage, but I’m getting to know Noemia and Llarina a bit better (they’re the ones in the room next door, along with Vuillaume and her scary potions). Neso and Alan and Cirillo, too, although I’m still not too close to Luti. Maybe I’ll try to talk to him more.

 

Oh, and Katja and I practiced a bit together yesterday! I think we’re starting to sound pretty good together. I wish there was a way to send you guys the music… maybe there’s a spell that does it.

 

Still really busy but full of love,

Kayley

 

PS: I learned a new spell today, Bad Sprout! It sprays a bit of water on someone! It's so much fun! I can't wait to use it!

 

 

 

Week Eight

Random Event Kitchen 14, success (Running)

Random Event Performance 4, miserable failure (Interrogation suc/Memorization failure)

Random Event City Street 8, miserable failure (Befriend)

Random Event Persuit 8, default ‘success’ (Awareness fail/Shrug and go about suc)

Random Event Potions 5, success (Incantation)

Merit Prize VI on the Dance of Fools

No Reload this week, though the Dance was tempting... it was a blue, darn it.

Five new Cliques- Amici Dignitatis (Corradin and Rixenda), The Bell-Ringers (Durand and Flore), the Blasting Agents (Neso and Vuillaume), the Blaze of Glory Kids (Everwine and Rui), and the Restless (Aveline and Iustus). (Why do they always form in one week? Mysterious!)

 

 

1 Gelamenus 1657

 

Dear Father,

 

Your daughter is now a proud Elemental Warrior! I think there might be only two of us, me and the officer, but I will strive to be the very best I can be, traveling far in wide, using the power inside me to kick butt in the name and honor of the Elemental Warriors!

 

I’m… still trying to figure out what the Elemental Warriors are, though. It sounds really, really cool, though! So I’m excited! No one else in my dorm is an Elemental Warrior, I bet. It’s pretty exclusive.

 

I have so much to tell you, I think this is going to be the longest letter I've ever written! My calligraphy is improving, but slowly: I know a lot about forms, now, but I'm still picking up other parts slowly. I'm a bit worried, as midterms are next month... but that's not what I meant to talk about at all! It's not very exciting, anyway.

 

I got picked on again. Not very exciting, either, but I promised I'd tell you about it each time, right? This girl who's way too pretty (her name is Olivia, and EVERY guy has a crush on her) asked me to act in her play (the actor who was supposed to play the part had the flu- I guess perfume-thrower was spreading her gross germs around). It was horrible. I played a part where they threw tomatoes and pies at me and laughed at me, and when I couldn't get the lines right because things were being thrown at me and I only had three hours to memorize EVERYTHING, the girl got really angry. I should just stay away from the theatre: I'm not good at it and it's nothing but trouble. How do I keep getting dragged in? And why can't I visit it on my own? I keep going there to see plays, but whenever I think about going there to just look around or try to learn how to act, my feet get all tangled up. It's like I can only find it when I'm not thinking about it. I'm always so lost, and I've almost been here half a year.

 

On a better note (hee!), I spent time with Suaird, like I said I would. Crazy cat went after a shrew (at least it wasn’t a ferret), and then mice. So I sat back to watch the world and think more about how I should really learn to paint (see, this happened after the mountain climbing, but I’m going to end my letter with that because it’s the most EXCITING thing- they taught me that in Rhetoric, you end with a bang just not a real one as that should be saved for Incantation class...), and he comes back to me bringing this really fancy page. Just one page! It’s all written in gold ink with all that fancy lettering and done so prettily I bet even Professor von Ruppecht would be stunned (…well, maybe not HIM, but anyone else would!).

 

We couldn’t find the rest of the book, despite all our looking (which is good, as I was sure he had torn it out of something and I was going to get detention for life), so Suarid and I are going to down to the markets to ask the booksellers if they know anything one of these days. A page that pretty deserves to be with the book it came from.

 

Remember how I mentioned Cirillo? He's sort of Godina's jerk, but as he's in Godina, he's not really that jerky. Not like Fillip and Girars. Just compared to the rest of us. He really... well, he did something mean but I can’t tell you what it was or you'd never send me more allowance for the rest of my very long life! He gave me a good piece of advice, though: apparently there’s this McCroskey’s Dispatch Service, that hires Godina students to run errands for them. I don’t know what kind of errands… but I keep my eye out for jobs whenever I see them. I still haven’t gotten good enough at drawing to be allowed to do Limming, so it’s just the fields and the infirmary for pims. Not very exciting.

 

I'm kinda losing my desire to be a farmer, actually. It's stress-free, but it gets old pretty quick. As for the weekly adventures of myself versus all potions everywhere, I gained my first victory! Some stupid moron was waving around an unstopped potion bottle, but I, quick on my feet and stout of heart, froze the liquid with an Incantation spell to prevent getting doused, to thunderous applause.

 

Then. The Dance of Fools.

 

(I don’t want to talk about the Festival of the Pixies. Let’s just say there were muffins thrown at my head. Again. I have another bruise.)

 

Durand is a boy so boring I’m sure I’ve never written about him before. He’s from collage Durand, which I think isn’t nearly as funny as it would be if he was in, like, the collage with the H that no one can remember. He was being all passionate about the Dance of Fools, but everyone else scampered off because he’s really boring, as I said! I decided to be nice, though, and go celebrate with him.

 

So we go out and there’s sugar floss and bright costumes, but Durand says it’s not what the holiday is about so he discouraged me from getting anything to eat. Instead we talk to this woman (I told her about how Mam says the holiday should be celebrated!) who claims that there’s a dark story behind the whole celebration, go down a secret disguised pitch-black alley after people dressed in scary costumes, get told that there’s a secret celebration hidden by tears, and… that’s it!

 

We can’t get in, so we had to come back to Academagia, and now the mystery of the crying entrance and the dark past and the feather-skin costumes is going to haunt me for the rest of my life, and Durand’s all like ‘Well, maybe there’s a book, dohhhhh’ and of no help at all! And I didn’t even get any sugar-floss or popcorn or candy apples or even regular apples! Aggrh!

 

But all that is nothing compared to the weirdest thing that ever happened to me. The Professor’s been after me to run more and more, so I decided I’d try climbing the Choda for exercise. It’s not too far from the campus Godina- the Olepia Peak’s closer, but the Choda felt more right (they're both on the Academagia, so it's not like I was going far). However, I got a bit lost. Nothing bad happened- instead I climbed up a different hill. The view was so awesome- it made me immediately want to take up painting, like I said before. If I ever do, I swear I’ll find my way back up there and paint the whole Academagia. It'll be a masterpiece!

 

Ooof, I’m getting distracted. This letter really is long, and this week has just been so weird! Though I wish every week had four days in a row off of school.

 

Okay. So I decided I needed to climb back down the hill, but I accidentally hit a lever. So this door opened in the mountains, and inside the mountain little miniature people live. Not dwarves or gnomes; they said they were Ometti. They called me a Child of Luck (I didn’t want to tell them it’s all bad, comet or no comet!), and said they wanted me to pick their coming King! But they’d give me time to think about it. It happened so fast- they live so much faster then we do. It was like nothing I've ever seen.

 

I don’t know what to do! They say their culture revolves around luck, so I don’t want to bring my bad-luck on to them! But they asked me to do something really important for them, so it would be really Aranaz (that’s our Clique’s code for rude!... it’s not that difficult of a cipher, but I’m getting better at cryptology by the day) to not go back.

 

But, I couldn’t even pick a human King! I don’t even know what the Ometti would want or need in a King. I don’t know what to do… Dad, give me some advice! Get Mam to do so, too!

 

Also, a cook almost blew up the kitchen here in the Academagia, but I outran the explosion. Not so much the smell, but I’ll recover. I think.

 

It's just so complicated.

 

In need of love and help,

Kayley

 

PS: I still think my laundry idea was good! Ask Mam to consider it more!

 

PPS: I almost forgot! We won another Merit prize. This time, the Legate sat down and taught us how to use Palette's better, which was actually useful. I didn't know anything about them at all, so it was sort of interesting but I'm not sure I really get it yet. Apparently, it's an Enchanter's thing, but learning something totally new was... actually, I liked it! Oh my stars (that's what we say in Godina now, it's really a great phrase, don't you think?), I'm turning in to a nerd! Ack! I need to go play Rimbal!

 

 

(Starting adventures makes for longer letters. I have to figure out how to make them more concise.)

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Heh! Poor Durand. He was the BFF and cliquemate of my last character, but he's not having much luck here. I bet he could probably find something on the history of the festival if he really searched, though: he's a smart cookie. I kind of think he does, but just never tells Kayley because she was so useless the whole time. /grin

 

 

Week Nine

Random Event Tavern 9 triggers, miserable failure (Pure Luck suc/Flawless Timing fail)

Random Event Garden 8 triggers, success (Incantation Spells)

Random Event Pursuit 1 triggers, success (Endurance)

Random Event Rampart Creature 1 triggers, success (Glamour... was it Spells?)

No reload!

A Clique New Addition- Amada joins the Blaze of Glory kids

Earned Rhetorical Knowledge: Confidence (+1 to Confidence rolls)

 

 

8 Gelamenus 1657

 

Dearest Mam and Dad,

 

Midterms in four weeks! I’m on a studying binge- I haven’t even picked up my lyre in a while. I get to practice it in music class, but it’s not the same thing. I miss just playing. Katja plays her violin while I’m studying in the room (though I usually am in the library) sometimes. It’s not distracting at all- it helps me work, because it’s so nice. But I feel really envious! She doesn’t seem to study as much as Silke and I, but I think she’s a pretty good student. Z doesn’t really study at all… he’s going to ace Athletics, though, I bet.

 

As for me? I’m going to ace Music and Incantation, and I’m on good track for Gramour and Rhetoric: I know how to cast and speak, so I just need to study a bit more on the knowledge and ‘lore’ (the teachers call everything lore) behind it. But I’m lagging a bit in Calligraphy and- this is embarrassing!- Athletics. I blame it on the first thing in the morning and directly after lunch thing, but I know that’s no excuse! Even if it is stupid class arrangements, I'll just try harder.

 

While I’m talking about studying, I should mention that I discovered a totally new library I’d never heard about before! It’s designed for the Astrology students, which isn’t really my thing, though I wouldn’t mind learning more about the comet that oversaw my birth and how I ended up with the most horrible luck EVER anyway. You can study anything there, though, and because of the atmosphere (there are floating candles that give off this pretty low silver light) and the way the books or organized, studying normal stuff lets me pick up a few basic stuff about Astrology. Like, about how comets come to be and I guess the movement of the stars... whatever Astrology is about. It's neat how they designed the room to teach you like that.

 

When I’m not studying, I’ve been hanging about outside- I figure it’s good practice for Athletics. I found out about an obstacle course not too far away (it’s in the Elumia Proper, so it's more something to do on weekends then after school) and ran it. I got some bruises, but they were the good kind, rather then the muffin-inflicted kind. I also went on a little nature walk, though there was random tree on the path. I challenged it like I did the rock beat it up moved it gently out of the way with my skill in Incantation magic.

 

Ah, um, the tree wasn’t supposed to be in the path. It just… was there. That sometimes happens on the Academagia: we have some weird plants growing here!

 

I met up with Oan again. She wanted to teach me about Phemes. I was a bit arrogant as I already know about them, but she was actually a big help! I think I learned a lot, and I showed her my awesome duck-pheme, too, which made her grin. My increased knowledge has lead me to figure out another pheme, though- a bad one. It’s called Modus Operandi, and I don’t want to say anything more, just… in case something happens to this letter. Don’t worry though, Mam! I will never, ever, ever use it! Incantation and Glamour are all I need!

 

I was being helpful this week, so when Professor Storey lost a ball in the hallway I dove after it for him, even though I slammedthe wall doing so. He was impressed, but he’s the Regent of Collage Morjerk (that's our clique name for it, but it's no code- it's just how it is), so I’m wary about him. He doesn’t teach any courses for first years, and they say he’s as strict on his own collage as he is on everyone, but if that was true, jerks like Phillipe couldn’t go around punching innocent girls whenever they wanted, now could they? I think they should get a new Regent. Maybe one more like Aranaz’s Professor von Rupprecht. Regent Massioti is great, but he wouldn’t be strict enough on those meanies.

 

Who have totally overcome our lead in Merit points! They got thirteen points ahead! I wouldn’t be so mad if it was Vernin, as at least they work real hard, but the Morjerks? I’ve got to get everyone to start competing again! We’re the athlete collage, we can kick their butts!

 

As for butt kicking, I’m still battling against potions, and I had another success! A rat with saliva that makes people hate each other more (commonly used by students of jerk-collage, not that they need any help with being hated) ran free in the potions room, but my talent with glamour froze the rat in fear until the a Professor could come and trap it!

 

I know that sounds like a victory against rats, rather then potions, but you have to take small steps in this sort of situation. It takes small clever battles to win a War. I think. I’m not really too good at War… or History. Thankfully, I don’t have midterms about them.

 

I made a dumb mistake this week, though. I broke my rule and went in to tavern. And guess what happened? More tomatoes got thrown at me and everyone started fist-fighting! I need to start following my own rules from now on.

 

How am I going to get everything studied for midterms and still out-compete the Morjerks? Forget the Ometti, this is serious!

 

I wish I could stay up late working on figuring it out, but it’s already really late as I’m writing this. Thankfully, tomorrow is a holiday.

 

Wish me luck!

 

~Kayley

 

 

 

Week Ten

Random Event Tavern 19 triggers, awesome success! (Concentration)

Random Event Restaurant 4 triggers, success (Confidence)

Random Event Student – Katja triggers, minor failure (Observation suc/Temperence fail)\

Random Event Athletics 9 triggers, miserable failure (Observation/Acting)

Random Event Thieves Guild 11, miserable failure on a blue (Glamour Spells)

Merit Prize VII on the 9th

No reload, though I should have after the Rikadis event, mutter

Rikaidis is at it again- Friendship Chiseler on Kayley and Katja! The jerk!

A Clique New Addition- Courtenay’s joined the Glorious Hedgebird Society.

 

 

15 Gelamenus 1657

 

Dear Mam,

 

Ughhh!

 

Some gross student from Morjerk Collage popped up RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME to tell me that the midterm exams were coming. As if I didn't know how to use a calendar! Gera’s letter and Oan both told me about it way before some grossface with bad breath decided to appear and treat me like an idiot. I think I’m doing okay, though. I’m halfway through my texts for Music, Incantation, and Glamour (way more then half-way for Music, even!), which is about where I should be. I’m really, really close with my other three. I need to practice Wrestling (which is always fun), read a bit more on famous speeches and character strength for Rhetoric, and… do some boring work for Calligraphy, as well as some sketching. Annoyingly, most of my exams are later in the month- well, Music is on the third- but Calligraphy is actually on the first! I really need to work hard next week!

 

Despite that, I skipped class on Tuesday. It was for a good cause- competing! That very day, the Legate gave us Merit Prize VII, which was the Warm Cloak spell. It increases fortitude, and it’s simple to cast- just two Air Phemes, which I’m good at, thanks to Z’s help. Pretty good deal. I didn’t get reprimanded for skipping class, either, but I quickly went back to full-study mode the next day.

 

Of course, now Morjerks are ahead of us AGAIN. What will make them give up? Grr!

 

Something weird is going on with Katja. I saw her outside playing her violin one day, and a UNICORN showed up because she was just that good! But when I told her, she didn’t believe me, and the Unicorn left. She said she liked the compliment, but she’s been a bit distant anyway. I don’t get why she wouldn’t just believe me- we’re best friends, right?

 

And why do unicorns not show up when I play my lyre? Aren’t I just as good?

 

I’m sorry, I had to scribble that out. I said something really unworthy of me. It was silly. I guess me and Katja will just have to hang out more often. Friendship takes work, I know- you always need to keep trying with it, because things always get in the way no matter how close you are. You can't be real friends unless you have a few problems to hurdle over!

 

Still, I’ve been hanging out with Silke and Z mostly instead. Silke wanted to go out to a tavern to get some food that wasn’t horrible, so I grudgingly went with her. The waiter tried to sit us right next to the kitchens where all the cheapstakes sit, which isn’t fair at ALL, because Silke at least has money.

 

(I have 230 pims! I’ve never had this many! It’s so cool!)

 

She was going to say something, but I just grabbed her hand and moved us by ourselves- there were a TON of free tables. The waiter wanted us to go back, but we just kept smiling and being polite, so he let it go. I thought things were going to be really bad, then, but the meal was good and all that happened was a girl from Durand challenged me to darts. I totally crushed her! It felt really good, but now I’m not so sure that was a good idea. She’s mean and scary. She was the one fighting pirates on our first day of school!

 

I tried to learn from that, so when I was competing against a third year from Durand in archery (which isn’t my strong suit at ALL), I tried to let him win so he wouldn’t go and try to beat me up. But then I got a super lucky shot and actually won! …and he stomped off and called me a show-off. Stupid jerky sore loser. I hope Oan doesn’t have any classes with him: she deserves much cooler classmates.

 

The city’s still having thief problems. I think I’ll wait a while before doing any serious shopping (I still have that plant and book I’m thinking about selling, remember?). Ooo, maybe it’ll be a reward to myself after midterms! If I get good scores, I’ll go on a shopping binge!

 

Which I will. I hope. No, I don't hope, I just know! I will!

 

I guess I should go back to working on Calligraphy… and competing. No time for breaks... well, except for breaks of writing to you and Dad!

 

Going to get perfect scores on her midterms, just you wait,

- Kayley

 

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Next time I do this, I’ll make sure to have them write letters on the last day of the week, not the first day of the next. It would be a lot less confusing. Also, I learned something new this play-through! Passive locations sometimes have some cool informing effects: the Glamour classroom used as a passive opened up two new locations (one passive, one active) and I believe either one will open up a third. :) I wish I had noticed that near the beginning of the game. Heh!

 

 

Week Eleven

Random Event Forest 4 triggers, success (Incantation Spells)

Random Event Friendship 9, default ‘success’ (You really ought to help…)

Random Event Magical Defence 2, miserable failure (Negotiate)

Merit Prize VIII on the 21st

No reload again!

Two new Cliques- Good-Timers (Cyrus and Noemia, another odd pair) and the Illuminists (Emilia S and Malacresta).

Gained Minor Focus (+1 Stress Max)

Gained Unerring Sense of Freshness (+1 Cooking and +2 Recipes)

 

 

22 Gelamenus 1657

 

Hello, home!

 

Something really neat happened!

 

A few days ago, I took a quick shortcut through the forest (well, the foresty part of the gardens) after practicing at the Calomantia Gym (which is right near Campus Godina, but a bit of a walk to the Academagia main building) as everyone was crowding the paths as it was dinner time so I figured if I went around from the backside of the main building I might be able to get in without getting trapped in the crowd… okay, so it was a longcut, not a shortcut, but the gardens are really pretty.

 

Anyway, I met a troll! I accidentally squished his mound-home, but I was able to use Incantation and then just getting on my knees and working in the mud to fix it with him. He gave me a ring in thanks for my help! It has the troll’s house insignia on it, like noble’s signet rings, and it seems that I find my way around a bit easier with it on my finger.

 

Oh, and I got to the main building in time for dinner, too.

 

Seems a lot of other people are having a bad week. Some girl from Morjerk apparently got her familiar stuck in a web (I feel sort of bad, as I think she has a cat, too), and one of the Professor’s got themselves locked in a room due to a weird book. I tried to help the Professor, but my skills at convincing adults to do help me out could use a bit of work. You know, I think I was better at that when I was really young. Growing up sucks Growing up's really confusing, but I think it makes me more mature to struggle like this sometimes.

 

I found out that one of the Courts in the city allow students to work there for an amazing amount of pims (120!), but you have to be really good at bureaucracy to do so. As I had to look up how to spell that, I don’t think it’s my calling. A better option is this thing called ‘Scrivening’, which would get me 50 pims for my work. It sounds like the name of a snake familiar to me, but it basically means I write papers for merchants in my nice handwriting, and they pay me for it. I want to check out that delivery job for Godina students, too, but that might have to wait till after midterms.

 

I’m totally caught up with Calligraphy, if you couldn’t guess by my absolutely beautiful penmanship! Athletics, too. It’s only Rhetoric that I need to do a bit more work with, and the exam isn’t till the 16th of next month, so I have a good amount of time.

 

I think Gera’s letter mentioned that I should look to try and get around 50 for midterms (and then 100 on the final exam). I think I can make that, but I guess I’ll have to see. I wouldn’t mind being a bit ahead! I haven’t had a chance to do any extra credit for any of my courses, though. They offer it only rarely, and I never got the option. Maybe I can use my skill with Calligraphy? I’m not sure how well that would work.

 

The merit competition is still going! Us, Morjerk, and Vernin were all tied for a bit, with Aranaz lagging a bit behind. The two unimportant collages (purple robes and the green and yellow robes) are way behind, and then it’s like Durand’s not even trying at all. They don’t even have a 100 while Godina has 204! We made a tiny two point lead, but I know it can change at any moment.

 

As long as we keep competing, though, we’ll keep winning the prizes- we won one yesterday, even. They haven’t always been the best rewards (this time it was a new Pheme), but it’s the competition that counts, and we won’t lose! Ever!

 

I think I’ll go see if there’s anything I can compete in right now, actually. I’ll write next week!

 

Lots of love,

- Kayley

 

PS: My calligraphy test will be on the day I write my next letter, now that I checked the calendar! Wish me luck!

 

 

 

Week Twelve

Random Event Rumor 19, success (wrestling)

Random Event Common Room 1, success (Running)

Random Event Animal Pen 2, failure (Tracking)

Random Event Rhetoric 1, default ‘success’ (Be honest)

Random Event Student – Rui, miserable failure (Pure Luck)

Random Event Familars 5, success (Persuasion)

Reloaded on a spell failure :(

Gained Controlled Breathing (+1 Endurance and Concentration)

Gained Forger’s Hand (+1 bonus to Forgery rolls) (Skill doesn’t note in description that it’s a roll bonus rather then a general skill increase- should be edited to clarify, so report that later, self!)

Gained Study Mastery: Calligraphy (+1 bonus to all Call skill rolls and +1 Stress Max)

Gained Attuned to the Calendar (Astrology parent skill one higher the subskills would allow)

 

 

 

1 Cheimare 1657

 

Dear Dad,

 

Okay, so students from Hedi (the purples) are either helpful or prone to lecturing. Students from green-yellow (it starts with an A, but it still doesn’t stick) are generally pretty quiet (there’s one from there, Gwendy, that I’m sort of friends with- she hates the Morjerks, too), and they’re all girls (save for Cyrus who is THE cutest boy in this year, I think!- oh, and maybe there was one other, but I can’t remember his name). Students from Morjerks are total jerks, while students from Aranaz are really intense, usually really rude, but sometimes really smart. Students from Vernin? I just don’t think about them often. I mean, I sometimes hang out with Amada, who sometimes reminds me a bit of Silke (only Silke’s more approachable) and is best friends with Alan from Godina, but I don’t really know anyone else in the collage.

 

So on Saturday one of them (who I barely knew!) dumped an exploding mayo potion in my hand and ran, and it exploded just when a Professor came by. He wouldn’t even listen even though I said I didn’t make it and had nothing to do with it and that was OBVIOUSLY true, so I got a detention!

 

I hate potions! This is just getting ridiculous!

 

I also got yelled at for trespassing when I was in the Library of the Stars, too, and I got a detention for that as well. I can’t believe they have time to yell at me about that but not expel stupid Rui. I guess I can’t do anything about it, but it's not fair at all! I'll try not to say that when I'm serving my detentions, though.

 

Well, as for collages, us Godina students are awesome, of course (and still the merit leaders!). We had a pixie invasion in our common room, but I ran and found Professor Chastellain who took care of it real quick with no problems. Good teachers are great!

 

Oan, too. She was telling me about the school’s history, which was a bit boring, but she saw and then started to explain about how some locations just make you better at things. Like, if I go to cast a spell in the classroom that teaches the Magic the spell is associated with, it might be easier. She also said I should try exploring more to find new places on the campus and beyond. I should be careful, though, because at some places there could be monsters I’d have to fight! I bet that would worry Mam, but I don’t think it’s too bad- it's a bit exciting! Besides, I’m an Elemental Warrior!

 

I still need to figure out what that means…

 

Oh, as for the part you’re really concerned about:

 

(You should listen to violins and lyres and harps and drums here, okay?)

 

I got a 60 on my Calligraphy exam! It was the third highest score in the class: some girl from Aranaz beat me by one point, and some Vernin boy I’ve never talked to got a 72, but sixty is still really impressive! I don’t really have any good friends in Calligraphy… I guess I know Tabin and Emilia Strolin (there’s two Emilia’s in my year- the other’s friends with Fillip and is horrible), who are both from Aranaz and pretty quiet rather then rude (save that Tabin stares), but neither did that good so I didn’t really have anyone to celebrate with until I went back to the dorm.

 

Katja and I have been hanging out more often again, so we had a tiny party until Silke got back, and then we had a bigger party (though it was still tiny)! I’m still not really sure why we were fighting, but we definitely won’t do it again. We pinky-swore.

 

I should be happier, but I’m actually really upset. Sixty isn’t bad, but I got detention for the first time- two in the same week! Please don’t tell Mam: she’ll be sad, I bet. I really didn’t do anything wrong, though! Still… one’s tomorrow, then the music exam is on Wednesday, then detention is again on Friday. It seems to be too much. Next week will be Glamour and Athletics, with Incantation and Rhetoric the week after that. I think my highest score will be music, but we’ll have to see.

 

Do I get a raise in my allowance for the good grade? Or is that canceled out by the detentions? Please don't reduce my allowance! I need it!

 

Love! Love! Love!

- Kayley

 

PS: I forgot to mention, but I caught up with Rhetoric, too. So right now I'm just working on extra stuff for each class to try and improve my grades even more... and to be prepared for the final exams.

 

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So comes Kay's first experience with emotions and bullying, and my first true dilemma: usually, I only compete till Merit Prize X, then boom, I got my room for generic adventuring, I'm done. But Kayley certainly isn't one to give up yet... of course, with Morvidus and Vernin so close, that's going to take a lot of competes that would be more useful skill raising or adventuring. Ah, the trials and tribulations of a determined preteen.

 

 

Week Thirteen

Random Event Godina Common Room 5 triggers, mean success (Athletics)

Random Event Crafting 8 triggers, success (Puzzles)

Random Event Glamour 5 triggers, success (Glamour Methods)

Random Event Godina Common Room 7 triggers, miserable failure (Intimidation)

Random Event Disguise/Infiltration 2 triggers, default ‘success’ (Observation fail/Forget About it suc)

Random Event Homework 5 triggers, success (Endurance)

Merit Prize VIIII on the 5th

Reload used to repeat a day so Godina got the merit prize instead of Vernin (I could have used it to fix the mess up of preparing for the Music Exam rather then the Incantation one, but it was more amusing this way)

 

 

8 Cheimare 1657

 

Dear Dad,

 

I’m going to try and write everything in order this time! I have trouble with that, because I always want to talk about the exciting things first and last, but I’ll give it a try!

 

I skipped classes on the 2nd, so I was better prepared for the Music exams on Wednesday (hah, hah, HAH). Z had his Revision exams that day, but he didn’t want to tell me his score- it was really bad. Luti's, too. Apparently, a lot of people did badly- Gwendy and Amada and all the jerks from Morjerk… save for Giars de Jerk, who did really well. Only one person beat his score- Tabin!

 

Which makes Tabin so, so, so awesome!

 

I think we should make him the last member of the Fellowship, but only Silke knows him besides me, and we can’t figure out how to get an male Aranaz student to the Godina dorms anyway (although lately the Fellowship’s mostly been hanging around the Common Room, anyway). I’m considering it more, though. I mean, he’s not in any clique, he’s really smart when he puts in the effort, he usually has good ideas and he has these really big brown eyes he’s pretty neat! I met him the first day I arrived, after all. That seems so long ago, now. It’s been half a year for real. It’s hard to believe.

 

My detention, with Professor Ringraeyer (she teaches glamour), was pretty odd. She taught me of a place to go buy fancy clothing. Maybe she wants me to… wear nicer clothes? Then I’ll be allowed in the library? Or is she trying to tell me I dress like a poor cheapskate? My robes are really neat! I wash them diligently so Mam doesn’t lecture me and when I get a tear or something, Silke sews them back up for me or Z fixes them with Revision (though considering his score, maybe I should stop asking him to do that…).

 

ON THE THIRD I DISCOVERED THAT I HAD MADE A HUGE MISTAKE AND MISREAD THE DATES! AGH I AM SUCH AN IDIOT I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! I AM SO STUPID! IT WAS INCANTATION EXAM, NOT MUSIC, BECAUSE I WAS STUPID AND READ THE FINAL EXAM DATE RATHER THAN THE MIDTERM DATE!! I EVEN WENT TO THE WRONG ROOM! IT WAS SO EMBARRASSING!

 

So I only made a 48 on Incantation, even though I had done a ton of practicing and it’s my best subject besides music! Everyone did better then me! EVERYONE! Save for Katja, who only got at 37. And Durand, and Llarina, and Zoe, and Alan, and Luti, and five others. EVERYONE!

 

It was so awful! I had to run back to my room and get out all the paperwork from the beginning of the year to make sure all my dates were correct. Still detention on Friday, then Glamour on next Tuesday, Athletics on next Thursday, then the week after that, Rhetoric on Tuesday and Music on Thursday. So all I mixed up was Music and Incantation. STILL, I AM SUCH AN IDIOT! Agh, I still can’t believe I did that!

 

Then on Thursday I glued my hands together, which was really silly of me, IF NOT AS SILLY AS GETTING THE DATE WRONG. I also studied some Glamour for next week. Oh, and Katja had her Botany exam- she got a perfect fifty, so we had another little party. (We had a party for the Incantation exam for Silke and Z, too, but I was busy sulking. Our little party is mostly just bouncing on the spare bed and eating extra pastries, anyway.... oh, and playing music. That's why it's a 'little' party.)

 

Friday was weird. Professor Ringraeyer was playing chess with giant chess pieces in the classroom, and then I had detention with Professer de Canapiedra (who I swear wasn’t the one I got the mayo all over!). She gave me, and I’m quoting: ‘Relax the lids of your eyes while you keep an alert and awake expression. Then your bluff shall be successful.’

 

That’s right. One teacher thinks I dress bad, and the other thinks I need to lie better. But you know what? Detention’s really not that bad. It’s kind of cool! You learn the strangest things about your teachers. Which is good, because I have it Tuesday and Friday next week as well.

 

Oh, and there were Geometry exams Friday, too- Tabin did really well!

 

Saturday I hung out with Tabin for a while, actually. I also studied. It was a good day, but when I got back to the Campus Godina, Alan- I don’t talk about him much, but he’s just a fairly average good natured guy- was hiding in the corner while his familiar attacked everyone. I told Alan to get his familiar under control, but then his rat bit me! Really hard! I actually had to go to the infirmary!

 

Later that night, though, Suarid slinks back in to my room in to our room with Fortunatus in his mouth and Alan chasing after him yelling! Suarid dropped the rat on my bed, which was really sweet- don’t worry, the silly rat was unharmed, it was like when cat’s carry their kittens in their mouth. Suarid wouldn’t hurt anyone else’s familiar I think. It took a bit to get Alan to understand, but then we all laughed and it was okay (then we yelled at Alan for coming to a girl’s room- so Aranaz!). I don’t get what was wrong with the rat in the first place, though, although he seemed calmer that night. Or maybe the thing (I don’t want to say poor- he bit me!) was just petrified after being put in a cat's mouth…

 

As for Sunday, I hung out with Oan. She talked about getting along with your Professor's (and helped me gain points with Professor Massitori!). Next week, we're going to go shopping! I also studied some more, and introduced Z to Tabin. Not that hadn’t met, of course- I mean, they have Revision together, and maybe others. But this was a bit different. Hopefully, they’ll become friends.

 

Oh, as for today? I was having difficulty studying, so I tried to study in the cold. It worked pretty well! History exams were today, too, and apparently Zoe- have I ever written about her? I guess I should write about all my friends in my next letter… oh, yeah, Zoe. She got a 92 on her midterm! That’s insane. A perfect score on our final exams is basically a 100… I wonder what she’ll get then? I’m really envious!

 

Well, tomorrow an exam and detention. You still haven’t told Mam I got detention four times now, right? Pleassseee don’t! Oan told me that it’s natural to get a few detentions a year, but Mam doesn’t need to hear that!

 

Will try to keep it to only four detentions this year, I promise,

~ Kayley

 

 

 

Week Fourteen

Random Event Spellcasting 4, success (Glamour Phemes)

Random Event Classroom 10, success (Acrobatics)

Random Event Docks 8, success (Acrobatics)

Random Event Library 2, success (Reason/Persuasion)

Merit Prize X on the 10th (YAY!)

Reload to compete rather then attend classes once again- darn you, Vernin!

Two new Cliques- Team Sidot (Oribel and Tacito) and the Talkhouse Society (Crillo and Llarina).

Gained Athletic (+1 Fitness, awesome!)

Gained Rhetorical Knowledge: Passion (+1 bonus to Passion rolls)

 

 

15 Cheimare 1657

 

My dear father,

 

Another bad week for me.

 

I got 57 on my Athletics exam (beating out all my friends, though I think my lack of Archery skill pulled me down), and I got a 59 on my Glamour exam. I actually had to scare off some birds with a glamour right before the second exam, so I was well prepared for it. I had detention right after the exams: the Professor taught me a Glamour spell. It seems strange to be learning things in detention. I remember at the Academy, detention was more about sitting still and being glared at. Though I never got detention back then. What am I doing wrong here?

 

Silke and I got caught in a messy spell Alan conjured up that involved flying furniture. She outran it and I dodged it, so we were both okay, but I joke she should have just waved her wand and Negated it, as later that day she got a 73 in her exam!

 

So I went down to the kitchen to get some stuff for us, and the cooks were even nice today- there were some non-disgusting cookies! Only when I went to head back, I ran in to this horrible Morjerk that’s in Athletics with me, Joana. She’s really bad, even for her collage… she literally just grabbed cookies from me, and started eating them! And when I backed away from her, she grabbed my tray, threw it on the ground, and stomped on the rest of the food. I was so in shock that I didn’t even think to do anything before she was stomping away. What would cause someone to do that? She’s a rotten bully!

 

…Even though I’m writing like I was just angry, I was actually really scared. I couldn’t stop shaking the whole week, and everyone kept looking at me and it was just so awful!

 

It got even worse on Friday.

 

I was studying, and a student ghost came up to me. She wanted help finding her lost cat.. I had to tell her that her cat must be dead, just like her, but she was just so worried! She thought her cat must have hidden down in the archives and been trapped, and after not seeing his human he’d get even more shy and he must have been so scared. The girl faded away, but I could figure out what happened. Her pet must have starved to death, lost down here, or maybe more happily it died in whatever catastrophe killed her- what could happen in the library that would kill a girl just looking for her cat? It must have been something big...

 

It was just so sad! I broke down and started crying in the middle of the library. I’d normally never do anything like that, but I was feeling so stressed after what happened with Joana and the detentions and the barrel accident on the docks (it was dumb, so I didn’t mention it) and all I could think about is what would happen if Suarid got lost? Academagia is so big! Even though he follows me almost all the time, he sleeps a lot too, and sometimes the teachers get annoyed at the familiars and tell us to leave them out of a class and sometimes he does run off a bit to go chase something or explore and sometimes I have to call for him a few times before he comes and I was just so scaredish feeling, and my break down was making me even more ashamed, that I ran out of my room and cried and cried until I fell asleep.

 

Suarid woke me up in the middle of the night walking right on my stomach, but even though that hurt, I was so relieved. Having slept for so long- straight from the afternoon to the middle of the night!- seemed to calm my nerves. I still felt horribly embarrassed, but that’s faded now, too. It still so sad to think about... dad, if I die in a freak library accident, you have to take Suarid back home and look after him! It would be too horrible otherwise.

 

Let me try and write about happy stuff, now. I'm thinking, I'm thinking... Oan and I did go shopping! She explained a lot, but I don’t think I’ll go to that specific shop again. The store-owner sells some things the Professors really wouldn’t approve of. It’s nothing adult or creepy, just… well, there are five schools of magic, right? (Then Astrology, which is just it’s own weird thing. That I’ve managed to learn a lot about. I could almost take an Astrology midterm!) That’s for good reasons. I don’t really know how to explain it in writing, but he sells like, dragon-bad stuff. Well, not to first years, I guess, but he sells almost dragon-bad stuff to us, so I bet he sells dragon-bad stuff to others!

 

I didn’t say it, but last week we won a Merit Prize. It just didn’t seem worth mentioning, as we always win Merit Prizes and the reward was we would be more ‘Glorious’, which made no sense. This time, though, the Legate gave us access to the champion’s room! Hanging out there seems to be really inspiring- it’s like it focuses me in to going past my limits. Does that sound silly? It’s true, though, I promise.

 

Anyway, I said I would write about my friends, so I'll do that now!

 

I guess Katja’s my best friend, though I’m actually worried about her. I’m sure she won’t fail Music, and she did well in Botany, but for every other subject she only got 30’s! She’s failing most of her classes… I don’t know why I thought she’d be a good student when I never saw her in the library! It’s just she’s so peaceful that it felt like she had to be one. Z’s then my best guy friend. He’s not doing the best in his classes, either, but he’s still better then Katja. He’s been spending a lot of time prating his Glamour lately, but I know he’d rather be outside.

 

I’m really close with Silke and Tabin, too! And Tabin still isn’t in a clique. I mostly just hang out when I’m with one of those to, though- you know, we sit back and talk. Only usually Silke talks when I’m with her and I listen, and I talk when I’m with Tabin and he listens. They’d probably get along pretty well…

 

Then there’s Zoe, the smart girl from Hedi. Though she did Katja-bad on her history test… she was really, really upset about that. She’s often in the library when I’m studying, so we exchange tips sometimes. I'm also friends Amada, Gwendy, and Emilia- Vernin, Alboring, and Aranaz. I haven’t hung around with Amada much recently: she’s close to Rui, the guy who left me holding the mayo potion that got me in so much trouble. But she’s not too bad. Gwendy’s in to hunting, and she even sometimes uses a bow, which is crazy awesome. She has it out for the Morjerks, as they’re constantly going on about how the animals must be respected not hunted… which, okay, yeah, I like animals, too, but they eat meat, so what’s the big deal about hunting? Geez!

 

(Well, they eat meat, save for you-know-who. Grr…)

 

As for Emilia, she’s very not-Aranaz. She’s never rude! Or intense, either. And she’s with this guy Malacresta (he’s okay, big on astrology) all the time these days: I think they’re dating. They sit together at meals and partner in class and always are talking to each other, so they must be. It’s really cute! I don’t see why you say I can’t start dating. I’m almost an adult already, you know- I can cast over twenty spells now!

 

There’s also this guy named Raoul and this girl named Sima. He’s pretty plain, and she’s sort of intense (they should switch collages). I don’t know much about them, but they seem to like me- they often ask me to hang out. Sima’s really charming, so that’s cool, but I’m still not sure about Raoul. Maybe he has a crush on me? Ewwww.

 

There’s a lot of other kids I know pretty well- like everyone in the Godina (I’ve been getting along better with Luti, even), really! They’re not really close friends, but most of them I try to help whenever I see them and everything.

 

I avoid the Morjerk students, though. I just wish they’d do the same thing back. They’re getting on my last good nerve- but Oan said she’s going to teach me about dueling. Maybe that could solve it. It’s not dangerous at all, I promise.

 

Exam tomorrow, so I better do a refresher (if I can… Cirillo and Llarina just formed their own clique, and now they’re even louder then usual- I didn't think that was possible!). Writing out my thoughts felt really good, though.

 

With love,

Kayley

 

PS: I'll write my next letter to Mam. Tell her not to worry and that I love her! And don't tell her about the detentions!

 

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Hm, I don't really have anything to say. This game is still very addicting. I'm already thinking of my next character, but I know that way lies madness. And I need to write adventures and events first! I'm feeling like a total spammer, too, but I guess it's okay on the RPG board. Double-posting still seems bad in my head, not to mention quin-triple posting, but it seems to be okay.

 

...now I'm writing like Kay. (Ugh!)

 

 

Week Fifteen

Random Event Shop 13 triggers, miserable failure (Study Habits/Brute Strength)

Random Event Garden 1, success (Incantation Methods)

Merit Prize XI on the 19th

No reloading!

Gained Study Mastery: Rhetoric (+1 Debate and +1 bonus to all Rhetoric skill rolls)

 

 

22 Cheimare 1657

 

Dear Mam,

 

This has been such a peaceful week! And a good one, too!

 

I’m sorry I didn’t write to you for a while. A lot of stuff happened, and it was really stressful. I guess dad told you a bit… I know I’m not going to die in a freak library accident or anything! I just wanted to make sure that you’d look after Suaird… and I knew that you would take care of him, too, but I just wanted to be a hundred super percent sure. Preparation is what makes a good Mage, right?

 

(I just made that up, but I think it’s true! Though thinking on your feet is what makes a good Mage as well... you need to be flexible!)

 

I still have no luck with shops- once again, I was after some stuff for school, and once again, it got weird. Some strange people moved like, twelve crates to right in front of the door to shop so I was trapped in there! I sort of freaked out, remembering the ghost’s story about the cat, but I took a few deep breathes and tried to just move the crates myself. That actually hurt my back, but at least I didn’t just sit around and do nothing.

 

Oh, I took my final two exams! Well, not the final exams, but my final midterm exams. I got a 60 on Rhetoric- the Professor wants me to write a bit more ‘passionly’- and then an 80 in Music! It was the second highest grade in the class! Katja just beat me with an 81: I’m so proud of her! I just hope it covers her only getting a 30 in Astrology...

 

Godina won another Merit Prize! More money for us! The Legate’s being awesome again: all the rewards recently have been really great.

 

Anyway, I followed Oan’s advice, and I’ve been exploring. I discovered three neat locations: the Ministry of Substitution and Transposition, the Library of the Longshade, and the Emperor Sphinx’s Room in the Imperial Reserve. The first is where they keep the vaults full of the fancy-code stuff: it’s all REALLY complicated, but interesting. The last is where you can go and talk to, well, the Sphinix! It’s sort of like riddles, but I didn’t do too well. The Library of Longshade?

 

Well, two days ago, I would have told you it was a giant gross mess of incomprehensible paper. But thanks to a lot of crazy work and filing, it’s now a library of awesome! Now it’s another place to go to learn more about, well, anything and everything. It’s absolutely perfect- better then the Library of the Stars, and better for some things then the Venalicium Library, even! I’m really proud… the libraries at the Venalicium thought it would take years of filing to make the Library of Longshade useful. And while it’s not at its best, it’s definitely useable now!

 

Anyway, Llarinda’s bugging me to go hang out with her. I guess she’s another one of my friends (I was telling Dad all about them in the last letter I sent, but you’re not allowed to read it, okay?). She talks so much it makes me dizzy, but that’s her worst trait, which makes her a pretty great person.

 

Love from me and Suaird,

~ Kayley

 

PS: I helped a talking plant, and it gave me a seed. I’m not sure what the seed does yet, but I guess I can research it tomorrow. Neat, right?

 

 

 

Week Sixteen

Random Event Music 2 triggers, default ‘success’ (Obs fail/Get far away)

Random Event Shop 7 triggers, bad success? (Ob fail/Running fail…ish?)

Random Event Forge 5 triggers, success (Glamour Spells)

Random Event Lake 1 triggers, failure (Athletics)

Merit Prize XII on the 27th

Merit Prize XIII on Muneris

No reload used!

A Clique New Addition: Piccolet joins Henning’s Heroes.

Gained Study Mastery: Glamour (+1 bonus to Glamour Skill rolls and +1 Insight (Woo!))

Gained Extra Wind (+1 bonus to Running rolls)

 

 

Muneris Hisoni 1658

 

Dear Mam and Dad,

 

It’s a new year! How are you? Is everyone well?

 

This week was a bit unfortunate, but nothing can improve my mood like six days with no classes! I’m just not sure what I’m going to do tomorrow… should I hang out with my friends? Study? Meet Oan again? Or maybe check out the Elemental Warriors, or the job board, or that book we found, or, um, that choosing a King thing and oh shoot, it’s probably been like, ten years for them since I last saw them! They’re going to be really, really, really mad!

 

No need to focus on that. I'll get all worried again.

 

Let’s see, the bad of the week? Music class was absolutely ruined on Tuesday due to a harp that wouldn’t stop playing, I got 20 pims stolen from me, Vernin got a lead on us and I had to skip two days of classes to get our lead back, the apprentice at the Forge was extra mean to me- he called me a twirp, can you believe it?, and I crashed in to a tree while surfing and I think the bruise on my face is just going to stay there for the rest of my life. Whenever it fades, I get bruised again. Usually by a muffin, but a tree isn't that different.

 

Though this time it was sort of my fault. You’re not supposed to surf magical tidal waves. It looked like fun, though...

 

The good? Katja’s been helping at the stables lately, and there are all sorts of horses on campus! They’re all so pretty! I just… can’t find them without Katja taking my hand and leading me there. She thinks that maybe if I learned more about animals, I’d just be able to sense the Stables and find my way there myself, but I don’t want to study Zoology or Animal Handling or anything! I’m already studying five gazillion things! I just want to pet the horsies…

 

We won two Merit Prizes this week (Llarina’s really good at competing, too!). We were taught a new Pheme and a new Spell. I miss the pims, but it’s more useful then being ‘better at social skills’ or ‘Glorious’.

 

I got to hang out for real with Oan and her friends! They taught me all about Duels, which was really interesting, and I got to watch one. It’s definitely good stuff to know. Not that I intend on getting in any Duels, of course. Heh… but it’s really safe, I promise. There’s all sorts of rules and rituals. It’s just like having a familiar! Sort of. Or maybe like using phemes. Yeah, there's dueling laws and everyone HAS to obey them or it just doesn't work, and there's no way to break the cir laws and still Duel so- it really, really, really is safe and everyone does it, so it's not bad at all, I promise.

 

GIRARS IS GOING DOWN!

 

If you can read that scribble, it’s okay, but if you can’t, it’s probably better. Umm… what else should I write about?

 

Oh! The plant seed! Katja helped me figure it out. If you mix it with water and then drink it, you’ll become better at thinking things out. That sounds weird, right? It might make more sense if I say the seed looks sort of like a miniature brain. At least, what I think a miniature brain would look like…

 

I also discovered another library… that’s four, now. It’s called the Library of Manetele, and it’s for students of Revision, but it’s good for crafters, too! I’ll have to check it out to see if I can learn anything to bring home, though right now the Library of Longshade is the most useful. I never thought when I came here that I’d get so in to libraries, but they’ve been useful. I’m now a master at filing, and at cryptology, too! Well, at least, I think I’m a master, and no one disputes it. I bet in later years I’ll be really glad I learned so much about it now!

 

Ugh, I can’t end the letter writing about libraries, though… I guess I could write about cleaning tomorrow…

 

No, that’s even worse. I'm ending this letter now. Just pretend I didn't write about that boring stuff and ended talking about the duels and the horses.

 

Wishing everyone at home the best,

~ Kayley

 

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Aww, thanks, Legate! I really appreciate that. :) It's encouraging to know you're still reading this, and thanks to you too, Grunthex!

 

And I definitely get what you mean. I sort of have been being a bit unrealistic in these... I can't imagine after Kay talked about so much (as she didn't really start lying till these last four letters), she wouldn't have been called back home by her parents to be grounded for life ("YOU TRIED TO SURF ON A MAGICAL TIDAL WAVE?") with the Academagia receiving a bunch of scathing letters and demands to be seen in a court of law ("They don't supervises those children properly! My daughter got beat up five times and went mountain climbing on her own with no adult supervision! And there are explosions in the kitchens and they throw potion bottles at each other!"). Maybe the children with the Black Sheep background are actually the lucky ones...

 

 

A really bad event for Kay this first week, but that's what makes things interesting.

 

 

 

Week Seventeen

Random Event Defensive Spells 1 triggers, success (Persuasion)

Random Event Daytime 4 triggers, miserable horrible failure of doom (Music)

Random Event Mountain 5 triggers, miserable default ‘success’ (Observation fail/Go with the flow)

Random Event Theft 8 triggers, red success! (Observation fail/Intimidation suc)

Random Event Disguise/Infiltration 4 triggers, miserable failure (Study Habits/Composure)

Reload used on trying to figure out Tabin’s adventure… the other three are really obvious (I hope!), thankfully.

One New Clique- the Society of Ambassadors (Magsa and Malthezar).

A Clique New Addition- Cante’s joined the Blaze of Glory Kids, making the only other four person clique.

Gained Study Mastery: Athletics (+1 Vitality Max and +1 bonus to Athletics rolls)

Gained Study Mastery: Incantation (+1 Incantation skill rolls and +1 Phemes)

Gained Deep Research (+3 to Research Parent Skill)

 

 

 

8 Hionosi 1658

 

Dear Mam and Dad,

 

I helped out a lot with the cleaning and got a big piece of cake for my efforts. I also met a giant with a mallet, but it wasn’t actually real. Then, I had my last meeting with Oan. Or at least, it was going to be our last meeting, but she had a request. She heard about talking trees of wisdom, and wanted help to find them. I’m not sure if they really exist, but it sounds like fun to try, and after all she’s done for me, I definitely need to do something back!

 

I met a girl who had a thieving familiar, but I got her to return my stuff, which was a big relief. Sadly, all my notes for a big project I was working on and a library book I don’t remember borrowing have gone missing, which is a really weird! I don’t know how it happened.

 

I had a scary experience of getting swept away in this huge torrent of water. I wonder if I should avoid water-sources like I do muffins and taverns.

 

I got bullied, but I didn’t take it too personally this time. Fillip’s just mean; there’s not much to do about it.

 

Nothing else has happened.

 

Love,

~ Kayley

 

 

The following letter was scratched out, crumpled up, uncrumbled, torn to pieces, and thrown out a window; thus, it went very much unsent.

 

I HATE HIM I HATE HIM I HATE HIM I HATE HIM I HATE HIM SOOOO MUCH!

 

The stupid zoology Professor released a bunch of snakes and demanded that I help find them, because apparently releasing snakes and getting students to do your work for you is just how things work around here. So I say music might work like it did with Professor Chastellain's snake, and he goes and gets a lute, but instead of leaving things to the, you know, EXPERT, the Professor decides to play himself. And he’s awful, it made my teeth ache and then my neck and head because the music just didn’t work AT ALL. So the Professor loses it and yells at me for wasting his time and being unhelpful, though it’s his own stupid fault, and I have this huge headache.

 

But then of COURSE the dumb Professor runs in that STUPID HORRIBLE HATEFUL AWFUL JERKY Giars de Jerkface, who goes and gets a LYRE and uses it to summon all the snakes in less than a minute!

 

He doesn’t even take Music what the stars does he know about playing the Lyre anyway they wouldn't let him in to the Vilhuelan even if his parents paid them fifty gazillion pims and I know he has a dumb stupid bunny for a familiar and snakes eat bunnies so WHY WOULD HE KNOW ABOUT SUMMONING SNAKES WITH LYRES WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?!

 

I HOPE HE ENJOYS SNOWSTORMS!!!

 

He got his stupid friend Fillup to go bully me, too! But I’m not falling for that stuff anymore- it just got me on my toes. I’m keeping my eyes open and ready for their next attempt. I thought maybe I was being too judgemental like you said, Mam, and that the whole collage might not be ALL bad, when the boy from Alesfan helped me out with some books, but it was just a trick and I know it. They’re all in on it, those Morjerks! That whole collage is now my ENEMY, but first STUPID JERKFACE GIARS.

 

I bet he was the one who took out the book in my name and stole my notes, too! Who else could it be? No one else is that AWFUL to do something like that! And that cave filling with water was really suspicious, too! He was trying to drown me! He's a jerkfaced monster!

 

I’m going to help Oan find these trees of knowledge she wants to find, and I’m going to use them to learn every stupid weakpoint of stupid Giars and I’ll use the illusion scroll the giant’s creator gave me, too, and I’ll Glamour him so he doesn’t even know which way is up! And then I’ll make him eat snakes!

 

I hateeeee him!

 

 

Week Eighteen

Random Event Awesome Community 01 triggers, not really sure? (Running)

Random Event Awesome Community 17 triggers, success! (Observation/Blackmail)

Random Event Godina Common Room 11 triggers, success (Violin)

Reload for an extra Befriend roll- succeeded, I was sort of amazed!

A New Clique Addition- Vrenelle joined the Duelist Corps

 

 

15 Hinosi 1658

 

Dear Mam and Dad,

 

That bas Someone was following me this week. It was a bit annoying, so I slipped in to a hedge maze to avoid him. I ran around in it for a realllyyyy long time, but I just ended right back up at the exit! I should have led him in there and gotten him lost.

 

I wandered the full Chauranglaith Path this week. It’s very relaxing. I think I learned some Dialectic-stuff, which is mostly confusing, but it’s helpful for Rhetoric. They both go together, in some ways: I regret not taking both, but maybe I'll see if I can do something about it next year. I know in class Famous Dilemmas comes up a lot, even if we don’t talk about why the arguments are solved or unsolved and how they could be solved so much as what each argument was and how it was said.

 

I found out something great- the guards in the city will pay a student to come and polish (and maybe sharpen and other caretaking work) the weapons and armor in their armory for 25 pims. It’s really easy: I used to do it at home all the time, remember? I like looking at all the different kinds of arms they have, too. I used that to make some quick money, as I'm having pim trouble. You know my theory on taking that neat plant I found really early this year and selling it? Well, I left it in my room because it was too heavy for me to carry, but... now I can't get it out! It's way too heavy for me. I can't imagine getting it from my room all the way to the markets. Maybe I should just give it to someone as a gift...

 

I… did something a bit shameful. I found a shopkeeper who was cheating his customers by disguising some items in his shop with a Glamour, but when I confronted him, he just gave me a book on Calligraphy and… I left. I could say it was because he was big and I my bruises from the water last week still haven’t quite faded so I didn’t know what else to do, but that’s not exactly true. It was just- I felt really annoyed.

 

I’m trying my best, but it’s sometimes frustrating when people are just so… mean! And weird and creepy and jerky! I know you think I should turn the other cheek, Mam, but both my cheeks are just really bruised up now.

 

Oh, but on the topic of nice people, I invited Tabin in to our clique! I told you I introduced Z to him, but I also introduced Katja and helped him and Silke become closer, too. So everyone was okay with it, and we figure one Aranaz student in the Godina common room won’t cause too much of a fuss unless the Professor’s notice it (Aranaz students do this weird thing we’re they act all awful to each other, but when you act awful to one of them, they all unite to get really awful, so no one from the collage will do anything but tease him, we’re pretty sure). I did it all formal like, in the great hall, too! And Tabin’s taught me a ton.

 

He’s really good at strategy and, um, that sort of stuff, you know? Really clever. It would be nice if he was taller, though. Wow, that was a silly thing to write. Giars must be getting to me more than I thought. Um. Ah! Tabin's familar is a chameleon, named Goodfellow. He's sort of cute! He likes to play games.... we should get it to play against Cirillo one time. Someone has to beat him eventually, and I think a chameleon would be perfect!

 

While I'm writing about the common room, yesterday a bunch of students were playing, and asked me to join in. A lyre wouldn’t quite fit, so I tried the violin… and I did really, really well! My makeship bandmates were amazed, and Katja heard part of it, and said I sounded incredible and that she’s going to watch out from now on, as I’m getting as good as her! She was exaggerating, but it felt really good to hear.

 

Vernin’s back in the lead for merit points by one, so I better go see about fixing that.

 

I’ll write again soon!

 

Lovingly,

~Kayley

 

 

 

(The other really(, really, really!) unrealistic thing is why in the world does she write out these 'Oh's and 'Um's and 'Ah's? It helps make her sound young and a bit cutesy, as well as not as confident in herself as she thinks she is, which is why I use them, but it doesn't make that much sense: writing hurt her hand at the beginning, even, but she still wrote them out? Ah well.)

 

Also! Random Event Daytime 4: genius. A+++, would fail again. :)

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Oh Mikka, I didn't mean that her letters wouldn't be realistic, quite the opposite. They read so much like emails from kids that age, (including the ums and ohs!) that they just feel real.

 

And I don't think her dad would be scolding her about little thing like exploding stuff, or trolls, or pirates or anything, he probably went to the same school, right? It's the boys, and the detentions!

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So many comments! Thanks, everyone, seriously: it's great encouragement to keep writing, and it helps to know it's being enjoyed. I'm glad the interjections don't pull too much out of the letters. I didn't know they were used that way in Chinese, that's really neat!

 

(Back when I was younger, I tried to each myself Chinese over the internet. That... really didn't go well, though learning a few hundred hanzi made learning Japanese kanji a bit easier at least at start... of course, I forgot everything (well, mostly everything) for both languages as soon as I graduated. Gah!)

 

As for what Kayley will become in the future... besides grounded for life by her dad, I'm thinking trouble. /grin But very enthusiastic trouble!

 

 

Week Ninteen

Random Event Awesome Community 28 triggers, success (Observation/Danger Sense/Athletics)

Random Event Hallway 6 triggers, general failure (Listen)

Random Event Resturaunt 3 triggers, success (Observation/Running)

Random Event Sports 3 triggers, success (Ob fail/Glamour suc)

Merit Prize XIIII won on the 19th

No reloads!

 

 

22 Hionosi 1658

 

My lovely parents,

 

I had a good luck Tuesday!

 

Some third years were looking to prank a poor unsuspecting first year, but extreme athlete Kayley Halloran is no easy target! She twisted and danced most nimbly out of the way of the spell, which happened to hit good ol’ Fillip, the Bully Jerk of the Morjerk Collage. Of course, then she was traumatized for life- the spell took all his clothes but his socks, and thank the stars, his underwear away… but that still meant I had to see his gross belly and ugly legs and chest and it was just so horribly GROSS that I was considering gorging my eyes out with a wand I found.

 

Then I realized I had found a wand! I researched it… well, we all did. That’s what the Fortuitous Fellowship is about, after all! Apparently it’s a dueling wand. It’ll help me with Incantation spells and, um, other Dueling stuff, I guess! Nice! I also read a bit about the Calligraphy book I got. The book seems dry enough, but reading about how to read it was really, really, dry.

 

Did you know here at the Academagia, you have to research how to read a book before you can actually read it? Books at Academagia are really special: they don’t just let anyone open them up. I think it might be protection against theives, too: it's hard for them to tell what's valuable unless they look everything up themselves.

 

I seem to have just spent most of the week competing. Vernin is still in the lead, though! Why is it so hard to get everyone to keep comporting? If we let up even for a moment, they’ll catch up and then we won’t get merit prizes! Like… this week we won, um, ‘an increased relationship with a Professor’. That’s important stuff! And even worse, we’ll be losers!

 

Other then that? I went in to a tavern, which, predictably, had a fly with a growth charm swimming around in my soup. I had to grab it and run it out of the restaurant, which was… really gross. They blamed it on a competitor and gave me a free meal, which was really good, but hard to enjoy. There had just been a fly in my soup, after all, and I had to drag it out in my hand- I didn’t have gloves!

 

I’ve washed my hands so often that the fourth year girls told me to stop (embarrassing!) as I was going to use all the water in the dorm (they were exaggerating, of course... the magic used to deliver water in the Academagia is so incredibly well done that I don't think even the fifth-year's can sabotage it, so I don't think it could ever run out- it's magic!). Still, it’s been days, and my hand still feels dirty. I had Suaird lick it clean five times, because I know cat’s can clean stuff up real well, but now whenever I ask he gives me that look and goes to sleep on the spare-bed. He’s not very comforting!

 

Oh, one other thing happened this week. I was attacked by a Rimbal jersey, but I defeated it with the power of food (and bees!). Turn your greatest enemies in to your friends, right? Obviously I can’t do that with the Morjerks, but I figure I can start with muffins, taverns, potions, and maybe water. The water might be too big a step for now, but I'll prepare for it.

 

I guess I’m being a bit silly, huh? Besides competing, I just study a lot. Just about things I’ve heard about- not really for classes, as I’m mostly done with that besides following up on anything I don't understand that we're taught. It’s just studying for fun. I’ve become such a nerd! That's what the lack of allowing first year's to play Rimbal does to me.

 

Back to the competitions and libraries,

~ Kayley

 

 

 

Week Twenty

Random Event Classroom 4 triggers, success (Incantation Spells)

Random Event Lake 4 triggers, miserable failure (Pure Luck/Revision Spells)

Random Event Awesome Community 18 triggers, success (Conversation/Glamour)

Random Event Forge 2 triggers, success (Flawless Timing)

Merit Prize won by VERNIN on the 28th

Reload used to try and stop it, but it was a miserable failure, sadly

Gained Well Toned (+1 Fitness and Strength! Plant moving, dun dun!)

 

 

1 Nivelos 1658

 

Dear Dad,

 

Only sixteen or so more weeks until break, huh. I… can’t really believe it. There’s so much I still want to do! I feel like I got nothing done at all!

 

I’ll miss the weirdness of the Academagia! Like, on Tuesday, a painting tried to hold me hostage in a classroom until I summoned fire with my wand and threatened to burn it if it didn’t open the door! And one night Amada’s pretty auburn hair got turned blue by the evils that are potions so I totally glamour-fixed her up (and she gave me her dessert that evening, too!) And then on Thursday a giant jumped in to the lake which caused a huge wave to break over me that sent me flying in to a boulder! I can’t lift my left arm above my shoulder without it locking up and shooting this horrible prang up to my neck, but it was a really fascinating experience!

 

That sort of stuff never happens at home! It’ll be so boring… and I know you said I could invite my friends to visit for a bit, but why only Silke and Katja? It won’t be the same without the five of us… even though we just became the five of us a week or so ago, we totally cliqued! See, if you say it outloud, it's sort of like clicked! Funny, right?

 

I’m a bit worried, though. Tabin’s really smart and cool and neat, but I wonder if the Aranaz students are being all Aranaz and picking on him for always hanging out with Godina students. A bunch of second-years, I think they were, were about to hit him one evening, but I saw it and I yelled at them and they ran away! I’m sure Tabin could have handled it himself, but he was really sweet and thanked me and told me I was really good at shouting. Wasn't that really nice?

 

I also stumbled across something weird in the library while I was browsing on Demi-Tour (that’s a complicated Magey thing; it’s a bit hard to explain). Apparently, there’s a giant rock on campus! Well, actually, more a giant sculpture. Tabin told me a bit more: it’s a treasure of King Aranaz, but because the Durand students are jealous that High King Durand didn’t get such a cool treasure, they go around trying to break it and write on it! That’s just so mean! Almost as mean as the Morjerks!

 

I’ll have to watch out for the Durand students. That’s more sneaky then I thought! I’m not really friends with many of them, though. Well, Prudence Cossins seems to have declared herself my friend, but as I think I wrote before, she’s really kinda scary. And I’m definitely not friends with stupid Durand and his stupid mystery-

 

Ugh, that still bothers me even now!

 

Well, I got to beat up an undead swimming monster that forms when someone drowns being a jerk, so I suppose things are okay. That was really fun!

 

EXCEPT FOR THAT VERNIN WON THE MERIT PRIZE. I bet they got pims or something, too!

 

I cannot believe it! I’m so angry at everyone. Well, not Silke and Z and Katja (though she never competes!) and not Llarina, as I know she did her best too, but everyone else just makes me so mad! I’m never going to talk to any of the others again! Or… at least, not until they start competing and we start winning again.

 

They should take a lesson from me. Some Morjerks threw a bucket of water at me and I totally dodged them and then dumped water on THEM. You can’t just sit idly by and let things happen, or everyone will outrace you! Don’t you think?

 

Love to you and Mam,

~ Kayley

 

PS: I did some athletic training like you thought, and figured out if I hug the plant closely (in my right arm of course), I can carry it around with me pretty well! It doesn’t seem so heavy anymore. But now I don’t want to sell it. I’ve been taking it to each class with me. The Professors sometimes give me funny looks, but they already gave me funny looks for bringing my lyre everywhere. Like they've never seen a proper musician before!

 

 

 

(I hope I’m making it obvious enough that sometimes Kayley just, well, lies a bit (about her rivalry with Giars getting even worse and dueling being totally safe) but sometimes she’s just being self-absorbed and not getting the obvious (see: almost everything involving Tabin, in particular his adventure start); to her, she's really telling the truth. Tell me if it’s difficult to pick up the differences, though, and I’ll work on being a bit more obvious!)

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Nah, it is totally fine. A lot of characters in this forum are way too self-conscious ;)

 

By the way, although we do goes Oooh and Aah in Chinese, we hardly do so in formal writing, and it is not that often even in informal writing. Mostly kiddy writing will include that.

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Ooo, I see. I guess that's kind of how it is with English, too- only children would usually write out their thoughts (edited: by thoughts, I meant brain-pauses). That's actually one thing texting has been good for: a lot of the preteen crowd are now more concise as they're used to word limits, so less 'like's' and 'anyway's.

 

Kay could learn from them, but, well, Calligraphy's been her worst class...

 

 

Week Twenty-One

Random Event – A Cagey Sort of Fellow, default ‘success’ (Refuse)

Random Event Pursuit 3, failure on a green- curse you, bad luck! (Persuasion)

Random Event Kitchen 17, success (Reason)

Random Event Health and Illness 9, success (Conversation/Sleuthing)

No reload, I think. Can't actually remember... doh.

Gained Wakefulness (+1 bonus to rolls for both Concentration and Danger Sense)

 

 

8 Nivelos 1658

 

Dear Mam,

 

Geez, fifth-year students are weird! One of them goes running by, looking for this girl who was running by earlier. I tell him where he went, he tells me she must have told me to say that, goes the other way, then comes back, calls me a liar, and punches me! What’s with all these people punching me? He did it in the shoulder rather then in the face, though, but it was my left shoulder.

 

I took a really long nap this Sunday. I can move my arm all the way around again now!

 

Third year students are much better. Me and Oan started our search for the Magical Talking Trees. It was a bit complicated- there was a warehouse, and I bashed a wall down with a BIG PIECE OF WOOD (I was so heroic and strong and awesome!), and we went down a dark tunnel, and there were little guardians, and we went in to the Imperial Reserve (it’s so pretty!), and explored and found some clues, and now all we need to do is go next week- well, as today’s Monday, I guess that’s this week- and try and put all the clues together! It’s going to be great! We already met some talking trees, too (at least after powder was put on them), so I think we’re definitely on the right track.

 

I also went inside the Imperial Palace again- this time, to the tapestry room! It’s a bit confusing, but there’s a lot of things hidden in the pictures. It’s like our common room, really: the Godina common room has all these portraits and tapestries on them. Anyway, by studying the tapestries, I learned about this great place on the beach to make sandcastles!

 

Everything leads to everything else, like a giant circle of fun. I’m learning so much this year!

 

I got to help out Regent Massoti (I keep calling him Professor, but as he is Godina’s Regent, I guess I should call him Regent instead- I don’t think he minds too much, though), too. He was dealing with some weird flowers that made him sick, but I got him a cure. He thanked me a lot, and said I’ve really matured since I first came here… and he’s looking forward to seeing me on the Rimbal team in a few months!

 

(Z thinks First Year’s can try out for the Collage Rimbal team(s), but I really think it’s a second-year thing. I promised I’d help him make sure, though- we’ll do that later this week, after I help Oan.)

 

But… there’s something bad happening, Mam. I’m really worried about Katja. You know how at the midterm exams she was not doing that well? Actually, maybe you don’t, because I wrote those letters to Dad. Well, she was doing really badly: she passed her Music exam with an amazing score, and she did good in Botany, but she did really bad on most of the others, even flunking a few of them. Apparently, the Professor’s let her do extra credit so she didn’t really flunk-flunk, and she’s been getting some tutoring, but she’s still having trouble, so they want to send her away! And she doesn’t want to give up Academagia and the Fortuitous Fellowship and all the plants and animals and she really likes astrology…

 

It’s just not fair! So what if she’s not the best student? I sure she’d do great at a Music Academy: I know they usually take students a bit younger, but I’m sure the Vihuelan Academy would take her with open arms and she’d wow them even more then I did, but she belongs here with us! They can’t send her away! I promised I’ll figure out how to help her, and I will! I’m just not sure where to start…

 

Tabin says he can help her with Astrology a bit, and Z can help her with Athletics (as can I) and Zoology, and Silke’s gotten really good at Incantation (I’m not bad, either!), but tutoring hasn’t been that much of a help for her so far, so it’s a bit tricky.

 

I need to figure something out!

 

She seems to be a better mood now, though, at least. She’s been helping at the stables a lot again, and she’s been hanging out with Alan- I think she has a crusssshhh! Which, as he’s like, the only non-gross-ugly boy in Godina (Well, Z’s not gross and ugly either, just- sqooshy), that's pretty cool. She says it’s not like that, but she gets sort of red, so Silke agrees with me. It’s so cute!

 

Oh. Um. You really don’t need to tell dad this, but I sold my plant. And my two books, and the scroll and seed I picked up. I then paid my tuition to the Incantation school. I’ve been polishing a lot of armor and saving all the allowance I get by running out of the common room whenever Crillo walks in while sticking my fingers in my ears and singing really loudly. I still have a bit over 900 pims left.

 

I think it was a good investment, so… so you can tell dad that, if you have to tell him! I'm glad I did it!

 

Oh, as for the generally weird event of the week, some weird bird… man… cuckoo… thingy… wanted me to go steal a book from the library for him. I know I’ve done some things that were, um, kind of inappropriate this year- but I don’t steal! Especially not for weird bird-men-cuckoo-thingys!

 

I cast a spell called Little Delirium yesterday! I know the name sounds a bit mean, but it makes you really cheerful and happy! And there’s a lot of people I know who could use a bit of cheer.

 

Making the school a better place,

~ Kayley

 

PS: Vuillaume has been competing, so I’m talking to her again. Even though she’s a scary potion making crazy-face. We’re still so far behind, though… almost by twenty points, and I’ve been competing almost every day! It’s just not fair! Vernin has more students then we do, so it’s uneven. They should have all their points divided or something.

 

 

 

Week Twenty-Two

Random Event Duel 5, success (Wrestling)

Random Event Spellcasting 14, success (Theory of Glamour)

Random Event Thieves Guild 5, success (Persuasion/Sleuthing)

Merit Prize gained by Vernin on the 13th, curse them all!

Reload used to check some needed skills for future adventuring

A Clique New Addition- Magalda joined the Blasting Agents… seems the cliques have mostly settled by now (gosh, checking them each week is a pain… remind me not to do that for my next character XD)

 

 

15 Nivelos 1658

 

Dear Dad and Mam,

 

I know Mam told you, Dad, so I’ll speak straightly: I’ve been studying at the Incantation School, and I’ve been learning a lot. A lot of students say the work is really stressful, but it doesn’t bothered me at all. I also secured an invitation to the Incantors’ Workshop in the city. It would have been more useful earlier in the year, as it’s focused on the studying more then the practical, but it’s good to be allowed there if I need it for any reason, and I’m sure it’ll be helpful next year, too.

 

Anyway, I was talking with Tabin, and you know he’s smarter then most of his peers, shorter then most of the Morjerks, and not prone to being nasty or anything, right? Well apparently those second-years (I think?) have been trying to beat him up and steal his pims and they’re just so horrible! I can’t believe people are just so… mean! Me and him are going to find a way to make all those jerks stop!

 

Oh, and as for Z, he’s really convinced he can get on to the Rimbal team. I’m a little bit worried: he says he has ‘dirt’ on one of the players, which might be enough to get him ‘in’. I think Z definitely deserves to be on the team, but I know enough to know that dirt means blackmail. Z’s really sweet, and he’s a good player, so I don’t think he should do that all. I told him I'd help, so I'll talk him out of that and then we'll find a non-mean way to get him on the team. He’s been working really, really, really hard all year for this.

 

Anyway, I’ve been helping all my friends, so it was actually really nice to run in to Silke in the gardens one morning. She talked with Prof Regent Massioti about an idea she had, and he gave her the okay, and she wants my help! I never really talked about it much, but Silke’s really in to artsy type stuff… not really my thing, but I like admiring what she does. A lot of it’s done with glamour, as well as her eye for what just works. The project she’s working on is going to spruce up the grounds and make it more exciting! Like, it’s really boring going from class to class unless birds come after you or there are snakes or sick professor’s or bullies or potions and stuff like that. But me and her, we’re going to make it so going from class to class is ALWAYS like that!

 

We got right to work on that! There were these old stone gargoyle statues that just like, sat and stared. A bit of research, and then we made riddle statues! Now when you pass them, they ask you a riddle, and they know the right answer! It’s all magicky! Then we went to the next step! We taught daffodils to rearrange themselves in to images of those who pass them by… they even change color! I thought we’d need Katja’s help, in truth, but we managed it without her. We’re awesome!

 

Professor Ringraeyer is pretty great, too, even if she thinks my robes are ugly. I was having a bit of trouble following her spell in class, so I tried it my way, and it totally worked out even though I did it differently then her! I’m a Glamour genius! She’s usually pretty strict, so hearing her tell the class that I did so great was really encouraging!

 

Then when I was out in town, I found some poor guy in jail because some fraternity framed him. I know how mean other collages are… I guess it continues even when you get in to guilds and stuff as you get older. That's disappointing! I went and found his friends, and they went and got him out, though- at least I think. I got twenty pims for it, though! Not that I need money to do a good deed, but… it always helps!

 

Oh, and because I’m so helpful, I kinda sorta accidentally helped that Alfesan from Morjerk. I didn’t do it for him, though! It was just he and Gwendy were dueling and I didn’t want anyone to say that Gwendy only won because some outside cheater hid his wand. After he won, though, he came over and took my hand and raised it like I was the victor, too, which was sort of sweet which was really uncomfortable and weird.

 

…I still hate him, though! And all of the Morjerks!

 

Ugh, and then someone set up a prank that said ‘Kayley, you’re a dream wizard. Let’s swap some magic tips’ in the middle of the Sentate ball. I thought I was going to die of embarrassment, but… I guess sometimes you just have to live with it. They only talked about it for three days, anyway. Pranks are mostly good-natured at this school, so don't worry too much. Sort of like Bad Sprout! Best spell ever.

 

I’m sure you noticed, but I didn’t get to help Oan this week. There were just too many things going on! There’s Tabin’s trouble with those horrible jerks, Katja’s need of help with magic, Silke and my project to make the school much prettier, Z’s efforts to get on the team, Giares de Jerk and his Jerky friends… and I still need to head down to the bookstores, go back to the mountain, and go be more Elemental Warriorish… oh, and I heard something weird about the East Tower, and there was something about a dual, and there’s so many more places to explore and experiment....

 

How am I going to get everything done before the year ends? I need a spell to turn back time so I get a few extra weeks!

 

Trying to figure out what School of Magic that would be,

~ Kayley

 

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