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The Upcoming Party

cymrean

By cymrean
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cymrean Newbie

cymrean

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Here's another RE I came up with using random exit selection. This time I decided to roll 4 skills do an investigation. Also for the 1st time, the vent has a prerequisite because the introductory text assumes you tried to pull a prank. So the Practical Jokes requirement seems to fit. The last exit involves a college skill so I closed it to non-Avila students. Enjoy!

 

Prereq: Practical Jokes 1

 

The Upcoming Party

You've been looking forward to tonight's party for over a week. Ever since @Random Student of Opposite Sex with high relation@ invited you using a complicated revision spell involving scented envelopes and signing birds you couldn't think about anything else.

 

Finally tonight's the night. All of today's classes have ended, you did your homework, you ate dinner in the Great Hall. You come back to your dorm room to prepare. New haircut, check. Breath freshener, check. A mild glamour spell to hide that persistent pimple, check. Your best robe and cloak, check. A leaking vial of Landlubber's Nightmare in your pocket, check. Wait, what vial and why is it so wet?

 

Great! You totally forgot that one time when you tried pulling a prank on #Random student with low relationship# using a liquid that induces nausea called Landlubber's Nightmare and now most of it is on your hand. Yikes, that stuff works through skin contact! You start feeling nauseous in a matter of seconds. You can't show yourself to @Random Student of Opposite Sex with high relation@ in this condition, but a visit in the infirmary will take time and you'll miss the party. You need to come up with a plan and soon or else all will be lost.

 

Exit 1: Negation Methods. Cast a spell. They are the best remedy for anything.

 

Success: A spell seems like the best solution. After all you are in a magic school and you want to become a wizard. But which pillar of magic is the best for the job. Revision? No it's too hard to target every molecule of a liquid substance, especially when it's already coursing through your bloodstream. You could also affect your blood and... Well it's too horrible to even think about.

 

With revision off the table, the only logical option is to use negation and target the effect not the substance itself. You draw two dispel phemes and quickly cast the appropriate spell. It seems to work, you feel normal, even better then normal. With regained confidence you go to the party where you and your friends have the best of times.

Reward: +1 Playfulness SS

 

Failure: A spell seems like the best solution. After all you are in a magic school and you want to become a wizard. But which pillar of magic is the best for the job? Negation, you assume. Even after a few minutes of intense thinking you can't come up with any reliable negation methods. You'll have to try another pillar.

 

You choose revision. As far as you know that would be the second best solution. Just change the nauseating liquid into something benign like water. Yes water never hurt anyone, has it?

 

Drawing phemes and casting the spell goes without a hitch, but about a minute afterwards you start feeling a burning sensation inside your arm. It soon spreads all over your body. You feel so much pain you just want to scream. Thankfully the infirmary is close. You rush over and explain to the nurse what you just did. She quickly gives you some foul-smelling potion and scolds you for trying to revise something that already was inside your bloodstream. You learned a lesson the hard way and missed the party. To add insult to injury @Random Student of Opposite Sex with high relation@ won't speak to you for a week.

Penalty: -1 Vitality, -1 relation with @Random Student of Opposite Sex with high relation@

 

Investigation: Filing. Didn't the vial of Landlubber's Nightmare come with an instruction? Find it among your notes!

 

Success: You have all of your papers organized in a clear system not that different from the one used in the Venalicium. You quickly find the piece of parchment that came with the vial. You read the section about antidotes and you know what to do.

Reward: opens up the biology exit (exit 2)

 

Failure: All of your papers are in such a state of disarray that you couldn't find what you need even if your dinner hadn't been trying to escape your stomach. You'll have to try to come up with something else and quick.

Penalty: none

 

Exit 2: Biology.

 

Success: The instruction says that any substance that has antacid properties can neutralize Landlubber's Nightmare in a matter of minutes. But what in your dorm has such properties?

 

Whoa, you're in luck. Not only do you remember reading in a biology textbook about a substance called Dragon Tears that has the desired property, it's also what you collected from Dragon Lilies on Ardica Lake today! You find the bottle and drink it entirely. You're not even at the party and you already had your first bottoms up.

 

The Tears work as advertised so nothing stops you from enjoying the rest of the evening. Which you do and it's the best fun you had since you came to the Academagia. Also your story makes for a good topic of conversation making you the star of the evening.

Reward: +1 Pure Luck SS, +1 relation with @Random Student of Opposite Sex with high relation@

 

Failure: The instruction says that any substance that has antacid properties can neutralize Landlubber's Nightmare in a matter of minutes. But what in your dorm has such properties?

 

Looking around your room you see Dragon Lilies, a type of flower you collected just today from Ardica Lake. If you remember correctly, they are an antacid. But how do you administer the antidote? You can't recall so you just shove the entire plant in your mouth and start chewing. It tastes horribly and does nothing to alleviate your pain!

 

Dejected you decide to stop trying and just go to the infirmary for some professional help. There you learn that eating the plant is a very bad idea, it can give you permanent warts! What you want is the dew from the plant called Dragon Tears. Now you'll know, but at what price! You missed the party and @Random Student of Opposite Sex with high relation@ won't speak to you for an entire week.

Penalty: +1 Stress, -1 relation with @Random Student of Opposite Sex with high relation@

 

Prereq: student of Avila

Exit 3: Pride of a Rebel Queen. WWQAD? (What would Queen Avila do?)

 

Success: What do you do when nothing else works and you've run out of ideas? Think about what your idol would do, that's what. As a proud student of the best college in Academagia that idol is of course the namesake of Avila, the Rebel Queen herself. She never bowed down to dragons, she never let anything force her to abandon her plans and neither will you.

 

You decide not to let such a trivial thing as nausea stop you from having a good time. You straighten your robe in front of the mirror, take a deep breath and make your way to the party. Upon arrival you quickly find the snack table and pour yourself something to drink. The liquid eases your stomach, you feel better for some time and when the nausea starts to return you just pour yourself a refill. It works every time.

 

You never had so much to drink during one night, but close proximity to the restroom means that it does not lessen your enjoyment of the evening. As the party ends the nauseating feeling is almost gone and you go back to your dorm to sleep the remaining discomfort off. Thank you, Queen Avila!

Reward: +1 Composure SS

 

Failure: What do you do when nothing else works and you've run out of ideas? Think about what your idol would do, that's what. As a proud student of the best college in Academagia that idol is of course the namesake of Avila, the Rebel Queen herself. She never bowed down to dragons, she never let anything force her to abandon her plans and neither will you.

 

You decide not to let such a trivial thing as nausea stop you from having a good time. You straighten your robe in front of the mirror, take a deep breath and make your way to the party. You arrive at the scene clutching your stomach, but you dismiss your friend's questions about your wellbeing and make your way to the snack table to find something to take your mind off the sick feeling.

 

Cookies! You love cookies, they always make you feel better so why wouldn't they now? Shortly after you finish your first chocolate-chip cookie your stomach makes a somersault and you just can't fight it anymore. You give in and you don't even manage to turn away from the table. Not only is your dinner not in your stomach anymore, but it's all over the carefully prepared snack table! You ruined what was supposed to be the best day since your arrival in Academagia. That's definitely not something Queen Avila would do.

Penalty: +1 Stress, -1 Endurance SS, -1 relation with @Random Student of Opposite Sex with high relation@

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cymrean Newbie

cymrean

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That would be funny, but I also like that I was able to delve into the specifics of how magic works in this setting and how revision really seems the wrong choice in such a situation. It's really frightening how one could easily kill someone (including yourself) with magic. It's lucky we're still 1st years.

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Draigh Newbie

Draigh

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I liked the event, although I don't understand how the exits have to do with the mentioned skills in this one. For example you have the Negation Methods exit, but in the failure you are doing Revision magic instead (so you are not failing negation methods, but doing something completely different).

 

Also the Pride of a Rebel Queen exit seems to be more about your ability to resist the nausea. Perhaps cutting the exit in two (as with the filing/biology one) with the PotRQ check revealing a small anecdotal event of the RQ who was strong despite being ill at that time and giving you a temporary bonus in resisting it, which is a different (then revealed?) exit.

 

Otherwise, my respects for writing it.

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cymrean Newbie

cymrean

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That's kind of the trouble with forcing specific skills as an exit. You have to bend some stuff to fit it in. The negation methods exit I envisioned as a failure to find a negation based method thus going for another school of magic. I saw it not as failing revision, but choosing a method that's impractical. Targeting something that's already mixed with blood. Maybe it should be stated explicitly in the text. The last exit does sounds more like willpower, but those college skills tend to be more vague as to what would they affect. Maybe going the same route as biology with remembering a cure from an anecdote about Queen Avila.

 

Thanks for reading, I have two sets of exits to try and come up with more events lined up. Rewriting probably depends on the Legate. If he already passed it on the content team or not. No point in rewriting in the 1st case. :)

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