Novus Magus Academy - Episode 1

[sabata2]

Ohhh man this is so cool. Magic. REAL MAGIC!
They may be totally pulling the wool over your eyes, but for now, just for now, you're going to believe them whole heartedly.
Because if you think about it, THEY invited you here. THEY run a magical school. If both of those are true, then YOU have some magical ability!

Victor: Ohh man, I'm so excited. When do we start?!

?????: There's still an orientation to go through. I mean granted you could skip it to start your studies on your own, but classes won't start for a couple of days. I've read up on some of what the classes are and I think I'm going to go to the orientation.

?????: Yeah dude, calm your shit. You're jumping up and down like a grasshopper on crack. Be happy that we're no longer waiting.

Victor: You're- you're right, I really do need to calm down. But it's so exciting! Just imagining the things possible. Super strength, extreme senses, instant ability. I feel like I'd have to make myself a superhero costume. I doubt I'd be able to make something with as good of quality as what you're currently wearing but I-

The young man grabs your shirt by the neck and pulls you close. A very angry growl seething through his teeth.



?????: Say that again... I DARE YOU to call it a costume again.

Oh shit. Quick, think of something to diffuse the situation.

Continue.

[PinkMawile]

> Realize for some reason everyone is wearing the same uniform/clothes... What happened to your old clothes?

> This response from him is unusual, it seems as though the comment of a costume is derogatory rather than simply wrong. Perhaps you can gain an insight to not only this eared and tailed person, but also the culture where he is from.

> Don't waste time pondering it all though, you can do that later. Right now you need to defuse the situation before you lose face (literally). Act confused, not scared (scared might imply you were trying to act tough without anything to back it up), admit that you made a callous remark based on ignorance, and explain that you've never seen anyone with a physiology like his.

[Xindaris]

>Fools obey dares. Agree to never say that again.

I am contractually obligated to like this adventure more for the existence of a form of werewolves in it.

[aattss]

>He's surprised that someone would think that's a costume? It's safe to assume that he doesn't have a lot of experience with normal people.

>May you please not do whatever pops up in your head? It would help prevent getting killed.

Edit:

>Fools obey dares. Agree to never say that again.

I am contractually obligated to like this adventure more for the existence of a form of werewolves in it.

Werewolves are completely normal people by day and giant bloodthirsty berserker wolves by night. In fact, I just realized I forgot something.

>Do not, in any way, refer to him or describe him as a furry or a werewolf or whatnot.

[Xindaris]

Werewolves are completely normal people by day and giant bloodthirsty berserker wolves by night. In fact, I just realized I forgot something.

'Werewolf' just means man-wolf, so it can refer in general to any being who possesses certain traits of wolves and certain traits of humans. That's how I'm using the word here, rather than any specific mythos' interpretation of it (which includes historical myth as well as numerous original fantasy interpretations).

But I do agree with the command to not use any such words that could conceivably turn out to be racist.

[sabata2]

What happened to your old clothes?

>Is staring down a knuckle sandwich.
>First reaction is about the populous' and own fashion.

THEY WERE LEFT AT HOME. THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU SHOULD BE THINKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW!!~

It seems as though the comment of a costume is derogatory rather than simply wrong. Perhaps you can gain an insight to not only this eared and tailed person, but also the culture where he is from.

Wait, that's right. That isn't the reaction of 'you got it wrong', that was 'that was insulting'.

Victor: It's not a...-

The man's eyes gaze gets ever sharper.

So, if it's not a costume... It's real?
You were just hit with 'Magic exists' not 30 minutes ago. And now sentient non-human humanoids as well?

Victor: A-are those... real?

?????: Of course they are! I've been growing them for the past 18 years!

Victor: Are you a werew-

Do not use any words that could conceivably turn out to be racist. (a furry or a werewolf or whatnot)

Shit... kinda committed to that one...

Victor: ...olf?

The man squints his eyes. His snarl becoming much, much deeper.

?????: What of it?

...

Werewolf.

...

He's a werewolf.

HOLY SHIT THIS IS AWESOME!
You can't help the immense smile that crosses your face.



Victor: Dude... that's unbelievably awesome.

?????: W-what?

Victor: I'm still riddled with the mental twistings of whether or not I'm actually being lied to about magic existing, but you... you're flat out physical proof of magical beings.

His demeanor has completely changed. He's no longer holding your shirt.

Victor: You have got to be the single coolest person I've seen ever. I mean... DUDE! You have NO IDEA how awesome this is!

?????: Y-you're NOT going to look down on me for not being human?

Victor: Why would I? I see the pin on your shirt too, that means you got accepted just as I did. Why would I treat you like anything besides another student?

?????: Chase.

Victor: Excuse me?

Chase: My name. It's Chase.

Victor: Oh, I'm Victor. Nice to finally know your name Chase!

Chase: You sure are a weird one... but it is nice to bump into someone like you first day here.



?????: *sigh* I'm glad that turned out the way it did. I really don't like it when people fight in front of me. Come on you guys, Professor Wonderbrooke has started moving everyone inside.

Victor: Oh right. Do you know where he's taking us?

?????: Likely to our dormitories. I wouldn't be surprised if he's doing all he can to help get us acclimated to our new surroundings.

Victor: You think he'd be up for answering some questions?

?????: Well... More than likely he's going to have his hands full with the student who's dorm he's currently at. In the meantime I'm sure the two of us wouldn't mind answering questions for you.

Chase: Sure... why not? Could be interesting.



The three of you cross the threshold, and you are once again surrounded by walls.
It's surprising, but the entire mass of 'students' are able to fit in this tiny place.
You're kinda at the 'back of the line' though.
It may take a while till he gets to any of the three of you, and it's highly unlikely that he's going to move very far from where he is in the meantime.

>May you please not do whatever pops up in your head? It would help prevent getting killed.

No promises. With that recent bout with your Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, it's likely that your BPD may kick up again too...

Continue.

[The_Fool]

Use your suave singing voice to completely disarm him. Remember that music soothes the savage beast... (shhh don't say anything :P)

[Kocel232]

Regret accidentally gluing your hand to the back of your head. You're never playing with super glue again. EVER.
Also, question for your new friends: "What're your names, by the way? I'm Victor."

[Naristar]

Ask the girls name already!
tell her she smells nice

[aattss]

Use your suave singing voice to completely disarm him. Remember that music soothes the savage beast... (shhh don't say anything :P)

What's the point of this again?

Btw

>Are you diagnosed with OCD by a medical professional, or do you just call it that?

[Ouroboros]

> Ask the girl what that book she's holding is

[sabata2]

What's the point of this again?

Due to my format of grabbing a post slot with "Now Loading...", setting up my links, and then editing in the story, sometimes people will post suggestions AFTER I've started writing.

He was trying to suggest a way to calm Chase.
Look at the post times. He got in RIGHT after I posted the place holder.

[apatheticEnigma]

> Victor: Question that you may not have O.C.D. afterall. I mean, you've just teleported to a school where werewolves are normal, so chances are you're not normal.

[Xindaris]

>Might as well ask the girl's name so the dialog doesn't have so many question marks everyone knows who everyone is.

[sabata2]

Victor: Alright, thanks. I don't really have many off the top of my head though, lemme think a bit.

Okay, questions, questions...

Are you diagnosed with OCD by a medical professional, or do you just call it that?

Nah, this was medically diagnosed. It compounds with your BPD to become sporadic and infrequent, but extreme. Typically you can control your BPD problems so that your OCD doesn't flare up as much.
But that's not a question for either of these two to answer.

You may not have O.C.D. afterall. I mean, you've just teleported to a school where werewolves are normal, so chances are you're not normal.

An interesting question, but not really something you want to commit brain cycles to right now.
These two wouldn't be able to answer that, and now is question time for these two.

Ask the girl what that book she's holding is

Victor: I'm actually rather curious as to what you're reading. You mentioned that you had read up a bit on what we're going to be learning before.

?????: Oh this? It's actually a family heirloom. It's basically like an eReader, but it works as an actual book. I prefer the crinkle of the pages to the dull smoosh of a touch screen.

Victor: Wait, how does it pull that off? I haven't heard anything about electronic paper in recent news. And even then that has to have a limited amount of pages, what if the book you're trying to read is too large for the heirloom.

?????: You were just teleported to a college campus, and are standing next to a lycan, and your first instinct is technology?

Victor: Oh...

?????: Hehehe. Cute, but you seem to have a lot of acclimating to do. No, this book has special runes on it tied to a summoning spell. Anything on the other side of the summon can be sampled and recreated inside this book's bindings.

Victor: That's incredible! What actual story are you reading?

?????: Just the daily updates on magical medicine.

Victor: Like their attempts at combating the big bugs like AIDS or Cancer?

?????: Attempts? Those have already been cured. Current research is on mutation restructuring and advanced temporary evolution.

Victor: Wait, they've been CURED? Why doesn't the general populace know about this?!



She shifts her gaze from you.

?????: ...

Victor: Did I bring up a touchy subject? I-I didn't know.

?????: It's alright. You couldn't possibly have known.

Victor: I myself have a few things I don't like to bring up. And I know how hard it can be to get back to regular after having the topic forced onto you...

Man, you may have screwed up there. But that's some seriously troubling information. The magical world apparently has cured some of the scariest diseases the developed world has had to face, but they can't tell them for some reason.
But right now the bigger problem is this girl. You don't know what it was that drastically changed her mood but you seriously need to divert the conversation away from where it is.

Ask the girls name already!

Victor: There is one other thing I'd like to ask you though.

?????: Yes?

Victor: I'd like to know your name. If I'm going to say sorry, the least I could do is get your name right.

You reach out your hand in friendship.

?????: Sarah. My name is Sarah Connolly.

Your hand meets hers, and you both shake.

Victor: Ms. Connolly, I'm sorry for any pain I may have caused you, and I do hope you'll forgive me.

A smile crosses Sarah's face.



Victor: There, that's better. What kind of man would I be if the first girl I met on campus started crying because of me?

Sarah coughingly laughs and rubs her eyes.

Sarah: Well, I'd have to say you would have to be a very lonely man then.



Chase: Hey, lovebirds. I know how touching shared experiences can be, but it's about time for us to go find that white haired old guy. That dude moves fast.

You look around to find that most of the students have gone. You were so interested in your new-found friends that you didn't pay attention to where everyone else was moving.
There's doorways to the north, east, and west of you. Southwards is the gateway you initially passed through.

Explore OR Continue.

[The_Fool]

-Question the fact that you're in a magical world, going to a school for magic. Do you have some latent abilities?

-Try to make magic-

[sabata2]

Supplemental Material:

The latest update ends expecting exploration. Exploration Updates will be updated as soon as I awake tomorrow, and will be updated much more frequently, but at the same time have less information in them.
Action commands from this point forward will still be taken into consideration once exploration has stopped.


And the world is moving outside of you actions.
So far your collective actions have caused:

You to postpone your first meeting with the other 'Forum playable' character in this story
You to postpone your first meeting with the games' main character
You to miss the first major interaction between those 'in the know' and those outside.
You to salvage two friendships in a situation designed to lose one


There are going to be situations that will occur or not occur based on your selections. But that doesn't mean you'll ever be stuck "with nothing to do".

[aattss]

-Question the fact that you're in a magical world, going to a school for magic. Do you have some latent abilities?

-Try to make magic-

You have no idea:

1. Whether or not you have latent abilities. Thinking you have latent abilities will make you overestimate yourself, which can get you killed.
2. How to make magic. You have no idea what to do in order to try to make magic. Also, you'd probably embarasse yourself. There's about one way to make magic and a million to fail. Not to mention that "making magic" might even by "cast a fireball" or "blow up the whole school", as far as you know.

[sabata2]

*Was expecting a command to go north, east, or west by this point*

Well, I'll check back every hour.

[aattss]

Supplemental Material:
So far your collective actions have caused:

You to postpone your first meeting with the other 'Forum playable' character in this story
You to postpone your first meeting with the games' main character
You to miss the first major interaction between those 'in the know' and those outside.
You to salvage two friendships in a situation designed to lose one

Questions:

1. Is the main character the other forum playable character, or will we have to indirectly affect what the main character does?
2. Is the main character one of the "outside" characters?

Comments:

1. We only postponed the meetings, so we'll be able to do it later anyway.
2. We won't gain as much knowledge mixing with the people who don't know anything instead of the people who do know anything, so missing that interaction wasn't a big loss.

Edit:Also, we should go north, unless we find out where the library is.

[Xindaris]

>Go whichever way Chase suggests going.

[sabata2]

We should go north, unless we find out where the library is.

It's very possible we could run into the library, assuming there is one here, but let's start with going North, the prototypical 'forwards'.
You pop open your superhero watch to find out which direction is North only to find the needle constantly spinning.

Victor: Well... shit. I was planning on going northwards but as you can see, my compass clearly doesn't work.

Go whichever way Chase suggests going.

Victor: Chase, where were you thinking about trying to find him?

Chase: Well, last we saw him, he was at the exact opposite of this courtyard, so that way.

Done and done. From now on, that direction is North, and opposite it is South. Your impeccable inner sense of direction will cause you to never forget these headings.

You move North. 5 minutes pass.



You enter a hallway with a bunch of doors and some stairs obviously leading to the higher floors.
To your north are the row of doors.
To your east and west are two large double doors.
To your south is the courtyard you just left.

In your current location there are:
A large body of students and...


Well... that was quick and easy.

Keep Exploring, or Continue?

Continue.

[aattss]

>Keep exploring.

[sabata2]

>Keep exploring.

Need a direction.



Extra supplemental:

During the last "full update" there were a LOT of the commands I wanted to act on, but they wouldn't flow well with how the story was going. I WILL be readdressing them later.

Questions:

1. Is the main character the other forum playable character, or will we have to indirectly affect what the main character does?
2. Is the main character one of the "outside" characters?

You'll have to find out. But I will say this, Victor is pretty close to "Main character #2"

[Naristar]

continue