A Witch's Tale IC

[NeoSeraphi]

"Hah! I would rather chop my own ears off than listen to another ten minutes of that screeching..."

They sit down and begin eating together. Yvette begins talking about a book the two of them promised to read over the summer. This fills Rachel with relief. Finally, she's back together with someone who understands her.

But...there's something nagging in the back of Rachel's mind. Maybe she should try connecting with her friend more instead of falling back into their usual slump immediately?

She seemed hesitant to talk about her trip to the beach earlier. Maybe Rachel could get her to open up about it?

Spoiler

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If you choose to try and talk more about the beach trip you will need to make a Diplomacy check. Failure will increase your Rivalry score with Yvette. A Rivalry score symbolizes a rift between Rachel and her friends. If the characters Rivalry score meets their Affection score their base attitude becomes Indifferent. Exceeding the score by 5 makes them unfriendly, they may turn hostile if provoked at 10 or greater.

If you don't want to make the check Rachel can take the safe route. Safe routes will preserve her friendships, but never deepen them.

[Diachronos]

After a moment, Rachel decides to take the plunge. Nothing ventured, nothing gained... "Did you enjoy your trip to the beach over vacation?"

Spoiler: Diplomacy

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(1d20+3)[4]

[NeoSeraphi]

Yvette frowns and shifts a bit in her seat. "I said it was fun. It's not anything particularly special. Let's just talk about the book, okay? What did you think about it?"

Rachel gets the feeling Yvette is hiding something from her, but it's probably best not to press too hard right now. Maybe if she had more Expression...

After lunch, Rachel heads back to her dorm. It's a little early in the semester to hit the books, but Rachel pretty much lives inside books, so she'd be happy to study. Alternatively, she could sneak out of the dorm and explore a bit, but she would get in trouble if she got caught by a teacher. Or, she could just go to sleep early tonight.

[Diachronos]

Studying can wait, and Rachel's confident that she'll do well on her exams this year. She decides to head out and see if anything has changed around the campus since they'd all left for vacation.

[NeoSeraphi]

Rachel wanders around in the dark for a bit, checking out the classroom buildings, the forest, the edge of the grounds and the dorms.

After thirty minutes she finds herself directly behind the Vampire Dorm. She hears a rustle of the grass. Someone is walking towards her! She has to hide!

[Diachronos]

In a panic, Rachel finds a dark corner to squeeze into, hoping that nobody will spot her.

Spoiler: Stealth

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(1d20+1)[21]

[NeoSeraphi]

Rachel successfully manages to hide. She sees someone walk into the back yard. It's that girl from before!

The girl sits down and lets her snake crawl down onto the ground. She draws a pentagram in the grass with blood and begins to chant. A sinister power begins gathering in the pentagram. A black magic ritual!

[Diachronos]

Rachel gulps. She shouldn't be here, she shouldn't be seeing this. How will the girl react if she catches her? Will she be reported to the headmistress? ...Would she even live that long?

But with where she is... she can't move without the risk of being seen. And if she's spotted, it could break the girl's concentration and cause some kind of backlash with the ritual.

Biting her lip, Rachel settles in to wait, figuring that it would be safer to risk moving after the girl has completed her task.

[NeoSeraphi]

The girl chants in a dark language that Rachel has no knowledge of, and a small creature with a spaded tail appears in the circle.

The two of them speak together in that strange language for a time, and then the creature disappears.

The girl stands up and yawns, heading back inside. Rachel rushes back to her room and rests for the night.

[Diachronos]

Rachel sighs with relief as she sits down on her bed. "That was too close..." She gets ready for bed, taking a few minutes to trim her nails. The accursed things grew in quick and sharp, and she'd learned from a young age to keep them managed so she wouldn't hurt anybody. It didn't help that they were tough and resistant to being managed...

What was that girl doing? Some kind of deal with an outsider or other dark being? And for what purpose? She sighs, suddenly wishing that she'd focused more on the common outsider languages than the unusual languages that few people ever speak. She could always just ask, but... no, that's a stupid idea. Then she'd have to admit that she was (unintentionally) spying on the girl, and how would she prove that she hadn't understood a word that they'd said?

Then there was the matter of Yvette... It had been probably the best way for her to learn that she really doesn't know anything about talking to other people about things other than shared interests. I guess I'll have to find something to help me learn better social skills...

[NeoSeraphi]

The next day, Rachel gets up and heads to her class.

Rachel's class on Tuesday is Mathematical Formulas and Complex Somatic Components. The class is designed to teach newer students (she's only in her second year) how to carefully perform the somatic components of spells. Her professor, Mina Azlanti, steps into the room.

Spoiler

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"Welcome to Mathematical Formulas, witches and wizards. My name is Mrs. Azlanti and I'm here to instruct you all on how to properly cast and maintain spells even when they are particularly...strenuous." She smiles and walks over to Rachel. "Miss Denethar! So happy to see you in my class this year. Would you kindly demonstrate the proper technique for casting a detect magic spell?"

[Diachronos]

Rachel pales a little, and hesitantly stands up. After taking a moment to clear her thoughts, she goes through the motions to cast the spell.

[NeoSeraphi]

Everyone watches her, and as all eyes are on her, Rachel gets nervous. But she fights through the stage fright and successfully casts the spell.

A few students clap approvingly, but most just shrug. It's not that hard, right?

"Now I'm sure many of you have already mastered this spell, but what is important is being able to cast spells not simply practicing in your dorm room, but under the pressure of battle. We cannot simulate that here for you today, but Miss Denethar is a particularly shy young girl and she still managed to show her skills flawlessly. Well done!"

Rachel has managed to grow a bit as a person! Her Courage increases!

[Diachronos]

She sits back down once the lesson continues, wishing that she'd picked a seat at the back of the class where she wouldn't have to feel everyone's eyes on her.

[NeoSeraphi]

After class, Rachel starts walking to lunch. She pulls out one of her favorite books, The Hero of Time, and picks up where she left off. Ooh, she's at the best part! The evil lord has appeared, having captured the princess, but the Hero of Time has managed to find the legendary sword which will slay all -

*BUMP*

Rachel walks smack dab into something. Ow! What is this...a wall? She gazes upwards...and upwards...and upwards.

Spoiler

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Not a wall. The rock hard chest of an upperclassman, who stands nearly a foot taller than her.

"Oops. Sorry about that. You okay?" he asks with a smile.

[Diachronos]

Rachel's cheeks turn beet-red as she looks up into the young man's face. An upperclassman, and a handsome one at that! WhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdo?! It takes a few seconds for his words to register in her mind; when they do, all she manages is a tiny nod. "S...sor..."

[NeoSeraphi]

"What? No, you don't need to apologize. I wasn't looking where I was -"

"Hey Lance!"

"Lance, hurry up!"

"We can't practice without you, Lance!"

He turns behind him and waves. "Be right there, guys!"

The boy turns back to Rachel and smiles apologetically. "I need to get going. But it was really nice meeting you. I'm Lance. Maybe I'll see you at the fencing club sometime, if you or one of your friends joins. We're always looking for new members."

[Diachronos]

Rachel nods. "I'm... Rachel..."

Maybe she should join the fencing club this year... Dad has been getting after me to get a little more exercise... That's a good enough incentive, isn't it?

[NeoSeraphi]

The boy shakes her hand and runs off.

Rachel eats lunch alone, her head still spinning after that encounter. When lunch ends, she thinks about where she should head next. She could go see Yvette and try to apologize for what happened at lunch yesterday. She could go find Ciel and see how his first day went. Or she could wander about for a while and see what happens to her.

[Diachronos]

Rachel figures that Yvette may want a little space after what happened yesterday, so she pushes that idea aside for now. Ciel might be having a rough time, so she should probably go see him... but would he be upset over her for that. Maybe I'll give him a couple more days to settle in before checking on him...

She heads to see what clubs are being held on campus. Rachel had avoided them last year, so she doesn't know what to expect.

[NeoSeraphi]

Rachel finds a sign that reads "Club Recruiting Drive - Second Tuesday of the Semester". Seems like the clubs need a week to prepare before they're ready to accept new members, but Rachel will likely be able to see all the clubs on display next week. She'll have to remember to skip lunch and come here instead.

As she walks, Rachel nearly fails to notice a toad standing in the grass. She almost steps on the poor thing, but stops herself in time. The toad gazes up at her. "Ribit." It turns around and hops away, towards the forest.

[Diachronos]

Rachel watches the toad leave. Something seemed off about it... she scans it with detect magic.

[NeoSeraphi]

The toad is a magical beast, likely someone's familiar.

[Diachronos]

Rachel kneels to pick up the toad. "You shouldn't be on the ground like that, little guy. Somebody might step on you." She smiles at the little familiar. "I can take you back to your partner, just point the way."

[NeoSeraphi]

The toad gestures to the large forest ahead. The Covenant Forest...it's said that a group of hag witches own that land and that is why the students are forbidden from setting foot in there. But there's no way a crazy rumor like that could be true.

[Diachronos]

Rachel hesitates. There's no way that they'd let hags reside on the Academy's campus, right? That would be crazy! Then again... they let her in, and she's half-hag.

She carries the toad toward the forest. I'll go in, drop off the toad, and come right back out. Quick and simple!

[NeoSeraphi]

As Rachel approaches the forest, she can hear a weak voice crying out.

"Help? Help...help...please someone help," it calls faintly.

The toad ribits urgently.

[Diachronos]

Rachel gasps and hurries forward. Someone's hurt! "Hello? Hello, can you hear me?!"

[NeoSeraphi]

A girl her age is lying on the ground with a twisted ankle. "P-please...someone...is there anyone there?" she asks, looking around.

[Diachronos]

Rachel walks up. "Are you okay?" She sets the toad down while she checks on the girl.