[WORLD ONE | DING DONG THE FISH IS DEAD]

[spellbindmods]

Who: Coven members and the Palai
Where: Celebrating the Uvi going boom-boom
When: Day 67
Open/Closed: Open to All
OOC Note:

The initial setting information found here should be utilized for threads here.

There's no official OOC account for the Palai people. You're free to roleplay their actions and reactions on your own, as in depth as you want -- asking questions, hand-waved interactions, becoming best friends. The new world is your oyster!

For decades, the Palai have had to deal with the threat of the Uvi invading their homes, killing their families and returning 30 days later. After the coven found their way to Aimintas, the Palai found that the threat wasn't so...threatening. After the last attack, with many more Palai lost as compared to previous Uvi instances, some Palai had lost hope. Now, after seeing their nemesis blown to bits and falling out of the ocean, their faith in safety is restored. While the Uvi are still committed (by and large) to learning more about barriers and other forms of safety, the time for focusing on serious things has passed. It will return, but tonight? They celebrate. Unlike their last, shrimpy festival, this party has a lot more going for it. The Palai have had time to process the events and prepare themselves for a grand celebration. The Palai know how to party, but you ain't seen nothin' like this. A ▢ As a birthday tradition, the Palai give the birthday lizard a special concoction. It contains Elto energy and a combination of found herbs that can easily be located in Aimintas. When these herbs are combined with the Elto energy, they create a sort of...hallucinogenic experience. It's supposed to feel extremely relaxing and give the Palai pleasant visions, but in human bodies it's essentially just getting high. There are vials of these being passed around like candy, so don't worry about anyone running out. B ▢ Despite the adults getting lit, there are obviously a lot of baby Palai on the lose. Responsible coven members who have their own babies will have the ability to let them run wild and play with their lizardy cousins. If you want to spend time with your baby, the nursery caretakers have platters of crackers with mushy foods adorning them -- these are essentially candy to a tiny Palai. They may also be tempted by other foods present at the festivities, but you can avoid them getting a tummy ache if you have a watchful eye. C ▢ Speaking of food, there certainly is a lot of it. There are large grills being heated by the newly found bone structures. These hold shrimp and fish, grilled vegetable skewers and other foods. Instead of the Palai doing the serving, the coven members and other Palai are instead encouraged to utilize their own raw ingredients (which includes several large sharks, dolphins, etc.) in whatever fashion they choose. It's essentially a "build-your-own-kabob" station with no limits. D ▢ Because the party is lasting on into the night, some Elto have decided to light the marketplace with some of the bone structures they found by powering them and inserting them into small cloth bags that they then magically levitate around. While they provide a powerful light source that can increase the party's longevity, they're also floating live wires. Bump into one of these and you'll get a nasty shock! This is doubly concerning since Palai babies are fascinated by following these floating "toys." E ▢ The Palai, feeling more familial and supportive of their ideals than ever, haven't let go of the whole family/romance pushing on the coven. Their newest attempt is a bit of a prank (probably due to high Palais) who have taken magic bone structures and tied thick strings to the spines that poke out of them. At the end of these strings are loops that they're quickly slipping around the wrists of coven members they find. You may find that you're suddenly magically connected to someone -- or two other people if you're lucky enough -- by a magical thread that's VERY hard to slip out of or break. F ▢ Wildcard Part 1: Other previous party prompts can also be considered here, from the rolls that make magic go haywire to the aged liquor that causes a bit more than a headache. G ▢ Wildcard Part 2: Any prompt you like!

Comments

G is for science!

[teratias]

[It has sure been an Evening. Satisfied with everything, especially the food, Waver heads back to the coven's house ready to be done for the evening. Except there's something that catches his eye and....


...Al!

And bones!

Okay, weird combination, but Waver walks over, intrigued. He's still intrigued by Al' alchemy, and Waver suspects that this is the start of research.]


Find anything interesting about them?

it is if you believe!

[alphonse]

Nothing I can be sure of yet, but they've got a lot of potential as an energy source.

[Something occurs to him then, and he looks up sharply. Waver's from a world where magic and alchemy coexist, so he's pretty much the perfect guy to run this kind of thing by.]

Did you ever work with anything similar back home? Something that could be used an amplifier for magic?

[teratias]

I can't say I have, but amplifiers? That's feasible.

[It'd be a little bullshitted, but that's normal enough. Waver rubs his chin, thoughtful.]

The thing is you don't want to amplify too much, or you'll cause an overload. First step would be to find the right balance.

[alphonse]

Like what happened to the Uvi?

[It's less extreme, but he also thinks of the physical effects he's observed in some people when they use their magic, how completely drained it leaves them.]

Maybe I'm still thinking of magic as too much like alchemy.

[What a shock.]

[teratias]

Exactly.

[But as for magic versus alchemy, Waver frowns.]

That isn't a bad mindset though. Magic has to have rules, right? Otherwise it's not going to function. So the best thing to do would be to establish some baselines before attempting modifications. This is just like any other experiment.

[alphonse]

I like it better when I can actually read the rules instead of getting shocked and hoping for the best.

[Wryly, though, because Waver isn't wrong. He has to count on magic being fundamentally logical if he's going to pursue this.]

What I really need to do is find a way to apply magical energy to alchemy. I thought something like this would be an easy place to start since it's basically already a concentrated power source.

[teratias]

I could try and find some insulated gloves for safety's sake.

[But there's something else to pursue, even more than rubber.]

That makes sense. But understanding how that works is the most important bit...can your alchemy just break stuff down, to a point where you might have a blueprint of an item or the things an item is made up of?

[alphonse]

Not exactly. To deconstruct something, you have to understand it first.

[He holds the Elto structure up as he talks.]

Maybe I could break down the parts that are biological, but I'm not sure if it would be safe or tell us anything interesting on its own.

[teratias]

[Waver taps his finger top his chin. They need another angle.]

What if we expose it to extreme heat and cold first, to see how it reacts to those kinds of environments? Think that might be useful?

[alphonse]

The Palai don't seem to have a much better idea of how these things work than we do, so anything concrete we can leave them with has potential.

[If there's an actual lab anywhere in the city, he tragically hasn't found it.]

Are you interested in trying?

[teratias]

[Waver nods enthusiastically.]

I wouldn't be hanging out here if I wasn't.

[alphonse]

Okay.

[Let's magiscience!! He offers Waver the Elto structure he's holding.]

First, do you want to get a feel for how it interacts with your magic in normal conditions?

[teratias]

Yeah.

[Waver takes the structure carefully. It smarts a bit, which means he places it down on the ground then crouches over it. Easier, and safer.

After a few moments, Waver unlocks his own magic circuits, and channels the enegry towards the structure. It's a matter of seeing what happens, and almost immediately, he gets some kind of feedback. That feedback proceeds to snap, to spark, and to then blow Waver back just a bit so that he lands on his ass.]

Ow!

[alphonse]

[Al's not immune to magical feedback so much as it's just an incredibly difficult thing to categorize and observe. Someone with an actual human body is infinitely more likely to produce useful data, so he watches Waver with interest.

...And then that happens. Well! Al hurries over and offers a hand up.]

Are you okay?

[teratias]

Yeah, I think.

[Waver grabs the hand offered and hauls himself up, pausing just long enough to dust off hi rear.]

That thing's almost pure energy. You could power anything with it for months at a time.

[alphonse]

And all that from just one.

[He stares at the structure for longer than necessary and sighs to himself. Things that could solve his problems are Cursed.]

Do you think you could draw the power out more gradually?

[teratias]

Probably. You'd have to...hm. Build roadblocks into the system though to make it work that way though. At least, that'd be my guess based off of how this thing behaves.

[alphonse]

Is that something you've done before?

[teratias]

Not even slightly. You?

[alphonse]

[That gets a laugh.]

Transmutation circles can route the flow of power, but it's not the same thing.

I'm not giving up yet, but if it turns out that Eltos are the only ones who can tap into them directly, it'd be better to leave all the bones with the Palai no matter what.

[teratias]

Could you possibly join two transmutation circle together? One to route the flow of power, and then the other to provide power to a device? It'd be like a very long wire for eletricity.

[Bit of a stretch, but magi-science is a brand new field after all!]

Yeah, I don't really know what Qri wants with these, but it feels wrong to have hung out to wait for these things to fall out of the sky, especially since they're remains of the dead.

[alphonse]

That's the idea behind alkahestry, but I'm about as good at that as I am at magic.

[Entirely too much *~just go with it~*ness. At the mention of Qri, though, he drops any pretense of lightness.]

Coming to this world at this time... Nothing about it feels right.

[teratias]

Then let's build off of what you do know, and see what takes and what doesn't.

[Waver shakes his head. Qri, it always comes back to Qri.]

It really doesn't.

[alphonse]

Well... [He paces a few steps near the structure, swinging his arm out in a broad gesture as he talks.] Instead of drawing energy directly from the earth, alkahestry is more about... redirecting it. Moving it across the natural flow.

[Translating that to magic seems like a stretch, unless...]

Waver.

[In a frighteningly cheery tone that definitely means you're about to be asked to do something stupid.]

Go stand over there.

[He points to a few feet away from the bone, so at least it's probably not dangerous?]

[teratias]

[Waver's heard that tone before. But you know what? He's also aware that he invited this, and so he has to do it. Shuffles over to where Al's pointing, more curious than alarmed for his own safety.]

What are you thinking?