fandomhigh | Defending Yourself Against Magic

With a bit of help from Jono, Bob had managed to make good use of the Danger Shop, and had decided to hold class in there from now on. The facilities were useful, but even if he only used the empty room, any failsafes it had could only be a good thing.

"So." He faced the students seriously. "There are many different types of magic, and probably more in other worlds that I'm not aware of. It would be useless to attempt to cover them all. However, just about all of them do have a few things in common."

He wrote in the air (backwards to himself, so they could read it). Materials. "Many types, including some spellcasting and all enchantment, require some sort of material. This can be anything from hair, to stone, to crystal, to..." He shrugged. "a piece of jewellery. Sometimes you can make do, but there are usually certain requirements to it. We'll go further into that later."

He wrote again. Focus. "Sometimes the materials are also the focus; more often, this is an item to help the one performing the magic to concentrate their will." He nodded at Anders' staff ~~assuming he's there~~. "A staff, a wand, a crystal - what it is is generally less important than what it represents to the caster. Again, we'll cover more later. For now, just know that you can almost always do without one, but the level of difficulty may increase exponentially."

One last word in the air. Will. "You might think this would go without saying, but unless you've got an artifact of some sort that's been previously enchanted, when dealing with magic, somebody has to be doing it. Call them a wizard, sorcerer, mage, magic-user, whatever you like. This item," he circled the word in the air, "is non-negotiable. It's the only thing that is."

He stepped around that word, eyeing it, and gave them a grim look. "This means that when defending yourself against active magic, the surest way to do so is to destroy the one responsible. It may not always be the most desirable, but it would be remiss of me not to mention it." He lightened up just a bit. "This doesn't have to mean killing them, of course. You could knock them out, or distract them, or find a way to make doing whatever it is they're doing less attractive to them. Blackmail sometimes works."

Well, it did!

"Mind you, it can be a bit more complicated, but it often isn't. So!" He clapped his hands together and gave them all a huge grin. "Brainstorming time! You've got a sorcerer doing very nasty things."

Look, there he was! Looking like Warden Morgan, because Bob wouldn't much mind seeing him beat up if it came to that. And, with the help of both the Danger Shop and Bob's illusions, looking very upset and throwing bolts around that narrowly missed everyone.

Once everyone had managed to duck and cover, Bob paused it mid-strike and grinned. "How do you intend to stop him?"

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"Because they don't like me!" Morgan scowled at her. "I know she's here somewhere! I'll tear the place apart if I have to!"

Elsa sighed a little and shook her head.

"There has to be a better way than this, Morgan. Like I said... you're being loud. They'd have to be deaf to not know you're here. You're... you're practically waving a sign that says, 'here I am, time to take her and go before I get to you.' You'll just end up looking forever, if you keep that up."

"They're already gone! They left her here, I know they did!" He sent another blast at a simulated wall, putting a hole in it.

"And... what if you hurt her?"

Elsa was quiet for a moment letting that sink in. And then she straightened up completely, and held out her hand to him.

If he wasn't real, she had nothing to fear.

"I'll help you. We can try every door until we find her. But if you drop a wall on her or hit her with that magic she won't be any better off, and you'll never be able to live with yourself. I know. Morgan... please. For her sake, stop. We'll find her."

Morgan narrowed his eyes at her skeptically, but slowly reached out and took her hand - and the simulation ended.

Bob gave a few slow claps. "Well done, Elsa. I believe you've defused the situation."

Elsa glanced over at Bob, unconsciously pulling the hand that 'Morgan' had taken to her breast and clasping it in her other one.

"I've negotiated with more rational dinosaurs before," she noted, a little wryly. "I'm just thankful it worked."

"Yes, well, lesson number one, addendum: sorcerers are people, too. Many and varied. And some with the brains of a four-year-old, courtesy of this room."

"And even four-year-olds can be dangerous," Elsa replied, a little more softly. "If you put power into the hands of anybody, there's the potential for danger, there."

She actually already knew that one.

"There is." Bob gave her a sober look. "Intentional or not. Age makes no-one any less deadly, for good or ill."

"In some cases, it might do very much the opposite," Elsa added, frowning. "A child who doesn't understand cause and effect, who might not understand that some consequences are more severe than others, could unwittingly do far more damage than an adult who can perceive that actions made now can carry repercussions that last a very long while."

She ducked her head a little.

"Like our friend Morgan, here, of course."

"Of course." Bob's smirk wasn't unkind.

He cleared his throat. "And should the real thing ever show up here, this simulation can be our little secret, I hope."

"I won't breathe a word of it," Elsa replied, smiling faintly. "Of course, I can't speak for my classmates..."

Oh, there was that little glimmer of mischief sneaking into her voice again.

"You'll have to convince them yourself."

"I'll give them all As. Or something. I'm sure I can find some sort of suitable bribe. I can be very convincing!"

Sometimes.

Defending Yourself Against Magic | Tuesday, 4th period

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