Fandom High Welcome Picnic, Front Lawn of the School, All Day

[bigdamnprincipal]

Whoever worked the weather magic around here had done an excellent job to make sure things were nice outside for all the new (and old) residents of Fandom. It was warm and sunny, but not so humid that people would melt. There was plenty of moddable food and drinks, places to sit in the shade, and more than enough nametags to go around. It was time to celebrate the start of the summer!

Comments

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[aroughtempestiwillraise]

Gale did not wince at the use of his last name, but it certainly had been some time since he'd gone by it. Gale Dekarios didn't cut nearly as dashing a figure as Gale of Waterdeep, you see.

"You have found me at something of a disadvantage, and you are?"

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[unusual_sith]

Lana could understand that. She generally went the opposite direction, though, since Lord Beniko had a bit of baggage to it.

She stuck out her hand. "Lana Beniko. A pleasure to meet you. The school's assigned me to help you get settled in."

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[aroughtempestiwillraise]

"How thoughtful of them!" Was this a pleasant change from most people's reactions to the program? Who knew! "You know, I was hoping I might find someone to explain some of the finer details of the place and here you are. Like a divine presence in our scholarly midst."

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[unusual_sith]

Lana laughed. "I don't know how divine I am, but I do hope I can at least rate 'scholarly'. What questions did you have? And what do you know of the place so far?"

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[aroughtempestiwillraise]

"That it is a university and that there is a multi-universal nexus of some sort here that I am utterly fascinated by."

Again, bad idea, Gale. Baaaad idea.

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[unusual_sith]

But it was fascinating! What could possibly go wrong with being interested in it?

"Oh, good; you've got the most basic part down. Actually," Lana swung the pouch off her shoulder and held it out to him, "let's get this part out of the way next. In here are a map of the island, handwavy coupons to local businesses, and some information on things like the bank and the post office. The normal sorts of things you might find useful."

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[aroughtempestiwillraise]

"Well, this is most helpful," Gale said, sifting through them as she spoke. "Might there be any local customs I should be aware of."

Like how everyone here was weirdly only human. What was up with that?

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[unusual_sith]

Oh, it really was odd! Lana was used to a number of different species these days. Even the Empire was more diverse than Earth.

"I suppose that depends on what you're used to," Lana said. "Your clothes don't look modern Earth-standard, so I'm guessing you're from either another time or another world?"

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[aroughtempestiwillraise]

"I'm a native of Waterdeep along the Sword Coast?" That made no sense to anyone else here, Gale. Gods. "But I've gathered that I am somewhere called Merry-Land?"

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[unusual_sith]

Lana nodded. "Maryland, on the east coast of the United States, on the planet Earth." She thought for a moment. "I don't recall ever hearing of Waterdeep or the Sword Coast, but I'm not from here natively, either. I'm originally from a planet called Dromund Kaas, in another galaxy, and these days I live on Odessen."

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[aroughtempestiwillraise]

"A planet?" Gale confirmed. "Not a plane?"

Because the difference existed!

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[unusual_sith]

"Correct," Lana said. "We do have a woman here who knows about different planes, but apart from the portals that go to different versions of Earth, I've never been to another plane. Unless Earth itself is a different plane than my galaxy, which is a purely semantic argument, since there's no way I know of to travel from my galaxy to this one without going through a portal; we've no idea where they might be in relationship to each other."

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[aroughtempestiwillraise]

"How do they travel there then? A ship of sorts?" Gale asked. "I've read of the spelljammers, but never had the good fortune to see one with my own two eyes. The ability to travel between the planes by such a conveyance is fascinating."

Gale Dekarios, folks. Just a full on D&D lore dump.

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[unusual_sith]

"I'm not sure what a spelljammer is," Lana said, "but yes, a ship." She took out her holocomm and called up an image of the Ebon Hawk, since it was the most recent ship she'd taken a picture of. "This is a somewhat older model than most of ours, but you get the idea, I'm sure."

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[aroughtempestiwillraise]

"So more like a submersible," Gale said, considering it's design. Then just got completely distracted by the whole holocomm thing. "And this is an illusionary projector?"

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[unusual_sith]

"Oh, yes!" Lana pointed out the buttons. "I can get communications from home on it and speak with them, or look up information on it. This is a friend's ship I had an image of. This is from my galaxy. On Earth, they have similar devices, but with flat pictures."

She pulled out her phone with the other hand and unlocked it. "This is a phone. You can get one of these locally; there's information in the packet I gave you. Feel free to take a closer look at either."

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[aroughtempestiwillraise]

"I'll be certain to obtain one of these flat illusionary devices," Gale assured her, just totally getting the point in the only a way he could manage. "How is it powered?"

Because he could for sure spare a shocking grasp or two to get it boosted. Definitely not void the warranty at all.

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[unusual_sith]

Lana put her holocomm away and focused on the phone. "It has batteries. They don't come out, so I can't show you one, but they use chemistry to generate electricity for power."

She held it so he could better see. "Each of these icons has a different function." Sort of like spell glyphs! "This one is for taking pictures, and this one is for viewing the ones you've taken. Here you can send text messages back and forth. Here you can actually call and speak with someone."

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[aroughtempestiwillraise]

He would be possibly the only person in the world who would read the instructions and the little booklet that would come with his phone. Because he had to.

"Oh, like a sending spell!"

But maybe less limited by the word count.

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[unusual_sith]

"I'm not sure," Lana said. "What's a sending spell?"

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[aroughtempestiwillraise]

"Ah! It is a spell that allows one to send a specific number of words to a person of your choosing," Gale explained. "Though I find the limited amount frustrating when I have need to explain something in such a manner."

Yeah, 25 words and Gale? Not happening.

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[unusual_sith]

"Oh, an actual spell - you work with magic, then?" Lana asked. "Couldn't you adjust it to use more words?"

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[aroughtempestiwillraise]

"I suppose one might be able to, but it does get transported directly into their mind and as such can be a bit more delicate than other such spells."

Psionics? Not magic, weirdly enough. Not even a lil' bit. Mystra over here just going 'Nah, fuck that noise.'

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[unusual_sith]

"Ah." Lana nodded. "Wouldn't be much use to send an entire page's worth if it fried the brain of the person you were speaking with, I suppose. A sentient's mind can only process so much at once."

Though now she was wondering... "I wonder if a droid could process it faster. Or if their mind would register as something you could send to at all. Oh," she stopped to explain, "droids are mechanical beings, built from metal and circuits. There's a lot of debate in my home galaxy as to whether they count as machines or as sentient beings."

Re: Meet Your Buddies!

[aroughtempestiwillraise]

"Like an automaton," Gale offered. Some wizards and artificers, Larian you cowards were fond of them, but Gale was more an unseen servant sort. "I've heard they were making great strides in such things in Baldur's Gate, but I've hardly had the time to see for myself."