strixmod: (Default)
strixhaven university ([personal profile] strixmod) wrote in [community profile] strixhavenuniversity2022-09-09 03:07 pm

The Journey to Strixhaven

MAKING THE JOURNEY
"You're Accepted!
We look forward to seeing you
at Strixhaven University
on September 19th."

This is the extent of information your character received after applying to Strixhaven, delivered to them in a mysterious wax-sealed envelope which appears in front of them in a dramatic puff of smoke, usually within six weeks. If they did not apply, this missive may still find its way to them in the early weeks of August.

Information that unfortunately remains undisclosed includes where Strixhaven is or how to get there. That will be up to your character to divine or discover. Also unmentioned is the fact that Strixhaven's pocket dimension is "closed" during the summer, and any attempts to reach or contact it before September 9th will automatically fail. While the campus opens early for the eager and nervous, returning students and faculty rarely make the journey to campus more than a day or two ahead of term starting, and the campus is a ghost town if you arrive promptly on opening day.

Your character may arrive to campus whenever you want. Characters are free to begin to meet and interact with each other outside of their pre-established connection in this IC/OOC!

Here is an overview of the sections of this IC/OOC:

The Journey: For scenes set in your character's home realm, regarding their attempt(s) to reach Strixhaven. Additional information on each realm's relationship to interplanar travel is available below.
Arrivals: Let us know when your character arrived to campus and what they're getting up to before term starts!
Archway Commons: For scenes set in Strixhaven's "Quad", this park is where new arrivals are expected to camp out before term starts.
Bow's End Tavern: For IC drinking games and scenes set in Bow's End, which is currently the only open dining establishment, as well as a social hotspot.
The Delve: For seeing what your character can dig up from the magical thrift shop in the Central Campus.
Around Campus: For scenes set anywhere else around Central Campus.
OOC: GM Inquiries: If you need my input as GM for anything, please make your inquiries here! Feel free to request information, NPC interactions, or say "What happens if my character does this?".
OOC: Planning & Plotting: Just a catch-all section for finding scene partners, pitching ideas, etc. Have fun!


INTERPLANAR TRAVEL
Faerûn: There is a permanent teleportation circle to Strixhaven in the Yawning Portal, a famed tavern in the city of Waterdeep. Arkin Minexes, a dragonborn bard, is a regular patron of the tavern as well as a newly minted Strixhaven professor.

Ravnica: The Izzet League, the Simic Combine, the Orzhov Syndicate, the Boros Legion, and the Golgari Swarm all have ties to Strixhaven and may have information or means of travel to the campus. Additionally, interplanar travel is exceedingly common in Ravnica, and a simple teleportation spell can easily be bought for a moderate price.

Eldraine: Strixhaven has an ill reputation in this realm. Will and Rowan Kenrith, the twin heirs of the throne of Eldraine, famously left for Strixhaven three years ago and haven't been seen since. Mentioning the school in public often draws negative attention. However, general inquiries into realm-walking may reveal legends of a powerful portal in the form of a Magic Mirror, which is located somewhere in the depths of Castle Vantress.

Ikoria: An Ikorian's best bet for reliable interplanar travel would be to capture a nightmare beast, terrible apex predators with the extradimensional ability of phasing. These creatures are cunning and exacting, and while it is possible to cut deals with them, they may come with consequences.

Innistrad: Getting off Innistrad can be a real trick, because the vampiric aristocrats who run Thraben try to keep knowledge of interplanar travel privileged and secret. Because if the common folk of Innistrad were able to leave, they would. Strixhaven students may need to cut an unseemly deal with the ruling vampires, make a pact with a demonic entity in exchange for power, or read an eldritch tome full of forbidden knowledge to execute a one-time teleportation spell themselves.

Kaldheim: The easiest way to leave Kaldheim is via the strange, alien forests of Littjara. The veil is thin there, and it's possible to tumble through realms accidentally. With a little luck and preparation, Littjara's natural portals may be utilized to travel directly to Strixhaven. The unlucky may find themselves in another realm before they reach their target destination.

New Capenna: Interdimensional travel is possible via the use of halo, the angelic essence that keeps the magic in New Capenna powered. Halo is controlled entirely by the Cabaretti crime family, and they are extremely judicious about distributing it.

Theros: Gods are able to grant boons to heroes who prove their worth, and will happily send their champions along to Strixhaven. The city of Meletis features several permanent teleportation circles, one of which connects to Waterdeep in Faerûn. Many pirate crews in Theros possess ships crafted from magical wood with enchanted cloth sails, which can be used to sail between realms with Thassa's blessing.

Zendikar: Your best bet for getting off Zendikar would likely be to venture into one of the many magical ruins that dot the landscape. Powerful magical artifacts are found in plenty in these ruins, and can often be used for interplanar travel. Even those that don't allow this directly may be traded for something of more use in the Skyclave's marketplaces.

THE CAMPOUT
Any students who arrive to campus before term officially begins will find it largely shuttered and vacant. The pathways which lead to the College campuses are gated and inaccessible, as are many buildings on Central Campus. This does unfortunately include both the Biblioplex, the grand library at the heart of campus, as well as the housing for visitors and new students.

Luckily for you, helpful automatons have set up a temporary campsite in the Archway Commons furnished with dozens of bright, multi-colored tents. Each has a plush sleeping bag and a small trunk with a few complimentary pieces of Strixhaven swag, including sweatpants and athletic t-shirts. A bonfire has been built in the center of the park, and the tents are set up to ring it in a half-moon arrangement.

More information on the layout and facilities of the Central Campus can be found here.

Additionally, two of the many on-campus businesses are open early.

BOW'S END TAVERN
This tavern is a popular social spot for older students, although it is oftentimes empty this week. It is a squat but comfortable-looking building, its gleaming wooden exterior carved in overlapping Strixhaven star motifs. The interior is dim and cozy, featuring rich mahogany floors and well-worn furniture of oak and black leather.

Right now, it's the only place on campus to eat. Meals will run you a couple silver pieces each, and are hearty but simple dishes like stews and pot pies.

The tavern has a tiny library of its own: a library of games from thousands of cultures. There are a few leatherbound tomes which detail rules for various drinking games, as well as a large collection of boardgames.

The tavern is currently staffed only by Javenesh Stoutclaw, an incoming Lorehold junior. Javenesh is a very large owlin, and his surly personality make him difficult to get to know.

THE DELVE
The only other establishment that is currently staffed is The Delve, a thrift shop operated by a grey-haired gnome woman named Lorixi Ripplemapple. If you'd like to see what your character can find while rustling around in last year's overstock, leave a comment under the Delve header with their general sense of fashion, what sort of trinkets tend to draw their eye, or what kind of magical items intrigue them. Also include an Intelligence Check to see how well they do at investigating the crowded aisles and myriad backrooms.

unluckycosmos: (67)

THE DELVE: Cosmo & Hecate

[personal profile] unluckycosmos 2022-09-17 04:40 am (UTC)(link)
Cosmo is easily pinned, like a newborn faun he loses balance under Hecate. They land and his eyes go wide, tail already puffed up and lashing like a startled cat. The woman on top of him is... tall. Broad. And he is neither. His cheeks turn bright pink.

"Meet—what...?" he stammers, eyes wide, only an old tome separating their chests. "I—I'm so—I'm so sorry—"
hexslinger: (✨ 91)

THE DELVE: Cosmo & Hecate

[personal profile] hexslinger 2022-09-17 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
"Meet cute," she's more than happy to repeat. Hecate pushes herself up a little, if only so she can get a better look at him. "It means now that we've met under unusual circumstances, you're bound to fall in love with me."

She grins, flashing her fangs at him. "Sorry about it."
unluckycosmos: (143)

THE DELVE: Cosmo & Hecate

[personal profile] unluckycosmos 2022-09-17 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
Cosmo has enough room to fix his glasses, pushing them up his nose, but now he can clearly see her fangs. His heart leaps into his throat, and at the same time his pulse quickens with fear that he wishes he could smother. She can probably smell it on him. Vampires can smell when you're scared. That's what his mother always told him.

"I—I taste bad, though, mysterious lady. All burnt and rotten eggs. Like sulfur," he says, grinning back at her with only a fraction of the confidence. "You'd be able to find a better meal, and a better gentleman."
hexslinger: (✨ 03)

THE DELVE: Cosmo & Hecate

[personal profile] hexslinger 2022-09-17 05:23 am (UTC)(link)
Hecate leans back in, just a bit closer, to take an unabashed whiff of his scent. "You smell like autumn nights," she notes, then pulls away for real this time to stand back up. "You're right, though— not much to you. I guess I'll let you live."

She offers out a hand to help him up.
unluckycosmos: (147)

THE DELVE: Cosmo & Hecate

[personal profile] unluckycosmos 2022-09-17 05:37 am (UTC)(link)
Cosmo shivers involuntarily as she inhales, like prey, but his anxiety is reduced to a small tremor. Autumn nights. He takes Hecate's hand, and is brought back up to his hooves. They click-clack on the hardwood floor as he regains his balance, and Cosmo can't help but laugh nervously as he pulls away. It's not a pretty laugh; even when not a full bray, it has a nasal quality.

"Deepest apologies an' all that. I'm a new student," he explains, then steps back and does a bow, tail held still and submissive. "'Scuse my insolence."
wereyote: (dr217)

THE DELVE: Arlo (open)

[personal profile] wereyote 2022-09-17 07:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Arlo is not very social, so he goes exploring instead of getting to know people. His sense of style tends toward the practical rather than trendy (think tweed, knitwear, earth tones, and quality leather footwear that will last a long time). In terms of trinkets, he's curious, so drawn to anything that looks interesting or that seems like it has a story (or value) to it! He would have been very polite and courteous to Ms Ripplemapple. He's a wee little bookish nerd.

(Intelligence check to find something: 1d20+5 = 11)

While rummaging through a rack of cozy sweaters, he spots a particularly intriguing trinket near a stranger's elbow and attempts to casually ope! lemme just squeeze right past ya to get a better look at it.
underhandling: (💸04)

THE DELVE:Ned

[personal profile] underhandling 2022-09-17 07:59 pm (UTC)(link)
He's been to thrift shops before, inevitably, but Nedward's biggest (not really) failure is that he turns into something of a magpie as soon as he's exposed to one. He [rolled 10] gets a little distracted in the stacks, and also when he tries to reach for something cool on too high a shelf and can't get it.
rhodie: (🌱 082)

THE DELVE: Rhodie

[personal profile] rhodie 2022-09-17 08:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Look at all these things!!!!! Rhodie doesn't exactly have money (what's money??????), but he DOES have a lot of gumption and he's willing to barter. Does the tiny proprietor want his hair in exchange for something shiny and soft???

He loses himself in the piles of things, almost definitely finding nothing but old macaroni art and having the time of his life. Yay, school is fun so far!!
Edited (INT roll of 5 lmfao) 2022-09-17 20:37 (UTC)
lunulata: (pic#15911704)

THE DELVE: Lunulata (open)

[personal profile] lunulata 2022-09-17 08:35 pm (UTC)(link)
While Lunulata can count the number of times he's been inside a proper shop on one hand and he was never the one handling the money, he's fairly certain he knows how this works and he walks through The Delve with wonder written plainly on his face. This place seems to have everything! More than everything! He doesn't know what he's looking for (he already has two whole sets of clothes and doesn't foresee needing more than that) but he nevertheless stops to admire every shiny or pretty or peculiar object he sees. How marvelous!
Edited (INT roll of 0 baybeee. He's banned for life.) 2022-09-17 20:36 (UTC)
sanguinario: (🧊 003)

THE DELVE: Velvet (open)

[personal profile] sanguinario 2022-09-17 08:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Velvet's favourite pastime is shopping, although she usually wouldn't be caught in a dusty little thrift shop digging through last year's fashions. But this isn't New Capenna, and Velvet firmly believes that the best way to get the lay of the land is to get acquainted with a city's merchants.

She ends up perusing the selection of jewelry, figuring if there's anything timeless to be found, it's there. Velvet's taste tends towards big and flashy—a counterpoint to her usually austere, dark outfits. She's also a tacky vampire at heart, and will pause on anything that evokes "bloodsucking undead girl."

[19 INT]
spurlark: (31)

THE DELVE: Larkspur (open!)

[personal profile] spurlark 2022-09-17 08:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Larkspur is no stranger to thrift shops, and as a seamstress, is always on the lookout for items and fabrics that can be repurposed into new pieces for her ex-theatre kid-current-goth-vampire wardrobe.

She lurks the aisles, touching anything that conforms to her aesthetic (black lace, silks, velvets, etc) as she pictures what she might be able to make out of it once she takes it apart.

(Int check: 18)
pepromancy: (🥀25)

THE DELVE: Flavian

[personal profile] pepromancy 2022-09-17 11:03 pm (UTC)(link)
This is a lot of amazing things in one place, but Flavian [10+5=15] is pretty laser-focused on finding anything particularly arcane and strange. Looking around to see if anyone was watching, she dips her hands in the pockets of a lot of the coats. Perhaps someone died in them and left an ancient cursed piece of jewelry or something. No harm in looking in the spots everyone's missed.
hexslinger: (✨ 54)

THE DELVE: Cosmo & Hecate

[personal profile] hexslinger 2022-09-18 06:57 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, welcome to Strixhaven!" She doesn't volunteer that she's a new student as well— not yet, anyway. For no reason other than Mischief. "I like your accent. Where are you from?"
pepromancy: (🥀05)

THE DELVE: Flavian's find (This is open) (Forgot 2 say)

[personal profile] pepromancy 2022-09-18 11:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh. Interesting. Flavian stands still for a while, coiling the delicate strands around her fingertips. It's the loveliest thing she's ever held, but the words "Werewolf trap" slide away from her, half-muttered out loud, though she barely meant to. This could be very useful, is all.
lunulata: (pic#15911005)

THE DELVE: Lunulata's mistake

[personal profile] lunulata 2022-09-19 01:22 am (UTC)(link)
Well! Lunulata hadn't expected that!

Fortunately, he's not unaccustomed to injury and a tiny mimic clamping down on his finger isn't that big a deal to him. He can't even be mad, really. The creature is just acting on its instincts and protecting its home. He waits patiently for Lorixi to coax it off instead of drawing his blade.

With the compact that's not a compact still latched on, he asks the gnome hopefully, "Is there anything I can do to earn Bugsy's friendship? For," he pauses, flinching as the silver edges bite stubbornly into his skin from a new angle and then laughing sheepishly, "...next time?" He can't let one little mimic attack keep him out of The Delve, after all.
wereyote: (dr045)

THE DELVE: Arlo's find

[personal profile] wereyote 2022-09-19 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
Arlo is happy to have grabbed it before the person he'd jostled could get to it, and while it isn't exactly what he expected, he's happy to purchase it to try to fix it.
spurlark: (114)

THE DELVE: Larkspur's find

[personal profile] spurlark 2022-09-19 01:49 am (UTC)(link)
"Ohohohohoho, come to me, my pretty," Larkspur coos as she snatches up the bookbag. She cackles with delight as she discovers the enchantment, even as she pricks herself with some of the falling pins and needles. This bag was meant for her, she decides.

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