THE SQUAD DOES AN INTRO: GROUP MEET UP - [modplot] [event] [free-for-all]

[wildermods]

THE SQUAD DOES AN INTRO: GROUP MEET UP
OOC POST
The Green's binding spell finally works out its kinks and the entire group is teleported into the same area in the center of the city, near the statues of the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and Scarecrow.

Everyone in the group feels a tingling sensation as the magic sets in place and binds them. Anyone that tries to leave will now find themselves being teleported back if they wander too far. The group will have to try to stay together when it moves now.

They have a little bit of time to figure things out.

---

OOC INFO
✦ Post in actionspam format. Plots and mod-run events in the game are meant to be in actionspam format to keep a brisk pace.

✦ Free-for-all Post. This event will be in "free-for-all" format, meaning that threadhopping is encouraged and that threading should be treated in the same conversational way as network posts.

✦ By now, the language magic should be fully in place. By now, everyone should have magically learned Sylvaen so that everyone can speak it fluently and understand each other.

Comments

[shipoftheseus]

[Having already made an attempt to leave themself, this whole spectacle isn't really surprising anymore. After dealing with everyone beckmes kind of mentally exhausting, they eventually sit themself down in the grass and just watch Brainy's irritable experimenting with mild interest while they soak up some light in a sunny patch.]

I don't think waving your box around is gonna change anything.

[Whatever said box is. Phos doesn't have the slightest idea, but they haven't observed any change in the last several times Brainy attempted this and it's beginning to cross over from looking determined to looking insane.]

[balladin]

[ Robbie is perched on a half-fallen rock wall. It's JUST bricks, nothing carved. He checked for you, Phos. ]

Enh, leave him alone. He's one of those tech types. The kind that'll build a mansion in the nanoverse, but you get one magician to turn a clover magenta, and they get all shirty.

[outofresets]

Are we really bound to each other? Or just this area?

[ Shockingly enough Bart hasn't played with the teleportation much himself, he'd already had his fill of it before they were brought together. For now, he's content to sit with the others and watch Brainy mess with it. ]

What if there's something we have to figure out about this place and it's not gonna let us leave till we do? Like a puzzle dungeon.

[ While precariously leaning over a half crumbled pillar, he starts picking up chunks of rubble and absently trying to see if they fit together. More out of boredom than any belief that they actually will. ]

And what's shirty?

[ The word made him imagine someone getting so upset they turn in to a shirt and that just couldn't be right. ]

[googledox]

My readings suggest subtle fluctuations in where the teleportation nexus is centralized that are most likely based on the movements of the group. If we were locked to a particular area itself, those fluctuations would most likely be absent.

[shipoftheseus]

[Uh...]

I think whatever was letting us understand each other is screwing up again.

[balladin]

No, I'm pretty sure that's just B-5. Like I said, he's a techie. Nerds gotta nerd.

And shirty means irritated and looking for a fight about it.

[shipoftheseus]

Our group's nerd back home just reads and draws and obsesses over weird stuff a lot.

[balladin]

[ At "obsesses over weird stuff a lot", Robbie nods emphatically and waves towards Brainy again. ]

And here we are at my point.

[googledox]

Magic is a dangerous and unpredictable force that refuses to interact with the laws of physics in a way that's remotely reasonable. As a scientist, I have a every reason to find its very existence an insult.

[balladin]

[ Robbie loosely crosses his arms across his chest. ]

Magic and science are as dangerous as the user. Weird teleporty magic, currently assumed bad until we find out more about who's doing it. Your gizmo, currently assumed all right because you're all right.

[ Without unfolding his arms, Robbie shrugs. ]

You can get all affronted, but until science gives me magenta clovers and turns my scarf into a snake - I'm going to have to say magic is useful. Science doesn't keep up with imagination.

Besides, I don't interact with the laws of physics properly. [ Robbie sighs and twitches his broken hand. ] Normally.

[googledox]

[At "I don't interact with the laws of physics properly" Brainy briefly scans Robbie, perhaps looking at something different from what he'd looked for when they'd first met, eyes slightly narrowed in suspicion, but the scan apparently doesn't really reveal much, because he goes back to scanning their surroundings.]

Magic sometimes has its own internal logic but the way it interacts with the physical laws is entirely random.

Engineered threats using scientific principles, on the other hand, are only as dangerous as you make them and with the proper study and application of fundamental forces, they needn't be unnecessarily dangerous at all.

[Brainy throws out his chin.]

And if science doesn't keep up with imagination where you're from, perhaps you haven't haven't met the right scientist. Magenta clovers would be child's play.

[balladin]

[ Looking peevishly at the device, Robbie backs up and away, but it's clear that he's not afraid of the tech, just offended that something was gleaned from him without his permission. ]

Hey, if I want to get buzzed by your magic box, I'll ask for it. Keep your scanner to yourself, Spock.

[ Why yes, he just called a technological device a magic box. ]

Magenta clovers are exactly the sort of useless BS the scientists I know do. It's all unstable molecules fabric and pym particle body spray, but 3D printed burgers still cost 250 grand and taste like butt. The only reason they haven't dicked around on stuff like that is because magic did it already.

[googledox]

It's not a box, it's a handheld computer with a sensor array.

[The correction is almost gentle.]

It allows me to gather information about my surroundings that can't be gathered with the senses.

[shipoftheseus]

Huh...

[They looked totally lost for most most of that first statement, so the further explanation does help. Sort of. They still look kinda mystified, but they cross their legs in front of them like a kindergardener and hold onto their ankles, peering up at Beainy curiously.]

So what's it saying?

[googledox]

It's saying that the magic that has bound us has a containment radius that if we're to wander outside of, we'll teleport back to where the majority of the group is currently clustered.

That wander radius is fluctuating, as is the centralized point we'll be teleported to each time -- and I've yet to determine the exact algorithm that determines how far we can wander or where "the group" is considered to be located -- but I believe the basic principle is to keep us clustered together.

Which suggests our captor or captors want us to stay together for some intended purpose.

[shipoftheseus]

[Phos isn't yet convinced that the common language magic thing isn't just randomly failing every five words or so while Brainy is talking, because jesus christ dude. They look like they're trying to listen attentively, but their eyebrows are knitting together with bemusement, and when Brainy finally stops talking they sag heavily, stretching their arms out in front of them to idky pick at the grass.

They did get at least one thing out of all that, though.]

Why do you say "captors"? Those voices from when I was dreaming said they needed help. "Captors" makes it sound like something...ominous, I guess.