Games

TSONM 03/24 DODGEBALL, the magical way. Instead of throwing the ball at opposing team members who try to catch it or dodge it, this red rubber ball does all the work. It will hover and bounce and throw itself at different people. The ball doesn’t distinguish between teams, so everyone is fair game. I want to warn you that the ball has a mind of its own and once I put the spell onto it. This is an individual game, so no teams. The last one who grabs the ball and holds on as it attempts to buck you off is our winner. So, spread out across the field, and get ready.”

Alison noticed that every time the energy and magic switched to a new location, the color of the ball changed. She soon picked up on what the different colors meant. The ball was vicious, and this seemed more like a punishment than an actual fun game. The ball wasn’t hard by any means, but it stung when it smacked into you. It also flew fast enough to knock you right off your feet. They had to catch the ball, but it wasn’t like it would just go limp when they caught it. They had to then try to hold onto it for longer than five seconds while it bucked wildly around. The ball was strong enough to pull someone into the air. If they held on for five seconds or more, they won. In the past, others had tried to break the school record of two minutes and seventeen seconds. That record had been on the books for about seven years without anyone even coming close. Izzie won, topping the school record by four seconds.

TSONM 07/03 The magic pushed into the ball was burgundy in color, turning dark blue (mocking) as the students tried to catch and hold it, urning burgundy again as it picked its next victim.

03/28 LOUPER Mara remembered when the School had won their first Louper Championship. The money was nice (grounds maintenance, but she loved the comradery it created.

03/6 Luke explains Louper to a friend as he signs up on the school bulletin board for it. It’s this weird game that should really be for the nerdiest of the nerds, but it somehow turned into a jock game. Luke continued. “It’s a cool sport and a virtual reality game. You get to be a different kind of magical being and use your powers to compete against others. It’s just as much a brain as a brawn game. There’re too many rules to explain the whole thing”

03/11 “All right, so you will be using magically-enhanced virtual reality headgear on the open field today. This is not a battle. You won’t be challenging anyone, but it will give you the chance to get used to being in a virtual world and learn how to maneuver in it. This won’t be as shocking to those of you who have played before but for the few where this is your first or second time, remember that you will physically be playing the game on this field with everyone else. They will be in the same world as you, only when you look around during a game, you will see them as their character. Luke had been reading the the Louper bible. The book contained all the rules and tricks, and a description of the best players to start as. Luke shook his head. “It’s not about how strong they are. It’s about how smart you are. I watched a Milltown Kemana game once where the newbie on the team beat the other member with a simple baseline character with no skill level. He was seriously all about showing us that it’s what you do with what you have that matters.”

04/11 LOUPER IS PLAYED AS A TEAM !

At the beginning of every game, the chosen head of cerenmony will cast a spell, and each of you will find yourself in a different setting. Every game will be different. Each time you step on this field to start a new game, you will find yourself in a new setting. This setting is a virtual world—a magical spell that surrounds you, allowing you to see only that world while you’re on the field. “At first, this can be hard to maneuver through, especially since, depending on the field, what you’re feeling isn’t necessarily going to match up to what you are seeing. For example, you may find yourself in a swamp, stepping through bogs, seeing the water rise to your shins, and even smelling the stench of the water and algae. However,what you’ll feel will be turf under your feet. You cannot allow yourself to be distracted by the difference between those two things. If you do, I can promise you your opponent will know, and will use that distraction to take you down.” Rulebooks were passed out. Regency was adamant that they needed to know the rulebook cover to cover if they wanted to have any chance of winning the game.

“Now, once you’re in this virtual spell world, you will work as a team to get through the different obstacles and challenges, all the while facing off with your opponent. Often times you will find, especially at your age, that the players are evenly matched. However, don’t let your guard down. There is always that one player who is far above and beyond anyone else on their team. They are the ones you have to watch out for. If a team member is defeated, they are out of the game. There will be no question about it, because the virtual world will disappear and you will find yourself in the center of the field. You’ll be able to see your teammates, but they will no longer be able to see you. As far as they are concerned, you are dead and gone, at least until the end of the game.” Whoever makes it to the end and retrieves the prize, trophy, or goal is the winner. Even if it’s just one person from the team who makes it to the end, the entire team wins as a whole. You will receive a collection of coins that can be used in the closest kemana and a team trophy. Just to clarify, since there have been issues in the past about this, all prizes are split evenly among team members, no matter when they died during the game.

”Wyatt explains how to develop your character during the game. “So, we all know we want to develop the strongest, smartest, and bravest player we can, but the big question is, how do we get there?, basically, whatever you are in reality—whether it’s fit, smart, agile, fast—that’s what you are in the game. So, Well if you work out in reality and get stronger, your character in the game gets stronger. If you study and get smarter, you’re smarter in the game. Now, that all sounds like excellent motivation to get smarter and stronger in real life, but the one thing you have to keep in mind is that it’s not just the good stuff that transfers to your character, it’s the bad stuff, too. If you train too hard and get injured, your character will be injured in the game. If you stay up all night studying, partying, or any of the other things I know you guys do, your character is going to feel lethargic on the field. I don’t know how it is for other guys, but when I walk out on that field already tired, I almost feel twice as tired when I step into my character.”

TSONM 04/13 GO-KART RACING

Ethan and some of his friends had worked in secret to build magical go-karts to race. When they had been completed and all the professors had gone to bed, the group set up a race track at the back of the estate, as far away from teachers’ prying eyes as they could get. One of the seniors, a wizard who had met Ethan through the Louper team, stood at the edge of the field and cast a glamour over the event. Unless you were inside that perimeter, you’d never hear any of the noise from the go-karts or the cheering fans.

All of the go-karts had been magically decorated to represent the driver’s grade, friends, and background. The whimsical cars mostly belonged to the Light Elves. The serious magical creations had been done by some of the older wizards and witches, and there were even race cars painted to look like shifters that had been created by their magical friends just for them. The only rules to join were: keep your mouth shut, be there on time, and don’t tell anyone who would tell the professors. Ethan considered it one of his greatest achievements in school so far.

“Here are the race rules. There is absolutely no driving on anyone else’s track, so stay in your own lane. We don’t want to have any crazy crashes. All magic is legal, but you may only use it on your own cart. That means there will be no casting spells against anyone else, no matter how badly you want to win. If the rules are broken, that person will be disqualified from the race. The first one to circle the track five times will win bragging rights, and have the satisfaction of knowing he or she won the first race of the new go-kart extravaganza created by our very own Ethan.” The race began (fireball started gun), and as it progressed, one of the Darl kids used magic on Ethan's cart to spin it out. The race broke up about then, as Berens and ZHumphreys came down on it, and all scattered.