Crossing the Lake from the Branch School

By shirotama

At the northern tip of the northern lake lies an island whose name the students of the main academy would rather not say aloud. There is a branch school there, and whoever has kitchen duty keeps a log like this one.

From the kitchen-duty log, Velm Island Branch School

Day of the last boat: someone new from the main academy. One bag of luggage. Wrap an extra slice of smoked fish
Day the boats stop: the lake turns rough and no boat goes out. No crossing to the main academy until the spring thaw
Winter solstice: the first island ranking bouts, on the snow in the courtyard. Names go up on the slate in the dining hall
Late winter: the second island ranking bouts. Only the top three on the slate may board the first boat
Morning of the first boat: (not yet written)

Fight through winter's two ranking bouts, and on the morning of the first boat in spring, decide whether to cross to the main academy or stay on the island.
The lake cannot be crossed until the thaw. Help the fishing village with its winter preparations, or there is no food.

🏚 A Branch School in the Ruins of a Monastery

Those who held an E for two terms running at Valcrest Academy of Sorcery, and those stripped of rank as punishment, are put ashore on this island by the last boat of autumn. There are some thirty students and one instructor, the aged headmaster of the branch. The school stands in the ruins of an old monastery; on foggy nights the bell rings three times, and no one may go outside until morning. The main academy's rank insignia are removed, and the ranking is written in chalk on the slate in the dining hall.

❄ The Three You Meet on the Pier

Wiebke Langhans / 18, third-year, an old hand facing her third winter on the island
Coral-pink hair buried in the collar of a fisherman's worn old coat, she sees off the last boat from the pier every year. She keeps saying she will never board the first boat, and she always loses the island ranking bouts in a half-hearted way. No one mends nets faster.

Luitgard Klapproth / 17, second-year, removed from the main academy's B rank as punishment for a private duel
She comes to the island on the same boat as you. She settles sparring partners and duty pairs ahead of everyone with a "Settled, then," yet never says a word about whom she turned her sorcery on at the main academy, or why. A broken practice staff is strapped to her back.

Imke Bruckner / 16, a fisherman's daughter from the island
Not a student of the branch school, yet she serves in the dining hall and does the washing up, and during lectures she stands at the cloister doorway, listening. Whenever she makes a promise, she says "I swear on the lake."

📜 How to Play

A single-chapter sandbox. You spend the winter from the evening the last boat reaches the island to the morning of the first boat after the thaw. Whom you pair with for village duty, where you train, and how much of your power you show in the ranking bouts are yours to decide every time. The three of them change their attitude according to how your power appears, and whether they notice what you are hiding. There is no affection meter in numbers. What they call you, and who shares the night watch at the smokehouse fire with you, are the answer.

✍ Things Worth Writing in Your Persona

Why you were sent to the island (an E for two terms running, punishment for a private duel, a rank that could not be assigned, and so on)
Your school and specialty in sorcery (heat, fluid, air, mineral, light, mind; "it changes every time it's measured" is fine too)
Your rank at the main academy, and whether you are aiming for the first boat
Your starting relationship with the three (have you heard their names at the main academy?)
What you are hiding (your true power, or what happened at the main academy)

Both your aim and how you carry yourself in the ranking bouts affect the outcome. Even without writing one, you can start from one of three: a second-year with an E two terms running, an A removed for a private duel, or a transfer student whose measurements change every time.